Samuel above (not my daddy issues making an appearance as I thirst over a man well into his fifties).

arcane

(adj.) understood only by a few

Keeping low to the ground and crawling to hide in the shelter of a lone dilapidated building, Kiara efficiently reloaded her gun and checked to ensure she still had plenty of spare ammunition before quietly dodging Vijay's line of sight as she snuck up behind him. Only noticing her presence a few seconds before she leaped, he could do nothing but surrender as she shot him up with so many bullets that he flew back into the wall behind him with the impact. Shades of red, yellow, green and blue obscured his goggles as her bullets imploded all around him but by the time the dust settled, the only trace that remained of her was the fading sound of her mischievous laughter. 

Kiara stealthily camouflaged behind a pile of scrap metal, smothering the urge to laugh as Karan and Samuel neared unbeknownst to each other. He whirled around upon hearing the scrape of his father's shoe against the gravel, suddenly turning trigger-happy as he released a bellowing war cry and blindly waved his gun every which way. With uncannily assassin-like skills that could give Aelin Galathynius a run for her money, Samuel tucked and rolled behind the nearest solid structure as he pulled out the two handguns strapped across his back. If people thought he was formidable dressed in suits before a courtroom, they hadn't yet seen her father in action. 

Salt and pepper hair casually tousled from a brawl, Samuel handled weapons with the trained accuracy of a mercenary as he counted the remaining rounds of bullets in his guns. Preparing to attack, he inhaled deeply then sprung out from his hiding spot with both guns tactfully aimed at blind spots. Barrel facing Karan's unprotected left side, he sent two precise shots to the exposed areas of his son's flank and leg. He inhaled sharply as each bullet met it's mark perfectly but before he could retaliate, Samuel was already ducking behind the crumbling walls of another worn down building.

Marvelling at the sheer agility her father exhibited, Kiara quickly shoved back against the pile of scrap metal and decided going after Chris would be an easier option– a fact she would never admit aloud for fear of inflating her father's ego at the cost of her boyfriend's. Making quick work of scouting the area, she found him awkwardly crouching in the shadows of a towering sculpture as he lay in wait for an easy target. Stalking over to where he sat hidden, she gently kicked her foot out and startled him out of his focused state as he flipped over and pointed his gun at her.

She laughed at the sheer panic on his face, leaning forward to pinch his cheek and swipe his chin, "How is it possible for someone to be so adorable and so intimidating at the same time?"

"Come a little closer and I'll tell you," he immediately gripped her wrist and tugged her towards him as she lost her balance and fell on top of him.

Running his hand down her arms as he trailed across her waist and stopped at her hip, Chris slanted his mouth against Kiara's and pulled her impossibly close. She playfully nipped at his lower lip, surprising him enough to deepen the kiss as he got lost in the feel of her and flipped them over. Fingers digging into the soft curve of her hip, he passionately reciprocated her enthusiasm and slowly forgot the purpose of their paintball match. He flinched upon feeling something cool and firm suddenly press against his lower stomach.

Shifting his weight off her slightly, he peered down at the handgun she held against his abdomen before glancing back at her as she winked cheekily, "We've really got to stop meeting like this. Checkmate."

Struggling to reign in his attraction to Kiara as his traitorous body still somehow remained unfazed by the gun pointed dangerously close to his family jewels, Chris turned away from her as he closed his eyes and practiced breathing normally. A good minute later, his heartbeat had finally steadied enough for him to regain control as he faced her again.

Frowning at the unexpected turn of events, he huffed, "That's not fair."

She shrugged as best she could while sandwiched between his body and the ground, "Life's not fair."

Raising a brow pointedly at her swollen lips, he smirked, "At least I'll die a happy man."

Lifting her head as if moving in for a kiss, Kiara managed to successfully lull Chris into a false sense of security again before pulling the trigger. He winced, grunting in discomfort at the impact of the bullet against his vest. That was definitely going to leave a bruise. She grimaced, momentarily forgetting how agonising a paintball bullet was in her haste, and quickly captured his mouth in a smouldering kiss, hoping to drown out some of the pain with a welcome distraction. Out of nowhere, a searing pain shot up her arm as she yelped and scrambled away from him to examine the green paintball bullet now embedded in her upper arm.

Scowling at the shooter, her disdain only deepened when she found Samuel smiling smugly at the notion of separating the couple, "Hands off my daughter, Evans."

Samuel's gloating was short-lived, however, as she ignored her throbbing arm and seamlessly flicked her wrist out before firing two bullets into his shoulder. She didn't care that he had won or that she was technically dead, annoyed that she somehow let her distraction get the better of her.

He carefully pressed a hand against the now aching shoulder, shouting in protest, "Oi, stop playing dirty!"

She snorted, "I learnt from the best."

Pausing to think for a second, he flopped onto the ground beside her, "I am the best, aren't I?"

"You sure are, Appa."

