It was already the end of January and school would be resuming in March and though it was more than a month away, Kim decided to start revising her school work. As she had quit working, though not formally since it totally slipped her mind, she did not need to go to work. Every morning, she would wake up, go for a run with Carl at the park in the neighborhood, shower, eat and head to the gym with him and they would hang out after then.This had become her new routine.Friday arrived in no time. The trio were yet to make any arrangement concerning their little gathering. Isabella had made suggestions but in the end, the decision making was left in the hands of Kim who was proving to be indecisive.
Carl walked into the bedroom to find Kim dressing up, raising his brows, he asked, "Are you going out?" To which she nodded.
"Where are you going to?"
"Not sure yet," She replied, pulling her hair into a messy bun.
As she arranged her hair in front of the vanity table she was lost in thoughts. She did not really like her waist-length hair. The only reason she had kept it was because many people admired it and it was the envy of the girls at the orphanage.
She branded herself as the kid with the waist-length luxuriant hair. It was her second ident.i.ty, what she was known for. Though she was not satisfied with it, it made people take notice of her, if not she would have remained invisible. She would have gone unnoticed by the people at the orphanage. She wanted attention so bad that she kept the hair she did not like. Even though it was inconveniencing, she had refused to cut it short.
Her hair attracted and commanded the attention of everyone who saw her. They wanted to talk to her, ask about her hair and the hair products she used. They made sure to compliment her too, this made her feel accepted.
Her eyes widened as she came to the realization that Carl had never complimented her hair. It was normal for people to admire her hair, and she reveled in the admiration and envy she saw in the eyes of others. But it"s been almost a year, yet Carl had said nothing about it. From where she sat, she saw his reflection in the mirror. He was looking at her with a scowl on his delicate face, he appeared cute. Her lips stretched at the thought of pulling his cheeks.
"You don"t like my hair?"
"What?" Her question was unexpected that he forgot to close his mouth. He wondered why she suddenly asked that and why she a.s.sumed he didn"t like it.
"You"ve never complimented my hair so I a.s.sumed you don"t like it." She explained.
"What is the right answer to the question?" He pondered.
"I"ve always wondered if it was convenient for you rather than if it"s beautiful."
On hearing him, she froze. She was taken aback by his answer for a while as she did not expect him to think about convenience. Who would think about that? People would normally a.s.sume you like it and you can maintain it. Why else would you keep a hair you don"t like?
As warmth spread through her chest, she smiled. His answer a.s.sured her a little, she was comforted by the fact that her hair did not attract him. Although she said nothing about it, she knew the reason for the long hair. Maybe it was time to cut it after all.
"You didn"t tell me you"d be going out today?" Carl stated. Reminding Kim of his earlier scowl, she was wondering why..
"I forgot. We…"
"We? You"re going out with someone?" Carl was not sure how to feel. He was thinking they would be spending another day together. He already made plans to surprise her but she was going out without telling him.
He also wanted to know about whatever is going on with her. But she won"t tell him. Should he be mad? He wasn"t even sure about that. She just said she forgot. Still he felt hurt. He did not know if he was important enough for her to tell things to.
Sighing, he tried to keep his emotions in check. It was always like this in relationships anyway. The party who loves more tend to suffer. Besides, she was yet to accept him.
"Yeah, just my cla.s.smates." She replied. Oblivious to his feelings.
"Cla.s.smates," he muttered. He gave her a once-over, then he frowned.
She was wearing a tee tucked into denim shorts. He had told her not to expose her legs to people. Grinding his teeth, he reined his emotions threatening to bust out.
He was scared of coming off as too controlling. He did not want her to feel restricted. It was her life, her choices mattered more.
Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Will you be home for dinner?"
Though his voice sounded normal, his fists were tightened.
"I"m not sure."
"Not sure? It"s dangerous. Why don"t you get that?" He gritted his teeth. Why did she continuously act like her safety wasn"t of importance.
"You should be home by five." He said with much difficulty. What he wanted to do was scold her and force her to wear trousers but considering she would be mad, he loosened his fists.
She nodded in a non-committal way before getting up to check herself out.
Refusing to let his emotions get the most of him, Carl walked out.