CHAPTER TWO

Her hands fell. 

"What?"

Kiara's horrified expression deepened, confusion taking its place in a split second. She shook her head repeatedly, as if that would take away what she'd just heard before slowly bursting into bubbling hysterical laughter. 

Kal's aura felt different and contaminated. In a very off putting way. He stared at her laughing form, watching her begin to clutch her stomach as jolts of laughing hiccups shot through her body. 

"This is some sick joke, how'd you come up with this one?" She snickered out, struggling to steady herself from tripping over her shoes. 

"Nope, I'm dead serious." He answered with a straight face and darkened eyes, blankly looking at a small flash of shock that disappeared from Kiara's brown eyes almost as soon as they had appeared. She stopped laughing, slowly realising the undertones of seriousness laced in his soft voice. 

"Wait, Kal you're literally talking about robbing a fucking house! Are you crazy? Do you want to be arrested!?" She grimaced as she spoke, now crossing her arms around again. 

"Would you listen to me first? I won't tell you this without any information right?"

"Just forget it. I can't do it, come on."

"Kiara, we could change our lives for good!" He snapped, startling her at his tone. "There's this house in the outskirts of town here. There's a fucking load of cash and jewelry stacked there and no one knows about it. It won't hurt to just have enough for once."

"Kal I can't do this. I'm disappointed in you, really. What if you got caught?" She questioned lowly, her usually sugary voice laced with worry. 

"That's not what's important right now. What's important is your help. I really need you to help me with this, if we're not going to get caught we'll have to do this together."

"I can't do it. This is the worst idea you've come up with. Literally." She said, dropping her hands once more as her expression contorted into worry. 

"Don't be a chicken about it."

"Now you shut the fuck up, Kal. Shut it and get your shit together! I can't believe you!" She snapped, angrily stepping back into the house before the lean boy could stop her. 

Kal looked at her as she walked through the once shut door into the small apartment. Standing uprightly now, he dusted his black jacket and blue denim pants. He made his way across the streets to his own apartment, walking in hurried, mismatched footsteps. 

Maybe I screwed up by telling her that, did I? 

He thought to himself. He'd decided not to go without Kiara in the first place, besides he couldn't go alone. He didn't want to think about the odds of success, it was better he lost while trying than not trying at all. There was nothing to lose anyway. 

He stopped at the door to the miniature building, fishing his keys out of his pockets and inserting them into the keyhole, now twisting the door knob open. He walked into his small flat, where everything served as everything. It was a tiny brick room painted olive green, with the single window draped with a piece of ivory white curtain. The bed space by the window side was just about his height in length, with the mattress serving as the only piece of furniture in the house. 

Throwing his bag by the corner of the floor where a wooden mini wardrobe stood, he plopped himself into the bed as soon as he kicked off his shoes, finding comfort in his old, pale green sheets. Unable to sleep, he reached over into his bag by the head of the mattress for a pair of earphones and plugged them in. Slowly playing a piece of pop ballad, he drifted off to sleep. 

Somewhere across the street lay a girl in her bed who stared at the dimly lit streets covered with curtains from the uncomfortable sheets that clothed the bed. 

Kiara walked into the sitting room, watching her mother carefully pour back leftovers into some plastic bowls to be eaten at breakfast. She walked across the room and into the kitchen, and hugged her mother silently, stopping the plump woman in her tracks. That was a little odd, Kiara rarely hugged her except when she was overwhelmed. 

"Baby, are you okay?" Ms Johnson asked, dropping the dish in her hands into the small sink. "And where's Kal? He didn't finish his food."

"He's gone home. I'm really sleepy, and we have work tomorrow." Kiara mumbled back, letting go of the older woman. The woman turned back to look at the pale girl half faking a yawn, a small smile gracing her lips. 

"I'll go to bed soon enough, you should go now." She said with the same sweet smile, now turning her attention to the dishes. Kiara smiled back at her form before strolling back to the sofa where she had left her backpack and shoes. She carefully picked them up and made her way through a wooden door to the right, behind the sofa and just beside the kitchen. 

The room was small just like every other thing in the house, painted a mid temperature coral and cream. There was a small desk by the corner of the room, where another door stood. Her tiny bed sat authoritatively in the centre of the room, with a small dresser at the head of the bed and the desk to its right. The ceilings hung low, a small bulb attached to its centre. The bulb however was screwed on loosely to stop it from electrical short circuiting, seeing as the ceilings were occasionally drenched by the summer rain. 

There was no shoe rack in the room, so she'd arranged her shoes by the left corner of the room, just behind the door to the room that opened to its left. She didn't even need a shoe rack, she owned only three pairs of shoes. Make that four with a pair of black flip flops. Carefully placing the black converse lows behind the door where another pair of converse highs sat alongside some cheap navy loafers, she skipped her way over to the tiny windows by the left side of the square room, drawing the curtains close and dropping the black backpack on the linoleum covered floor. 

She made quick strides to the door that led to the bathroom, not before grabbing an old, fuchsia, cotton dress to change into. The bathroom floor was cold, freezing against her pale feet. Inhaling with much effort, she changed out of the Patchos tennis shirt she'd worn in the morning without bothering to change after work. 

