The Cost of Honesty

"I'll be right back.", said Kai with a smile, taking a second to break away from the two loud and giggling women in the kitchen, he didn't think that it was possible to reach that type of volume. Cracking his back as he walked, Kai made his way past the living room, intending on going upstairs, but he was suddenly yanked by the arm into the guest bathroom.

Startled, Kai yelped, but a hand quickly covered his mouth, "it's just me Kai.", said Jinn with a small smirk on his face.

"Jesus Christ! Why must you insist on giving me a heart attack every chance you get?", Kai scolded.

"I thought you saw me standing here and purposely ignored me.", Jinn responded.

"Nah, I didn't see you.", said Kai yanking his arm from Jinn's hand. "And oh! You can actually see that I exist now?", said Kai, a glare and a cute pout on his handsome face.

Glancing down for a moment, Jinn exhaled slowly, "look, it's clear that you're keeping something from me, I thought that we weren't doing this anymore.", said Jinn raising a brow.

"Jinn…I'm not...", Kai began to say, but he stopped, startled again as Jinn quickly raised his hand, pounding the wall beside them.

"Don't do that, don't lie to my face dammit!", Jinn raised his voice, although he was mindful that they were still in a house full of people. Lowering his head, Kai was at a lost of what to do, but there was suddenly a loud clash and a scream in the kitchen.

Making a quick dash out of the bathroom, Jinn ran toward the kitchen with Kai following behind him. When they arrived in the kitchen, Jenna was kneeling on the floor crying with Mrs. Wilkins cradled in her arms.

"Kai, go and get my Dad!", Jinn shouted as he too kneeled down on the floor and Kai flew out of the kitchen. "What happened?", Jinn asked, doing his best to remain calm.

"I...I don't know, we were talking, cutting up the food when she fell, she just fell Jinn!", Jenna shouted, tears streaming down her face.

"…", not saying anything, Jinn just sat there, his hands shaking as he watched his Mother lying limp in Jenna's arms, he had not noticed, but she did not look well, she had even lost some weight.

Rushing into the kitchen already on the phone, Mr. Wilkins kneeled on the floor as he spoke with the operator on the line. Slowly walking into the kitchen Art just watched all the commotion on the kitchen floor, an unreadable expression on his face, he knew, he just knew something wasn't right.

Sitting outside at the poolside table, Kai leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs while he stared at the ground. He had just been sitting there too scared to even go back into the house. Kai had heard, the three siblings yelling all at once, and poor Mr. Wilkins trying to calm everyone down, all while the ambulance had sounded and arrived.

After some time, the ambulance had left with Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins inside and things were quiet. Continuing to pull himself together, Kai sat, still staring at the ground, but he suddenly heard footsteps coming his way, them stopping in front of him. Glancing up, Kai saw Jinn glaring down at him, and the expression on Jinn's face nearly brought him to tears as he glanced back at those piercing blue eyes watering quite heavily.

Taking a deep breath, Kai stood, "Jinn...", he began to say, but Jinn spoke over him.

"Did you know?", Jinn asked, his voice faltering as he was doing his best to keep from crying.

"…", scared to even answer, Kai lowered his head.

"I asked you if you knew!", Jinn shouted, and Kai flinched, raising his head to see tears streaming down his boyfriend's face.

"…", lowering his head again, Kai simply nodded his head yes, as his own eyes watered heavily.

"You fucking liar.", Jinn's voice cracked as he began to cry.

"Jinn I'm sorry, she asked me to…", Kai tried to say, but Jinn shouted over him again.

"How could you keep something like that to yourself when you are the closest person to me?!", he yelled.

"I'm s….", Kai tried to speak, but Jinn cut him off once more.

"Save it Kai, just don't!", Jinn paused for a moment to sniff his runny nose. "Look, I have to get to the hospital so take a cab home or whatever, but just go.", he said coldly and walked off, making his way back into the house.

"…", hurt by what Jinn had just said, Kai slumped back down in the chair that he was sitting in, tears streaming down his face.

After about fifteen minutes, Kai finally got the courage to make his way into the house. Sure that Jinn wasn't the only person upset with him, Kai wasted no time running through the house and up the stairs into Jinn's old bedroom, where he could see that his boyfriend had gotten dressed in a hurry, leaving clothes everywhere. Letting out a heavy exhale, Kai walked around the room, picking up Jinn's things, neatly folding them and placing them on the bed. Not bothering to change out of his own swimwear, Kai pulled his bag from under the bed and began gathering his things.

