The Other Half On The Second Floor

Chapter Eight

While Kaito was out Saturday with Hisa and Akemi, I'd stay home with Yui spending time together. After last year, we had begun to grow closer. By the time it was dinner, Kaito still hadn't texted me back. I started to grow worried since he'd promised to tell me how it went. So instead, I texted him first just to make sure he was alright.

Me: "Hey Kaito, are you okay?"

Kaito: "Oh, yeah. Sorry I didn't text you, it's been sort of hectic."

Me: "It's okay! So, how'd it go?"

He began to type but after a few seconds, the little bubble disappeared. The worry I had only grew stronger.

Kaito: "Honestly, I'm not sure. I wanna say good, but I really don't know."

Me: "What happened?"

Kaito: "Well long story short, Hisa was happy for us and said that he really didn't see me as any different. Akemi though, I don't know. He never said what he thought in front of me, but I overheard him and Hisa talking and, I don't think he was as supportive. Maybe today was the last day I'd see him."

I didn't know what to say. If what he was saying was true, was Akemi really going to stop being friends with Kaito?

Kaito: "Anyway, I just need a distraction for now. What are you up to?"

Me: "Oh, Yui and I were cooking dinner, wanna come over?"

It was unusual for Kaito to change a subject so fast, I didn't want to bring it up again if he didn't feel like talking about it, I knew what it was like to be rejected so maybe a distraction was what he needed for now.

Kaito: "Sure, I'll be over in a bit."

Me: "Okay, see you!"

Kaito: "See ya :)"

After that, he showed up to my house and we all ate dinner together. Kaito didn't eat much since he had just eaten with Hisa and Akemi, but I could tell he didn't want to waste the food he was given. For some reason, he didn't seem sad, angry or even happy. He just seemed numb. He smiled a few times, but they didn't seem, I don't know, genuine?

Once we finished our dinner and cleaned the dishes, I invited Kaito to my small room. I didn't mention anything about earlier in case he wasn't ready to discuss it, but I could tell how anxious he still was. Especially when I noticed his trembling hurt right thumb while he was eating.

"Is your hand okay?"

He slowly took his hidden hand out of his pocket, "Yeah, it's just sort of hurt. It'll heal though."

I stood up and went to the bathroom to get a bandage for his finger. I wrapped the finger delicately with the white compress.

"And done!" I say as I finish the last wrapping.

He looks down at his finger, "Thanks." Suddenly, he lays on my chest. He buries his face and clings onto me.

I pat his soft blonde hair, "What happened?"

He doesn't say anything, only quiet sobs come from him. The unexpected reaction to my simple question caught me off guard.

"Promise me," he says between sobs, "promise me you won't leave me."

The very same promise he made me all those months ago was the one he was asking for now. Seeing him in such suffering was painful to me. "Don't worry, I won't. I'll stay with you till the depths of earth."

At the time, I believed that I'd keep that promise. If only I'd known, that keeping a promise that seems so simple, could be easily broken.