Chapter 1: Kayla
Kayla,” my mother said, with this huge smile as I made my way out the cold airport and into the sizzling 80-degree Florida weather. It’s amazing how fast one can go from cold to hot just by stepping outside. Luckily I wore some shorts and a tank top, but even that still made me hot. Meanwhile, my mother stood beside a tan suv wearing jogging pants and a sweatshirt as if it were 30 degrees outside instead of almost 90.
“Hi Mom,” I said as I gave her a big hug. My mother was 60 but barely looked a day over 30 if not younger. She was about a few inches shorter than me with curvy hips thick thighs and breasts I was jealous of. She also had no wrinkles on her angelic face and her hair was still it’s natural sandy brown color. She always said brown don’t frown and I guess it’s true because there I was 18 going on 19 and still had a baby face and barely any breasts.
“Did you enjoy your flight?” She asked. She then opened the back door and I put my bag in the car. The rest of my lugged had flown in three days before me, leaving only the one bag, luckily the AC was on blast.
“Yeah it was great,” I said. I then walked to the passenger side and got in the car, closing the door behind me. A second later my mother got in the driver's seat and closed the door behind her.
“Buckle up,” she ordered, and I obeyed. She then pulled off towards my childhood home.
“Is everyone back?” I asked, nervously, as I laid my head on the cold glass window.
“Hana is home, but Hiro is not here yet. His flight should get in sometime tonight, which is great because we have a surprise,” she said, excitedly about my step-siblings. Two years after my father died of a stroke, my mother remarried. I was ten and my step-siblings were 11. The whole thing happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to blink. I resented my mother for a long time after that, especially when she moved my room up into the attic. However, after about two years, I decided to let it go, mostly because I really liked having a big sister even if she were one year older and there were also the younger siblings that came when I was 12 and 16 because even though my mother was pushing 60 she still had viable eggs.
“Mom, you know I don’t like surprises,” I reminded her, especially since the last surprise had to do with her being pregnant and the one before that had to do with her getting married, so I was done with surprises.
“Trust me you’re all going to love this one,” she assured me.
“OK Mom, I’m only trusting you one last time,” I warned.
She chuckled, then said, “I’ll take it, but Mija, how was freshman year. I can’t believe you’re going to be a sophomore in college come August. Seems like just yesterday I was changing your diapers,” she said.
“Mom,” I said embarrassed.
“What? Can’t a mother reminisce about her baby girl?” She pouted and I laughed.
It was summer break and I had just finished my freshman year at The University of California and boy was I beat. I had chosen the school for two reasons, the first was because it had the best Veterinarian program in the country, and the second reason was because I was running away from my stepbrother and the stupid decision. We made two weeks before my senior year of high school and I wasn’t ready to face him. “Freshman year was fun. I made all A’s and I did start dating like you told me to,” I said, nonchalantly.
“Good, hopefully, you met someone better than that ex of yours,” she said about Malik Hill, who I dated from the middle of my freshman year of high school to the middle of my junior year. He was my first official boyfriend and I loved him, but right before the school year ended he disappeared, leaving behind a note saying he never wanted to see me again. I was devastated and cried for months. I did eventually get over him, but it still hurt to think about him.
“None of them have been that selfish mom, and I haven’t heard from him at all,” I assured her.
“Good. I still can’t believe he did that to you after promising me he wouldn’t break your heart,” she said, getting upset all over again.
“It’s alright mom, I’ve learned my lesson, I promise,” I assured her.
“Good,” she said. She then turned the corner towards my childhood home and I saw my stepfather get out of the car with Hiro right behind him. My stomach dropped the moment I saw him and my heart started to flutter. The last time I saw him was the summer before my senior year of high school it was right after Malik broke my heart. My crush started when I was 12 and he was 13. I just started liking boys and I started to notice him. At first, I just thought he was cute, and my best friend Rylie and I would talk about him all the time, but of course, I would throw in the whole he’s my stepbrother thing and we’d laugh. Then the summer before my senior year of high school our parents were dropping Hana off at college. They had taken our younger brother and sister with them and decided to stay for a few weeks just to see the sights while I chose not to go. Hiro was still home, packing up the rest of his stuff to go to Miami University, which was a few hours away from Glen Graven. Normally, Hiro and I rarely talked, but he seemed a lot more open probably because I was still hurting, and he wanted to comfort me like a big brother should.
He had planned that night to go out with his friends, but they canceled on him, so we were home alone. It wasn’t the first time we had been home alone, but there was something different about that night. Because we actually talked and discovered we had things in common.
I don’t know if it was the sake that Hiro had snuck from his father's cabinet and given to me, my grief from losing Malik, or if it was just my childhood crush coming full circle that made me kiss him that night. The moment I did, I apologized, then ran upstairs disgusted with myself, and hopped in the shower.
A few minutes after I finished my shower, I saw him standing in my room. I started to ask why he was there, but before I could get the chance, he was kissing me, and the next thing I knew we were having s*x. For almost a month, we were practically a couple, and then, out of nowhere, he ended it. His explanation was something along the lines of me not being ready for whatever he was bringing to the table, then he said something about family and this was all after he had called a girl over to hang out with. I'd never cried so much in my life.
Now there he was standing in the driveway looking even more gorgeous than I remembered. His eyes were a beautiful bright green which was rare in the Japanese community and, due to the intense workouts his father put him through, his body was more muscular than the average teen, and he had buffed up a bit more since then. He was gorgeous with a soft smile that made all the girls at school fawn over him and a personality that made everyone cling to his every word, myself included, which is how I ended up in that mess.