As Kai began to pack his bag, a knock sounded on the already cracked door and Kai let out a sigh before he turned around to see Jenna walking into the room with a sad expression on her pretty tear-stained face. Unsure of what he would even say, Kai simply turned back around, continuing to pack.

"Kai…", Jenna began to say, but Kai interjected.

"You should get going.", he responded, keeping his attention focused on what he was doing.

"Kai, could you stop for a moment?", she pleaded, her voice still shaky. Letting out a sigh, Kai stopped placing things into his bag and turned toward Jenna.

"When the paramedics arrived, my Dad had to explain to them what was going on, so we know everything and I heard the conversation between you and Jinn as well.", said Jenna.

"…", Lowering his head, Kai said nothing, waiting for her to continued.

"I just want you to know that it's okay, I get it.", said Jenna, pulling Kai into the closest embrace that her pregnant belly would allow. Burying his head in the nape of Jenna's neck, Kai let out another deep exhale before they let go of each other.

"You should go.", said Kai, a forced smile on his face.

"I will, gotta get myself together first since I'm carrying a little one.", said Jenna, her too forcing a smile as she wobbled out of the room.

When Jenna was gone, Kai called a cab, quickly finished packing and made his way down the stairs where Art was sitting on the couch waiting for Jenna. Deciding he shouldn't say anything, Kai power walked to the front door and left out, closing it behind him, but he never heard it shut.

"So that's it huh? You just take off because he told you to?", said Art as he made his way down the stairs. Letting out a sigh, Kai stopped walking and pulled out his phone to see where his ride was and Art followed, positioning himself beside Kai. "Jinn is just upset Kai; we're all upset and it's not because you kept her secret. We've all been so busy with our own lives and the family business that not one of us had even noticed that she was sick and she's our Mother for God's sake.", said Art, closing his eyes momentarily.

"…", Remaining quiet, Kai glanced over at Art to see that his face was tear stained as well, his heart ached to see them all hurting like that.

"Anyway, you should stay.", said Art, forcing a smile that was similar to Jinn's.

Lowering his head, Kai swallowed before he spoke, "I'm sure he'll need some space.", said Kai, walking off as his cab pulled up, but Art grabbed the crease of his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"What about what you need, huh? I know it was not easy holding onto something that heavy, not to mention the fact that someone who calls himself your boyfriend has done all, but physically throw you out of the house himself. I can understand why you kept my Mom's secret. I would never treat you like that Kai, no matter how angry I am.", said Art.

Glancing back with his pretty brown eyes watering, Kai did his best to stop every emotion that he was feeling from showing on the outside, but the poor guy was failing miserably. "You only think you want me Art, trust me when I say that I'm nothing but trouble." said Kai, his voice faltering as he gently pulled his arm away. Seeing the hurt written all over Kai's face, a lump made its way into Art's throat, forcing him to let Kai go. Letting out a heavy sigh, Art watched Kai get into the cab and it pulled off, quickly disappearing down the road.

***

A day later, Sunday dragged on with it being almost six o'clock in the evening and Kai remained wrapped under his blanket, his pretty brown eyes glued to his phone. The man was too afraid to call, so he had sent text after text to his boyfriend, apologizing and saying that he would be there if Jinn needed him, but Jinn hadn't responded to any of them. That hurt look on Jinn's face kept playing over and over in Kai's head and it was driving him mad, he had not seen that look since the day that they had broken up over a year ago. Lazily flipping over on his back, Kai let out a sigh, "I hope he's doing alright.", he said aloud.

"Kai!", a voice called from the outside of the door, it being Saya.

"…", not saying anything, Kai pulled the blanket over his head as he heard the door opening, Saya sighing heavily as she walked in.

"Kai, you can't just lay around like the dead all day because Jinn is upset with you! Get up babe, I made dinner and you haven't eaten all day. We don't need you wasting away, you're already too skinny!", Saya scolded.

"He hates me!", Kai began to sniffle, his words muffled by the blanket over his head.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic! Jinn does not hate you! He's just dealing with a lot right now babe.", said Saya hopping into bed and pulling the blanket from over top of Kai's head to see his cute red pouting face. "My poor baby.", said Saya as she snuggled under the blanket wrapping her arms around her best friend.

"I just didn't feel it was my place to say anything, I didn't mean any harm Saya!", said Kai, his voice whiney as he cried.

"Of course not babe, and Jinn will eventually see that, you just need to give him some time. Jinn will come around, he always does.", said Saya as she pulled Kai closer while he cried. Closing her eyes, Saya let out a sigh. Yes, she believed Jinn had a right to feel the way he did, but she didn't appreciate him taking it out on her best friend, he didn't deserve that!