estrange ✶ huening kai

twenty-five.

"sora! are you eating in the lunch room today?"

sora shook her head, holding up her bagged lunch, "i have some work to catch up on, so i'll eat in the library. don't wait up, okay?"

she looked down at the new cell phone she had gotten just before coming back to school. her father suddenly handed it to her, while telling her that it was long overdue. she laughed quietly, thinking about how nice it was to have him home again.

too absorbed in her own thoughts, she failed to notice someone else walking straight ahead of her. the person was also looking down and not paying attention, which resulted in the two bumping into each other.

her lunch dropped to the ground, along with the few books she was holding.

"oh, i'm sorry!" she began to grab her things, still not looking up at the person.

"it's okay- wait, sora?"

she looked up at the sound of her name, but was met with confusion. she continued to stare at the person's face, but no matter how long she stared, she couldn't place who he was.

"do i know you?"

those four words. those four words were enough to shatter his heart into pieces. as he stared back at her, it had felt like those little pieces dropped to the floor with her books, the little shards breaking into even smaller ones.

"y-you don't know me?"

she shook her head, "i'm sorry.. i can't say i do." after a moment of awkward silence, she grabbed the rest of her books, before bowing apologetically once more. sora then continued on her way, trying to shake off the weird feeling the interaction gave her.

kai could only stare after her, his whole world spinning.

so.. it was me? i put her through all of that? it doesn't make sense. how could she like me?

he continuously racked his brain for any indication that she had liked him. but all he could see were the feelings on his end.

~

"thank you, sir!" kai excitedly exited the comic book store, while holding the new edition to sora's favorite manga in his hand. he had gone to the shop every day since hearing it was sold out, just so he could get one when the next shipment came in.

~

kicking at the rocks on the pathway outside of sora's house, kai found himself yawning. shaking his head to get rid of his tiredness, kai looked down at his watch. "6am? jeez, the things i do for you, sora. who told you to go to school so early without me?"

~

"i'm pretending to ruffle your hair, since i can't from here!" he smiled, feeling his heart beat faster in his chest.

~

a ten-year-old kai had just put the last moving box in his bedroom, as he looked around the forest green walls. "guess this is home, now." noticing the window on the wall opposite from him, he walked over to open it, hoping that he could get some air moving through the stuffy room. however, as soon as he opened it, he saw the prettiest girl he had ever seen in the window across from his. 

blinking, he bent down a bit to get a better look at her. she had long, brown hair, and fair skin. she had a cute button nose, and almond eyes to go with it. the boy had felt like he was in a trance. but he soon snapped out of it as soon as she started to look in his direction. dropping to the ground to hide, he placed his hand over his chest, hoping to soothe his fast beating heart.

"kai! put on some nice clothes! we'll be eating with the neighbors tonight!"

~

he didn't want it to be true. it couldn't be.

but it was.

and now it was too late to tell her that he loved her too.