Karina

"We'll be landing in the next hour.", our pilot told us over the loud speaker.

I ate another handful of M&M's before opening a bag of Lay's Original.

"Karina.", Gio called me.

I looked up at him before popping a chip in my mouth.

"I'm fine, G."
"You're stress eating again. Just relax. Everything is going to be fine.", He said.

I took a deep breath and shakily exhaled.

"What if she doesn't want to see me?"
"She cares about you, Ri. Of course, she'll want to see you."

I decided to take a quick nap before we landed.

Lux

"She's not okay.", I heard Dominic say.
"She's just worried about Kai."

He shook his head and looked at me.

"She hasn't been okay since the attack."
"But she's doing a lot better. Her nightmares have stopped, she's been going to physical therapy, and now group therapy. She's almost back to normal."
"Does that look normal to you?"

He nodded his head towards Karina, who had tears running down her face while she slept.

"She's having a nightmare. That doesn't mean anything. Everyone has nightmares."
"Lux, you not realizing that Karina needs help shows that you're apart of the problem. Karina's been pretending to be fine and over what happened to her for weeks. She's just gotten better at hiding it from us. She needs help."
"Dominic, she's finally better. Why can't you just be happy with that?"
"Because she barely sleeps and when she does, that happens. Because she's using this trip to find Kai as a distraction. I believe that she does have very strong feelings for Kai and that she's genuinely worried, but the Karina I know would never chase after someone like this. You know and I know that no matter how scared Kai is, she wouldn't actually tell anyone about what she heard."
"Okay, yeah, but Karina likes her. She wants to be with her."
"Karina needs to learn how to be alone. She-."
"-She can hear you and she is fine.", Rina said.

We looked across to see her looking at us.

"You've not fine. You haven't been thinking clearly lately, you've been having nightmares since that night, I mean, you shaved your head, Karina.", Dominic said.

"Because I can still feel him! I can still feel him wrap my hair around his fist before he dragged me off that truck. I can still taste the dirt in my mouth from when he threw me. I can still feel him stomping me. I can still hear him calling me names. I never said that I was over what happened to me, but I can't dwell in it for the rest of my life. There's nothing I could do to change what happened that night, just like there was nothing I could say that night to get him to stop beating me. You two wanted me to be better, so I hid my pain around you because I didn't want to be a burden to the both of you. I didn't have to hide it with Kai. I couldn't. She's the only person who knew I wasn't better and didn't constantly push me to be better. She just let me be. She lets me do things at my own pace.", she said with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Karina. I'm sorry that we made you feel like you couldn't be vulnerable with us. It's just so hard to see the most important person in your life go through something and not being able to help them.", I told her.

"Ri, I love you. You're my best friend. You know you don't have to pretend with me. I was just afraid. That night in the woods was the worst night of my life. Finding you just lying there on the ground, bruised, beaten, and unconscious, was the single worst moment of my life. I thought I lost you. It felt like time had stopped. I thought you were going to die. While we were waiting for the ambulance, I thought, "How do I go on without my twin? How am I supposed to walk alone when you've always been by my side?".", Dominic said as tears ran down his face.

"You'll never have to walk alone. I promise.", she told him.

I smiled at them.

After another 45 minutes, we arrived in Sumter, South Carolina. It was close to Bishopville.

After booking the flight, Dominic had his friend, Luca, find Kai's house for us.

We waited in the pouring rain for the Uber to take us to Kai's house. When we arrived, we discovered that it was a dairy farm. We were greeted by the mooing of all the cows. We opened the gate and walked up to the very large house behind the pen that the cows were in. Karina knocked on the door.

Karina

After a few minutes, the door swung open and a gorgeous woman with a voluminous afro opened the door. She greeted us with a big smile.

"Good morning! How can I help you today?", she said sweetly.

"Hi. We're looking for our friend, Kai. We thought she might live here.", Lux said.
"That's my stepdaughter. She's been in her room ever since she got back. Maybe you three can get her to come out. Come on in."

Kai's stepmom ushered us into her home. We heard the thunder drop outside.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker.", I said.
"Oh, please call me Angela.", she said.

She led us to the stairwell.

"You can go on up to her room. It's the third door on the right.", Angela told us.

We climbed the beautiful staircase and went to Kai's room. I knocked on the door.

"I'm not hungry and I don't want to talk!", she yelled through the door.

I knocked again. I heard a loud groan and feet shuffling before the door swung open.

Her eyes widened in realization. My eyes widened when I noticed she changed her hair. Before she had long jet black hair with cobalt blue tips, but now her hair was a soft light brown. She had cut her hair to where it was now to her shoulders.

"What are you doing here? Why did you follow me?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Can we come in?", Lux asked.

She sighed and stepped aside.

We all stepped into her room and she closed the door behind her.

Kai's room was a lot different than her room at our apartment. Her room at our apartment was bright and airy, where as her room here was dark and gloomy. Black comforter on her bed that matched the black curtains. Her carpet was a dark red and her walls were covered in old artwork. There was an art aisle in the corner next to an guitar.

