Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Perfectly Incompatible ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: DefiantVixen 
Anime/Manga: Beyblade Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.17.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 353 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Beyblade Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.17.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 353 | Status: Completed
Perfectly Incompatible
Summary: A few of the mothers from his hometown think it’s time for him to settle down, but Michael can’t stand the girl they chose for him; Mariasha! What happens when he gets into a fight with Mariasha and ends up lost in a snow storm? Who will come to his rescue?
Pairings: Michael/Kai
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Mariasha “Maria” Evans. She is an original character and all likeness to people living or dead is purely coincidental. This character is not on based one anyone else’s character design, again if any likeness, it’s purely coincidental. There are also minor Ocs in this story as well, eg; Michael’s mother and great aunt.
Warnings: Kai is a girl in this story. The use and introduction of a female Original Character. Any fans of OCs and OC pairings should leave now. Anti-OC pairings and blatant bashing of my own character. I created her; I can do what I want with her. And I plan to.
Gripe for the Day: You know, out of all the clichés, there’s one that just makes my skin crawl and that’s when a Suethor rewrites an entire season and adds their OC into the mix. Worst still, they replace a canon (mainly one of the girls like MingMing or Mariah) with their Sue. To me, that’s the pinnacle of self-denial. It’s even worse when the Sue is a self-insert! I do not wish to read about someone deluded fantasy about an animated character. If you see yourself flirting or sleeping with a fictional character, you need some serious help. It’s one thing to write about fictional character, but to write yourself with them? That’s deluded.
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Chapter 6:
Just as Michael had predicted to her earlier that day, the main topic of conversation at bingo in the local community hall was focused on Michael and the new girl, Kai. Nana suspected as much, but was surprised at how the other women are taking to the news. Mrs Michelson had told a few of her friends about what transpired in her store, about how Michael was helping Kai fix up her ranch that she owned and lived on all alone. She also told them how happy Michael appeared in her presence, unwilling unleashing a storm of gossip.
While some of the women were interested in knowing more about the mysterious young woman, and how she could possibly afford her own ranch at such a young age, a few of them immediately labelled her as a home wrecker and a scarlet woman for getting in between Michael and his soulmate Mariasha.
“What is there to like about her?” one of the woman asked, a deep frown on her face as she folded her long, lanky arms over her bony chest. “We know nothing about her!”
Mrs Michelson was immediately overcome with a need to defend the young woman, as from what she witness in town that very morning, Kai was not some manipulative or scheming gold digger. She was just a nice young woman who just happened to be friends with Michael, the young man she and the others felt needed to be tamed in some way.
“She’s...different,” she said slowly. “She seems like a genuinely nice young woman. She is also responsible and independent, but knows when to accept help when offered.”
While trying to sit in the background and not get too involved with all the petty accusations and insults, Nana could not help but feel a sense of annoyance at how disgusting some of the women’s behaviour really was. They don’t even know young Kai and yet they are already labelling her off as no good. They were praising Mariasha like an angel, while referring to Kai as an interfering harlot.
That did not set well with her. Anyone who could put Michael in a good mood and was worthy enough to warrant his attention, concern and protectiveness, was not a harlot!
“It’s not necessary to know every detail of someone’s background to like them or not,” Nana’s commanding voice immediately stop the women from continuing. She narrowed her eyes and stared them all down, a few of them looking away in shame. “Stop being so judgmental; Kai is obviously a close friend of Michael’s, so don’t you dare give her the cold shoulder just because he’s paying her more attention than Mariasha. And for heaven’s sake, stop meddling!”
The skinny mother from before immediately frowned, a look of shocked disbelief on her face. “You don’t think they-?”
No, that was not possible. Michael and Mariasha are meant to be, they’re childhood friends and neighbours for heaven’s sake! What more proof was needed?
Mariasha was such a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. She’s strong emotionally and mentally, she had to be for putting up with Michael all these years. Everyone was well aware how much of a trouble-maker Michael was, he was a right little terror in his youth, always doing things his own way and then running off to join a Beyblade team when he was just a teen. He might as well join a circus!
How dare he leave sweet, caring Mariasha behind?
