Page 30 of Poseidon's Island Flower

“I think I want to come home,” Koma whispered so low I barely heard.

“What?”

“I think I want to come home. I don’t like you being by yourself. I was wrong not to call you last night but after the welcoming crew and getting put into the dorms and unpacking, it slipped my mind. Lani, I could have lost you.”

Koma’s eyes flooded with tears, and my heart felt like it was being pulled from my chest. No, no, no, he can’t do this to me, not those tears.

The last time I saw those tears was when I tucked him into the bedroom we shared when our parents died. The same bedroom where I stayed until he was fourteen years old because he couldn’t stand to be left alone.

“Koma, no,” I muttered. “You stop that right now. You look at me.”

He shook his head, sniffing. The background showed white tiles, his body was too large to confirm where he sat but I was certain it was in the bathroom.

“Koma, I’m okay,” I cooed. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. It was a terrible accident, a freak thing.”

“I can’t lose you too, Lani,” he sniffed. “I can’t lose the last bit of family I have left.”

My gentle soul, my Koma, had a rough beginning in his life. He bounced from foster care to foster care until he was three years old. Few can say they remembered themselves at the age of three, but Koma did. He was lonely until my parents saw him sitting on a swing at a rundown home day care.

Their hearts went out to him despite being completely broke themselves. They asked if I would be willing to share a bedroom with a little boy that needed help; and being brought up to be selfless, of course I said yes.

It took years to confirm the adoption process, but he moved in with us just six months after seeing him playing by himself. Koma came to us dirty with bruises and scars on his knees. His biological parents were dead from drug overdoses, and now his adoptive parents had become his real parents.

The day our parents died in a car accident, it broke Koma. He cried for weeks and would still cry in the middle of the night when he thought I was asleep.

Now he was crying again, but it was because of fear, because of me.

“Baby Koko, you can’t worry anymore. I’m not alone. You have to do this, you have to be the first to graduate college, play in the NFL like you’ve always dreamed of. Mom and dad would be so proud of you.”

“I’d rather have you than any of that. I can come home and work at dad’s old job, I can…”

“No,” I said firmly. “You will not. I didn’t work my ass off to put food on the table and help you with your homework for you to give up. Mom and dad would not have expected that from you, you understand?”

He nodded slightly, still not convinced.

“I’ve met someone,” I blurted, and that was when Koma looked me in the eye. “Yeah, I met someone. He’s a wonderful guy and we are going on a date. Plus, I have Candice too, but I know you wanted me to meet someone and so, I’m getting out there.” I smiled.

Koma eyed me suspiciously.

“It isn’t Cory is it?”

I burst into laughter. “No, it isn’t. This is my rescuer who saved me. He’s strong. He dragged my jiggly butt out of the ocean. He made sure I was okay and best yet, he’s pretty hot.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

Koma chuckled, wiping away the tears. “I want to meet him then,” he said. “Let me video chat with him. I want to know his intentions.”

Oh hell, that was sweet.

But that wouldn’t do.

Cy could barely look at me. If he tried looking at Koma, he might wet his pants.

“Let me go on a few dates, see if it goes anywhere. I’m just trying to show you I’m not alone. I have Candice and the other women I work with, and I’ll find myself a Mr. Right on my own time, okay?”

Koma gave a hard look, sniffing as he rubbed his runny nose with his sleeve. “I just want someone to look after you, Nini. You look after everyone else. I didn’t do enough when I was there–”

“Shush. I’m fine. I’ll let you know how it goes. “

Koma and I talked for a few more minutes before he finally hung up. I wiped my forehead, sitting on the bed, thankful he decided he wouldn’t come home.

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