CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE MELODIES ECHOING AROUND the clearing from nearby birds was a blissful sense of normalcy to her. If she focused enough, she could hear the flutter of their wings as they wandered about in the treetops and flew overhead. She also found herself listening to the gentle trotting of deer, the way the wind whistled when it gushed through and rattled branches up above, and, of course, the sound of Kai humming a song that was before her time.
Mila wasn't exactly sure how he had convinced her so easily to go back to the waterfall. Perhaps it was because she too wanted to get out of the confinements of the house and see all of the changes that had happened in their time here up close. Before, this world was unrecognizable to her, but now, despite how it seemed they had barely done anything, it was as if reality was in arm's reach.
"I know you're stalling, but it is nice to be outside. It looks even more beautiful than last time," Mila told him after they stopped at the water's edge, almost smiling at the sight of fish wiggling their way through the stream. The world's liveliness reminded her of how she truly felt underneath the confusion and worry: happy to still be existing, even if the reason was still undetermined.
Kai halts his humming to respond. "What makes you think that?"
"That's why we're out here, right?" She tilts her head away from the scenery to look at him, finding his eyes scanning the area like he was truly taking it all in for the first time. "Because whenever I try to pick up our conversation from yesterday you do just about anything to change the subject."
"I think I'm going to go for a swim." Kai nods to himself, letting his hand slip out of hers.
A scoff is released by her when he does exactly what she's accused him of. She watches him with crossed arms while he tugs at the back of his shirt, guiding the fabric over his head before he throws it on a nearby boulder. Despite the fact Mila was irritated and becoming more impatient by the minute, she couldn't help but marvel at how attractive he looked when he was shirtless.
His biceps bulged when Kai worked on undoing his pants, leaning over slightly for better leverage while he pushed them down his legs. The more he stripped, the more it became difficult for Mila to remember what she was talking about, her lips parting at Kai's lean yet muscular torso and its happy trail that disappeared into his underwear. It became worse when he finally turned towards her after kicking his shoes off, his cocky smirk telling her that she wasn't being subtle at all.
"You just gonna stand there and check me out or are you gonna join me?" Kai teased.
His words finally made her get a grip and gain control back over herself. Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing as she met his amused pair. "Why would I go in there? The water's probably cold. And you still haven't been answering my questions!"
"Mila, I will answer your questions and tell you everything I've been thinking after. With the way everything around here has been changing, we must be doing something right. So, that must mean we're close to getting out of here. This could potentially be our last day. I just want to enjoy it before we go back and have to deal with a million problems."
She sighed at his explanation, understanding the point he was making even though she planned on staying mad at him for a bit longer. In a child-like manner, she kicked some dirt loose with the sway of her foot, huffing. Mila wanted answers, things explained, so they could go home once and for all. Although, there were things waiting for her that weren't going to be easy to face. She would have to make difficult choices, decisions about her future and where exactly Kai fit in it.
Her gaze redirected from the ground back to Kai, the stubbornness evident in her eyes as she replied back to him with the lie, "You mean before you have to deal with your problems. I'm good. No one wants me dead."
"Uh, I'm your problem." He points at himself for emphasis. "Therefore, my problems are your problems. Sorry to break it you, but you don't get to stare at this pretty face all day without consequences."
"Don't I know." Mila breaks and smiles at him, relenting and deciding to do things his way.
Shaking her head, she starts to shed herself of her clothes as well, shrugging her jacket off and toeing at her shoes. Kai watches her just as shamelessly as she watched him, absentmindedly running his tongue along his lips. He eyed every freckle dotting her skin, the arches of her body, and the pale pink material that made up her bra and panties.
"Afterwards, we are going to concentrate on getting back. No exceptions." She clarifies, throwing her bundle of clothes on top of Kai's.
"Yup, I promise. Now, get over here." Kai's hands on her body quickly gains her attention, and before she can help herself she's giggling while he pulls her towards him, dragging her with him into the water.