“I believe Michael will make his own choice,” Nana immediately interrupted. If Michael and Kai were to become an item, then she would rather they do it on their own. She wasn’t even sure if Michael was even interested in romance as the women in town seemed to have scared him off of love almost completely.
Not that she could blame him at all. There is only so many times you can listen to an elderly woman telling you how the two-faced girl next door would make the perfect wife for you.
“If he doesn’t want to be romantically involved with Mariasha, then you shouldn’t force him,” Nana finished as she quickly glared at everyone again.
She pressed her lips together in silence for a moment, trying to quell an unfathomable amount of anger at the young Evan’s girl. She still could not comprehend why Mariasha was liked so much, could they not see past her fake facade of sweetness? If she was anymore manipulative, she would have devil horns sticking out from her hair.
“If you adore Mariasha so much, would you really force her into a loveless marriage?” Nana suddenly asked quite sternly, making everyone stop to think for a moment.
“But Michael can learn to love her,” one of the pro-Mariasha women tried to point out in vain, refusing to give up on the idea of the perfect union between the two of them.
“Then he’ll just have to learn who he’ll love on his own,” Nana quickly snapped before beginning to gather up her belongings, no longer able to sit here and listen to such unbelievable nonsense.
“I am sick of speaking of Michael’s love life,” Nana said as she rose to her feet and pulled out that fan-dangled mobile phone she still hasn’t gotten used to. “Either change the subject or I’ll go home.”
“But, Michael...”
Nana didn’t want to hear the end of that. She simply pushed away from the bingo tables and picked up her phone for Marly to come pick her up. She had never, ever met such a meddling, blind group of old fools in her life. And she’s been around the old block a few times in her years.
Honestly, they were making her want to flee town and vow to never return. She could not even imagine what poor Michael was going through.
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The ride home from town was a tense one as Nana was still inwardly seething from the reception at bingo and to her surprise; Marly seemed annoyed about something as well. It wasn’t until they were half-way home did Marly finally told her about Mariasha hastily leaving through the front door, crying her heart out.
“I wonder what Michael did this time,” Marly muttered under her breath as she pulled into the driveway, shutting the car off.
Nana instantly felt defensive and she sharply looked as the woman next to her. “No, the question here is, what did Mariasha do to him,” she tersely snapped.
She was officially sick and tired of people immediately assuming that Michael was at fault whenever Mariasha starting crying about something. It was always poor Mariasha, never, ever poor Michael. It’s like his opinion or feelings don’t matter at all.
Marly found herself surprised by the iciness in Nana’s voice and turned to her with a shocked expression on her face. “Mariasha would never do anything to hurt Michael,” she quickly retorted, slightly aghast that she would even say such a thing.
Nana’s mood instantly became darker. “Are you blind?”
Again, Marly was surprised by her reaction, wondering what on earth could have happened during bingo that placed her in such a rotten mood. “Pardon?”
“Marlene, I am absolutely appalled with you,” she said with a calm sternness and began to remove herself from the car, her usually calm and friendly wrinkly face pressed into a hard look of anger.
Marly felt her heart skip a beat as she sat behind the wheel in a stunned silence, watching through unblinking eyes as Nana shuffled her way to the front door, eager to get inside out of the cold. She was...disappointed in her? Nana has always been so supportive of her and Michael, what could she have done to earn that disappointment now?
Throwing out the driver’s side door, Marly scrambled out and made her way over to her aunty-in-law. “W-what?” she stuttered, feeling like she had just received a kick to the chest. “Why?”
“Choosing Mariasha over your own son,” Nana simply stated as she stepped inside, placing her bag upon a small table and set about removing her thick, warm coat. “I would never, ever choose anyone over him. Michael is a good, nice young man, I don’t care what kind of lies Mariasha tells you. It’s obvious that Mariasha was at fault here tonight, and she knows it as well.”
“What do you mean?” Marly asked in a low voice, her body trembling slightly as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. Nana has never, ever been so cold toward her before in her life. It was...scary.
“She ran away without crying to you first,” Nana said, still unwilling to look in her direction as she began to potter about, getting a glass of water in preparation for bed. “That tells me that she provoked Michael into lashing out at her. Whatever she did, it was something terrible...she must have mentioned Richard in a less than flattering light.”
