Karan being blissfully oblivious to all the tension above.

metanoia

(n.) the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self or way of life

Rolling over in her bed, Kiara snuggled into the warmth emanating from the hard surface beside her. The minute a heavy arm flopped across her waist, she stilled as her mind raced through various scenarios. It was then that the events of last night flashed through her mind and she realised it was just Chris. Turning to face him, she traced her finger over the light dusting of freckles on his cheek. Running a hand through the soft strands of his adorably ruffled bedhead, she brought her lips up to the underside of his jaw as he slowly woke up.

Sleepily rubbing his eyes, he grumbled, "Morning, trouble."

Letting his warm cinnamon scent envelop her, she nuzzled into his neck, "Morning, hero."

Forcing herself out of bed, Kiara grabbed the first shirt she saw and tugged it on before standing to pull the curtains open. Unfortunately Karan chose that moment to barge into her room, consequently getting an eyeful when her oversized shirt rode up and practically left her ass hanging out.

Taking one look at the shirtless actor then at his half-naked sister, Karan shielded his eyes before dramatically collapsing to the ground and wailing, "Of all people, why me?"

She scrambled to cover herself, jumping under the covers, as Chris remained comically scandalised while clutching his chest, "Kunjetta, I can explain!"

Shaking his head in denial, Karan cautiously peeped through his fingers to make sure they were decent before awkwardly backing away but as luck would have it, the tell-tale sounds of Samuel's footsteps echoed up the stairs. 

Karan threw his head back and groaned in frustration before gesturing at Kiara to make space and begrudgingly getting in bed between the couple. 

Holding up a finger to shut her up, he hissed, "Not. A. Word. I'm a pacifist so I'd rather we didn't start the day by arguing with Appa."

Sighing in resignation, Karan shoved Chris into hiding under the covers as Kiara silenced his protests a hand over his mouth. She quickly threw a leg over his body to make the suspicious lumpy form beside her seem a little less obvious just in time for Samuel to walk in and freeze at the scene before him. The siblings had the duvet pulled all the way up to their necks, wearing sheepish smiles as they pressed close together in a bed that quite clearly could afford to accommodate them both. To anyone with half a brain and working vision, this entire situation reeked of bullshit but by some miracle, Samuel hadn't caught on.

Frowning in confusion, he chuckled, "While I am glad my children get along so well, this is very out of character for you two."

From where Samuel stood, Chris was completely obstructed from his line of sight but that would quickly change if he took so much as a step closer. Karan, on the other hand, schooled his features to neutrality as he tried his best to appear perfectly normal while sandwiched between his sister and future brother-in-law.

He held a hand up to stop Samuel from closing the distance before their elaborate charade unravelled, "No elderly allowed during brother-sister bonding time."

Flipping Karan the bird, he rolled his eyes, "Fuck right off, you little shit. I'm fifty-seven years young."

Forcing herself to laugh and join in on the banter, Kiara teased, "Rule still stands, old man."

Samuel relented and moved to leave the room, "Yeah, yeah," but paused and turned to retort; "Oh and for your information, this isn't Sweden so any naughty business is most definitely incestuous!"

For once, the siblings had the same reaction as they both recoiled in disgust. Grabbing their pillows and aiming at Samuel's retreating figure, they chucked their makeshift weapons but missed and hit the door instead. Waiting until the coast was clear, Karan silently seethed and crossed his arms over the duvet as he waited for an explanation, seeming to forget he was still in bed with the couple.

Clearing his throat nervously, Chris popped his head up from under the covers, "Don't blame Kiara, this was my idea."

Unimpressed with the heroics, Karan simply raised a brow, "No shit, you're the one that snuck into her house."

Throwing her hands up in defeat, Kiara grumbled, "Fuck it. Yeah, he stayed the night. So what?"

He whipped his head around to face her, "Dude, if you're going to sneak around, at least do it with a solid escape plan in mind."

Chris blinked in surprise, "You're not upset that I slept over?"

"Hell no! I've done much worse so I'm in no place to judge and she's an adult that's more than capable of making her own decisions."

An agonising silence settled over the group as they waited for someone to make the first move. Rubbing at her wrists nervously, Kiara peered over at Chris and gestured to her brother with her eyes. They silently communicated for a few seconds, somehow fluently conducting a conversation through subtle facial expressions.

Eventually Karan broke the silence, "Are you two going to keep eye-fucking each other or is someone going to let me out of this three-way from hell?"

Almost instantly, all three of them moved at once as they shot out of bed. Already feeling uncomfortable enough, Karan barely deigned to spare them a glance as he made a run for the door. By the time Kiara and Chris had freshened up, she found a text from Samuel waiting on her phone:

Samuel: Breakfast is ready.

It was the text that followed two minutes after that had Kiara choking on her spit as she spluttered out a cough and panicked:

Samuel: Tell Chris he's welcome to join as well.

Kiara: Be down in two seconds.

