Bold-Mandarin/Chinese
Normal-English
Italics- Thoughts
(Edited)
A/N- I aged them up to 15
October 10, 2009
Kiara looked around at her vacant room. There were so many memories there. Some good, like her father taking her to her first art competition in second grade. She won second place and was awarded three hundred dollars. She and Dre lost their first tooth in that same room. Dre dared Kiara to jump from her dresser to her bed. She missed and landed on Dre, making one of their front teeth come out. Kiara becoming engrossed in the world of visual art. This mainly stemmed from drawing on her bedroom wall when she was five. Sherry decided it was best to put her in art classes to prevent Kiara from making murals on her walls again. Sherry had her old friend, Lin Huang, instruct her. Her main four art styles were sculpting, photography, painting, and drawing. She also took up basketball when Dre forced her to play with other kids. She was quite good at it, even though she only played through middle school.
With the good memories, there were also bad memories. There was the time she broke her foot while playing basketball with Dre and some other kids and her father carried her while she cried. The time she got detention for fighting, she got punished for two weeks. Then the hardest memory to relive was her father's death. Her eyes immediately drifted to the patched hole above her dresser. She didn't remember hitting the wall, all she remembered was her Uncle Charlie grabbing her out of the destroyed room. There was a broken mirror, glass shards all over the room, and footprints on her closet door. Sherry got both Dre and Kiara therapy, which slightly helped with Kiara's anger and guilt. But, she could never fully forgive herself.
She shook her head and huffed. She opened her closet door and looked at her memories through the years. The pictures she stuck on the inside of her closet door almost overlapped each other. She saw pictures of her and Dre at an art competition she won. There was one of her and Sherry outside of school. There was one of Ms. Lin and herself laughing while sitting at a half-completed canvas. There was one of her and her ex-boyfriend Luca Wills, making faces. She scoffed at that picture and ripped it down. She tore it up without a second thought.
He was a waste of two perfectly good years
She threw the ripped-up pieces on her old desk, that was getting thrown out. She went back to her closet and took the pictures down. Her eyes lingered on one specific photo. It was one of her father holding Dre in his arms while Sherry held Kiara. She slowly took it down and smiled at it. A knock came from the door, she looked around the closet door and saw Dre standing there.
"What's up?" Kiara asked.
"Can you tell me why there are bits of Luca on the desk?" He asked. She simply shrugged.
"Nope. No idea how that happened" She said, playing dumb. He laughed a little.
"I still can't believe you dated him," Dre said as he stepped further into her room.
"Yeah me neither" Kiara scoffed.
"I consider our time together a learning experience. So that I know what not to do in my future relationships" Kiara smirked. Dre looked at her in a serious manner.
"You weren't the problem," He said.
"I know. I'm just saying" Kiara said, as she began taking the pictures off of her door. Dre didn't know the severity of Luca's actions. His actions were bad but the words he spoke
"Mom said we gotta be out in ten minutes" He informed her. She nodded and continued to take the pictures down
"I'll be out in a sec," She said before putting the pictures in her bag along with two of her six cameras, her lip balm, socks, wallet, and mascara. She had her hair in a low ponytail. Her fingers were decorated with rings and black nail polish.
"Do you want to move?" Dre asked.
"I don't really care." She said honestly.
"If I could take all of our family to China, there would be nothing left for us here," she said looking at her brother.
"What about your friends?" Dre asked. Kiara chuckled a bit. She didn't really have friends. Any friends she may have had dissolved after she and Luca broke up.
"What friends?" She asked with a smile.
"Right. You're a gothic loner" Dre said honestly. She rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly on her way out of her old room.
"I'm not even goth," Kiara said rolling her eyes.
"How are you an athlete and an artist, but you stay alone," Dre asked following behind her.
"Please stop talking," Kiara said in a serious tone.
"Ok. I'm shutting up....no more talking...." Dre said.
"Dre! Kie! C'mon, we have to leave now!" Sherry called out. Kiara's eyes widened as she turned to her brother.