"I didn't leave that note for you to come find me."
"You said you're not safe with me. What does that mean?", I said as I grabbed her hand. She flinched and walked away. She sat on her bed.

"I know that you're apart of the mafia. I heard you and Lux talking about it, so I looked into the Andiacchi family. Your father is one of the most successful investors in New Jersey, but there's absolutely no information about where he made his money, his life. There's not even a record of his birth. So, I looked into your mom. I found nothing for Valeria Andiacchi, but Valeria Bout came up. It was on an old Reddit thread about Russian mob bosses. Russian mob boss Lev Bout had a daughter named Karina who then had a daughter named Valeria. There's nothing on Valeria after she turned 18. You told me you were named after your grandmother. I'm right, aren't I?"

I shook my head.

"I'm not apart of it. My parents got out a long time ago. Kai, do you really think I would do anything to hurt you? I care about you too much to let anything bad happen to you. You know that."
"How am I supposed to believe that I'll be safe with you?"
"By trusting us, Kai. We would go to war before we let anything happen to you and Lux.", Gio said.

She nodded slowly and wiped a tear that fell.

"I was so scared. I felt like I didn't even know the girl that I l-...like."

I kneeled in front of her and wiped her tears.

"I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid of this happening. Kai, you're so important to me. I don't want to be without you."

She smiled and grabbed my face.

"I don't want to be without you either, Karina.", she leaned down to kiss me, but jerked away when she heard footsteps outside her door.

The door opened and in walked a very large man with a thick beard and eyes that were identical to Kai's.

"There's my little girl. I haven't seen you smile since you've been back. These must be your friends."
"Dad, these are my best friends. This is Karina, Lux, and Giovanni."

He smiled at all of us.

"I'm glad you three are here. Will you be staying over?"

I looked at Kai before looking at Lux and Gio, who both shrugged.

"If you'll have us.", I said.

His smile widened.

"There's two guest rooms. Make yourself at home.", he said before leaving.

"Your mom and dad are really nice."
"Angela's not my mom. My mom bailed when I was little. Dad married Angela a few years ago."

I tried to grabbed her hand, but she stuffed them in her pockets.

"Kai?"
"I'm not out to them. When I left for school, I had never looked at girls the way I look at you. They wouldn't understand."
"Kai, I can see how much your dad and Angela care about you."
"You've only been here for twenty minutes. I've been here my entire life. It's not so simple. You don't think I want to kiss you right now? But I can't."
"I'm sorry.", I said.

I stood up and backed away from her.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable in your own house. We don't have to stay. We can go to a hotel tonight and be gone tomorrow. I just came to get you to come back home."

"That's not what I meant. You have no idea how bad I wanted to tell my dad about you when I came home, but I don't think I can handle him abandoning me. Did you miss the million crosses and bible verses this house is covered in? My dad was so upset when same-sex marriage became legal. He said, "Legal or not, being gay is a sin and all of those people are going to hell.". I don't want to lose another parent."

"Kai, if your dad loves you, he wouldn't abandon you for being who you are. When I went back home, my parents thought I was dating Lux and at that time, I didn't think I could ever be with a girl. It felt so foreign to me to even think about. My mom pretty much just accepted it right away, but my dad was really shocked. He didn't seem upset about it, just shocked. Now I just have to come out to them for real."

"My father isn't as progressive as your parents. He's very...traditional. I'm afraid that if I come out, he'll reject me. It's not worth it."

I looked at my feet. Does she mean I'm not worth it?

"Then he rejects you, but you won't know until you tell him. Wouldn't you rather him love you for who you are then who you're pretending to be?", Lux said.

Giovanni, who noticed my facial expression, came and stood beside me before pulling me into him.

"Let's go find our room.", he told me.
"Why aren't you rooming with Lux?"
"Lux doesn't need me."

I smiled at him and nodded.

"There's a guest room two doors down to the right. The other one is across the hall from that.", Kai explained to us.

We began leaving Kai's room when she called my name.

"Karina, can we talk alone?", I heard her ask.

I closed her door behind me.

"I'm sorry I left like that. I was just scared. Not of you, but of what would happen because I knew."
"I understand Kai. It just...it killed me to find your room empty like that. I thought I lost you.", I tried to hold back the tears in my eyes. I failed miserably.

Kai jumped up and pulled me close to her.

"You'll never lose me, Karina. Look at me.", she made me look up at her.

"I will never leave you again, okay?"

I nodded and pulled away.

Kai went and locked her door.

"I've been wanting to do this since you walked in.", she said before pulling me into a sensual kiss. She held me tightly as she poured everything she had into our kiss.

I forced myself to pull away from her.

"Kai, your parents. It's 'not worth it'", I reminded her of her words.

I backed away and unlocked the door.

"I didn't mean it like that, Ri.", she said with a sigh.

"I know what you meant and I understand why you said that. I just hate that you said it. I hate that you don't think I'm worth it when I would give up everything I have to be with you.", I said before walking away from her.