Nana’s grip on the glass tightened to a frighten level and she, too, began to tremble as she tried her best to quell a bubble of anger that had formed in her chest from her current thought pattern.
Michael has told her a few times how Mariasha would refer back to his father with a blatantly insulting tone in her voice. She often compared her dearly departed nephew, Richard as someone who was stubborn, ill-tempered and selfish. That made her so angry after hearing that and could understand how Michael felt like he wanted to break something whenever someone spoke so...disgustingly of his father in such a way.
He is so much like his father, especially in character traits and appearance. Michael’s father, Richard, was a kind but strong man, someone who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to help a friend in need. Everyone in town adored him and he’s sorely missed.
But then to have Mariasha dirty his name? That was unforgivable.
Someone needs to do something about her; her wild mood swings and backstabbing behaviour cannot go on. She was tearing this community apart...she was destroying this family.
Oh, Richard, what should she do? No matter what she says to the other women in town, they can’t seem to accept the fact that Michael loathed Mariasha with all his being. How could she even begin to help Michael rid himself of his major nuisance?
“You don’t like Mariasha, do you?” Marly suddenly asked, pulling Nana out of her thoughts.
“No,” Nana said as she shook her head slowly. “I don’t.”
Marly swallowed thickly, her chest hurting slightly from not being able to release her pent-up emotions the way she needed. “Why?”
“Because she’s making life difficult for Michael as well as turning you against your own son,” Nana explained, still not even glancing in her direction. She then slowly shook her head, her frail and elderly body looking weaker and more fragile than ever before. “I’ve had a long night, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”
With those parting words, Nana silently made her way to her bedroom, softly shutting the door behind her, leaving Marly to stand alone in the empty and cold kitchen. The silence was deafening and smothering. She wrapped her arms tighter around her body and found herself folding into a cold chair, shocked by what just happened.
“How could this have happened?” she whispered to herself as tears began to freely fall from her eyes.
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Waking up from the worst sleep he has ever had in his life, Michael felt his head pound from a seemingly incurable headache. His limbs felt heavy, stiff and sore. His chest hurt, his nose was stuffy, his brain literally pulsating in his skull.
Or in other terms, he felt like shit.
He had a fitful sleep, dreaming about the good time he had with his father only to have Mariasha interfere, taking his father away from him. No matter how much he screamed and yelled at her, or how he told the women in town what she was doing to him, no one listened and he was slowly beginning to resign himself to the fact that he’ll never know happiness again.
But then Kai would appear in his dreams, strong and defiant as always. She stood by his side, telling him that everything will be alright. That she’ll help him, but only if would just ask.
Remember that little fact from his dream gave Michael the strength to push himself out of bed, his mind too foggy to even register the icy chill of the room. With only one thought in mind, he set about pulling on some clothes, his mind barely realizing that it’s only 6.30 in the morning.
He doesn’t care. He just needed to get out of this house, get away from his mother, get away from that fight, and to get away from Mariasha. He needed to see Kai; she would never judge him, provoke an angry response, or make fun of his father. She would never, ever do that kind of thing.
Driving to Orchid Ranch was a blur to Michael and the next thing he knew was that he just pulled out the front of Kai’s place. He sat in the car for a moment, trying to remember how he got here so quickly, but his thoughts were interrupted when the front doors opened and Kai appeared, half asleep and wrapped up in a thick woollen, dark purple poncho type garment, those sheepskin uggboots on her feet.
Kai furrowed her brows in confusion as Michael stepped out of the car and wordlessly made his way over to her. “Michael?” she said as she tried to give him a small smile. “You can’t be that eager to start painting,” she lightly joked.
However, any amusement in her voice soon disappeared when Michael grew closer and she could see heavy bags under his eyes, his posture tired and weary and his expression that of defeated resignation.
It kind of scared her a little.
Wordlessly, Michael stepped onto the veranda next to her and then catching her completely off guard, threw his arms around her in a desperate hug, his face resting in the curve of her neck.
“M-Michael?” Kai stuttered as her eyes grew wide and a light blush adorned her cheeks. However, she quickly lifted her arms and wrapped them around his waist when he suddenly slumped forward, seemingly out of energy. Concern immediately overwhelmed her and she let the young male hold onto her as she held him up on his feet.