"Oh my god, Kai! The water is freezing!" Mila screams once her feet sink into the shallow end, squirming in his arms to escape and go back. He only continues to move forward with a wide grin, holding her securely to him.
The water level was higher than last time, no longer stopping at their waists. Mila wrapped herself around him once they were deep into the water, legs hooked around his waist and arms snaked around his neck. He stopped moving once the water was at their shoulders; she shivered at the coldness, not understanding how Kai seemed unaffected.
"You'll get used to it. And, in the meantime, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to keep you warm." He cooed, pecking her lips that were morphed into a frown. She felt his hands on her thighs, caressing her more than supporting her, since her legs were already locked tightly around him.
All she bothered to do was huff at him, her scowl transforming into a pout because she couldn't help but still feel anxious about the information Kai was delaying. She knew he wasn't exactly hiding anything, which was a first. He had told her immediately that he might have an idea of why they're there and how to get back. Still, she couldn't shake the thought that whatever inspired his newfound plan wasn't anything good.
"Mila, come on," Kai drawled, spinning them around in a circle, "I don't like it when you look at me like that. It's worse than your angry face, and I see that a lot."
She swallows, looking up at him with worried eyes. "Am I not going to like it when you explain everything? Is that why you haven't told me yet?"
"No." He denies, scowling himself at her presumption. "No, that's not it. It's not like that. It's just... you don't know the full story about everything. Even when I channeled you and you were in my head, you mostly just saw my important memories, the ones who made me who I am."
"I saw a lot of you and me."
"Because you're important to me." Kai clarifies simply.
Mila smiles, letting her fingers play with the damp hairs on the nape of his neck while they continued to float. "Guess I always knew I was the highlight of your life."
Kai scoffs, one corner of his mouth curling up."You say that as if I'm not the highlight of yours."
"You're not," she claims in a convincing tone, but her enchanted features makes it an obvious lie. Her thumb strokes his cheek, an inkling of fondness in her eyes.
"Yes, I am. Highlight of your love life, sex life, social life..."
"That's only because you're the last man left in the world. Literally."
"I don't know why you continue to insult me. More than anything it just turns me on. Unless, that's your endgame. If so, we're going to be skinny dipping sooner than I thought." He resorts smugly before leaning in for another kiss.
Instead of being welcomed by soft lips and the warmth of her breath, Kai's puckered mouth inhales cold water when Mila puts all of her weight onto his shoulders and shoves him under. His feet slide across the rocky bottom, kicking some sand loose. Through the blurry lens of the water's surface, he can see Mila giggling above him. He smiles, not from the thoughts of revenge already plaguing his mind, but from seeing her so happy — because of him. It still surprised him that out of all the fear, pain, and horror he's caused, he inspired the exact opposite from her.
Right as Mila begins to ease off of him, her laughter dying down, Kai swiftly slips underneath of her. She gasps when's she raised high and out of the water, her legs dangling on Kai's shoulders when he shoots up and inhales a deep breath. Her hands find his head, one cupping his jaw and the other clutching some of his hair, trying to balance herself in the new position.
Kai angles his neck back, his wet hair tickling her abdomen. "If you wanted me to go down on you, you could have just asked."
"Pretty sure you need to be facing the other way for that to work," She says, trying to ignore his devilish eyes and suggestive smirk, two of the many things that made her lower stomach clench.
"Mhm." He hums, biting his lip for a second while he pretends to think it over. "I think I can fix that."
━━━━━
THE WATER SPEWING OUT OF the shower head came to a stop with a twist of the handle. Mila pulled the shower curtain back, reaching for a towel to wrap around her body.
From inside the steamy bathroom, she can hear Kai down the hall in his room, no doubt already clothed and waiting for her after spending their day at the waterfall. He had offered to join her, but she declined and shooed him away. She was done with the distractions. It was time for Kai to tell her everything so that she could piece together their situation and strategize ways of returning home.
