My Little Angel (#WattPride)

Here There Be Family

I ran down the hall, repeating the number 104 in my head, the mantra only exciting me. I would finally see him! I would turn into the room and see Kai's face brighten up as I walked in, his trademark smile marking its territory across his face. I would run to him and tell him I was so worried, and I am so happy to see him. As all of these happy reunion thoughts swirled around my head, I watched the room numbers eagerly.

99

101

102

103

104!

My eye brightened as their glance swept across the long awaited number. I smiled wider, turning sharply and bursting into the room. "Kai!" I exclaimed, but the name died abruptly in my mouth.

Kai was laying in his hospital bed, a mix of emotions that I had never seen on his features before glaringly obvious... anger and hatred. Before him stood two adults, a very angry looking Japanese man and a smaller Chinese woman. It was clear that the man had been yelling at Kai, while the teen just stared at him with contempt shining in his eyes.

Now, however, my outburst had granted me all of the attention in the room. The man stared at me with disbelief that someone would dare interrupt his most important reprimanding yet. His brow was furrowed in confusion, and his mouth was agape, stuck in the middle of his current scolding. The woman was looking at me with curiosity, her head slightly tilted. Her eyes flicked between me and Kai a few times before they widened in understanding. A flicker of a smile shown on her face, and she winked at me.

"Who are you, young man?" the man asked. The question wasn't harsh, just urgent and hard.

"This is my... friend Asher," Kai answered for me. I smiled at the two people. I had no idea who they were.

"A friend, huh? Mhm," the woman said with a smile.

Kai blushed. "Mooooom."

"Well, tell your boyfriend goodbye. The minute you get released, you're coming home," the man said darkly.

Kai's face became angry and he started arguing back. "That's not fair! You can't take me back because of this! It was an accident! You said tha-"

"I said that you could come live with your aunt as long as you were safe and didn't endanger yourself or anybody else, and you did both! You and your boyfriend could have died in that crash! So, you're coming home. End of discussion!" the father shouted. He turned on his heel and stomped out, brushing past me. The mother gave Kai a sympathetic glance before going out after the father.

Kai grabbed his pillow and shoved it onto his face, screaming obscenities and curses that would have made a sailor blush and a construction worker very proud.

I watched all of this in a bewildered daze. Kai, I thought, has a mom and dad? As far as I knew, Kai only had his Aunt, who he was living with. So, to see those two people there was quite the surprise. It was then I realized I didn't know much about Kai or his life at all.

Then it hit me.

"Wait, go back where? Where are they taking you?" I asked.

Kai looked sadly at me his eyes lingering on the large bandage covering half of my face. A sigh escaped his mouth and he put his face back in the pillow. "Arm sah sawrreh." His voice came out quite muffled.

"What?"

"I'm so sorry, Asher," he exclaimed as he lifted his head up. "It's my fault we got in the crash. We didn't even get to go on the date, and now my parents are taking me back home. But that's not the thing that hurts me the most, though. The fact that I put you in danger is. My dad was right. We both could have been killed in the accident. I'm sorry I put you in danger. I should have protected you." Kai's face was grim and ashamed.