Rubbing her forehead in preparation for the migraine that was already threatening to form, Kiara took a steadying breath. Interlacing her fingers with a very flustered and stressed Chris, she took the lead as he dragged his feet behind her. Making their way into the kitchen, they ignored her brother's sharp inhale and slipped into the seats opposite Samuel.

Smoothing a hand over his face, he exhaled, "In the interest of moving on with our lives, I'm going to pretend you walked in through the front door and not sneaking out of my daughter's bedroom."

Sheer terror tainted his features as Chris stuttered, "S-sir, I just want to thank y-you for inviting me to your table."

"It's the least I could do after you opened your home to us."

Karan snorted and not-so-subtly mumbled under his breath, "And opening other things with your daughter last night."

Clapping her hands to grab their attention, she smiled tightly, "What's for breakfast?"

Shoulders dropping as he instantly softened at the sight of his daughter, Samuel grabbed her hand and squeezed affectionately, "There's a lot but I also made your favourite– pazham puzhungiyathu*."

An hour later after a hearty serving of breakfast, the tension had noticeably dissipated and loyalties had shifted as Kiara found herself somehow being triple teamed by Chris, Samuel and Karan.

Finishing up his coffee, her father leaned towards Chris, "So why all the angsty separation?"

Scratching his head, he shrugged, "I don't really remember anymore."

"Eh, that happens," Samuel lowered his volume conspiratorially; "Just be careful, Kiara can be dangerous when she's angry."

"Oh, that's great advice."

She grunted, playfully slapping her father's shoulder, "Didn't take you for a gossip."

Not missing a beat, he quipped, "And I didn't take you for someone with a brother complex."

Grumbling to herself, Kiara chose to ignore their teasing as she forced everyone to help her clear the table.

Huffing at the spilled food smeared across the table mat, she whined, "Kunjetta, you made a mess again!"

Karan shrugged, "I'll clean it up."

"As if I haven't heard that one before."

"Then you know I mean it!"

"The permanent stains on all my table mats beg to differ!"

Raising his hands to stop their arguing, Samuel interjected, "Hey, it's not his fault the stains wouldn't come out."

Realising he came in at the wrong time, Chris held out a tray with three steaming mugs of fresh coffee and faltered, "I made us coffee..."

Frighteningly in sync, all three Mathews turned to him and exclaimed, "What do you think?"

"U-um I think we should all calm down and take a seat."

Having recounted their entire argument, they watched Chris intently for his verdict as he shuffled anxiously.

Hesitantly broaching the topic, he reasoned, "Karan really has been trying to clean up after himself so maybe today was just a one-off incident."

Smirking smugly, Karan nodded, "Yeah, you just make unreasonable demands."

Tapping her shoulder, Samuel earnestly smiled, "I've always wondered if there was some sort of deeper psychological reason for your OCD. Are you okay, kunju?"

Flashbacks of a childhood spent obsessing over perfection pierced Kiara's consciousness. She had disciplined herself to compulsively correct the slightest flaw because if she produced anything short of immaculate, neither her brother nor father were in the right state of mind to support her. And now Samuel had the audacity to pry about her mental state? As if he wasn't the sole cause for most of her trauma. As if he had always been there for her. As if he hadn't stolen her innocence and forced her to grow up. She had long since given up on redeeming her father because though he was remorseful for the effect his actions had on her, he offered no apologies for acting that way.

Finally having enough of their antics, Kiara gritted her teeth and exhaled a long breath then hurriedly stood to leave before she said something she would regret. The three men followed after her like lost puppies, only deterred when she slammed the bathroom door in their faces. Leaning back against it, she quietly listened as snippets of their conversation outside filtered through the door.

Flustered at the sudden turn of events, Chris cried out, "I warned you to be nice!"

She could already picture Samuel running a hand through his hair as he shouted, "I didn't mean it negatively," cupping his hands around his mouth, he pressed up to the bathroom door and tried to speak to her; "Remember, kunju, I'm on your side!"

Letting them marinate in guilt for a few more seconds, Kiara took a few steadying breathes before opening the door to face the source of her ire. Exiting the bathroom and brushing past them, she planned to hole up in her bedroom until her frustration tamped down.

Angling his head to Samuel, Chris whispered, "Is this the silent treatment?"

He whispered back, "Who knows? Maybe she's just lost interest in you."

Glaring at them and moving to the stairs, she stopped in her tracks when Chris called out, "Whoa, stop! Look, look, look, Karan's cleaning up!"

Lo and behold, Karan was armed with cleaning gloves as he feverishly scrubbed at the table. An array of disinfectant sprays were scattered across the floor as he wiped every surface clean while soaking the stained table mats. He looked at Kiara with those hopeful eyes and spread his arms wide, knowing she could never remain angry for long. When it was clear the he was genuinely apologetic for upsetting her, she ran into his embrace and hugged him tightly, unable to refuse his sincerely. Breaking apart, she pretended not to notice the glare he shot at their father and nonchalantly drifted over to Chris. Reflexively tucking her body into his side, he froze and waited for Samuel to comment but breathed a sigh of relief when her father said nothing of the physical display of affection.

