The Butterfly Effect

Bonus Chapter

"Come on, Kirsten! Run faster! Hurry!" he kept yelling, elbowing his way through the crowd. "Excuse me, coming through! Coming through! Thank you."

"Joey, wait! Please, wait!"

Lurching to stop, he turned around and spied Kirsten among the crowd a few feet away behind him with her expression so close to crying and her hand waving desperately at him. He clicked his tongue and rushed to his stepsister.

"Come on, Kirsten! What are you doing! We're going to be late!" Joey exclaimed in panic.

Instead, Kirsten stopped at her spot and began crying, breathless. "I- I'm tired... I- I don't think we- we can make it..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he soothed, lowering his body to meet her eyes. Pity washed over him to see her crying before him like that. "We're going to make it. Trust me. Now, I want you to just run as fast as you can. I'll carry your luggage."

Sobbing, Kirsten rubbed her snotty nose with the hem of her jacket as she nodded without saying anything. Afterwards, Joey let her outrun him so he could keep an eye on her. Five minutes into the departure, they finally arrived at the boarding gate with perspirations on their foreheads and their chests going up and down irregularly.

"Here," Joey breathed out, showing their e-tickets on his phone to the security. "Please, please, tell me we're not late."

"Oh, so you're Joseph Thompson and Kirsten Davies," the security remarked. "We've been calling out to you over the PA in the last ten minutes."

"We're so, so sorry," Joey pulled an apologetic face. "The traffic was really bad."

"What's with her?" the security glanced at Kirsten whose wet eyes and red nose. "Is she crying?"

Joey shifted to Kirsten's side as he forced a laugh, shrugging dismissively. "Don't mind my sister. It's her first time flying," he fibbed.

The security raised one eyebrow. "You both have different surnames."

"Yeah, stepsister actually," he answered, somehow disliking the time he had to point it out.

After getting permitted to get on passenger boarding bridge, Joey grabbed a hold of Kirsten's hand and led her to run into the plane with him still wheeling her luggage. A very attractive flight attendant welcoming them to the metal sky bird made eyes at him and per usual he would flirt back, but this time Ashley's face floated through his head and he ended up just flashing the flight attendant a taut smile then walked down to the business-class cabin.

A relieved sigh broke through Joey's nose and mouth when he finally collapsed himself on his seat. When he checked his watch, it was only two minutes to takeoff. It had been a frenzy, hectic journey from his apartment to this airplane seat and now he could breathe normally at last. He drank the mineral water down his throat in three gulps before he noticed Kirsten beside him kept hiccupping from crying and her head ducked.

"Here," he handed her a sealed mineral water, "drink it first."

After Kirsten took it and thanked him, Joey observed her face and it was visible inside her eyes that something was bothering her. Seeing that, his one arm snaked around her and he laid her head on his shoulder, rubbing her head tenderly.

"Hey, don't you worry, okay?" he eased. "You got me as your big brother. I'll never leave you behind."

"T- thanks," she trilled in a voice he could barely heard, squirming. "It- It's just... I've been having a lot on my mind lately and- and the panic made my tears burst out just like that..."

Surely, Kirsten wasn't in the state of telling him what had happened, so Joey tried to steer her mind out of her problems by saying, "Do you want to check the movies they got here?" A little smile appeared on her mouth as she nodded and straightened her body. After scrolling through the seatback screen, he said, "Hey, look! They got Big Hero 6! Let's watch it together."

Her eyes narrowed at him, straining a smile. "But you don't like cartoons."

Joey shrugged. "I can change my mind. Besides, I think you need a touch of Baymax as your personal healthcare companion."

Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "I figure you watched it, then."

"Not really. I just want to know on a scale one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" he grinned.

She couldn't help but laugh, pushing his arm playfully. It was nice to see a broad smile on her bright face again instead of tears. There was something inside him that didn't want to see her sad like that.

Right after the plane took off into the night sky, they shared a screen and AirPods with a Bluetooth adapter. Following dinner around 8:00 PM, Joey felt Kirsten's head droop on his shoulder and saw her fall asleep with her head tilting in an uncomfortable position since she wasn't using her pillow.

Very carefully not to wake her, Joey reached for his pillow and slid it under Kirsten's head after he positioned her seat to be more comfortable for her to sleep on. She stirred, but didn't wake up. He smiled as he spread a blanket over her then unplugged the AirPod from her ear and turned off the seatback screen.

They had only become stepsiblings for a year and they hadn't really spent much time together, yet somehow Joey already loved Kirsten like his own biological sister. Something about her ignited a wish in his heart to be her guardian when her father wasn't around and be the best brother she could ever ask for. And one thing for sure, anyone who ever hurt her would never walk around Earth alive again.

Joey had always wanted a sister since he was little, that was why he had taken his first karate class when he was six so he would be prepared to protect her if he ever had one. But not long after that, his mother had gotten sick that the doctor had to remove her uterus, so he must kiss his wish to have a sister goodbye. Luckily, years later God had given him a sister and she was the best of all.

It was around 10:00 PM when Joey decided to get some sleep before their arrival in three and a half hours. In a matter of seconds, he already drifted off to sleep for it had been a long, exhausting day for him with How Deep is Your Love playing through his AirPods.

"I know your eyes in the morning sun

I feel you touch me in the pouring rain

And the moment that you wander far from me

I wanna feel you in my arms again"

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