They stayed like that for a few moments, Michael simply clinging to Kai as if she was his only lifeline. Kai wasn’t sure what was troubling Michael at this point, but she knew Mariasha had something to do with it. Call it a hunch if you will.
She pressed her lips into a thin line and began to rub soothing circles up and down his back. “Come inside,” she said softly. “It’s cold out here.”
Michael nodded against her neck and they reluctantly pulled away. With a hand on his back, Kai gently lead him into the lounge room, over to a single seater chair that was near the fire place that was thankfully still smouldering from last night.
“I...had a rough night,” Michael murmured as he sunk down into a lounge chair, Kai sitting on the arm next to him.
Concern instantly filled her, not likening the way Michael appeared older and wearier than he should. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Michael sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Nana went into town to play bingo and Mariasha decided to pop over to abuse me for dumping her yesterday.”
Ah, so she was right. This was all Mariasha’s fault.
Perhaps it’s time for the two young women to have a good old heart to heart.
But first, back to the task at hand. Ripping Mariasha apart will have to wait. Michael needs her full attention right now. “What did she say?”
“She insulted my father,” Michael muttered bitterly as he rested his hand on his forehead, suddenly looking very tired and depressed. “I don’t care what she says about me; just don’t bring my father into it.” Another sigh passed his lips and he shook his head. “I lost my temper, called her a bitch, amongst a few other things and she took off. And I kinda lashed out at her, knocking her into the wall.”
Kai instantly hissed at Mariasha’s blatantly disrespect and selfishness. “That was very wrong of her,” she muttered as she tried to resist the urge to storm outside, jump into her car and then run Mariasha over with it. She couldn’t do that, however. One; Michael still needed her comfort and two...she didn’t even know what Mariasha looked like. She hasn’t even seen her yet, despite hearing so much about her.
“You had every right to be angry like that,” Kai quickly reassured as she shifted further up the arm of the chest, resting her back against the back rest and then letting Michael rest his head against her chest. She was positive that Michael would be feeling a tad guilty for lashing out at a girl like he did. Despite it being her fault, he was probably still angry at himself. But that was just the type of guy Michael really was. A true gentleman who didn’t like to hurt other people.
Which was more than could be said about Mariasha.
“No one should ever speak lowly of the departed, no matter how sassy she is.”
Michael gave her a soft and sincere smile of gratitude as he let his eyes slip shut, suddenly wanting nothing more than to fall asleep. “Thanks Kai.”
“I haven’t even met Mariasha yet and I’m already loathing her,” Kai muttered under her breath, that inner rage to beat the shit out of her came back, almost ten folds. Would anyone truly miss her if she suddenly disappeared?
“Wait until you meet her,” Michael said drily. “She’ll give you a really good reason to hate her, I promise.”
“Don’t try to frighten me like that,” Kai said as she snorted, subconsciously lifting a hand and running her fingers through his dyed blonde hair. “I came here to get away from those demented morons.”
A soft, but genuine chuckled passed Michael’s lip and he carefully lifted a hand and placed it on Kai’s knee, the one that was closest to him. “I guess it just means they’re everywhere,” he said as he began to lightly rub small circles on her knee with his thumb.
This time, Kai released a long-suffering sigh. “Unfortunately,” she muttered before shaking her head light, wanting to change the subject, turning her concern back on Michael again. “Come on; let’s not speak about her anymore. She’s not worth the aggravation. Why don’t you get some sleep? You look exhausted.”
“But we need to go into town today,” Michael said with a frown, not wanting to miss out on spending a fulfilling day with Kai, but also not wanting to go into town as he was sure Mariasha would have told them everything of what happened between then last night. He did not want their accusing gazes at the moment.
“I’ll go by myself,” Kai said, knowing that Michael was in no mood to be dealing with the town biddies. “I’ll find my way around. You stay here and get some rest. No one will bother you here, I promise. I’ll probably be back before you wake up, ok?”
Michael knew better than to argue when he was half asleep and nodded his head just a little. “Yeah, ok,” he muttered before drifting off to sleep, being lulled by the gentle and comforting feeling of Kai’s fingers through his hair.
