Medley

46: TEMPORARY LOVE.

In the afternoon, after getting some work done at the shop, I drive to the shelter like every Wednesday. Kai is waiting for me on the bench by the main entrance when I arrive.

"Hey! I was hoping we could take a minute to talk before coming in?"

"I'm not going down the same road we went last time, if that's what you're trying to do."

He actually looks calm. A bit nervous perhaps. Maybe even a little embarrassed, but there are no signs of the shattered man I saw two days ago.

"Far from it, Emi. I just want to apologize, again. I can't stand to lose you as a friend. I was out of line and I said a lot of things I regret. I need to make sure you understand I let the hurt speak for me but that is absolutely not what I think of you. You're my favorite person in the whole world."

"And you're one of mine, Kai. But what we've had all these years, this friendship, that's all you'll ever get from me. Which I think it's a lot considering how close we are, I hope it's enough."

"It is. Having you in my life is more important than what I have you as."

His big gray eyes that had been intently staring at me this whole time suddenly drop to look down at the ground.

"But please know that when he breaks your heart I will be here for you, as always. That will never change."

It makes me so mad that he's convinced Harry and I are doomed, but before I jump at his throat I want to hear the reasoning behind such affirmation.

"Why are you so sure he'll break my heart?"

"Have you seen how long relationships last for celebrities? People like him lead lives too complicated and superficial for people with normal lives like us. I'm sorry, I'm not saying this to hurt you. I just want you to be fully aware of the possibility that what you have with him is temporary."

Of course this is a possibility, it's just one that I don't want to contemplate.

I should be angry at Kai for bringing this up, but I can't. He's right. I, myself have thought that Harry might be just passing by, that one day soon he'll leave for whatever part of the world he's going next and never come back.

"I know it won't be easy, but if I don't take the risk I'll never know. I have no idea how long a love can last in a world like his, but I am beyond convinced that it's worth finding out. I want to find out."

The rest of the day goes by in the blink of an eye.

After a warm, friendly hug and the commitment from both of us to leave everything that happened in the past, Kai and I spend our time together at the shelter slowly returning to our normal selves. I've got my friend back.

I am both happy and relieved, but he's planted doubt in me that I had tried really hard to shun.

Today, our friend Sasha is back at the shelter. She's only nineteen years old and almost eight months pregnant. Her very conservative parents did not approve of her conceiving a child at such young age and outside of a marriage, so they kicked her out of their house and she's been in and out of the shelter since.

A couple of friends give her a hand whenever they can so she doesn't have to stay here all the time.

I can't understand how someone can abandon their child like that, specially knowing she's carrying a child of her own inside of her.

Some people should be denied the right to procreate.

And by that, I mean her parents, not her.