Page 3 of Solo Stan

Kai

Three Days Ago

Pop sat on the softest part of the sofa, his eyes fixed on the news. This was his nightly routine. He would get himself feeling as terrible as he could right before dinner so he could have a reason to thank God for the meal he was about to put into his mouth.

Kai went into the kitchen to help his mother.

Mama was standing over a bubbling pot of pureed roasted vegetables, stirring it with her favorite wooden spoon.

Kai snuck past her, took a few ladles of the sauce, and poured them over a bowl of rice before Mama dumped the oxtails in.

He watched as she stirred the bony cuts of meat.

They created a clacking sound against her spoon that made Kai wince.

“Don’t you make that face at my cooking,” Mama said. She would have hit him with the spoon if it wouldn’t put her white counters at risk.

“You know I got love for you, Mama. It’s the meat,” he replied.

“I don’t know how you got so tall eating nothing. You need to learn how to cook if you’re going to be so picky. Or at least find a wife who will do it for you.”

“Or husband.”

Mama tutted. “Then there will be two unsatisfied men in your marriage.”

Kai leaned against the refrigerator. “Animals in distress are full of hormones and chemicals that will go into your body,” he said. “When you eat meat, you’re tasting their last moments.”

“You’re about to taste your last moments if you don’t stop putting fingerprints on my appliances, and why are your toes out in my kitchen?” Mama said, all in one breath.

Kai looked down at his bare feet. “You’re cooking a pot full of bones that come from a cow batty, and you’re worried about my feet?”

“Get your toes out of my kitchen and take your mouth with you.”

Kai laid out plates and silverware on the table. He smoothed down the cracking plastic cover over the polished wood he hadn’t seen since the table was purchased almost a decade ago. The place where Mama usually sat was in the worst shape because her bangles hit the edge when she ate.

Everyone sat down, and Pop made a production out of saying grace. He grew up in Louisiana and always joked that he was born with a Bible in his hand. He thanked and blessed everyone and everything down to the shoes he wore to get him to the table.

Kai was almost too tired to eat by the time the amen came, and every time he chewed, he could feel his new braids tugging at his scalp on the side that was done.

“Stop playing with your hair,” Pop warned.

“You got a little follicle envy, Pop?” Kai said with a low chuckle.

“If hair was so important, it wouldn’t grow in some of the places that it does.” Pop’s voice was stern, but his hand went straight for his shaved head. The water in Pop’s glass rippled as he returned his hand to it, gripping the cup protectively as though someone would steal it away.

“Don’t be nasty, Reggie,” Mama said, lightly smacking Pop with the back of her hand. Pop winked at her, and the briefest of smiles passed over Mama’s face.

They fell into silence, and Kai watched his parents eat.

They picked up the bones with their hands and spun them around in their mouths like washing machines until the bones were clean.

Kai could hear the clicks and pops and tuts of their lips and teeth producing a language he had unfamiliarized himself with years ago.

When Kai was nine, he received the bicycle he still rode around to that day as a Christmas present.

It was a bright red cruiser with whitewalls and chrome handlebars.

He and Bobby rode it around the neighborhood during the heart of winter when the outside didn’t call for bike riding or Rollerblading or sitting on stoops.

But he had wanted to try it. He ran right off the curb, hit a mailbox, and heard one of the bones in his arm crack like wood.

He never ate meat again.

With Kai’s stomach still rumbling, Mama cleared away the plates, leaving Pop to wash the dishes alone. He hummed softly to himself as he filled the dishwasher.

Kai settled on the floor of the living room, positioning himself in front of Mama. She absentmindedly tugged at his hair while watching the news Pop had abandoned on the TV. Kai rested his head on Mama’s knee and looked on with her, sideways.

Pop brought a hot towel for Mama to place over Kai’s head when she was done. She gently arranged it over the tight braids and massaged with as much tenderness as she could manage. The feeling enveloped Kai’s entire body, and he closed his eyes, settling into a half sleep.

“You baby that boy too much, you know,” Pop said quietly as he took a seat on the other side of the couch.

“I know,” Mama replied, her voice warm and soothing.

A hush fell over them, and for a while, the sound of the television was all that could be heard.

Kai kept his eyes closed, leaving his head leaning against his mother’s leg as he idly listened to the local news.

