Page 16 of Barefoot Chaos
"Hessa." He put a hand on my lower back and steered me down the ramp leading to the beach. "Let's stretch."
We sat down on a cement half wall and he proceeded to put me through a series of stretches.
"Did you forget your shoes?" I asked, not hiding the snark in my tone. The man was barefoot, which seemed weird when everyone around us had on either flip-flops or tennis shoes.
"No." He didn't seem perturbed by my question at all. In fact, his smirk seemed to speak volumes, mocking me for being the one in footwear.
"What are we doing here?" I had a bad feeling about this. Anything that required this much stretching was bound to be a level of strenuous beyond my capabilities.
"This is what I do after work most days of the week. I go for a run. Today, you get to join me." Kai actually gave me a look that was supposed to be magnanimous, but little did he know I had no intention of taking him up on this running 'gift'.
"Oh, I'm not a runner. How about I stay here and grade some papers while you go on your run? We'll talk after."
"Hessa." He glared at me with a hint of a smile, like I was a petulant child who would change her mind.
"Kai." I put my hands on my hips and stood my ground. I was still recovering from shin splints from my run with the Beach Squad two days ago. I wasn't doing that again.
"We'll go slow. Take breaks. You'll love it." He lost the glare and smiled at me instead, showing off that dimple. The dimple with powers over my cognitive ability.
"We better check the weather report. I think it's supposed to rain this evening." My excuses were getting weak, but a girl had to try, right?
Kai spread his hands out, palms up, tipping his head back and scanning the sky. "Look up. Check out that blue sky. See any dark clouds?"
"Well, I don't see them right now, but the weather report said--"
"Hessa. We don't need a little app to tell us what the weather is. Just take a look outside. Don't let that app control your life." Kai stepped closer and cupped my face with his two hands, tilting my head back, forcing me to look up at the clear blue sky.
"Hmm..." I wasn't sure if I was commenting on the sky or merely moaning my appreciation of his hands on my face.
He brought my face back to meet his gaze, thumb sweeping back and forth across my cheek. He had a patient smile and his eyes had gone soft. "Come with me, Ono," he whispered.
It was the whispered nickname that threw all my excuses out the window. When one quietly spoken word can make your stomach melt and your heart glow, you shouldn't fight it. I'd never felt this way before and I was curious and tempted enough to go with it to see where it would lead.
I nodded my acceptance, earning me another dimpled smile. I burned that look into my brain to help me endure the next thirty minutes of torture. When his hand slid away from my face and grabbed ahold of my hand, I was ready to sign up to do this every day.
We walked out onto the sand, just steps away from the retreating water's edge. He kept his hand around mine, swinging our joined arms as we walked. True to his word, we never ran, just walked in comfortable silence, taking in the peacefulness of the beach at this hour. Only a few people were out enjoying this paradise. The sun was close to setting and I wondered if we looked like a couple in love, going for a romantic walk on the beach. The thought was more appealing than I would ever admit.
"So, you wanna tell me what's going on? What's got you worried?" Kai broke the silence, giving me an encouraging look.
I shook myself out of my love-sick daydream and focused on what I came here for. "Let me just preface this by saying I don't think what I have to tell you has anything to do with my program, but in case it does, I wanted to be on the safe side." I looked over at him out of the corner of my eye to see him nodding that he understood. "When I got to school this morning, some of my students ran in and showed me my account on Instabook. My profile had been hacked and my cover photo was now a dare, just for me. I've been dared to sing one of my songs in public."
Kai looked concerned. He pulled us to a stop and faced me, letting go of my hand to fold his arms over his chest. "You have no idea who could have done that?"
"No. I mean, it may have been my sister, but she denied it when I asked today."
"Why do you think your sister would have done it?"
"Well, she and I don't have the best relationship in recent years and she was just at my house on Saturday and carelessly, I had my songs out. I thought maybe she was just being an obnoxious cow. But she didn't seem to know anything about it when I asked her."
"Who else knows you write songs?"
"No one! That's the whole thing. I write for the fun of it. It's like a quiet little hobby of mine that I don't share with anyone. I let out my stress or anger or sadness, or any emotion really, by putting it all down on paper in song form. It's highly personal. And now the whole world knows I write songs!" I was wringing my hands, shifting from side to side, wanting to outrun the discombobulating situation.
Kai grabbed my hands in his and pulled me down onto the sand. We sat facing the ocean and I wondered what we were doing.
"When I'm stressed, I like to run on the beach and then meditate as the sun sets. It's become a habit of mine that keeps me centered and focused on the things that matter. Close your eyes." Kai closed his eyes too, but kept his hand on my thigh, our knees touching.
The conversation had veered off into a direction I wasn't anticipating, but I went with it as I seemed to be unable to say no to this man. I looked around and saw that no one was in our immediate vicinity which lowered my chance of being caught looking like a hippie-dippy meditating in public. Kai squeezed my thigh, causing me to jump and then follow directions by closing my eyes.
