He was different. Different than I thought he would be.

A night full of pizza and exchanging distinct memories of our childhood caused us to learn more about each other.

He likes art, poetry, and jazz. He despises holes in his jeans, parties, and pop music.

I wasn't too surprised about his dislikes since he drunk himself out of conversations at Kiana's party.

I even found out that Violet's nickname was Jelly because she was a great swimmer in high school.

Still, while my childhood was filled with bliss until the age of six, Vincent's was nothing but staying quiet and surviving.

We made the mistake of watching a movie in the living room and ended up crashing there. Well, I was the only one who closed my eyes.

My arm was numb and tingly from me sleeping on it with no help from the cushion the couch had. I looked to the floor and saw the makeshift bed he made on there with a pillow and blanket.

I tried my best to have Vincent rest again but he was too worried about the consequences. To my defeat, I drifted to sleep during our argument. I even forgot to put my scarf on my head.

The smell of warm butter and coffee shot to my brain as an alarm to get up.

With a yawn, I turned onto my back and attempted to rub the sleep out of my eyes. When I opened them I saw a curly-haired figure was standing over me.

"Good morning!" His chipper little voice greeted. I noticed that he had chocolate all over his face.

"Morning Joey. I'm guessing you already got into the food?" I sat up from the couch and he moved his head.

"Yeah! Papá made eggs and oatmeal and pancakes and orange juice and-"

"Piccolo, why don't you let Amari see for herself what we're eating," Vincent rung out from the kitchen with a chuckle.

"Okay."

Joey put his little hand in mine and tugged me to the kitchen island where there was indeed a lot of food.

"That's strange. When I looked around last night there was not even one bag of chips."

I sat in the chair in front of the island and Joey sat next to me to finish whatever was left on his plate. The boy was a fast eater.

"When I went to pick up Joey this morning we ran to the store." Vincent sat a plate in front of me that had all of the goodies that Joey mentioned. He even went as far as to draw a smiley face on my pancakes with whipped cream.

He was definitely different. Way different than I thought he would be.

I would have not guessed that I would be sitting here eating breakfast with the guy I was supposed to kill and his son.

Is it anticlimactic or climactic?

It was disappointing to Nova when she heard I hadn't killed him, but I was looking forward to spending more time with him.

"Why are you two covered in flour? You couldn't have worked that hard to make pancakes." My eyes flickered from Vincent to Joey who had mischievous grins on their faces.

I didn't like this one bit.

In swift movements, Vincent balled some flour in his hand and threw it on me. Joey leaned over the counter to do the same and ended up getting more of my face covered.

My mouth was open in shock and I wiped the flour from my eyes and saw a panicked look go over Vincent's face when I grabbed the entire bowl of flour.

"Run!" Joey yelped but he was quickly dosed in some flour that I already had clutched in my hand.

Next was Vincent.

He held his hands up in defense behind the counter and seemed to be inching closer to the cabinet behind him.

I ran behind the counter to throw some on him but he started hurling chocolate chips at me.

That didn't stop me from tossing the entire bowl of flour on him. White powder and the sound of our laughter filled the kitchen as we kept running around trying to find things to throw at each other.

We decided to call it quits since we ran out of energy and substances to throw. Vincent's white shirt was stained orange due to the cold juice I poured down his back. Joey was a walking snowman as he trailed tracks to the bathroom after Vincent told him that he'll run a bath for him.

After Vincent playfully nudged me on his way to the bathroom, I decided to clean up.

I stacked our plates and slid them in the sink to wash them.

The entire kitchen was a white wonderland with all the snow painted on the floor and cabinets.

I could only imagine what I looked like.

My phone started to buzz in my pocket and I hesitated when I saw it was a video call from Jaden. I hadn't spoken to him since the frat party. Mainly because he was too busy settling into his courses that started this summer.

I laid the phone down so he wouldn't see the current state I was in and so he wouldn't ask questions.

"Hey Jae."

"Hey, girl. Why am I facing the ceiling?"

"I'm washing the dishes." I turned the water on and banged some utensils together since I already did the dishes.

"Alright then. Well, I just wanted to tell you congrats on the new show."

I almost forgot about that.

"Thanks," I said against my teeth hoping he didn't ask any further questions about how I got the job.

"So where are you? I went to the apartment this morning and when I knocked I didn't get an answer."

It was safer if Jaden didn't know my whereabouts.

"Nova and I are...heading to a festival and we crashed at a hotel. Sorry I didn't call you we had to leave early this morning."

Vincent came next to me about to speak but I put my hand over his mouth.

"Oh, okay. I just thought you would've told me you were going before you left. I would've come."

I hated lying to him but it was to protect him from knowing where I was.

"Sorry, Jaden but I gotta go. My battery is running low and we have a long way. I'll call you when we get there," I said sympathetically as my hand still gripped Vincent's mouth.

"Yeah."

The call ended and I let out an exhausted breath. Vincent brought me back to reality when he licked my hand.

"Gross." I scrunched my face and ran my hand under the water before turning it off.

"Who was that?"

"My cousin. He pledged to your frat." I dried my hands on the part of my shirt that wasn't covered in flour.

"I could've said hi."

"No, you couldn't have. He doesn't particularly like you."

"Why not? My movies can't be that bad," he defended.

"He knows about your family Vincent, and he's training to be a cop," I deadpanned. "He wants you to rot in jail and you were about to risk everything. One phone call and Jaden could have the police surround us."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'."

"What's with the attitude Amari? You don't think I know that people want me incarcerated or dead? You should know since you wanted me in the ground what seemed like five seconds ago."

This was him speaking because he was wide awake.

"Vincent I didn't mean to say-"

"No, I think you did. I'm not going to hide because I have a target on my back. I make the sacrifices I do for the good of my family. I take risks for the good of my family.
The hardest thing that I ever had to do was leave my son with my sister. I couldn't see him take his first steps because a customer sued my family for a 'bad batch' and I had to go to court." He rubbed his hand over his mouth as his voice modulated.

"My whole life is a risk. Coming to see my son is a risk of my father knowing that he exists. Putting the serum into your bloodstream was a risk because I had no clue if it was going to work and if you would turn out like Claire. Falling in love with you was a risk damn it."

Vincent slammed his hand on the counter and leaned over it with his head down.

"Papá, the bubbles are gone!" Joey yelled from down the hall.

Vincent straightened up momentarily and began to walk down the hall without a second glance my way.

I was left perplexed, with a kitchen unkept, and my hair a mess.

He was different. Completely different than I thought he would be.