The Way of Fate (Book 1)

15. Change

Chapter 15: Change

Allen

I let Mika pack up his stuff while I went outside to shovel out my car. After I had finished, I walked in to see him sitting on the floor, clutching a small teddy bear. He hadn't noticed me come in yet, or if he did, he didn't say anything. I watched him for a moment as he tucked his face into the worn bear. My guess is that it belonged to his sister. I wasn't sure where he had been keeping it, but he might have forgotten about it until he found it.

I continued to watch him as he stood and walked over to where Sam sat by the couch. Mika then bent in front of Sammy and gave him the bear.

I smiled to myself as I slipped my shoes off. As tough as he likes to act, Mika really does have the sweetest heart. It was one of the reasons I loved him.

When I turned back around after my shoes were off, I saw him looking at me. "How's the weather outside?" he asked, walking over and completely ignoring the fact that he had just given Sammy one of his sister's old toys.

I shrugged, rubbing my hands together in a futile attempt to warm them up. "Cold. But the car is cleared and we can start packing it up if you're ready for that."

He motioned to two boxes that were pushed up against the wall to my left. One I recognized as the box he kept all his clothes in. I didn't know what was in the other one. "That's everything."

"Are you sure?" That didn't seem like a lot of stuff. It barely seemed like anything.

"Yeah. Anything else in here isn't mine. So it's all staying. She can deal with it herself. I don't care."

He was really trying to put up a front about this whole deal. I could tell that it was hurting him to leave, no matter how much he tried to hide it. And as much as I was thrilled that Mika was moving in with me, I hated that it wasn't his choice. He probably thought the same, at least, the hating it not being his choice part. I didn't know how he actually felt about living with me.

Stepping forward, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, making him lean into my side. "That's really it? Two boxes?" I chuckled as I said it, but maybe it was wrong to ask that.

He pushed away from me, practically stomping to the other side of the room. "Not everyone has a shit ton of stuff like you do, Allen." Mika then spun around to face me again. "Yes, I'm poor. I have no money and I have no stuff. My life doesn't matter. I don't know why you even bother with me, considering how out of my league you are."

He adverted his eyes to the ground after he finished talking and I felt terrible. "I didn't mean it like that," I said softly, hesitating. I didn't know what I could say anymore. "If anything, you're out of my league, Mika."

That made him look up. "What?"

I took the chance to approach him again. Thankfully he didn't back away, but I kept a couple feet in between us, just in case. "The only thing I have that makes me so... I don't know... appealing? to people is my job title and the wealth that comes with it."

I could have sworn Mika mumbled a 'not true' under his breath making my heart give a little squeeze, but I didn't stop to point it out. "Have I ever mentioned my parents to you?" He shook his head like I expected him to. I rarely spoke of them. "That's because I was groomed by them to be the best I could possibly be. They made me sit home studying instead of going out with my friends, who eventually stopped inviting me out. They pressured me to go to a prestigious college where the only form of fun my peers had were study groups at the library until four in the morning, almost every night. When I graduated and started my own accounting firm, my parents were thrilled, not for me, but for themselves. I was nothing more than someone who would give them a good name. Now I only talk to them when they come visit for Christmas every year. They don't even know about Sam. You at least built yourself up from nothing, all on your own, to become an incredible man. You are so much stronger than I have ever been."