Her hand wiped away the condensation coating the mirror, seeing her reflection. At first, she only saw what she expected to see: droplets of water sliding down her skin, a red hue spread across her cheeks from the heat, and her hair turned brown from dampness. But then she noticed it. A change to herself that she couldn't entirely describe or understand. She just looked different. She felt different.
Mila was by no means anywhere close to being one of the oldest vampires to ever walk earth, but she was used to who she was, what she was. And from watching everyone else's mistakes and struggles, she knew early on what worked and what didn't if you wanted to live a humane existence. She had always been good at control. She knew when to stay calm instead of panic. She went on as a vampire just as she did when was human: calculating the right move instead of taking any sort of risk.
As a human, she convinced herself that was only to keep herself and her friends safe. Especially since she knew about everything that lurked in the shadows and what those creatures were capable of. As a vampire, it was a mix of habit and not wanting to hurt innocent people. Though, because of this, because of this relentless sense of obligation, it was difficult for her to actually live.
Being a normal, carefree teenager was thrown at the window the minute she learned of the supernatural, but even before she was still like that. That's probably why she was attracted to the older crowd at her high school. What early-matured and painfully self-aware sixteen-year-old wouldn't want to befriend It Girl Elena Gilbert and all of her lively, popular friends? Being friends with them — especially when Damon came into the picture — did loosen her up, but she was still cautious. Putting every single thing on the line was always out of the question — until Kai.
Mila found herself smiling at the thought of him. She never made anything easy for him, but he also never made anything easy for her. She never wanted to like Kai let alone love him. He was a sadistic, power-hungry madman obsessed with revenge. Hating him was such an obvious choice. Even after the merge, she could have completely sided with everybody else and dedicated there was nothing worthwhile about him. Instead, she ended up putting all of her trust and faith into someone that was bound to break it. And she did it again and again and she's doing it now.
The difference, though, the one that draped over her so evidently, was that although she knew the consequences, she wasn't afraid of them. He could break her heart again. He could fully resort back to his old ways and become inconsolable. Their future if they escaped and returned alive held so many dark outcomes, and she was okay with that. She accepted the what-ifs. Because that was what living was.
Mila was finally ready to live.
A series of knocks on the bathroom door made her eject herself from her thoughts. "Hey, I heard the shower cut off. Are you done in there? I know you only left me alone for ten minutes but I'm bored and I miss you."
When Mila unlocked and opened the door, she was greeted with Kai leaning against the outside frame, his mouth formed into a pout and his wide eyes showcasing how much he wanted attention. He straightened up once he saw her, grinning at her presence. She couldn't help but smile fondly in return, acknowledging his sweetness for once.
Without so much as a pause, she steps forward and brings his lips to hers — more urgently than she intended but she missed him too. She missed holding him close, allowing her jaw to relax so her tongue could slip out and sweep his. She missed tasting him, breathing him. Maybe it was her sudden epiphany that ignited her hunger for him once more, but it didn't go unnoticed by Kai, who had his hands on her hips and was moaning softly.
"Woah, don't kiss me like that." He breathed out after pulling back.
"Why not?"
"Because you said no more distractions and the last time you kissed me that way we did some serious damage to the floorboards downstairs."
"Alright, fine. So... ten minutes without me is too much to bare?" She muses before she walks past him, and he follows her back to his bedroom. She found herself in there more often than her own.
"I figured out awhile ago that I want to fall asleep next to you and wake up with you and spend every moment in between together. Now's the only time it's possible." He shuts the door behind them, not missing the softening of her expression when she turns towards him again.
There's love written all across her face, but she still opts for saying, "If I didn't know any better I would think you were trying to get me to drop my towel."
"Well, you do have a loose thread," Kai replied in serious tone, reaching towards her and skimming the towel with his fingertips. When he pinches the fabric and tugs, the towel is ripped completely off of her and thrown to the floor. "Oops."
