Chapter 31

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I have no excuse for the long hiatus. I was a bit distracted and I did lack motivation for this story, but thanks for sticking by for those who are still reading :)

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Cass was currently in the kitchen washing dishes, while Hiro was at the kitchen table playing games on his phone. The environment was quiet and peaceful, until the door downstairs burst open and then slammed shut. This caught the twos attention. "Aunt Cass!" yelled Tadashi, Cass placed down the plate she was washing and dried her hands while rushing over to the stairs. "Tadashi! Where have you been? It's late and--." Cass stopped mid sentence when she saw her nephew carrying an unconscious Kitiara. Hiro approached the scene, his eyes widening a bit, "What happened to her?" he asked with concern. "I'll explain later, right now we need to get her fever down. Her clothes are soaking wet too." said Tadashi. Cass regained her composure and nodded her head. "Tadashi, take her to the bathroom. I'm going to bring a change of clothes for her. After, go fill a bowl with cool water and a towel. Hiro, I'm going to hand you a bag that has Kitiara's wet clothes and you're going to take it to the laundry room and put them to wash. Okay?" she said to the two, they both nodded and got to work.

*Time Skip*

Kitiara laid on Tadashi's bed with a towel on her forehead. Tadashi came in with a bowl of water, and he made his way over to the bed. He grabbed the towel that was on Kitiara's forehead and dipped it in the bowl. He ringed it and started to gently wipe her forehead. Tadashi stared at her for a bit, thinking what he could've done to help Kitiara more. Maybe he could've insisted more, and this whole thing could've been prevented. He dropped the towel back in the bowl, and he looked up at Kitiara. He saw the dark circles formed under her eyes, clearly she lacked sleep. He reached over and moved a strand of hair from her face, his hand staying there longer than needed. Tadashi sighed and moved his hand away from her face, he grabbed the bowl and left the room heading back to the kitchen.

He saw his Aunt talking on the phone and seemed to be a bit upset. "I understand that you got a lot of work over there, but Kitiara needs you here. Yeah her fever seems to be coming down. *Sighs*, okay, I'll keep a close eye on her till you come back, bye." Cass hangs up the phone and slumps down on the couch. Tadashi placed the bowl on the counter and made his way over to the couch. "Is everything alright? Is her uncle coming?" he asked. Cass sighs and leans back on the couch, "Not anytime soon, he said he has some clients over there that are giving him a hard time. He's gonna try and postpone the meeting, but knowing Luis, I doubt he will." she said. Tadashi was a bit annoyed by Kitiara's Uncle, "He seems to never be there for her. I get that he's busy with his work and all, but he doesn't seem to take the time to spend time with her. I'm sorry, it just bothers me a bit, his niece is sick and he doesn't make an effort to come see her." he said sitting next to his Aunt with his arm on his knees.

Cass places a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Oh Tadashi, it's true Luis could put in a little more effort, but he could only do so much. The important thing is that she has us now, and that's what matters the most, okay." she said. Tadashi looked at her and then nodded in agreement. Cass gave him a soft smile. "Well I'm gonna have the café closed tomorrow so I can keep an eye on Kitiara." she said. "I don't have classes tomorrow, I can keep an eye on her and that way you can keep the café open." Tadashi offered. "Oh okay, but I'll still come up and check on her and how she is," said Cass. "Okay, I'll come down and help for a little bit too. I know tomorrow is gonna be a busy day for the café." Cass placed a hand on Tadashi's cheek, "Oh your amazing sweetie, I'd really appreciate it." she said smiling.

The next day both Tadashi and his aunt were busy at work attending to customers in the café. It had gotten pretty busy, since it was currently a lunch rush. After all the customers had been served, Tadashi went ahead and cleaned up the café a bit. Cass came up to him, "Hey why don't you go check on Kitiara? I'll finish up here." she said and grabbed the broom from him and continued sweeping. Tadashi washed his hands and took off his apron and went upstairs. He headed towards the kitchen to grab a bowl and towel for Kitiara. He then climbed the stairs to his and Hiro's shared room, Tadashi then walked over to his side and gently pushed the divider to the side revealing Kitiara still sleeping on his bed. He made his way to the side of the bed and set the bowl down, then dipped in the towel. He brought it up to Kitiara's face and gently dabbed it. After wiping her face he touches her forehead, "Looks like your fever's gone down, that's good." he said. Removing his hand, and laying them on his lap and staring at Kitiara, with a sigh he looked away and stood up grabbing a book and sat back down.