The group gathered back at the paintball centre reception, hailing Samuel the victor as they playfully placed a cardboard crown on his head during their mock coronation. He puffed his chest proudly and flexed his arms, nudging Kiara playfully as she sulked about him cheating. She watched with no small amount of delight as three of the most important people in her life gathered together. Karan threw his arm around Chris and Vijay's shoulders as he led them back to the car, ever the bridge between warring personalities. Her boyfriend joked around with them, oblivious to the threatening glares her father was shooting behind his back. 

Over the drive, Karan had simultaneously managed to both convince Kiara to cook his favourite dishes for dinner and persuade Samuel to take the rest of the week off. They arrived home, moving to separate to their respective rooms to freshen up but she quickly stopped them.

Raising a brow at her brother, she queried, "You can order off my menu but who's going to get the ingredients?"

Vijay shrugged, "The customer, of course."

"Bingo!"

Blinking innocently at their father, Karan whined, "Appa, my muscles are all sore and I really just need a bath. Don't you agree that someone else should get the ingredients?"

Sighing in annoyance, Samuel nodded, "Alright, send Doma."

She huffed, "It's the weekend, she's not working."

"Just go knock on her door, she lives right downstairs."

"That's not fair."

"She's a domestic worker, it's her job."

"Not on weekends."

"Fine, then send out your boyfriend."

"Why?"

"He's got nothing better to do, right?"

"That's not–"

Slipping his hand into hers comfortingly, Chris smiled, "I'd be happy to, trouble. Just text me the shopping list."

Looking at Chris pleadingly, Kiara turned to berate Samuel for treating him so poorly but paused upon seeing the glimmer of surprise in her father's eyes. It was then that she understood why Chris accepted the offer so easily. He needed to show Samuel that money and status hadn't impacted his humanity and as expected, his humility had impressed. 

Pecking her on the cheek, Chris walked towards the car but she called out, "Oi hero, you forgetting something?"

Crossing his arms, he stopped, "Don't think so."

"Kunjetta, go accompany him."

Karan snorted, "And why would I do that?"

"You want chapati and prawn curry?"

Nodding enthusiastically, he licked his lips, "Yeah."

"Then go get in the car."

"What?"

"He doesn't know his way around. How do you expect him to go to the store?"

Throwing his head back, he looked up at the sky in frustration, "Fine. You better make me extra curry."

"No dice. Have fun shopping!"

Watching them leave for a second, Kiara shook her head and smiled to herself before turning to face Vijay. Instantly the smile disappeared as she watched her best friend trudge back to the house wearing a pensive look. He had been acting abnormally for the past few days and while she had initially assumed it was due to the change of environment, she was starting to realise that this concerned a much deeper issue. 

Regardless of the pressures of stardom, Kiara knew it wasn't the fame that was causing Vijay's depressive attitude because while she never enjoyed being in the spotlight, he thrived in it. To the average unassuming person, he lapped up every second of the red carpets, photoshoots and interviews. But to those that knew him, he was an introvert who relished the opportunity to wear the extrovert facade. He often said it felt as if he were hiding in plain sight– people never questioned what seemed most inviting. And in his mind, that meant less scrutiny into his past. 

Knowing there was no point in pushing Vijay if he wasn't ready to talk, Kiara let him walk away and turned to her own room. She groaned as a multiple notifications pinged from her phone the minute she flopped back onto her bed and ignored them but the sharp ringtone echoed across the house until her father shouted at her from the floor above. Swiping to unlock her phone, she was bombarded with a series of texts from Chris. One after the other each text repeated the same phrase so she hurriedly responded, immediately forgetting her annoyance at the disruption as she panicked at his repetitively urgent messages.

Chris: Pick up!

Kiara: Is everything okay?

Chris: Yeah, why?

Kiara: You kept texting me.

Chris: I miss you.

Kiara: It's been half an hour.

Chris: Trouble.

Kiara: Hero.

Chris: I love you.

Unable to hold in her giddy smile, Kiara reread the text again as a bashful giggle bubbled up her throat. She figured her brother had likely started causing trouble– enough that Chris had texted her in a desperate attempt to garner much needed respite from his antics. Quickly typing out her reply, she locked her phone and plugged it into the charger before he managed to distract her again.

Kiara: I love you.

With the ingredients already present in the kitchen, Kiara prepped specific mixtures for the curry as best she could while waiting on Karan and Chris for the remaining elements. The boys trudged in a good hour later, her brother sporting a mischievous smirk while her boyfriend looked worse for wear as an atrocious scent smelling suspiciously like the fish market trailed after him. She tried her best to contain the laugh building up, biting her lip and keeping her head down as she quickly snatched up the grocery bags before hurrying into the kitchen.

By the time the prawn curry was set on low heat to simmer, Kiara was amidst mixing atta dough for the chapatis. Muscles straining with effort and sweat beading across her forehead, she sat on the ground in an effort to better knead the thick dough as Chris finally emerged freshly showered.

