Hello, Kenzo

Wrong Fate

The cold breeze of the night blew through the entire bay area, but instead of comfort, it sent shivers down my spine as I stared at Kenzo standing a few feet away from me, his eyes looking straight into mine. His rage could be felt just by staring at him. My own breath came out shaky and unsteady, and despite the fact that I did not do anything to be this guilty, I could not help it.

"K..Kenzo," I breathed, slightly turning my head to where time went.

Kenzo walked to me; his hands were shoved deep in his pants pockets. He did not look happy. "Let's talk!" He demanded, his voice still calm. He looked like a stone statue, and his expression was blank.

My shoulders lowered, and I looked back up at him, my blue eyes locked on his. "I am with someone."

"I know, but I will try to understand it." His voice sounded angry, annoyed, and strained as he tried to keep in his emotions.

I saw Tim coming with a tray full of food, and immediately, I saw his face turn sad. "I'm the worst!" I exhaled as I held Kenzo's hand.

"I guess my time is up?" Tim sadly put down the tray of food on the table. "Hi, I'm Timothy!" He weakly smiled, handing over his hand to Kenzo, who did not take it. Tim retracted, and his smile fell further.

I sighed. "I'm really sorry, Tim!" I said as I looked back at Kenzo, seeing how his eyes were now more focused on me than on Tim. His expression softened, though he was still angry. His eyebrows furrowed even more.

"Why? You did nothing wrong; you needed a friend, so I came. Nothing more than that, and you clarified that." Tim smiled. "So, you want a lift back home?"

"No, we can manage." Kenzo cut him and grabbed my hand before pulling me away from Tim, and I almost tripped trying to keep up with his long strides. I let myself get dragged by him. He never slowed down once or made any attempts for small talk. This is definitely a side to Kenzo that I've never seen or knew existed before.

We took a taxi back to my apartment, and when it pulled over, Kenzo stepped out first, and I followed him quietly, my hand tightly gripping onto his hand. He let go after we entered the room. "What was that, Stella? I was out of your school waiting for you to come out after class, but goodness, I ended up catching every bus just to trace where you went!"

My heart sank. I had messed something up again. I plopped down on the sofa and remained with my head down. "Sorry," I whispered, my voice cracking. I wiped the tears that began welling in my eyes, but they kept falling. I sobbed, hiding my face behind my hands. "But before you let out all the rage you need to vent out of me, could you wait for next week? I don't think I could handle more frustrations now."

"What?" Kenzo yelled, "How can you do this to me? Can you just please tell me what you are going through?" He sat beside me on the couch and pulled me close to him, hugging me. I sobbed against his chest and cried my heart out. All I wanted was to tell him everything, but I didn't even know how.

"What's wrong?" Kenzo's voice suddenly broke and I froze. He hugged me tighter. "Stella?" he asked again, concerned.

But instead, I kept crying. I did not know where to start in fear that everything I had now would end if I ever started.

"Are you pregnant?" He said out of the blue, stopping my sobs abruptly.

"What are you saying?" I moved slightly away from him to look into his eyes.

I saw his face fall. "You're pregnant, aren't you? You have been acting differently and..." He trailed off and averted his gaze. "You kept brushing me off away of you. It was not like you, I knew there was something wrong. So, I'm begging you to let me know what is wrong, so I can do something. I cannot just let you handle all this on your own! This is beyond insulting Stella! I badly wanted to shout at you for making me feel so lame, but I could not do it; instead, I had to do something, to look for a job without letting you know so that when our baby comes, I could...I could give something, a little for him or her! I feel so small, Stella, I tried to set aside how you brought our land back to us, so please, let me be a father and a partner to you."

Kenzo broke down into painful tears. I could feel every bit of his pain in his tears as his hands clutched the fabric of his trousers, trembling with emotion. I looked away; I could not stand to see him hurting this much.

Suddenly, I heard him sniffle, wiping away his tears. "So please, Stella?"

My heart wanted to rip open in joy, knowing how much he was being open to his emotions and how he was getting ready to be a father.

"Oh, Kenzo," I hugged him in so much awe, still in disbelief at how grateful I am to have found someone like him. He loves me. He cares for me. He wants me. "Hey, I didn't know I was hurting you that much. The land I bought, I did not want you to know about that, I just want to give something back to your family for accepting me without any judgments. And I was ignoring you for some time because I was afraid to make a mistake, I might lose you forever, though I had recently a hunch about being pregnant but gladly I was not. So you don't have to work if that is the only reason why you decided to."

"You are not pregnant?" he asked as if he were really hoping to.

"No, not now!" I laughed lightly. I could not stop smiling from ear to ear. This time, Kenzo hugged me too. I thought for sure he was going to cry again from joy at hearing my words. But no, he just pulled away and stood up from the sofa. "That is...that is relieving."

"Kenzo, we cannot have a child now. I know we lost Kenza before but now is not the right time. You still have to finish your studies and find a good job."

"Oh yeah, I know that. I had to be something better so that I am fit to be presented to your family, to be your husband," Kenzo said, putting down his hands on the kitchen countertop. His expression hardened as his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Don't worry, I will work hard."

He then walked towards the door but turned around as he reached for the doorknob. "See you then next time; take care of yourself. I love you."

As he disappeared, I plunged down the sofa and let myself drown in all the disappointments and guilt that weighed my shoulders down. "Why did it have to end up this way?"

I shouted and grabbed a sofa pillow to throw when Kenzo came rushing back to me and hugged me tight.

"What is..."

Just as I was about to ask him, Dani came inside and dragged my hair in her hands, rummaging it in such a rough manner that it made me whimper out of pain. "His life is wasted because of someone as worthless as you!"

"WHAT?!"

"Viel is dead! He's gone! He's gone, Stella! My fiancé died because I was running after you to help you to have the right mind."