Project LOSS

Chapter 22

On seeing his father for the first time in years, Kai’s emotions were mixed. He felt the happy spark of familiarity as he set eyes on the man who had raised him and helped mould him into the man he had become. Kai knew it couldn’t have been easy for Jimmi; a single dad who had just lost his wife. Jimmi’s lover, Mai, had gone missing the same night the couple had broken the boys out of their holding cells at PAVE headquarters. It was obvious Jimmi had never fully gotten over his loss; he’d always be searching for her, through some lead or another. Kai was also battling against a rising tide of anger at the abandonment, believing that no matter how bad the situation had been, Jimmi should have done more to reconcile with Vrethie after their falling out, rather than walking out on the pair.

“At least now I can find out what it was all about,” Kai muttered to himself.

“So… we can go now?” Emma and Daniel looked pleadingly at Kai; fingers kneaded in silent prayer.

“No.” Kai dashed their hopes with a single syllable, delivered grumpily without a second’s hesitation. “Sit and wait until I’ve done. I’ll decide how to deal with you two when I’ve dealt with him.” Kai pointed toward Jimmi, who sat at the nearest table to the kitchen of the restaurant—which Jimmi now owned—according to the information Emma had provided on the short walk over. Jimmi stared thoughtfully into a bowl of noodles and broth, poking at a piece of carrot with a plastic disposable chopstick.

A heavy chorus of clinking pots and pans and fat sizzling emanated from the kitchen, accompanied by the mouth-watering aroma of chicken broth and various spice-infused meats that made Kai’s stomach rumble. Yet again, he’d forgotten to eat.

“Get me another order of noodles!” Jimmi shouted to the kitchen, as though reading Kai’s mind, or perhaps hearing his stomach growl. The chef promptly obliged, placing the steaming bowl of noodle soup on the table before Kai had taken a seat. Jimmi motioned for him to sit.

“Please, Kai, just hear what I have to say.”

Kai sat after a short pause sat, eager to hear whatever excuses were about to come from his father’s mouth.

“You’ve gotten bigger.” Jimmi looked over Kai with the prideful eyes of a father.

“You’re stalling,” Kai said.

“No. I’m genuinely surprised by the change in you. You’ve become a man, and I missed it.” The pride Kai detected saw in Jimmi’s face melted into sadness.

“Whose fault is that?” Kai grunted.

Jimmi fell silent and took a deep breath, taking a moment before he spoke again. Kai watched his father’s face in that silence. The man was deep in thought.

“Kai there is something you need to know about your brother, but it will be hard to hear.” Jimmi stared into Kai’s eyes. The gaze of his father contained pain and wisdom, but mostly, Kai thought Jimmi was searching his eyes for a clue on how Kai would react to his news.

“He isn’t what he seems. He is far more powerful than he lets on… and far more manipulative,” Jimmi said after a moment of silence.

This certainly wasn’t news to Kai. “No one is perfect.”

Kai was not blind to his brother’s flaws. The pair had been together since the start, taking care of—and looking out for—each other. They had learned to get along despite their many imperfections.

“He was working for the First,” Jimmi stated bluntly, clearly done tiptoeing or attempting to soften any blows he may deliver. “I found out, and he forced me to leave.”

Kai laughed, not sure what Jimmi was playing at. The whole thing had to be a joke.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but when you finally decide to take on the First, Vrethie won’t stand by your side. He will be against you.” Jimmi’s face hardened.

You're serious!

Kai shook his head.

“Bullshit!” Kai threw his spoon into the bowl of soup, sloshing the broth over the rim and onto the table and leaving Pollock-like spatters on the plastic tablecloth. Jimmi jumped at the clatter it made and looked up, wide-eyed at Kai as he stood. Before storming out of the establishment, Kai grabbed the cowering con artists from the table he had forcefully seated them at before guided them back to Roscoe’s.