॥The Wrong One॥

Driving past the old styled brick houses that spanned her street, Kayana bubbled up with excitement. She was going to see Raian! Lifting a hand up to brush her hair away from her face, she realised her palms were beginning to get sweaty. Letting out a slight laugh, she put down her window, allowing the warm spring breeze to whip around her, cooling her down.

"So, Kayana," 
Kayana turned to look at Corin who was trying to drive carefully with both hands on the wheel and the radio off. Kayana could have laughed if this was any other time at the extents that Corin went to show that she was responsible. Out of the two, Kayana was always the responsible one, the one parents allowed their daughters to talk to, because she was a good influence.

"Excited?"
Nodding, she let out a slight giggle. "I'm so nervous, I mean, I know this isn't the first time we've met and all..." Kayana trailed off, her thoughts beginning to ramble into each other, leaving even herself confused.

"You'll be fine Kayana, you know Raian, I know Raian. He loves you." Corin said as she reached over with one hand to pat Kayana's which lay in her lap. At this, the car neatly swerved into the other lane causing Corin to quickly retract her hand, wide eyed.

Quickly turning the car into a parking spot next to the local park, she stopped. 

"Hey? Weren't we going to your house?"

"Yes, but Raian wanted to meet you here." 

Kayana's brows furrowed. Here? In public? Meeting a boy? This wasn't right. This had never happened before.
Slowly stepping out of the car, her clothes whipping around her, Kayana hurriedly joined Corin who was walking confidently towards the basketball courts.

"Relax sunshine, he just wants to show off for you." Corin said with a slight roll of her eyes at the anxiousness in Kayana's eyes. "Come on." She said, pulling on her best friends hand, leading her towards the benches.

"I still don't think this is right Corin, couldn't we just wait for him at your house? What if someone sees us?" Kayana questioned, the thumb nail of her right hand finding its way towards her mouth.
But Corin wasn't listening anymore. Instead, her eyes were focused on the group of three boys playing a mini game of basketball.

Kayana always knew Raian had a spot for basketball. He was close to being the star player at the school he attended, and the only reason he wasn't, was because he didn't want to steal the spotlight. Raian was aiming for a full scholarship for basketball after school, and Kayana couldn't have been more proud at his goals. But even Kayana didn't personally know how well he played. She was never allowed to attend one of his games as she never had the courage to ask. But today, today she regretted never going to watch.

All the boys had their shirts off, but Kayana's innocent eyes were only trained on one person in particular. The way his jet black hair moved when he jumped for the ball, or when his brows pulled together when he aimed for a shot. They took in the way his bronzed skin glinted in the skin, his wide expanse of a chest glittered with sweat and the way his eyes, those depths of brown quickly found hers.

Blushing furiously, Kayana looked away. What was she doing? She couldn't be seen here! What would her parents say?! 
 
"Hey guys, come here." A deep, velvet voice spoke and Kayana froze. 

"Corin, get up! Let’s go!" Kayana hurriedly whispered, trying to disappear before anybody else saw them, but it was too late. 

Two boys flanked the boy she had been watching earlier. The sight of him making her heart jump into her throat. Her mouth fluttered open slightly as she stared at this glorious specimen in front of her, but she quickly shut it, and straightened her back. Placing her hands in her lap, Kayana slightly lifted her head to look straight into Raian's eyes.

"Hello Kayana." He spoke again, his voice caressing her ears. Nearly making her shiver. Nearly.

"Hello Raian," She replied, tilting her head slightly "Boys." she acknowledged the other two. 

"Kenida, Morite, this is Kayana." Raian introduced, his head ducking slightly as the boys looked at him with a wicked glint in their eyes.

"Kayana? THE Kayana?" Kenida asked, his smile growing by the second at the way Raians cheeks began to glow.
Punching him lightly in the shoulder, Raian sent them a playful glare.
The two put their hands up in surrender, and began to walk back to where they had placed their bags and other training gear. 

Taking a seat quite close to her, Raian used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off of his face. Looking around, Kayana moved away from him a little bit. How would it look if someone were to walk past? She wasn't even meant to be here!

"So, what're you doing here?" Raian asked, genuine curiosity laced his voice, as he realised he had never met with Kayana except at his home as she was best friends with his little sister, Corin.

Kayana's eyes widened. "What am I doing here? Didn't you call me here?" She questioned.

"No? I was just going to finish up and meet you at home." Answering her back, his eyes glancing slightly towards Corin who was talking to Kenida.

"But Corin said..." Kayana trailed off. Hadn't Corin said that Raian wanted to meet her here? Shaking her head, she dismissed the idea that Corin would be lying to her. Maybe she had just heard wrong.
"We were just driving past when we decided to come see you." She smiled at him. Kayana hated lying to Raian, but it had to be done. 