"You said ten minutes," She said.
"I thought she said ten" Dre said defensively. She rolled her eyes.
"How?!" Kiara asked.
"Im gonna be honest... I wasn't paying attention" Dre answered. Kiara groaned and grabbed her suitcase and duffle bag and left the apartment with Dre in tow. They walked downstairs and saw that it was raining heavily. They also saw their family standing there, wanting to see them off.
"What was taking so long?" Sherry asked as they walked to their mother.
"Don't trust Dre with messages" Kiara said scowling at her twin. She looked outside through her family. Hugging them. Saying goodbye. A few tears were shed when she had to say goodbye to her Aunt Maxine, who was also moving in a few months. She looked to her far left and saw someone she never wanted to see again.
"What is he doing here?" She said with anger in her voice. Dre looked in the direction she was in and saw the ex from hell standing in the rain without an umbrella.
Dramatic as always
"I don't know but he looks like a serial killer and stalker," Dre said.
"Maybe he wants to say goodbye and make peace," Sherry said with a light smile. Kiara never told her mother why she and Luca broke up, if she did, Sherry would raise hell.
"I have nothing to say to him," Kiara said coldly.
"Can you please talk to him?" Sherry pleaded with her daughter. Kiara couldn't figure out why her mother would ask this of her, but she didn't want to talk back.
"Just to tie up loose ends" She added. Kiara sighed and made her way to Luca. She stopped four feet away from him. His shoulder-length light brown hair was sticking to his freckled face and neck. His green eyes silently pleaded with her.
"You look disgusting. What do you want?" Kiara deadpanned.
"Hey," Luca said lightly smiling. She was unamused. He cleared his throat and stood a little taller.
"I wanted to say goodbye before I never saw you again," he said. Kiara nodded.
"You said it. Bye," she said as she walked back towards her family.
"Kie" Luca said as he grabbed her hand. Kiara quickly ripped her hand away.
"Don't fucking touch me" Kiara said pointing at him.
"Calm down," He said, not thinking. Kiara tilted her head slightly and squinted.
Calm down?
Did he just say calm down?
'Shove the umbrella up his—'
Kiara's vision began to periodically blurred as her grip on her umbrella tightened and she stepped closer to him.
Breathe.....
"This is as calm as I am gonna get dealing with you," Kiara said, gaining control of her anger.
"I'm sorry Kie. I never meant to hurt you" Luca spat out.
"You're sorry that you brought up my dead father in an argument? Or are you sorry you cheated? With your best friend nonetheless and I had to catch you" Kiara asked sarcastically. In her head, he had everything to be sorry for.
"I'm sorry for all of it. It was wrong of me to bring up your dad. And I should've never cheated." Luca said as a tear rolled down his cheek. Seeing him cry still hurt her, even though she knows that they are phony tears.
"I never wanted to hurt you" he continued. She huffed and looked away from him.
"C'mon Mini Picasso. I love you and you know that" Luca said, carefully grasping her free hand.
"You hurt me, Luca. You hurt me and you destroyed this relationship" she said.
"I want to fix it. I haven't been able to function without you. I can barely sleep, I can't eat...I-I see you in my dreams every night. I need you Kie" Luca said, putting her hand to his chest. Kiara could feel his heartbeat. She remembered a time when their hearts would beat as one, but now, they were different. She melted at his touch. She hated to admit it but she loved him. She would've done anything for him. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she looked away from him. He was quick to wipe her tears away and pull her in closer to him. Everything in Kiara was screaming at her to get away from him, but she couldn't move. She was stuck.
"I want this long-distance thing to work," Luca said. Kiara then snapped back to reality. She remembered all the things he would pull throughout their relationship. She remembered how he would make her cry and then she would apologize. She remembered how he would let his best friend sit on his lap, even though it made Kiara uncomfortable. Kiara couldn't believe him, she was beyond done. She snatched her hand away from his and began to chuckle.
"You're funny," Kiara said, laughing lightly.