Some time had passed and by now Tadashi was starting to doze off a bit, but his sleepiness quickly faded away when he saw Kitiara slowly stirring. He quickly closed his book and scooted closer to the bed. Kitiara slowly opened her eyes and started to look around, confused. She made an attempt to sit up, but was stopped. "Woah, woah. Take it easy." said Tadashi. "Ugh, what happened? Where am I, the hospital?" she asked groggily. "No, you're at my place. You fainted when we were walking last night, you also had a pretty high fever. Thankfully it wasn't dangerously high." Kitiara was a bit surprised that she had fainted, but then again she was fighting a cold, and going out in the rain didn't make it any better. She rubbed her forehead to help her remember what happened last night, also to help soothe her throbbing head.

"Was I out for long?" she asked. "No, you slept all night and most of today. How do you feel?" he asked her. "My head is throbbing, and I guess my arms are a little sore." she said gently massaging them. "Do you remember what happened last night?" he asked. Kitiara stopped what she was doing, and just stared at her hands, "Yeah." was all she said. Her expression saddened, as she remembered the details of last night, her visiting her parents' graves, her weeping in front of Tadashi and then everything went black. She slowly brought her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly, "Sorry you had to see that side of me. It's been a hard couple of weeks, you could say." she said while avoiding Tadashi's eyes. Tadashi tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, this caused Kitiara to look at him. Kitiara's heart skipped a beat when she saw Tadashi's expression. He held such kindness in his eyes and smile, that said it's okay and that he understood what she was going through. Kitiara slowly lifted her head, the two didn't exchange words, just stared at each other causing Kitiara to smile slightly.

They broke eye contact when they heard a knock on the door. It turned out to be Cass, "Oh, Kitiara! I'm so glad to see you awake, we were so worried." she said and gave Kitiara a big hug. Kitiara chuckled a bit and gently patted Cass's back, "Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys." she said. Cass pulls away, "Oh sweetie, you have nothing to be sorry about. We kinda knew you were going through a hard time, but how come you didn't come to any of us to talk to? We would've been happy to help or just listen." said Cass. Kitiara looked down sadly, "I know and I could've, but I felt like I deserved to be alone. It was my fault for what happened to my parents. If I hadn't gone to that science fair they would've still been here." she explained. Cass and Tadashi looked at each other than at Kitiara, Cass put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Sweetie, what happened to your parents wasn't your fault. They wanted you to go to the science fair and have fun. You couldn't have known about the accident, nor could you have prevented it. I'm sorry for what happened to them, and I know that after all this time, it still hurts. I know the feeling, but it's also important to surround yourself with people that care about you. With time you'll be okay." she said while slightly squeezing Kitiara's shoulder. She gave Cass a slight grin and nodded, "You're right, I think it's time for me to finally get closure. I just wish I could've told them thanks for everything they've done for me and how much I loved them." she said while a tear ran down her cheek, she wiped it away and took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tadashi rubbed her back and gave her a reassuring smile, "Everything's going to be alright, we're here for you." he said. Kitiara smiled at him, while on the other hand Cass saw the interaction between the two and smiled widely. She went over to the door and clapped her hands together.

"Alrighty, I closed the café for the rest of the day. So? Who's hungry?" The two laughed at this and nodded their heads in agreement. Tadashi helped Kitiara stand up from the bed, she wobbled a bit but Tadashi held her up by her waist, "Woah, I gotcha." he said with a small chuckle. Kitiara also let out a small chuckle, she then cleared her throat, "I think I got it now." Tadashi instantly let go and turned away from her, so she couldn't see the blush forming on his face. "Yeah, uh sorry about that." he said, turning back to her. She chuckled, "Hey you're fine, thanks for not letting me fall on my face." she said and walked off. Tadashi smiled to himself and followed behind Kitiara.

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⏰ Last updated: Aug 19, 2023 ⏰

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