"And, did you like what you saw?" He whispered slightly towards her, leaning in. 

Kayana turned a deep shade of red. "It was alright." She whispered, before scooting over a bit more on the bench.

"Come on Kayana, just admit that you enjoyed the view." He said, moving a little bit closer.

Kayana's eyes widened. What was he implying? Jumping out of her seat, she faced away from Raian.
"I, I've got to go." she stammered out, before walking away to Corin. Grabbing her arm, she graciously pulled both of them towards the car that stood waiting patiently for them. 

"What happened?" Corin questioned once they were seated in the car.
 "Nothing, let’s go wait at home." She replied, her eyes once again drifting towards the boys that had resumed playing their game.

॥The Wrong One॥ 

Once Kayana had called her mother and explained why they were late reaching Corin's home which was a 10 minute drive from theirs, they both sat on the navy blue lounge suite. Looking around, Kayana noticed once again how neat their home was. 

A wooden coffee table sat in the middle of the wooden floors on top of a gray rug, surrounded by a semi-circular, lounge set the same colour as the seat they were sitting on. The seats were all connected into one large couch, so that everyone was adjacent to the next. They looked out towards a balcony that over-viewed a neat little backyard which was decorated with a barbecue and a little garden that Corin's mother nurtured. 

Sighing, Kayana laid her head lightly on the back of the head rest, thinking back to the courts.
Why did Raian tease her so? He knew how hard it was for to deceive her parents for him, but he chose to make it harder for her. The question was, was he worth the deception? 

At that moment, the girls heard the rumbling of a car pulling up to the Nalad family home. Rushing for their scarves, they readjusted the material over their heads as they waited for the owner of the car to emerge. 

Both girls gasped, as instead of the person they were expecting, Mr. Ionido Nalad came out of the black ford. 

॥The Wrong One॥ 

Stepping into the house, Ionido Nalad was pleased to see his daughter standing at the door, her hand outstretched to take his briefcase, her head slightly bowed.  He smiled and handed her his case. He usually made a habit of not bringing his work home, but sometimes it could not be helped.

"Thank you beti." He acknowledged as he stepped inside his home, slipping off his office shoes.
Corin nodded and proceeded to carry his luggage into his home office. 

"Corin beti," Ionido called out, and waited for her little blonde head to show before he asked the other question. "What is that delicious smell?"

"Oh, Pita ji, Kayana is here. I asked you in the morning?" 

Oh, that's what he was missing he thought as he smiled guiltily at his daughter.
"Yes beti, sorry it slipped my mind."

Corin nodded and hurried out of the room.

Sometimes he really hated the submission that woman had to show the men in Kairya, but Ionido knew this was the way of life for them, and he couldn't single handedly change tradition. He had tried to make Corin into an independent woman, even allowing her to learn to drive, which had gotten him many disapproving looks, but he had wanted the best for his daughter. Kayana's influence on Corin was a large one, and Corin had slowly become a lady. 

He missed the times when he'd come home, and Corin would jump on him chattering away about her day. His own daughter was now afraid to show affection as it was not considered 'lady-like'. Though he could not blame Kayana, nor her parents. Her father was a very influential man, whose reputation meant the world to him. He couldn't let his daughter act any less than what she was now. 

The idea of telling Corin what he thought slipped into his mind before he quickly shook it away. He couldn't speak of these things to his daughter, could he?

Shaking his head, he continued following his daughter.

Walking into the kitchen, his nose tickled with a delicious aroma. Breathing in, he smiled. 

"Kayana beti, what are you making?" Ionido questioned, seating himself down on the island seats. His kitchen was made of steel and marble, a dark and light colour code which extended throughout his whole house. 

"A cake Nalad ji, for Caterina auntys birthday." She replied, smiling while walking around his tiled kitchen and placing a cup of coffee infront of him

Noticing that Corin had glided into the room also, and had begun tying her apron, he watched in slight amazement as the two began to measure and place different ingredients into different bowls. They worked together so smoothly, it was as if he were watching time go by. An aura of comfortable silence surrounded them. But yet, he still saw that the girls had their scarves around their heads, and they still wouldn't look up at him.

Nodding, he got up. 

Glancing at Corin, he turned around and walked away to his office.

Sometimes he wished they had a normal, less strict life. But their tradition was their way of life.

॥The Wrong One॥ 

“Pass me a napkin please Kayana.” Corin asked politely as she finished eating her slice of the chocolate cake that her friend had made, the melted vanilla inside basically oozed out as they had made the first cut. Though, as per tradition, the first slice had been given to Mr. Nalad.

 “That was heavenly.” she sighed.

“What was heavenly?” A masculine voice asked and both girls hurriedly decorated their heads with their scarves and placed their dishes in the sink. 

