NOVEL NEXT Chapter 58: Kai and Mei
"I WANT TO GO HOME!!!" Mei's voice tore through the air, louder, rawer than before. She clutched her brother's legs with such force that Kai had to shift his stance just to stay upright, his casted arm straining against her desperate grip.
"THERE I COULD DO EVERYTHING… I'D WAKE UP, WATCH ANIME, BE WITH YOU, GO TO SLEEP… AND HERE, HERE IT'S TOO HARD!!!" she wailed, the words tumbling out in a frantic, almost incoherent torrent.
Kai just stood there, silent, his heart heavy, watching his sister unravel before him. He wanted to say something, anything, but the truth was a bitter weight he couldn't bring himself to speak.
"TAKE ME HOME!!!" Mei screamed again, louder still, her voice cracking under the strain. She knew the demand was selfish, maybe even cruel to ask of him, but the intensity of her longing left her no choice.
Kai's jaw tightened. He looked down at her, heart aching with helplessness, torn between the impossible and the promise of being the anchor she needed.
"Let's go to the Safe House…" Kai finally muttered, his voice low, almost hesitant.
Mei slowly lifted her gaze toward him. Her eyes shimmered with tears that clung stubbornly to her lashes, refusing to fall yet making her vision blur.
When their eyes met, Kai felt the rawness of her pain stab through him like a knife. Her sorrow didn't ease at his words — it only deepened, spreading across her face in trembling waves.
She couldn't stop crying. The tears ran freely now, sliding down her cheeks in an endless stream, each sob catching in her throat.
Kai stood there, frozen, powerless. Every sob seemed to reach into his chest and crush his heart a little more. He wanted to say something — anything — that would take her pain away, but the words lodged in his throat.
Kai bent down and, with a steady but careful motion, lifted Mei from the ground into his arms.
She felt so fragile, almost weightless, as if sorrow itself had drained the strength from her body. He cradled her in a princess carry, her head resting limply against his shoulder.
The mud from her shoes and the edges of her skirt smeared across his clothes, leaving dark stains that spread with every step he took. He didn't care. His grip on her only tightened.
Her soft sniffles filled the silence between them, each one a sharp reminder of her grief. Sometimes it was a shaky sigh, other times a broken whimper, and every sound burrowed deeper into Kai's chest.
He could feel her tears trailing down, warm at first before cooling against his skin, soaking into the fabric of his sleeve and arm.
With every step toward the Safe House, the weight on him grew heavier — not Mei's body, but the sorrow she carried. Mei felt unbearably warm, fragile like glass that could shatter at the smallest touch.
Kai lowered his gaze to her for a brief moment. Her eyes were half-lidded, swollen from crying, her breath uneven.
He walked on, step after step, until finally the shape of the Safe House emerged before him. Reaching the door, he shifted Mei gently in his arms and pushed it open.
Kai's chest ached. With every heartbeat, with every breath, something inside him cracked a little more. He wanted — needed — to fall to his knees, to let the grief pour out of him as freely as Mei's tears.
But...
He couldn't. If he broke now, if he surrendered to the weight pressing on his soul, they'd never make it to the bed. She needed him standing, holding, enduring.
So he bit back the storm in his chest. He kept walking, one slow, deliberate step at a time, each one heavier than the last. For his sister's sake, he had to endure — even if it meant carving away another piece of himself. Even if it left him hollow.
He slowly passed by Lily and Miyuki, their figures frozen in the hallway. The two of them stared wide-eyed, their lips parting as if to speak, yet no words dared to leave their throats.
The sight before them — the weight Kai carried, the brokenness etched into Mei's face — left them silent.
Kai didn't meet their gaze. He just kept walking, his arms wrapped firmly around his sister as though the world itself might try to take her from him if he loosened his hold even for a second.
Finally, he reached their room. Pushing the door open with his shoulder, he stepped inside. He lowered Mei onto the bed.
The sheets quickly stained, smeared with the mud from her clothes. Her hair clung damply to her cheeks, her face pressed into the pillow as fresh tears spilled, soaking into the fabric.
Kai crouched, his knees pressing into the floor, and his fingers wrapped carefully around her calf. He moved slowly, deliberately, as if cataloging every curve beneath the thin cotton of her sock.
With careful precision, he slid off her shoe. He could feel the faint tremor of her leg beneath his touch, and a faint, involuntary shiver ran up his spine.
His hand remained around her leg, feeling the thin fabric of her white socks.
Lily stood silently in the doorway, a quiet presence he hadn't noticed until now. Kai's gaze flicked toward her briefly, just a quick acknowledgment, before returning to Mei's leg. His fingers lingered for a moment longer on the soft white sock, then he bent to remove the other shoe.
His hands adjusted the sock slightly, smoothing it over the curve of her foot. Kai's eyes followed every small movement, catching the way the cotton folded at the toes and stretched over the heel.
"Are you ok?" Lily asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper, but he didn't look up. He ignored her entirely, focused entirely on the small task in front of him.
When he finally lay down on his bed, his gaze never left Mei. "What's happening to me?" he thought, a flicker of confusion crossing his features.