Breaking up roots (One Night Stand, Book 3)

Chapter 7: Life doesn't go as planned

Sorry, guys. I completely forgot about updating on Sunday 😂

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"This is the last one I've made."

Zane rotated the item that Nya had put in his hands a second prior. The funny-looking mini bike grabbed the boy's full attention.

"It is quite impressive," he declared after a close examination of the miniature and Nya's practical demonstration that the toy-sized vehicle could actually move.

"Considering that I have to work with what little I have around here... yeah, I think that too." She smiled proudly, leaning on her desk full of other devices she was working on.

"Cheeky..." Kai murmured with a mischievous grin.

"Look who's talking," his sister snorted.

Kai approached behind Zane and rested his chin on the boy's shoulder, eyes skimming over the varied miniatures that filled Nya's room.

"Well, I have to admit that at least you do have a talent for this," said Kai with a more friendly look at the girl. He then turned to his boyfriend. "Have I ever told you that she would constantly grab my toys and open them to check all the gears, wires, and microchips inside? And God forbid anything broke down in the house! She wanted to be the first one to take a look at the mess."

The group laughed.

"I guess I showed promise early on," Nya grinned, still very satisfied with herself.

"All of these are incredible, Nya. You'll love it at the Uni," Zane said, and the girl groaned with a mix of excitement and subtle frustration.

"I can't wait! I wanna learn so much! Do you think I'll get to build a real robot?"

"Uh... Mr. Borg's a little reticent about certain types of AI due to problematic failures in the past, but I'm sure you'll get to touch many fields during your training time."

She gave an enthusiastic squeak while clapping her hands.

"Nya," the echo of Maya's voice reached up to the second floor. "Can you come down for a bit? I'd appreciate an extra pair of hands."

The girl hopped off from the desk and abandoned her friend and brother.

"Wanna see my room?" Kai asked Zane, trying to resume the house tour that they had paused for a moment, in favor of letting Nya and Zane gush about their engineering and robotics stuff.

As expected, Zane accepted his boyfriend's suggestion.

Kai's room hadn't changed an inch since the day he'd left the place. The minimal furniture was untouched, but clean nonetheless. There wasn't one speck of dust on his old dresser, or on the few books and magazines he'd left on the shelves. Which only added to Kai's guilt about leaving his mother heartbroken over these two years. Who else could have been taking care of his room?

"It doesn't look as fancy as the one at my apartment," Kai explained as Zane looked around the very traditional quarters.

"It is a lot neater, though."

"Shut up." Kai elbowed him, going red in the face. If only his boyfriend knew the state this same room used to be in years ago... Organization had never been one of Kai's distinctive traits, even with his parents bugging him about it.

Zane was curiously surveying everything when Kai leaned into him, and grabbed one of his hands.

"I'm sorry about the scene from earlier..." He hung his head in shame.