Summary: A few of the mothers from his hometown think it’s time for him to settle down, but Michael can’t stand the girl they chose for him; Mariasha! What happens when he gets into a fight with Mariasha and ends up lost in a snow storm? Who will come to his rescue?
Pairings: Michael/Kai
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Anime Beyblade or any character associated. I do own Mariasha “Maria” Evans. She is an original character and all likeness to people living or dead is purely coincidental. This character is not on based one anyone else’s character design, again if any likeness, it’s purely coincidental. There are also minor Ocs in this story as well, eg; Michael’s mother and great aunt.
Warnings: Kai is a girl in this story. The use and introduction of a female Original Character. Any fans of OCs and OC pairings should leave now. Anti-OC pairings and blatant bashing of my own character. I created her; I can do what I want with her. And I plan to.
Gripe for the Day: You know, out of all the clichés, there’s one that just makes my skin crawl and that’s when a Suethor rewrites an entire season and adds their OC into the mix. Worst still, they replace a canon (mainly one of the girls like MingMing or Mariah) with their Sue. To me, that’s the pinnacle of self-denial. It’s even worse when the Sue is a self-insert! I do not wish to read about someone deluded fantasy about an animated character. If you see yourself flirting or sleeping with a fictional character, you need some serious help. It’s one thing to write about fictional character, but to write yourself with them? That’s deluded.
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Chapter 6:
Just as Michael had predicted to her earlier that day, the main topic of conversation at bingo in the local community hall was focused on Michael and the new girl, Kai. Nana suspected as much, but was surprised at how the other women are taking to the news. Mrs Michelson had told a few of her friends about what transpired in her store, about how Michael was helping Kai fix up her ranch that she owned and lived on all alone. She also told them how happy Michael appeared in her presence, unwilling unleashing a storm of gossip.
While some of the women were interested in knowing more about the mysterious young woman, and how she could possibly afford her own ranch at such a young age, a few of them immediately labelled her as a home wrecker and a scarlet woman for getting in between Michael and his soulmate Mariasha.
“What is there to like about her?” one of the woman asked, a deep frown on her face as she folded her long, lanky arms over her bony chest. “We know nothing about her!”
Mrs Michelson was immediately overcome with a need to defend the young woman, as from what she witness in town that very morning, Kai was not some manipulative or scheming gold digger. She was just a nice young woman who just happened to be friends with Michael, the young man she and the others felt needed to be tamed in some way.
“She’s...different,” she said slowly. “She seems like a genuinely nice young woman. She is also responsible and independent, but knows when to accept help when offered.”
While trying to sit in the background and not get too involved with all the petty accusations and insults, Nana could not help but feel a sense of annoyance at how disgusting some of the women’s behaviour really was. They don’t even know young Kai and yet they are already labelling her off as no good. They were praising Mariasha like an angel, while referring to Kai as an interfering harlot.
That did not set well with her. Anyone who could put Michael in a good mood and was worthy enough to warrant his attention, concern and protectiveness, was not a harlot!
“It’s not necessary to know every detail of someone’s background to like them or not,” Nana’s commanding voice immediately stop the women from continuing. She narrowed her eyes and stared them all down, a few of them looking away in shame. “Stop being so judgmental; Kai is obviously a close friend of Michael’s, so don’t you dare give her the cold shoulder just because he’s paying her more attention than Mariasha. And for heaven’s sake, stop meddling!”
The skinny mother from before immediately frowned, a look of shocked disbelief on her face. “You don’t think they-?”
No, that was not possible. Michael and Mariasha are meant to be, they’re childhood friends and neighbours for heaven’s sake! What more proof was needed?
Mariasha was such a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. She’s strong emotionally and mentally, she had to be for putting up with Michael all these years. Everyone was well aware how much of a trouble-maker Michael was, he was a right little terror in his youth, always doing things his own way and then running off to join a Beyblade team when he was just a teen. He might as well join a circus!
How dare he leave sweet, caring Mariasha behind?
“I believe Michael will make his own choice,” Nana immediately interrupted. If Michael and Kai were to become an item, then she would rather they do it on their own. She wasn’t even sure if Michael was even interested in romance as the women in town seemed to have scared him off of love almost completely.