"Kiara—" Luca said.
"Where was this humor when we were together?" She asked before hitting him in the shoulder.
"Please. I love you" Luca said.
I hate it when he says that
Kiara always hated the phrase 'I love you' when it came out of Luca's mouth. It was overused and he only said it when he messed up. She felt that it was never sincere when it came from him.
"What we had is done. I thought I made that clear when I punched you" Kiara said. The day that Kiara caught Luca and his best friend, Lola, kissing in his room, she cursed and screamed at them. Luca then said something unforgivable, she blacked out. When she came to, Lola was screaming while running away and Luca was on the floor holding his face. The next day, she found out she busted Lola's lip and gave her a black eye. She felt guilty for putting her hands on them. It was the aftermath of Luca's manipulation. But after the guilt trip, she felt numb. Completely numb.
"Kiara, please don't leave me" Luca pleaded.
"Kiara! It's time to go!" Sherry called out. Kiara turned and nodded to her mother before turning back to Luca
"Even though you're a shit boyfriend, I wish you luck with everything and if you need anything, if you're struggling, don't call me," Kiara said.
"Cause I'm not gonna give a single shit" She continued.
"No matter what you say, I'll never stop loving you," Luca said.
"Cool," Kiara said
"But I'll never make the mistake of loving you again." she continued. Kiara never thought that she would be saying this to her first love, but any love she had for him disappeared in that single moment.
"I'll wait for you. For as long as it takes" Luca said
"Then you're gonna be waiting for a long time" Kiara called out as she walked away from Luca and to the cab. She was about to get in when she heard her name being called.
"Kiara!" She heard a feminine voice yell. She turned around and saw Ms. Lin Huang, her art instructor running down the street.
"Ms. Lin!" Kiara called out. Ms. Lin reached Kiara and hugged her tightly. Kiara was her first student and Sherry's old friend. They helped her build her art school fresh out of college and become successful. Sherry smiled at the two. They had exchanged heartfelt goodbyes the night before over a glass of wine and takeout while the twins spent time with their Aunt Maxine and cousins, Ayanna and Ruby. Although Ms. Lin was thirty-two, she was a second mother to Kiara and Dre and the twins treated her as such. Dre got out of the car and hugged Ms. Lin tightly. She kissed the top of his head, her shoulder-length wet hair covering her face as she did so.
"I was afraid I wouldn't be able to say goodbye," she said to them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a wide and deep box. Kiara opened the box and saw a black watercolor paintbrush set, acrylic and watercolor paints, and four sketchbooks.
"Ms. Lin, I can't take these," Kiara said. Ms. Lin simply shook her head.
"Yes you can," she said.
"Promise me you'll use them," she said holding onto Kiara's shoulders.
"I will," she said.
"Dre, I got this for you. Don't open it until you get there" Ms. Lin said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a wrapped present. She handed it to Dre who looked at her in suspense.
"What is it?" He asked, excitedly.
"Your mom knows what it is," She said.
"That's suspicious," Dre said. She only smiled and hugged him one more time before he entered the cab.
"We have to go but we'll call. And write" Kiara said.
"You better" Ms. Lin smiled and hugged her. They broke apart and Kiara got in the taxi after Dre.
"Bye, guys! We'll call as soon as we land" Sherry called out. The driver pulled away and Kiara closed her eyes. She was grateful to be able to leave but she would miss Ms. Lin and her family. She wanted to cry. From frustration from Luca and sadness from leaving her family but she refused. She refused to go into her new home in tears.
A/N: imma give y'all a little background. So when I was seven and watching Karate Kid 2010 for the first time, I saw Cheng and instantly liked him. After years of not seeing this man after Karate Kid, I see him on TikTok. When I tell you....he is 26 and so fine. I felt like I had to write this book.
I'm just waiting for this Zhenwei Wang phase to be done (updated: It's still here)(Update to that update: ITS STILL HERE!)
A/N: THANK YOU FOR 5k READS!