Searching for the hand towel that she knew was usually kept by the oven, Kayana kept her eyes lowered as she searched for the red cloth. Hearing the sound of footsteps getting closer, she lowered her gaze even more, looking down at the ground. A pair of socks came into view.

“I believe you’re looking for this.” He whispered lightly, leaning in towards her ear. 

Thanking him lightly, Kayana grabbed the towel and turned around, getting ready to wash the dishes, but not before seeing a slight frown on Corin’s face. Was Corin mad? Shaking her head lightly, she started the water, turning it to hot as she began scrubbing at the dishes. Should Corin have a reason to be mad? Placing the newly washed dish in the dish drainer, the steam wafted around her, causing little beads of water to stick to her face. Using her forearm to wipe away the moisture, Kayana kept scrubbing. What if she doesn’t approve? What if she tells someone? What if-

“Kayana!”

Startled, she pulled her hands out from the water. Looking down, her hands were red, nearly unrecognizable and parts seemed to be blistering. Glancing at the tap, she saw that she had forgotten to turn it midway, and instead had pushed it all the way towards the left side, to hot.

Grimacing, Kayana reached out and lowered the temperature, and began to wash again.

“What are you doing?” Raian asked, pulling her hands from out of the water “Your hands are burnt! What were you thinking?” He chastised her. 
Turning around, he spoke to Corin. “Do you mind finishing this up? She needs to go run her hands under cold water, and I’ll see what else I can do."

Glancing towards Corin, Kayana saw her move, with a dejected sigh, towards the unfinished dishes.
“It’s okay Corin, I ca-“ She began, pulling her heads away from his grip, glad that the red on her face could be mistaken as pain from her hands.

“No.” Raian spoke for her.

Giving a helpless glance towards Corin, who had begun to wash, she began walking away towards the bathroom.

All of a sudden, she became acutely aware that her and Raian were alone. In a hallway. Metres from the bathroom.

Gulping, Kayana turned around, and came face to face with Raians chest. 

She slowly raised her eyes, which seemed to have a mind of their own, as she looked directly at him. What was she doing? Where had her manners gone?

Realisation crossed her face as she quickly looked back down again. What had she done?

Feeling a finger under her chin, she allowed him to lift her warm face up again. She was sure her cheeks were blazing now.

“Don’t look away from me Kayana, I don’t want you to be afraid.”

And this was why she had fallen undoubtedly in love with him. Because he was different. Because he cared. Because he was the right one. 

Sighing, she leant into him, inhaling his manly scent. 

What  would her parents think if they found out about this? Sub-consciously she thought she heard the slight thump of feet as someone walked away from them, but it couldn’t be true. They were alone. This was their time. Corin wouldn’t disturb them. 

Lifting her hand to rest on his chest, she gasped as her hand twitched in pain. Both sets of eyes looked downwards, and Raian took a step back. 
“Come on, we need to do something about that quickly, before it gets worse.”

Following him into the visitor bathroom, he stepped back and Kayana turned the tap on cold this time, and rested both her hands in the basin. What was she doing? They should at least speak to their parents first, that would maybe make it better, right? Lifting a cool hand to her face, she tapped on her cheeks. Still hot.  

Raian removed a box from the drawers under the basin and gestured for her to sit on the closed toilet. Kneeling in front of her, he opened the box and took out a cream. Looking into her eyes, he brought her hand onto his lap and gently applied the cooling substance to it, watching her face for signs of any discomfort.

Kayana was mesmorised by the light movements of Raians hands on hers and the swirling emotions in his eyes. Did she see awe? Was that amazement? A little bit of lust?

He cleared his throat lightly. “If you keep your mouth open like this, you’re going to catch flies,” a slight smile playing on his lips, his voice a little husky.

“Yeah? What else could I catch?” Her eyes widened. What had she just said? Those stupid romance books were getting to her head! She couldn’t speak to him like that!

His smile slowly dropped, being replaced by a thoughtful yet decisive expression. He stared at her face, and seemed to find what he was looking for.

Unconsciously the two began leaning in. Finally she thought, she’ll get to feel what she only dreamed about. Her eyes fluttered closed and his rhythmic strokes began to slow down.

His free hand slowly travelled up her arm, resting right behind her neck, coercing her closer. Kayana obliged gladly. 

Keeping her burnt hands between them, she hesitantly placed them on his chest, still leaning closer. 

She felt his breath on her lips before anything, a tickling sensation that shocked her to her core, shooting an unknown feeling throughout her body. So close.

She shivered as their lips touched. Once. Twice. Before they locked.

Raians other hand made it around her waist as he held her close to him, as close as he could get to her on his knees. 

Kayana pulled back slightly, resting her forehead on his, her eyes slightly glazed.

“I love you.” He murmured. 

“You’re my everything.” She whispered back.

“What’s happened here?”

Everything stopped.


॥The Wrong One॥