Not that she could blame him at all. There is only so many times you can listen to an elderly woman telling you how the two-faced girl next door would make the perfect wife for you.
“If he doesn’t want to be romantically involved with Mariasha, then you shouldn’t force him,” Nana finished as she quickly glared at everyone again.
She pressed her lips together in silence for a moment, trying to quell an unfathomable amount of anger at the young Evan’s girl. She still could not comprehend why Mariasha was liked so much, could they not see past her fake facade of sweetness? If she was anymore manipulative, she would have devil horns sticking out from her hair.
“If you adore Mariasha so much, would you really force her into a loveless marriage?” Nana suddenly asked quite sternly, making everyone stop to think for a moment.
“But Michael can learn to love her,” one of the pro-Mariasha women tried to point out in vain, refusing to give up on the idea of the perfect union between the two of them.
“Then he’ll just have to learn who he’ll love on his own,” Nana quickly snapped before beginning to gather up her belongings, no longer able to sit here and listen to such unbelievable nonsense.
“I am sick of speaking of Michael’s love life,” Nana said as she rose to her feet and pulled out that fan-dangled mobile phone she still hasn’t gotten used to. “Either change the subject or I’ll go home.”
“But, Michael...”
Nana didn’t want to hear the end of that. She simply pushed away from the bingo tables and picked up her phone for Marly to come pick her up. She had never, ever met such a meddling, blind group of old fools in her life. And she’s been around the old block a few times in her years.
Honestly, they were making her want to flee town and vow to never return. She could not even imagine what poor Michael was going through.
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The ride home from town was a tense one as Nana was still inwardly seething from the reception at bingo and to her surprise; Marly seemed annoyed about something as well. It wasn’t until they were half-way home did Marly finally told her about Mariasha hastily leaving through the front door, crying her heart out.
“I wonder what Michael did this time,” Marly muttered under her breath as she pulled into the driveway, shutting the car off.
Nana instantly felt defensive and she sharply looked as the woman next to her. “No, the question here is, what did Mariasha do to him,” she tersely snapped.
She was officially sick and tired of people immediately assuming that Michael was at fault whenever Mariasha starting crying about something. It was always poor Mariasha, never, ever poor Michael. It’s like his opinion or feelings don’t matter at all.
Marly found herself surprised by the iciness in Nana’s voice and turned to her with a shocked expression on her face. “Mariasha would never do anything to hurt Michael,” she quickly retorted, slightly aghast that she would even say such a thing.
Nana’s mood instantly became darker. “Are you blind?”
Again, Marly was surprised by her reaction, wondering what on earth could have happened during bingo that placed her in such a rotten mood. “Pardon?”
“Marlene, I am absolutely appalled with you,” she said with a calm sternness and began to remove herself from the car, her usually calm and friendly wrinkly face pressed into a hard look of anger.
Marly felt her heart skip a beat as she sat behind the wheel in a stunned silence, watching through unblinking eyes as Nana shuffled her way to the front door, eager to get inside out of the cold. She was...disappointed in her? Nana has always been so supportive of her and Michael, what could she have done to earn that disappointment now?
Throwing out the driver’s side door, Marly scrambled out and made her way over to her aunty-in-law. “W-what?” she stuttered, feeling like she had just received a kick to the chest. “Why?”
“Choosing Mariasha over your own son,” Nana simply stated as she stepped inside, placing her bag upon a small table and set about removing her thick, warm coat. “I would never, ever choose anyone over him. Michael is a good, nice young man, I don’t care what kind of lies Mariasha tells you. It’s obvious that Mariasha was at fault here tonight, and she knows it as well.”
“What do you mean?” Marly asked in a low voice, her body trembling slightly as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. Nana has never, ever been so cold toward her before in her life. It was...scary.
“She ran away without crying to you first,” Nana said, still unwilling to look in her direction as she began to potter about, getting a glass of water in preparation for bed. “That tells me that she provoked Michael into lashing out at her. Whatever she did, it was something terrible...she must have mentioned Richard in a less than flattering light.”
