Finding Life Again

CHAPTER 7

In the end, Kai called his mother back on Wednesday. Talking to her always put him in a bad mood. The only thing he could do was getting over it as soon a possible.

"Elaine is getting married next month. As you know, of course. I don't understand why you haven't confirmed your invitation yet. I assumed that you must be busy, so I did it for you. You don't have to stay for the party, but you should be present at the ceremony." Elaine was his cousin and a nightmare, who Kai had to handle all his childhood. She was a bully and a person who happily outed him to everyone in his family at their Christmas dinner when he was only fifteen. She also became a good friend of Nolan with the time. They grew close when he occasionally visited Kai's family.

"I'll think about that. I have no reason to be there. It's not like we've ever been close to each other." Kai sat on the sofa in the living room, holding a cup of tea, staring at the silly TV show and hoping to end this topic as soon as possible.

"She is your family, and you should respect that and be there on such an important day for her. There is no harm in that, and there will be many other people who would love to see you."

"Who?" No one ever called him to ask how was he. Only his siblings would send him an occasional message.

"For example, your grandparents also don't forget about twins. They haven't seen you in ages. Do you want them to forget that they have a brother? You never come to visit, or maybe you don't care about that?" Kai put the glass on the table. He stayed silent, trying to even out his breath.

They should be somewhere in the last years of high school, judging by the age gap between them.

"I may come home then, but I can't promise I will attend the wedding." He sighed.

They hung up, and Kai went to take a nap feeling mentally exhausted.

Kai grew up in a family where you couldn't show your feelings, and no one showed them to him either. His nanny was the closest person to him before he and Noah were old enough to look after each other. Without the support of his family, Kai learned to take care of everything for himself. This annoyed Noah, who wanted Kai to rely more on him. The twins were different. They always had each other. It was the reason he didn't think so much about them. He felt that they didn't need him.

In the afternoon, Kai was rambling around his workroom, sorting out the items and works. Putting canvas in order, drawings in the black boxes, notebooks and small assignments separately. He went through all those forgotten pieces of art, which Kai could tell were good. He started to feel tired as he spent there a good couple of hours. Occasionally, staring at the beautiful watercolour landscapes, oil modern abstractions or cute animal drawings they left for eachother on their notes with Nolan. He wondered if Nolan kept them or threw them away. The cleaning process had a healing touch on his mind but also brought memories full of nostalgia. Kai looked at his dirty tracksuit and decided to take a shower and finish cleaning the following day.

The moment Kai got up from the floor, the doorbell rang. He walked out of the workroom heading to the main door.

"Hi! Can I come in?" Blond head picked out of the door.

"Sure." Kai let Noah in and started walking to the living room.

"I had to hand over my work to the professor, so I decided to come by. Hope you don't mind?" Noah followed him and collapsed on the sofa.

"I don't mind, and you are already here." Kai chuckled, shaking his head while he noticed that Noah completely ignored him. 

"Doing that assignment about poetry was such a pain. I'm not good at that, like at all. I like to write actual stories, you know. I'm so glad it's finally over." He sighed loudly, and Kai noticed how tired Noah looked when he rested his head on the sofas' backrest.