"Fuck fine." He cursed like a little kid which made me laugh, he took a bite out of one of the plain crackers, "It's not my fault I can't swallow anything and make it stay down."
“Yeah..” I sighed, glancing out the window.
“What is it?” He asked immediately, sitting up and placing his hand on my knee.
“What do you mean?” I wondered.
“You seem distracted since that phone call, what’s on your mind?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
“I’m not really.” I shrugged.
“I know you.” He reminded me. “And I know when you’re acting even the slightest bit different.”
“That’s cute.” I smiled.
“I’m not trying to be endearing I want to know what happened, tell me?” He asked placing a gentle hand on my cheek.
“My mother called.” I confessed, “My family is hosting a birthday party for my grandmother in Nairobi and she wants me to go, but I don’t know…”
“You have to go!” River gasped and I widened my eyes in shock, it was the most expressive I’d seen him. “Sorry, but your grandmother means so much to you and you talk about her very often, and you’re always telling me how much you miss home right?”
“Yes but I’m not certain I can survive all alone with my suffocating family.” I expressed,
“You never have to be alone.” He comforted.
“What?”
“I said, you never have to be alone and I mean it.” He told me, “I could…come with you.”
“You’re kidding!” I laughed but his face remained serious. “Right?”
“No.” He remarked, “I don’t joke very often, you know that.”
“You want to come with me…to Kenya?” I asked, “Like the middle of Africa, you’ve never even been there!”
“There’s always a first time for everything.” He asserted.
“I want to be with you.”
“Okay.” I sighed grabbing ahold of his hand.
“Okay?”
“Okay as in, let’s do this Kennedy.” I smiled leaning on his shoulder and snuggling closer, “We’re going to Kenya.”
“I’m…excited.” He whispered.
"You know, Jaadi and I would watch this all the time back home." I told him, "He loved the model train, by the way, I never had a chance to properly thank you for it— you really didn't have to."
"It was nothing, really." He shrugged,
"No, It isn't, itreallymeant a lot to me that you went out of your way to buy something for him, if only mama would give you a chance, she would really like you River." I expressed sincerely leaning into his lap, "You have what we call moyo mwema, a good heart."
A week later, Nairobi, Kenya
We’d only been in Nairobi for a day so far, we were staying at a safari lodge because I missed the chance to see all the wildlife and greenery. We could’ve easily stayed at some five-star hotel in the city, but that wasn’t what we wanted. The scenery was beyond beautiful, and for the first time, I truly felt at home, because everyone around me looked like and understood me perfectly. The food was familiar too and that made me incredibly happy.
We were sharing a room, as expected and there was only one bed so of course we had to share. We had gotten way more comfortable with each other and sharing a space with him made me realise that I could live this way with him, perhaps forever. The floors were wooden and the roof was hatched, the bathroom was luxurious and had an enamel bath and elegant sweet-scented soaps and shampoos.
