the love chronicles | short stories

beginning

warning: sexual content.

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When the knock came on the door, although she had been expecting it, Maisie inhaled a deep breath. That quickly, she lost all the confidence she had instilled in herself.

Smoothing out his hoodie that she'd come to love, fitting on her similar to a short dress, she walked over to the door and opened it without volition.

"Hi," she smiled shyly.

Kai stood in the hallway for a long moment, adjusting the bag of groceries hanging from his fingers. His mouth curved boyishly, as if to hide a shy grin, too. With his free hand, he raked through his short-cropped hair, unsure of where to put and what to do with his limbs, apparently. The last time he felt this way—mildly akin to a nervous wreck but it was an excited kind of nervous—had to be back in secondary school.

When Maisie blinked at him with a befuddled look, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip, he berated himself.

Fuck sake, Kai, act normal.

Stepping inside, he planted a kiss on her forehead. "Hey, babe. Bought your favourites."

Lifting the Tesco bag in his hand, he crossed the few feet to the kitchen and set it on the small table. Maisie followed to peek inside, immediately recognising everything she loved. From her best vegan chocolates and cakes down to Yankee candles and her well-loved fuzzy little socks.

Timidly, Maisie tucked her hair behind her ear. "This is my period care package," she noted, well-accustomed to his caring efforts whenever it was that time of month. It definitely wasn't that time right now.

Kai shrugged, almost blushing and cupped his nape. "Aye. It is. Figured it wouldn't let me down."

Both chuckling softly, they stood on opposite ends of the table. Again, for a lengthy beat, Kai peered at Maisie, his gaze caressing over her features. Wide, blue eyes, nose littered with freckles, and rosy lips, all framed by curly, light brown hair.

Maisie was like no other person he'd met. Granted, that meeting had been nine little months ago at freshers week. As a second year student, he hadn't been all that bothered about mixing with the new students arriving at St Andrews, or catching the freshers' flu a second time round. However, his flatmate, Jamie, insisted on his company to the traditional programme of partying.

The trickle of new students included Jamie's cousin. And when Jamie took Kai to his cousin's accommodation, the parties were in full swing. Nursing a beer in his hand, admittedly a little cranky, he had stuck to one corner of the small living room. Kai swore it wasn't his scene.

Until Maisie walked in.

Wearing a crop top underneath a checked shirt and faded blue jeans, her cornflower blue eyes were wide with curiosity. He had kept tabs on her for most of the night, feeling a little stalker-ish watching her but couldn't seem to stop. People gravitated towards her and her group of friends, turning to her to make conversation. But Kai had realised she was a woman of little words. Rarely did she strike up the conversation first, only participating whenever someone directly addressed her.

"Go say hello to her, mate," the girl—that had been talking off of his ear about the topic of her dissertation—said. "Get the lass a wee drink and say something. You will nae get her in bed standing here, ye eejit."

Kai wasn't the type to be arrogant but he was confident in his skills and knew that his looks wouldn't let him down. So he had went. Got her drink and said hello. Minus the intention of getting laid.

And the rest, as they say, was history (as much as nine months constituted). Kai came to find that Maisie was refreshingly interesting. Family-orientated, particularly studious, and uniquely adamant about imposing world change in any way it mattered. She also loved a select few games—mostly of which were video, some board and a little computer. It wasn't an uncommon trait but thrilled Kai—a self-diagnosed game nerd—immensely. Unlike most of his friends, Kai favoured steady relationships, hardly interested in entertaining more than one candidate at a time. So after their fifth or so date (he had lost count), Kai asked Maisie to be exclusive.