She was going to take a quick shower, Kal must have lost his mind that night. 

What the fuck! 

She snapped internally, furiously turning on the knob to the shower. The feel of the icy water was first like intense waves of electricity, before her skin relaxed in the unflattering water temperature. She closed her eyes, not particularly enjoying the liquid as it soon began to burn, her body beginning to heat up in internal conflict. She switched off the tap, sighing in discomfort. 

She soon wrapped her hair in an old towel, deciding to let her body air-dry in the fabric of the old dress. Stepping out of the shower, she dumped her used clothes in the laundry pile at the entrance and made her way to the bed space, plopping herself heavily onto the bed. She sighed to herself again, thinking of what Kal had said that night. 

"Let's rob a house, together."

She cringed at the thought. He had to be pulling his craziest joke yet. Yet his tone was one of utter, stamped stubbornness and determination. Yes, they lived a far from friendly lifestyle, but they've never thought of getting down and dirty in order to escape this way of life in Rapunzel's tower. For a split second, she thought about what he'd said, smacking her head for even thinking about it. 

No matter how she thought about the idea, it was a terrible idea. It was wrong and punishable, period. Not to mention it was incredibly degrading to run away with someone else's property. She couldn't do it, what would her poor mother think? 

She shrugged and closed her eyes. Even if she was best friends with Kal, she wouldn't bring herself into such a despicable act. Looking at the phone turned off beside a single pillow, she picked it up to send a goodnight text to Kal and got comfortable stretching on top of the sheets. 

No reply came back. 

-

It'd been three days since Kal had told Kiara about his idea and she'd shut him down. The very next morning, things had gone back to an unusual normal between them. But normal nonetheless. Their talks were reduced to short briefings, and Kal won't even return her texts. That was normal, but she couldn't help feeling like that was her fault. 

"Hi, uh good morning. I'd like a cup of single blend Frappé and one double shot large iced Americano with a spoon of sugar, please. And two glazed donuts." One grey hooded man said to Kiara, snapping her out of her daytime daze. She smiled in instant realisation, not wanting to offend the blond. 

"Sorry, I didn't quite get that." she chimed sweetly at the man. The confused customer sighed in slight irritation, shoving his hands into the pockets of his matching sweatpants. 

"One Frappé, one large iced Americano with a spoon of sugar and two glazed donuts please. To go."

"Okay, just take a seat, your order would be ready in a bit." She replied through the thin face mask, gesturing to one table inside the sparsely filled shop. 

She turned back to the counter and sighed, muttering a curse under her breath at her distraction. Turning on the running espresso machine, she whipped out double shots to brew the Americano with ice, while carefully blending the frappé alongside fresh milk and some sugar. 

Packing up the donuts from the pastry counter, she beckoned on the only waiter they had to deliver the man's order to his table. 

The fact that she wasn't as busy this morning made it easier for her to keep thinking about Kal and his offer. He'd become slightly cold, only ever bringing up the topic once after. She'd shut him down again, calling it a bad idea. 

The man who'd just ordered walked back to the counter, his face red in what Kiara interpreted to be dissatisfaction. He dropped the packed beverage on the counter angrily, disrespectfully throwing one of the coffee cups at her. 

Kiara froze. The cold coffee spilled all over, seeping through the thin layer of her apron, her tennis shirt and into her undergarments. Some of the contents spilled on her shoes, repelled by the thin layer of water repellent she'd sprayed on them this morning. 

"What the fuck is this, huh?! I asked for a double shot iced Americano and what is this!?" The man yelled angrily. Kiara'd had just about enough. 

"And I gave you just that," She spat back, raising her voice two tones higher. 

"With half a spoon of sugar?!"

"It's a large cup! You should have asked for two then!" This time, it was a whole octave higher.

"You're yelling at me? You little shit- Where's the manager?! I wanna speak with the manager!" The man yelled increasingly, by this time all the customers' attention rested on the two individuals bickering at the counter. 

The blonde girl who'd been sitting there watching with curious almond green eyes suddenly flinched when Mr Anderson emerged from his office, only taking a minute to realise what just happened. He walked around the counter to face the man who stood half a foot shorter than him. 

"Sir, I'm so sorry for whatever happened here -" 

"I don't want to hear your apology, tell this little bastard to do that!" The man interrupted, slamming the counter with a large fist. 

Anger rose up in her throat like bile. It was bitter and furious, just as she was about to yell back at the man. 

"Please you can't do that here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises." Mr Anderson said coolly, barely stopping Kiara from vomiting acid.

The man's face contorted in bitterness, throwing the second cup of coffee at Kiara and then turning on his heels to leave the shop. Murmurs filled the air from busy mouthed customers who'd witnessed the showdown. 

"Bastard." Kiara said under her breath, biting back pained tears that threatened to spill. She wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand. Curse that man and the entirety of his existence. 

Mr Anderson then turned to look at Kiara, giving her an all too familiar angry glare. 

She'd gotten herself in trouble.