The Prince and the Plant Whisperer

Why He Went // And What He Heard

[~Posted 6/28/21]

As Lukas had climbed the stairs towards Kai and Lilly's room, he reflected on his reasoning. Was he being crazy? No, his logic was sound.

Partly, he was thinking about gossip. Cruel, casual gossip. The ways it flowed at their school. The ways it stuck.

A dozen folks had watched Tom getting moved up to Kai and Lilly's room, half-stumbling, half-carried by Kai.

The stories those folks might tell!

Someone'd say, "Did you hear Tom Levay got drunk last night? And then did the walk of shame back from his new girlfriend's dorm. Oh—are you gonna join his Crown Club thing?"

"Wait, you got a Crown Club invite?" The friend would reply.

In the best-case scenario, everyone'd just decide Kai and Tom were a couple. Which Tom wanted.

But not Kai.

Lukas had seen her face.

And when you didn't like someone, and the rumors started—it could be like finding yourself trapped in a small, dark cellar. With no way out.

Lukas knew it well.

All those stories stuck like Crazy-Glue.

Maybe gossip was intense because the school was big. Or maybe because Yale was a professional pipeline. A student's reputation at the school could linger onward through their career. Even George W. Bush—the 43rd US president—to this day, people still repeated the gossip that he was a big drinker and womanizer when he was at Yale.

Lukas realized: Kai probably had no idea how intense college gossip got. She was just two months into freshman year!

He needed to find a way to protect her from it. Fast.

Then he had an idea:

He could head up there, too. At their room.

Right? Why not?

He drew enough attention that students would notice.

And he'd muddy the waters.

He'd be a wild card. Just by showing up. His presence would confuse all those wagging tongues.

With Lukas showing up, people couldn't just say, "You know how Tom and Taeyong are dating those two cute freshmen? Well Tom got super drunk and ended up doing the walk of shame the next day!!!"

Lukas would be chaos.

I am Lukas, he thought, grinning. I am Loki.

Anyway, all this was what he told himself, heading up the stairs.

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Lukas paused for a moment on the stairwell landing and checked his phone. Yes. Rain was predicted for tomorrow. He'd remembered right. Good.

As he put his phone away, he heard the strain of voices from above—the reedy sound of skinny fellow's voice. Who was that?

Lukas knew it.

Who—?

Barry Levay.

Lukas didn't mean to eavesdrop. It's just—the stairwell was just a cavern of echoes.

And the words Barry spoke landed like a rock:

"There's sides to my brother no one's seen since our mom died. But you could bring him back."

Bring him back?

He's talking about Tom.

Then, from what Lukas could hear, Barry started comparing Tom to a dried-up houseplant. Which led to Kai's voice jumping in, sweet with laughter: "You think you can get me to take care of someone, just by comparing them to a plant!?

YES! Lukas thought. That's my girl!!

Another girl's voice chimed in. "See, Barry told me all about this. That's the reason I was campaigning for the you-and-Tom thing. "

"Lil! You're so evil!" Kai's voice returned, with more laughter. "Thanks for being honest, I guess," she said more gently.

Lilly, thought Lukas. Kai's roommate.

Kai's very, very WRONG roommate.

The voice of Kai's wrong roommate went on: "Look at it this way. On a basic level, Tom likes you because you're kind. Because you helped Barry out"

"You think that's why?" Kai's voice came back, sounding genuinely curious.

Lilly's voice rose. Defensive and excited. "Yeah. I do. Underneath it all, he's a decent guy. It's such a better reason compared to most guys who fall for your looks!"

Hold up! Lukas thought.

Rewind! ! !

"MOST GUYS WHO FALL FOR YOUR LOOKS?"

How many guys are falling for you, Kai?

Dammit.

Anyway, now he understood.

There was a board of advisors in the picture. A board of advisors, pushing his woman to make the wrong choice. His woman.

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Lukas increased his pace and reached the landing. There he was—face to face with Kai and her two friends. They stood there looking like surprised guards of a fortress. Weighing what to say, Lukas put his hand on the bannister. Kept his face still.

Then Kai broke the silence, asking Lukas: "Why are you here?"

A reasonable question, yes. He had almost no reason to be there.

Luckily, Lukas lived life like he played chess. He could usually stay several moves ahead of others. Actually, he had a hunch that Kai could rival him in strategy, under normal circumstances. But these weren't normal circumstances.

Right now, there was some serious "information asymmetry" between them.

In other words?

He knew more than she did. At least, he knew more—about what he wanted. And how he was going to get it.

So when she'd asked him, "Why are you here?"—

His answer was ready.

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🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

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