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When Kaylie pushed open the door to her apartment, the sweet scent of green tea entered her nostrils. She only had to take three steps forward when Kevin emerged from the kitchen, concern written all over his face.
The first thing Kaylie noticed however, was that he was shirtless. Before she could string together her train of thoughts, Kevin enveloped her into a hug. His arms wrapped around her tightly, yet the feeling of warm and comfort lingered.
And Kaylie was frozen. Because somehow, the feeling was almost familiar. Like she had been in that very position numerous times. When Kevin pulled back, he seemed surprised at his own actions.
"I'm sorry, I-I just wondered where you were," he scratched the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle, "I-I... missed you."
Seeing him stumble over his words garnered a small giggle from Kaylie. "I'm okay, don't worry." Without thinking, she pulled him back into embrace. Maybe it was the feeling of familiarity, something she hadn't felt in a long time, that pushed her to do so.
She held him tightly, shutting her eyes as she rested her head against his shoulder.
For a moment, Kevin was frozen. But it didn't take him long to return the hug, a small smile etched across his face.
He missed this.
And maybe, unknowingly, so did Kaylie.
--
"It always happens," Kevin gestured to the heater sitting beside the couch, "it either doesn't work at all, or works too well."
Kevin approached the heater as Kaylie trailed behind. It did seem rather old to Kaylie. "I wanted to get you a new one, but you kept telling me to fix it," Kevin said, squatting down so he could get a proper view of the heater.
Kaylie propped her hands on her knee and stood beside him, hoping to see what Kevin was looking at. "I think we should-" Kevin turned his head, a little too fast for Kaylie to react. Because doing so, he found his face only inches away from Kaylie's.
She didn't move for a second, but hurriedly retreated as her cheeks quickly turned pink. "I'm- sorry," Kaylie mumbled shyly, avoiding any eye contact. Kevin stared at her, unable to fathom what had just happened.
Normally you'd just kiss me.
"I-I-well, I don't-" Kaylie wrapped her arms around herself, and Kevin realized he must have uttered it aloud. "No, please. I'm sorry," he immediately straightened himself.
"This is all my fault," he suddenly added with a sigh. Kaylie blinked in confusion. "I was the one who called you that night. I was so excited to see you," he couldn't bear to meet her eyes, "I didn't know you were driving." His last sentence was almost a whisper.
Guilt. Anger. Sadness. Kaylie could almost hear all those feelings in his voice.
Kevin continued speaking his mind. There was so much he wanted to say. "You have no idea how much I want to take it back. How much I wish I had just sat quietly and not touched my goddamn phone-" his voice broke at that point.
Tears.
Kaylie didn't know what to do. But she found herself walking up to him, carefully, as if any wrong movement would shatter him into pieces. "Kevin," his name slipped from her tongue like silk falling in the wind.
"Don't blame yourself," she said. She didn't know this piece of information; it was all new to her. But somehow she wasn't thinking about that right now. What intrigued her was the man before her. The man she supposedly loved.
She stopped a few steps in front of him, placing her hands on his bare shoulders, a feeble attempt to comfort him. "Please don't." Her hands on his skin calmed him and meeting her eyes, he found comfort in the warmth of them.
He had not planned the next words that slipped from his mouth.
"Kaylie, I love you."
How do you react to someone you barely know, telling you that?
She gazed at him, seeing it clearly in his eyes how much he meant it. But she didn't want to lie to him. "Kevin I... I hope that one day, I can love you like you love me," she whispered as tears now threatened to fall from her eyes.
Wholeheartedly and unconditionally.
Kevin wasn't given a chance to respond because there came a knock on the door. "Kaylie? Kevin?" Marco's voice echoed from behind the door. Kevin pulled away from her, wiping his eyes. "I'll go take a shower," with that he simply disappeared into her room, shutting the door behind him.
Kaylie sighed. At that point, she couldn't even understand her own feelings.
--
more frequent updates? :)))) I hope so hehe! Thank you for reading! Love you all ❤️
