Royal Disaster

the disastrous explanation

I was hiding again. But this time, I wasn't alone. Aiko was holding them off from me like a bodyguard, at least, she was trying to.

"Kaia, please, let me explain!"

"What, your third time? Unfortunately for you, third time's not the charm, here," Aiko snapped through the door, pounding on it with her fist.

I smiled at my lap, but it didn't last very long before another sad frown dragged it down.

"Kaia!"

All of this pounding was not by Kurt or North. Irritatingly enough, Arthur was the one so desperate and it was a far cry from what he'd been screaming at me days earlier.

Tugging a pillow onto my lap and digging my head in, I listened as the door creaked open and Aiko shouted, "Fuck off."

"No, I need to explain."

"You've done enough."

"No!" The whoosh of a door sounded before a thump. I peeked up from the pillow to see Arthur holding it open, his gaze focused determinedly on me. Shaking my head, I looked away and slipped off the bed. "Kaia, please!"

Aiko was silent and when I turned to her as I stepped in front of the door leading to the adjoining bathroom, she watched me, her eyes telling me she was ready to shove him out of the door if he so much as touched me without my permission.

I avoided Arthur's pleading gaze, turning back to the door and twisting the knob. The one con with having Aiko be the one with me is that she tended to prefer face-to-face confrontations versus door-to-face shouting matches. I stepped into the bathroom, one hand clenched tightly in a fist as I was reminded that my parents were missing and he didn't tell me until that phone call.

"Kaia, I'm not done explaining myself," he sighed. Aggravation lined his words and the fact that he felt that way about me, after keeping so many secrets that I needed to know, had my blood boiling over.

Spinning on my heel, my hand still tightly grasping the knob, I snarled, "You're aggravated with me? Are you fucking serious! I don't give a damn that you're not fucking done! Nothing is going to take away the fact that my parents are kidnapped and are in danger because of your family. So, excuse me if I don't want to fucking listen."

Before I could turn back around, he thundered, "I know that! But that doesn't mean you shouldn't hear what I have to say next."

"What could you possibly say that would make this situation better?" I asked him, finally letting go of the knob, spinning around, and closing the distance to poke at his chest with a glare. "Unless it's details as to where my parents are, then whatever you have to say next is worthless."

We were glaring at each other, my storming dark brown eyes to his burning ones, green flecks flashing angrily. Our chests rose and fell heavily as if the half of a minute shouting fest were some marathon we'd just run. My teeth gritted together as my eyes flared when one hand reached up to his chest and curled around my finger tightly. With his grip on my finger, he tugged me even closer, so that our chests were pressed against each other, breaths mingling between us.

I briefly registered Aiko stepping towards us warningly, but before she could get any closer, North appeared in the doorway, one arm wrapping itself around her waist and pulling her struggling self out of the room. The door slammed shut, pulling me out of my angry reverie.