It was the same old routine—accidents causing traffic jams, a local man opening a pizza shop and donating most of his proceeds to animal shelters, and some entertainment news about old celebrities Kai had never heard of—until his ears perked up at the sound of a familiar name.

“North Carolina native artist CYPHR, formerly of the band EZF, recently launched his solo career and has announced a surprise show this Friday in Raleigh. Tickets are currently available. You can visit our website for more information,” the newscaster announced.

With those words, Kai leapt to his feet, kissed his parents on the cheeks, and climbed the stairs to his bedroom in three long steps. He flopped backward onto his bed and had smoke in the air and his nose in his phone before his head even touched the pillow.

His phone was a relic, so it took many minutes of nail biting and buffering until he got the confirmation that his purchase for four tickets had gone through. He, Bobby, Winter, and Emmy would be seeing CYPHR that weekend whether they liked it or not.

He closed the page and immediately called Bobby.

Bobby answered the phone as though they had already been mid-conversation. “I’m just going to say it. Being a boyfriend is stressful. Especially Winter Park’s boyfriend. Ten out of ten, would not recommend.”

“Well, you did go back on your promise to go to Harvard, randomly deciding to haul your ass to the other side of the country,” Kai countered as he settled onto the bed.

“Whose side are you on?”

Kai let out a chuckle.

Bobby and Winter liked to pretend they hated each other, but Kai felt the heat of their unspoken connection, the invisible red thread that bound Bobby and Winter together.

He was certain they were twin flames—two halves of a single soul reunited.

A twin flame connection was a spiritual one that could shift your life and worldview in profound ways.

Meeting this person was about more than just love; it could open your eyes to the divine, push you to strive for higher consciousness, and ignite a passion to become a more enlightened soul all around.

This type of deep, meaningful bond wasn’t necessarily romantic in nature, but Kai hoped that when he found his own twin flame, it would be.

“Whatever, dude. I didn’t call to talk about your relationship problems. I called to ask what you’re doing on Friday,” Kai said, unable to contain his excitement any longer.

“I, uh—actually have to talk to you about that,” Bobby said. “I know we’re supposed to spend the whole summer together—me, you, and Emmy, but—”

“Robert Bae, what did you do?” Kai asked sternly.

“I may have gotten a summer internship.”

“No…”

“In California.”

“Bruh…”

“And I leave in three days.”

Kai sat up straight. “What?! When did you find out about this?”

“I was wait-listed, and I guess someone dropped out last minute. They called me yesterday.”

“And you’re only telling me now?”

“Well, I couldn’t deal with both you and Winter being mad at me in one day.” Bobby went silent for a moment. “You’re not saying anything. What were you going to ask me to do on Friday?”

Kai shuffled around in his blankets before rolling onto his stomach. “How long is the internship?” he asked, avoiding the question.

“All summer—then I’ll immediately start at Berkeley in the fall.”

Anxious, Kai twirled his barbell earring between his fingertips. He tried to change the subject again by asking, “Have you apologized to Winter yet? I hate when you guys fight.”

“I sent her a bushel of apples.”

Kai took a moment to process. “You did what?”

“In Korean, apple and apology are the same word. I don’t know—I thought it’d be cute!” Bobby’s tone grew more defensive with each word.

“Boy, if you don’t apologize the right way,” Kai said, clicking his tongue against his teeth.

“Y’all always fight over the stupidest stuff.

Last time, it was because you put butter in the refrigerator.

The time before that, it was because Winter watches movies with the subtitles on.

The time before that, it was because you bought her mint chocolate chip ice cream.

This is a real issue you’re having, so stop with the apples, check your pride, and beg for forgiveness. ”

“You took her side last time too,” Bobby huffed.

“Because you told her you don’t like Meryl Streep!” Kai said, exasperated.

Bobby let out an airy laugh. “All right, all right! I’ll apologize.”

“She and Emmy are probably free on Friday, though, right? I’m sure they’ll just complain about you the entire time.”

“Well…” Bobby began.

“Now what?”

“Winter was just so mad, I asked her to come with me. And—”

“There’s an and ?!”

“Well, now that Winter won’t be here this summer, Emmy isn’t coming back to the States after all.”

Kai’s body completely deflated. “You guys are really leaving me all alone this summer?”

“I know, but this internship could really help me get a leg up,” Bobby said with a deep sigh. “And I was mad at you first. Don’t UNO-reverse me.”

“What are you mad at me for?” Kai asked with an incredulous snort.