You Can Be The Boss | Kylo Ren x Reader AU

Chapter 26

Kylo blew out the cigarette smoke from his mouth as he hunched over the porch fence. Things had quieted down since your mother had gone upstairs to speak to you. His nose had finally stopped bleeding. He was stressed which was the reason for his smoking. He couldn't stop thinking about you looking after him and taking care of him after your mother punched him. There was something endearing about it. Even though he should've been startled by your mother's reaction—which he was—he felt calm, soothed by your nurture. He straightened his posture as he heard the front door open, putting out his cigarette as he tried to hide it in his hand.

"It's okay I have the occasional shameful cigarette too," your dad said calmly as he approached Kylo, standing next to him as they both looked out to the front yard.

Kylo let out a nervous laugh, taking out his pack of cigarettes, inviting your dad to smoke. Your father shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm trying to quit."

There was a moment of silence and Kylo felt the need to break it, saying, "Listen, I'm sorry about–"

"No, it's fine," your dad said. "You don't have to apologise about your relationship."

Kylo pressed his lips together, unsure of what to say. He'd never felt this nervous before. Even standing in a stadium in front of thousands of people wasn't this nerve wracking.

"You know, I've never seen her as happy as she's been this past month," your dad said, leaning onto the nearby pole. "She's basically given up everything just to take care of us."

"How so?"

Your dad let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "You know what, I will have that cigarette." Kylo took the pack back out, giving it to your father as he took a cigarette out, placing it in his mouth as Kylo handed him a lighter, taking his own cigarette out in the process. He couldn't help it, after he was punched he needed something to make him relax.

They smoked together, watching a car pass by. "When she was younger, she had all these hobbies and ambitions, but once she realised that we were in debt, she decided to throw them all away." Your dad sucked in the toxic fumes as he looked down. "I remember when she was about ten years old, she would create these movies and she would act in them. And I asked her, do you want to be an actress when you grow up? She said no—that it wasn't something that would help me and her mother." He exhaled the smoke. "And then came the art phase and the painting which she still continues to do until this day. She gets shouted at by her mom all the time for 'ruining' furniture. I think it's pretty, but even when I mentioned that it could be a career for her in the future she would say that it wouldn't make enough money or that she wasn't good enough. Then of course, the new obsession became you and your company, which was something I urged her to do, because then at least I would've told her to follow her dreams in some kind of way. Even if it wasn't truly her dream."

Kylo was shocked. He knew family was important to you, but never to this extent. It made him upset that you had given up essentially all your hopes and dreams just to make sure your parents could live comfortably, yet there was something admirable about it. Kylo was never really close with his parents and to see someone care so passionately for their own made him reconsider things.

"She basically pushes away everything that makes her happy, and I guess I just hope she doesn't do that with you."

****

Kylo's mind couldn't stop wandering to his conversation with your father. It constantly made him think about you. Even as he sat in his meeting, he was still thinking about you, brushing his index and middle against his bottom lip as he stared at you, watching the way your skirt perfectly hugged your figure.