The remaining week was blissfully uneventful as both the Evans and Mathew families spent more time together. Lisa had called Samuel over for some tea, after which both parents had returned with suspiciously red eyes and tentative smiles. Once they had buried the hatchet, tensions between the two families magically resolved. Hell, even Karan had put all of his seemingly limitless energy into planning nature walks as he took the Evans children on little adventures– a much needed relief that both Carly and Shanna were eternally grateful for. All the while, there had somehow been no scandals as of yet apart from speculative theories regarding the couple reuniting. 

An eagle-eyed fan had magnified a clip from a promotional video one of the sponsored advertising companies she partnered with had posted, capturing the moment a portion of her phone case was shown. Blurry screenshots of the polaroid Chris had taken of them circulated the internet, becoming viral within hours as Twitter trended with '#Chiara' as the top search but neither of them had deigned to comment on the rumours. By the time her family travelled back to Hong Kong, they were bombarded with questions regarding theories of a secret wedding or hidden pregnancy but both her father and brother artfully dodged their baiting.

As if he knew Kiara was feeling lonely the first weekend after her family returned home, Chris called her over to help him babysit his nephew. Having planned to enjoy a rare date night together, Carly and Ryan were dismayed to find that their toddler, Miles, was too apparently too young to attend the birthday sleepover party that his siblings would be at. So when they begged if Kiara could help for a few hours, she couldn't find it in her heart to refuse.

It was now well into the evening after Chris had managed to subdue the hyperactive child with 'The Wiggles' re-runs as Kiara frowned at the set of instructions Carly left for feeding Miles. Wiping around the small bowl of mushy peas, she tossed the napkin before holding up a spoon of the sludge to his mouth. The fussy toddler scrunched his nose, moving his face away from the spoon as she sighed in frustration. Chris huffed a laugh from behind her, resting his hands on either side of her waist and pressing her body firmly against the kitchen table.

He mumbled, "Any luck?"

She leaned into his warmth, smiling in contentment, "I now hate the colour green."

Leaning over to peck her shoulder, he grinned, "Is that why you did your nails blue?"

Wriggling her fingers to show him, she blushed, "No, these are same shade as your eyes."

"Isn't that just adorable."

"I was feeling romantic."

He nuzzled into her neck, inhaling deeply as he smiled, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I bet they'd look real nice wrapped around my–"

Kiara squeaked an embarrassed noise before slamming her free hand over Chris' mouth and spinning around to face him.

She smacked her laughing boyfriend with the back of her hand but couldn't deny the heat curling in her stomach, "Chris! Little ears hear and repeat everything. Don't you want to see your nephew again? If he starts copying your dirty mouth, we'll be on Carly's shit list."

"Shit," Miles babbled.

Her eyes flew wide and she turned to stare helplessly at Chris, "If anyone asks, you're taking the blame for that."

He laughed harder, "I absolutely will not. You made your bed, now lie in it."

"Don't you want to lie in bed with me, though?"

"Well, now that you mention it..."

Finally finding the will to pull away from his girlfriend and nephew, Chris hurried to the bathroom to clean himself up before the baby food stained his shirt. Upon returning, he found Kiara sat opposite Miles as she nonsensically conversed with the giggling toddler.

Stirring the small bowl of mushy peas, she grimaced at the horrid shade of green and leaned back pensively, "I don't usually go on a lot of dinner dates, how about you?"

Tilting his head, Miles simply smacked his lips as she scooped a small teaspoon, "No? That's cool. So... you live around here?"

He kicked his feet up excitedly as she raised her brows, "Upstairs? What a coincidence, my boyfriend lives right around the corner in the master bedroom. I knew I'd seen you somewhere!"

Distracted by her expressions, he unsuspectingly accepted a mouthful of mushy peas while she continued, "Excellent choice on the peas, by the way. Really inspiring how you eat your veggies."

Successfully feeding him another spoonful, she smiled triumphantly, "Sorry if I'm a little nervous, it's just that I don't usually meet studs like you," leaning forwards in mock-seriousness, she lowered her voice; "If I'm being honest, I– well, I prefer older men."

As if engaged in the conversation, he frowned and let out a disgruntled gargle as she backtracked, "Oh, not that much older!"

Deciding he could only handle so much cuteness, he stepped into the kitchen, "Well, I hope I made the cut."

The two startled when Chris walked over, Kiara awkwardly rubbing her nose as a faint red coloured her cheeks. Immediately, Miles was stretching his arms out as he reached for his uncle while she gaped at the toddler who had sold her out so quickly. It had been three years since they met and Chris found himself falling deeper and further in love with her. Seeing her interactions with his family spurred an impulsive thought in his mind as Chris wondered what it would be like to start their own. He imagined it would be his equivalent to heaven– having the privilege of waking up with her every day, hearing that heart-stopping laugh whenever he wanted, creating a home together. The more he thought about it, the more he craved that life.

*Pazham puzhungiyathu: a Keralan dish of steamed bananas

Nearing the end now! Only a few more chapters to go so please don't forget to vote and comment!!!