Poking his head into the kitchen, he sighed at the sight of her struggling, "Hands up!"

Startled by the sudden interruption, she yelped and raised her arms up, "They're up!"

Laughing quietly, he pointed her away from the bowl and washed his hands, "Now you're really in trouble."

Relaxing when she realised who it was, she huffed, "And why's that?"

"You broke your promise."

"What promise?"

"The one you made to relax this entire week."

Helplessly enamoured by the effortless grace of the woman before him, Chris watched Kiara in awe as she threw her head back to laugh openly and freely. It always knocked the wind out of him to witness how naturally beautiful she was and for a moment, he completely forgot what he was about to do. Jolting himself out of his lovestruck trance, he plopped down beside her and stuck his hands into the atta dough as he tentatively kneaded the dough.

Looking at her for guidance, he titled his head expectantly, "Sit back and relax. Tell me what to do."

Shaking her head, she smiled, "I set the dough out to rise a few hours ago so I think it just needs a few more minutes of kneading."

"Sounds simple enough."

"The problem is that it gets tough really quickly when left out so it constantly requires kneading."

"Ah, now I get why you're panting."

Undeterred by the challenging task, Chris kneaded the dough diligently as Kiara kept him company. He distracted himself through conversations with her as they recalled various childhood memories, nostalgically swapping stories.

Growing quiet for a second, he plainly stated, "I'm like ninety percent sure that your dad hates me."

She snorted, "I doubt it."

Setting down a plate and nudging his hands away, Kiara demonstrated to Chris as she ripped off a small chunk of the atta dough and rolled it into a smooth evenly shaped ball. Placing the portion onto the plate, she nodded encouragingly at him as he followed suit and ripped off an equal portion of dough to roll.

Bumping shoulders with him, she admitted, "Alright, I admit he's a little overprotective but you have to understand that spending so much time away from his kids back when he was building his career meant he missed all our childhood milestones."

He clenched his jaw, memories of his absent father likely flashing through his mind, "I'm sorry, I know that must've been hard."

"It was, especially because I didn't have my mom to rely on."

"What about your brother?"

She tensed at that, "He was around but not really present, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"After Mumma*, he just lost all sense of direction in life. He started fights at every opportunity, stayed out late almost every night and on the rare occasions he was actually home, always stayed locked up in his room with a sketchbook. Someone had to be the responsible one so eventually I started waking up early to prepare everyone's meals, cleaning the house after school and whenever they were either too tired or wasted to get into bed themselves, tucking Appa and Kunjettan in. Anything they needed, I did."

He gaped at the nonchalance with which she described her arduous childhood, "No fourteen-year-old should be tasked with such expectations. That wasn't fair on you."

"It wasn't, but my father never really recovered from losing the love of his life and my brother had no idea what to do with the warring emotions bottled up within himself."

"So what? If they couldn't handle the grief, it would've been ten times worse for you."

"Maybe so, but I'm much better at compartmentalising."

"You mean repressing."

"Tomayto, tomahto."

Chris looked at Kiara for a long moment, as if he could see the iron-willed teenager who had grappled through her life armed only with Herculean determination. He marvelled at the woman before him and at how positive her outlook was despite the darkness she was surrounded by.

Unable to control the protector in him, he leaned over to peck her cheek as the need to comfort her overwhelmed him, "You're amazing, you know that?"

With silver lining her eyes, she smiled wistfully, "I wouldn't have survived without the girls."

"The girls?"

"Yeah, they made a routine to help out whenever they could. Alia helped with groceries and cooking, Diana bailed Kunjettan out of any trouble and Miya assisted with cleaning and coursework."

"Then I'm glad you had them."

"Sometimes I feel guilty about the shame my father feels for leaving us alone."

"Are you hearing yourself?"

"I know how that sounds but I just can't help feeling like better communication on my end would've made the situation infinitely better. We could've healed our wounds together. As a family, not as separate entities."

"Should've, could've, would've– three words that are absolutely useless. His guilt is not your burden to bear and there's just no point of dwelling in the past."

"I know but it hurts me to see him work at the expense of his well-being to rectify the love he feels we were deprived of. He might not have been ever-present in our lives back then but we always felt the warmth of his affection. There's no need to overcompensate."

"At least he's trying to atone for what he feels was his neglect. Any mistake is forgivable so long as he's courageous enough to admit it."

Feeling unburdened for once in her life, Kiara let out a relieved breath as she moved to start flattening out the each atta dough ball with a rolling pin. Chris waited at the stove, dutifully lathering each face of the chapati with ghee before cooking them.

He smirked playfully, "I'd put up with all your dad's torture to see you smile like that."

She scoffed, "If you think this is torture, you haven't seen anything yet."

"You mean it gets worse than this?"

"I mean he likes you enough that you'll probably never experience his torture."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

*Mumma: a South Indian term for mother

Fortieth chapter already! Oh my God!!