Nana’s grip on the glass tightened to a frighten level and she, too, began to tremble as she tried her best to quell a bubble of anger that had formed in her chest from her current thought pattern.
Michael has told her a few times how Mariasha would refer back to his father with a blatantly insulting tone in her voice. She often compared her dearly departed nephew, Richard as someone who was stubborn, ill-tempered and selfish. That made her so angry after hearing that and could understand how Michael felt like he wanted to break something whenever someone spoke so...disgustingly of his father in such a way.
He is so much like his father, especially in character traits and appearance. Michael’s father, Richard, was a kind but strong man, someone who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to help a friend in need. Everyone in town adored him and he’s sorely missed.
But then to have Mariasha dirty his name? That was unforgivable.
Someone needs to do something about her; her wild mood swings and backstabbing behaviour cannot go on. She was tearing this community apart...she was destroying this family.
Oh, Richard, what should she do? No matter what she says to the other women in town, they can’t seem to accept the fact that Michael loathed Mariasha with all his being. How could she even begin to help Michael rid himself of his major nuisance?
“You don’t like Mariasha, do you?” Marly suddenly asked, pulling Nana out of her thoughts.
“No,” Nana said as she shook her head slowly. “I don’t.”
Marly swallowed thickly, her chest hurting slightly from not being able to release her pent-up emotions the way she needed. “Why?”
“Because she’s making life difficult for Michael as well as turning you against your own son,” Nana explained, still not even glancing in her direction. She then slowly shook her head, her frail and elderly body looking weaker and more fragile than ever before. “I’ve had a long night, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”
With those parting words, Nana silently made her way to her bedroom, softly shutting the door behind her, leaving Marly to stand alone in the empty and cold kitchen. The silence was deafening and smothering. She wrapped her arms tighter around her body and found herself folding into a cold chair, shocked by what just happened.
“How could this have happened?” she whispered to herself as tears began to freely fall from her eyes.
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Waking up from the worst sleep he has ever had in his life, Michael felt his head pound from a seemingly incurable headache. His limbs felt heavy, stiff and sore. His chest hurt, his nose was stuffy, his brain literally pulsating in his skull.
Or in other terms, he felt like shit.
He had a fitful sleep, dreaming about the good time he had with his father only to have Mariasha interfere, taking his father away from him. No matter how much he screamed and yelled at her, or how he told the women in town what she was doing to him, no one listened and he was slowly beginning to resign himself to the fact that he’ll never know happiness again.
But then Kai would appear in his dreams, strong and defiant as always. She stood by his side, telling him that everything will be alright. That she’ll help him, but only if would just ask.
Remember that little fact from his dream gave Michael the strength to push himself out of bed, his mind too foggy to even register the icy chill of the room. With only one thought in mind, he set about pulling on some clothes, his mind barely realizing that it’s only 6.30 in the morning.
He doesn’t care. He just needed to get out of this house, get away from his mother, get away from that fight, and to get away from Mariasha. He needed to see Kai; she would never judge him, provoke an angry response, or make fun of his father. She would never, ever do that kind of thing.
Driving to Orchid Ranch was a blur to Michael and the next thing he knew was that he just pulled out the front of Kai’s place. He sat in the car for a moment, trying to remember how he got here so quickly, but his thoughts were interrupted when the front doors opened and Kai appeared, half asleep and wrapped up in a thick woollen, dark purple poncho type garment, those sheepskin uggboots on her feet.
Kai furrowed her brows in confusion as Michael stepped out of the car and wordlessly made his way over to her. “Michael?” she said as she tried to give him a small smile. “You can’t be that eager to start painting,” she lightly joked.
However, any amusement in her voice soon disappeared when Michael grew closer and she could see heavy bags under his eyes, his posture tired and weary and his expression that of defeated resignation.
It kind of scared her a little.
Wordlessly, Michael stepped onto the veranda next to her and then catching her completely off guard, threw his arms around her in a desperate hug, his face resting in the curve of her neck.
“M-Michael?” Kai stuttered as her eyes grew wide and a light blush adorned her cheeks. However, she quickly lifted her arms and wrapped them around his waist when he suddenly slumped forward, seemingly out of energy. Concern immediately overwhelmed her and she let the young male hold onto her as she held him up on his feet.