"I knew you would do that."
"And you didn't stop me."
"Because I need to get dressed anyway." She ignored his complacent attitude and walked over to the closet. She kept most of her things in here now, including the outfit she wore when they first arrived here, which she began to put on.
Kai fell dramatically back on the bed, sighing as he prepared himself on to approach the conversation he knew they had to have. He doesn't know why he's scared to tell her. Time and time again it has been proven that just telling her the truth worked out well for both of them. Although, Kai was aware of the impact his secret held, how it directly affected her and continued to affect her. He didn't think she would be absolutely furious but that she would still blame him nonetheless, and maybe she was right to. Maybe despite his good intentions, he ended up ruining her life.
"You know, you should have burned this thing," Mila tells him after picking up his suit jacket off the chair, dressed and grimacing at the awful choice of clothing.
"Mila."
"I mean, I know you were undercover or whatever, but really? What were you thinking?" Her hands run over the surface, her frown deepening once she felt something inside the pockets.
"Mila, I think we–" He stops himself once he sees her pull out the remains, surprised almost as much as she was by what she discovered.
He knew what they were without having to be up close. It was the polaroid he carried with him ever since he escaped the 2018 prison world, the one taken the day they were goofing off with the camera and captured a photo of Mila kissing his cheek. It was before they were technically together, and he remembered how happy both of them looked in the picture. His eyes were half-lidded and he had the biggest smile on his face while Mila's lips pressed against his skin, struggling to hold back laughter. With it was also Mila's long forgotten bracelet, a duplicate he had taken while he was still trapped in the prison world.
"Where did you get these?" She asked, a sudden gentleness found in her voice. They felt heavy in her hands just as the memories did in her mind.
"In the 2018 prison world. After Ric's delinquents set me free and I got to roam around, I went to your house. I went there everyday, actually." Kai explained, swallowing hard. The emotions, the ones he always tried to keep at bay, were fighting its way to the surface at the reminder of what life was without Mila. "Anyway, since the prison world makes a duplicate of everything, I saw them in your room and took them. I don't why. I guess I just missed you. I carried them with me all the time. I didn't know they were still in my pocket and survived the trip here."
"Well they did." Mila spoke breathlessly.
It had been years since she had been in her childhood bedroom herself, but she remembered exactly where she left anything that reminded her of Kai Parker. Before she went off to college and started a life of her own, she placed photos, unused prom tickets, movie stubs, one of his rings he let her keep, and her bracelet all in a small box that she tucked away in her bottom drawer. The image of Kai in an exact version of her bedroom, stumbling across it all made her chest tighten.
"You went there everyday?" She repeated, unable to imagine that Kai, usually so focused on manipulating his way to an escape, had took the time to do that.
"I know it was pointless. It's not like I was going to find you there. But, being stuck there was worse than all the other times. Yeah, being hunted down for sport wasn't fun and I wasn't in there for nearly as long as I was in the 1994 prison world, but it was awful. I was miserable. Not that I let anyone else know that, they would have used it against me. It was... just the only thing that made me feel better. It didn't matter that you didn't love me anymore, because you managed to once, and that was enough for me."
Mila set the objects down on the dresser and moved to sit down next him. He turned towards her, finding her staring at him with so much sentiment. She placed her hand over his, letting her chin rest on his shoulder.
She smiled slightly before she spoke. "You really thought that I could ever stop loving you?"
"Yes. I know I'm not easy to deal with."
"You're not." Mila agreed automatically, something that made Kai regain his knowing smirk. "But easy's boring. I want you to annoy me for the rest of my life."
"That's practically a done deal. Speaking of that, I think what you found proves my theory." He admits, because if he was anything in this moment, he was sure that she could handle the truth.
a/n: hi sorry it took me so long to update! school has been kicking my ass, but i'm excited to continue this story and reveal everything. only a few more chapters left!