CHAPTER 5: The forgotten meetcute, sigh
1677 Words
KAI
“Ah the prodigal son,” Odessa greets just as everyone sets up for my performance.
I have not been allowed near her all week because Kudo wanted her to cool down before we interacted.
Still, I have been watching her from afar and pretending like she does not exist but she does exist. Odessa knocking me out with her body tied up, lifted the rose color glasses from my eyes.
Even when I try to forget for a second, the red marking around my neck is a good reminder that, Odessa hates me.
I still do not know what she used to strangle me but it left a nasty and annoying scar that is no match for the one in my heart. Which means no Kook Academy for me till I am healed—Kudo and Grandpa’s orders.
“Relax Kai, I am here to apologize.” That gets me to look at her, “I didn’t know. I thought your family was pulling stunts again but you saved my life and I am sorry for trying to take yours.”
I open my mouth but the padding being done on my neck to cover proof of her hatred stops me.
No Kai, do not fall for it.
“Okay Odessa.” I look away before her eyes can bore into mine.
She looks remarkable in her fitted tuxedo and bowtie. I am glad they did not overdo it with the makeup because most woman use it to look like her when she has none on.
What is worse is, Odessa smells incredible too. She is probably going to play amazingly well which is why I had her moved to the main stage next to me.
But like Kudo said, I can’t let my feelings for her blind me again. Hence, the distance between us, literally and figuratively.
Odessa is a bad person and she has made it clear she does not care about me.
She did not hesitate to try to end my life when she saw the chance which shows how deep her hate for me goes because she knew if she succeeded, she would have followed me to the grave.
A whole war would have begun but she did not care.
“Congratulations on the MAMA, best new male. That has to be a big deal.” Someone gives her a violin as we walk onto to stage. “But I guess, you are a big deal now Mr King, so good for you.”
Good for me? Her managerial company is charging us triple for what we usually pay for a violist and it is based on her reputation and merit alone. The big deal around here, is her but I cannot say that because it will make me drop my guard and want to catch up with her.
Nevertheless, we are not friends and there will be no catching up done here today.
“Thank you Vecker,” the MC gives the sign as he walks off stage. “Are you ready?”
We have not really rehearsed together so this could go badly but I doubt it because she is “Odessa Vecker” the music prodigy and sought after violinist.
“Ready.” Odessa takes her position and I follow queue once she starts the first chords.
Debuting before graduation has really changed my life because after Cereal Eaters disbanded, I was a little lost in music. Now as Odessa hits the perfect note, it allows my voice to shine and I find myself going back to our first meeting.
The forgotten meet-cute nearly six years ago.
I had never seen anyone so pale in my entire life but there she was, the last passenger to board on to the plane to Oakwood, Massachusetts.
By some miracle, Odessa sat on the first class seat next to mine.
A dark hoodie with black sweats was the reason I did not notice how thin she was but the curls of her hair were so potent and black, it made her look innocent and fragile.
Innocent and fragile?
Those are two words I would never use to describe Odessa Dominaka, especially now but I did not know who she was back then.
I didn’t know who she would become or what she left behind. Back then, I was just a boy excited to see a nice-looking girl sitting next to him on a plane.
“Hey.” I only spoke because she did not look comfortable as she clipped on her seat belt.
“Hi.” I still remember the breathy tone of her accented voice as her trembling hands checked the security of the belt.
“Is everything okay?” Even when I leaned in, she didn’t turn her face to look at me, she was disorientated.
“Turbulence.” She breathed it out instead of speaking it, “it is not a fav.”
The glossy tips of her trimmed nails dug into the arm chair but as the plane rattled more. The pale hand reached for mine in the middle and she held my hand with an iron grip someone as frail as her should not have had.
“I’m going to kill Felix.” She muttered the rest in Russian while time stopped for me.
The whitish and bony hand over mine looked tiny and as she began to draw blood on my skin, I realized in that moment why our grandfather warned us about girls.
Specifically, girls like Odessa Dominaka who are regarded as honeypots.
The ones that do not know the power they have over people. Girls that continue living their lives even after completely changing yours with a single glance.
“Oh my,” Odessa disconnected our hands to show bruising nails marks behind my hand.
That was the first time she ever hurt me. Even back then, she didn’t stop till there was blood, till there was a scar on my body.
Even then, she made sure to take a piece of me, no matter how minuscule.
“I am so sorry,” she fumbled with her backpack and removed a tiny first aid kit. “My brother told me this horrible story before boarding so I am—” she finally looked at me and smiled dimly. “I am sorry,” she put a plain plaster over the scar.
But all I could focus on was her smile, it drew attention to her eyes and I wondered how I missed them before. That miracle blue was the centre of attention on her already perfect and symmetrical pale face.
She was a doll, a living and flawless porcelain doll.
“It’s okay,” it finally was because just seeing her smile made all the pain worth it.
What can I say? I was an even bigger i***t back then and nobody holds a candle to a honeypot’s power.
I never saw Odessa again till I was cast with her friend Jessica for a school production. Not surprising, she did not remember me but I never forgot her.
When Kudo came to visit, it was when the catfish fight was happening so of course he recognized her in an instant. I was not surprised because he knew every member on the main table, their heirs and their subsidiaries.
But finding out Odessa was part my world was the last straw. I could not stay away anymore especially after hearing how Liam messed everything up and being around her was better than I expected.
It made the foggy dream that was our first meeting solid because she was funny, caring and even more beautiful all grown up.
How was I not supposed to fall in love?
How was I supposed to continue living my life after tasting her lips?
She had this strength and light to her that just pulled you in and made you want to save her even when she did not need it. She had the thing that made a person taste sound, hear light and even smell color.
But grandpa warned me about girls, specifically girls like Odessa Dominaka and I should have listened because I do not know what is worse?
The fact that she wants to kill me or that I would let her just to feel her hands on me one last time.
As the final chord drops to give me my solo moment I realize, loving her is like standing on a cliff. There is only one way out and it is by going down.
“The kid still has it.” Kudo nods with approval when I enter my dressing room to find my brothers clapping and cheering me on.
“Odessa nearly out staged you on that solo though,” of course spending time being her escort has made Kairo a bias. “But you did good kid,” he is the only one that hugs me.
“Where is Odessa?” Katana asks the half empty cognac bottle on his lap.
Poor Kata.
They must have flushed his drugs in the toilet again because he is not much of a drinker despite his intention of lacking sobriety. He does not deal well with the hangover part of consuming alcohol but when push comes to shove, he will take it.
“Kiyoko?” I take the bottle and give Katana sunglasses to hide his bloodshot eyes from everyone else.
“The princess is in the next room with Saya.” Kiyoko signals the bottle so I pass it on as they continue to play with my MAMA award.
Truthfully, we are not a close family. We spent half our lives apart and we will be fighting each other for our seats one day but I am grateful I have 6people that understand what it is like to be a Choi descendent.
Things are not perfect but misery does love company and with what is coming next, there will be a lot of misery.
—Not just for me.
- Writer
