Page 70 of Once Bitten

Part three:

KARA

Chapter Twenty Seven

Present Day

“Mai, stop feeding my cat, he’s starting to resemble me, you don’t want him to be a bachelor forever, do you?” I complained from my spot on the couch, rubbing my bloated belly.

“Oh hush. You’re gorgeous and somewhere your lucky royal Prince is out there lonely and thinking, ‘I wonder where my soul mate is?’ Too bad you’re too busy working and eating food out of a plastic container to find him.”

“Hmm, I don’t want a Prince.”

“Babe. I’m not saying you can’t do everything on your own, and I’m not even saying every person should be in a relationship. But you, you do.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because people who TRULY don’t want to be in a relationship or don’t love anyone, don’t make their friendly and understanding neighborhood delivery woman do a special knock on the door so they know it’s food, and not foe. Those are people in denial.”

“That was a month ago. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, remember our deal?”

“No.” Of course I did.

“Yes, you do. Well, it’s been a week, and per our deal, every week, I get to ask you once - are you ready to read the letter?”

“No.”

“Kara, sweetie, think about it before you answer.”

I didn’t answer. How could I tell her that I did think about it? That I thought about it every moment of every day. I spent my time trying NOT to think about it, about him.

How could I tell her that I already found my soul mate, and he wasn’t a Prince, he was just a man, a good, clever, thoughtful, loving, passionate man - who wasn’t mine to love?

“Mai, I can’t.”

“Ok. You done with this?” She pointed to the half finished bowl of noodles. “I’ll take it back to the restaurant and just fill it up with new broth and send it out to the next customer who orders Pho.”

“Oh my god!” I was horrified. “Do you really do that?”

Mai fell off the edge of the couch and onto a pile on the floor laughing. “You..should…see your…face!!” She gasped, clutching her stomach.

“Ugh! Not funny.” I bit my tongue to stop the laughter bubbling up inside me, I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction.

“Aw shit, that was good, thanks for that. I have the spirit to work another 6 hours now,” Mai puffed as she pulled herself to her feet.

The corners of my mouth twitched, I was lucky to have her in my life.

“See ya, babe,” she leant over to kiss my cheek and ruffle my hair as she left, slamming the door too loudly behind her.

“Ow. Geez,” I groaned, getting to my feet to lock the door. Turning back to the couch, a white envelope on the coffee table caught my eye.

No.

She didn’t.

I gingerly picked up the envelope, turning it over in my hand.

Two words: For Kara, were written on the front. It was still sealed. I was almost surprised that she hadn’t torn it open in the month since he had given it to her to give to me.

I sank into the couch. It’d been a month, and yet it still felt like yesterday, sliding into the taxi and driving away from him. My stomach twisting in pain, my chest burning from my jagged breath.

I’d told myself it shouldn’t have mattered that he was married, we weren’t to be together anyway, that had been the understanding, but the news that Finn had not only betrayed his wife, but that it truly meant that we couldn’t have a future had blindsided me.

A month later, I could still hear his admission, ‘Yes’. Yes, he was married.

What was there left to say?

Maybe it was time to find out.

“Damn Mai,” I cursed, half wanting to scrunch up the letter and never know what it contained, half craving some news about Finn so deeply that it physically hurt.

I held my breath as I let my heart decide.

My finger slid under the envelope flap.