Happy 23rd Birthday to The King.

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After half an hour of Khai crying and Melissa struggling to keep her guests entertained and getting her daughter to calm down, the four finally leave for the bowling centre. While Joanna was blindly oblivious, Blue took note of how wrecked Khai seemed. So he sat further from her in the car than needed and walked a meter behind her, deciding that space is indeed what she needed to gather herself.

The chilly autumn weather made Khai even more irritable. With her hair flying in all different directions, she felt as if she could just die right then and there. The mothers were off paying for their bowling shoes while Blue and Khai were setting up their lanes. Soon enough, the game begun and it was moms vs kids.

The moms won. In all honesty, it was because Khai was in no mood to bowl and Blue was just too tired from his day at Uni to even bother. So the middle aged women won, shoving their victory in their kid's face. Khai scrunched up her face, wondering how her mother could behave in such a manner when her daughter was breaking down only a little over an hour ago.

Frozen yogurt was offered and they all agreed, except Khai. So off they went.

"Joanna here was stationed in Africa for a year on the medical team," Melissa says.

Joanna visibly reddens. "Oh it's no big deal really."

"But it is. You don't find a lot of people today wanting to take care of those in need in Africa due to their skin color," Melissa's eyes flicker between Khai and Joanna in the midst of her sentence.
Khai was heaving, but no one took notice, except Blue.

"Racism seems to be almost inevitable because the human race seems to be very stubborn about accepting the fact that many different cultures make up this world," Joanna begins. "And as long as we don't learn to love and respect one another, racism will always exist. But i'm still optimistic that love and peace will one day conquer us all."

"I'm glad to see people like you out there still exist," Melissa says. "And Blue, you actually went to Haiti to help rebuild in 2010?"

Blue nods slowly. "Yeah I did."

Khai decided that she had enough of this. She stood up, heading over to the yogurt machines after muttering a low "excuse me". She was in the midst of filling up her cup with the cranberry flavored substance when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she recognized the culprit as Blue.

"What's up with you?" He asks.

"What?"

"You're like a ticking time bomb over there. Maybe it's because of their old age why they don't see it," he says gesturing to Melissa and Joanna who were laughing about God knows what. "But I'm not blind, Khai."

She sighs, not answering him. So does he.

"What do you say I get us out of here?"

"I'm not intere-"

"Not in that sense, dollface," Blue interrupts her.

Ignoring the nickname, Khai looks back at her mother before glancing at Blue, nodding. "But how are you-"

"Just watch."

They walk over to the table in which their mother's were situated. Blue explained to Joanna that he was "feeling the night" and wanted to "explore his surroundings" with Khai. Joanna waved him off, too busy engaged in a conversation with her coworker. So they left, and as the glass door was about to close, Khai noticed her mother wink at her.

They walked in complete silence. It wasn't suffocatingly awkward. It was peaceful, really. A few laughs were shared whenever Khai would agitatedly brush her hair out of her face. But that was it, and she didn't mind.

Soon enough, they reached Khai's house.

"Well, bye," Blue says.

Khai looks at him with a weird expression. "You don't want to come in?"

"Nah. I'll just go home and play Call of Duty or something"

"Then why'd you make us leave?"

"Because," he laughs. "You were miserable. It kinda sucked seeing you all sulky."

"You don't know to know why I was acting like that?" Khai raised an eyebrow.

He shrugs. "I do, but I respect your privacy."

A few minutes of silence had passed when Khai spoke again. "I want to tell you."

"What?"

"I want to tell you," she grabs ahold of his hand. "C'mon," she says, dragging him inside of her house.


And so the rest of the night was spent with Blue and Khai locked up in her room. She telling him everything and him making small remarks on the stupidity of both her mom and Harry's father.

"You're beautiful, regardless of the color on your skin. He's just too much of an idiot to see," he would say before calling him an incompetent asshole.

I wish he had your mindset, Blue. God, I wish he did.

Notes