F O R G O T T E N

Six kids in one house, and somehow he still felt invisible. Taye was always working, always stressed, always trying to hold everything together but never really seeing him. The others were the same. Busy. Distant. Like surviving mattered more than anything else. And maybe it did. But that didn't stop it from messing him up. So he learned quick don't ask for anything, don't expect nothing, and don't let nobody get close enough to leave. That's just how he became Kairo.

Rude. Distant. Unbothered.

Or at least...that's what everybody thought. Now suddenly, things were different. Taye checking on him. Asking questions. Looking at him like he actually mattered.
It didn't sit right. "Where was all that before?" Kairo muttered one night, staring up at the ceiling, phone in his hand but not really looking at it. Because care-real care-was something he didn't know how to trust.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part...was him.

Kairos best friend.

The one person who always stayed. Always showed up. Always saw him even when Kairo tried his hardest to push him away. That was the problem. Because Kairo wasn't supposed to feel like this.

Not about him.