They stayed like that for a few moments, Michael simply clinging to Kai as if she was his only lifeline. Kai wasn’t sure what was troubling Michael at this point, but she knew Mariasha had something to do with it. Call it a hunch if you will.
She pressed her lips into a thin line and began to rub soothing circles up and down his back. “Come inside,” she said softly. “It’s cold out here.”
Michael nodded against her neck and they reluctantly pulled away. With a hand on his back, Kai gently lead him into the lounge room, over to a single seater chair that was near the fire place that was thankfully still smouldering from last night.
“I...had a rough night,” Michael murmured as he sunk down into a lounge chair, Kai sitting on the arm next to him.
Concern instantly filled her, not likening the way Michael appeared older and wearier than he should. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Michael sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Nana went into town to play bingo and Mariasha decided to pop over to abuse me for dumping her yesterday.”
Ah, so she was right. This was all Mariasha’s fault.
Perhaps it’s time for the two young women to have a good old heart to heart.
But first, back to the task at hand. Ripping Mariasha apart will have to wait. Michael needs her full attention right now. “What did she say?”
“She insulted my father,” Michael muttered bitterly as he rested his hand on his forehead, suddenly looking very tired and depressed. “I don’t care what she says about me; just don’t bring my father into it.” Another sigh passed his lips and he shook his head. “I lost my temper, called her a bitch, amongst a few other things and she took off. And I kinda lashed out at her, knocking her into the wall.”
Kai instantly hissed at Mariasha’s blatantly disrespect and selfishness. “That was very wrong of her,” she muttered as she tried to resist the urge to storm outside, jump into her car and then run Mariasha over with it. She couldn’t do that, however. One; Michael still needed her comfort and two...she didn’t even know what Mariasha looked like. She hasn’t even seen her yet, despite hearing so much about her.
“You had every right to be angry like that,” Kai quickly reassured as she shifted further up the arm of the chest, resting her back against the back rest and then letting Michael rest his head against her chest. She was positive that Michael would be feeling a tad guilty for lashing out at a girl like he did. Despite it being her fault, he was probably still angry at himself. But that was just the type of guy Michael really was. A true gentleman who didn’t like to hurt other people.
Which was more than could be said about Mariasha.
“No one should ever speak lowly of the departed, no matter how sassy she is.”
Michael gave her a soft and sincere smile of gratitude as he let his eyes slip shut, suddenly wanting nothing more than to fall asleep. “Thanks Kai.”
“I haven’t even met Mariasha yet and I’m already loathing her,” Kai muttered under her breath, that inner rage to beat the shit out of her came back, almost ten folds. Would anyone truly miss her if she suddenly disappeared?
“Wait until you meet her,” Michael said drily. “She’ll give you a really good reason to hate her, I promise.”
“Don’t try to frighten me like that,” Kai said as she snorted, subconsciously lifting a hand and running her fingers through his dyed blonde hair. “I came here to get away from those demented morons.”
A soft, but genuine chuckled passed Michael’s lip and he carefully lifted a hand and placed it on Kai’s knee, the one that was closest to him. “I guess it just means they’re everywhere,” he said as he began to lightly rub small circles on her knee with his thumb.
This time, Kai released a long-suffering sigh. “Unfortunately,” she muttered before shaking her head light, wanting to change the subject, turning her concern back on Michael again. “Come on; let’s not speak about her anymore. She’s not worth the aggravation. Why don’t you get some sleep? You look exhausted.”
“But we need to go into town today,” Michael said with a frown, not wanting to miss out on spending a fulfilling day with Kai, but also not wanting to go into town as he was sure Mariasha would have told them everything of what happened between then last night. He did not want their accusing gazes at the moment.
“I’ll go by myself,” Kai said, knowing that Michael was in no mood to be dealing with the town biddies. “I’ll find my way around. You stay here and get some rest. No one will bother you here, I promise. I’ll probably be back before you wake up, ok?”
Michael knew better than to argue when he was half asleep and nodded his head just a little. “Yeah, ok,” he muttered before drifting off to sleep, being lulled by the gentle and comforting feeling of Kai’s fingers through his hair.