Kira's PoV:

"So, did you meet Denise yet?" Gwen asked while she got coffee in the employee lounge.

"Yeah, I met her after work yesterday," I replied as before getting a cup after Gwen.

"Wow, did she know about any of this?"

"Nothing. Denise had no idea her father having an affair with my mom, or that I even existed. She was just as shocked as I was."

"Figures. It's always the musical types who do something like this. I made that mistake once."

"Yeah, I guess so. Here's the thing, though: I don't remember anything about my father other than his race. And every time I tried to ask my mom more about him, she snapped at me, just like she did the other day at dinner."

"Hm, sounds like she's not telling you something. Did she stick with her usual story about you're dad leaving her when you were little?"

"Yeah, and Mom keeps badgering me about looking more White."

"Wow, Kira! I never would have thought she would have it this bad. I mean, I'm half White myself, but my mom isn't always on top of me about tanning my skin to look more African-American because my dad left us."

"I know. It's so stressful. I want to be proud of being Japanese, and one day visit Tokyo to visit my relatives, but Mom won't have it."

Gwen and I sat down at a nearby table with our coffee mugs. 

After taking a sip, Gwen asked, "I want to meet Denise after work. Can I?"

I peered down at my watch and said, "It's a little after 3, so I'm guessing we should leave right about now since our shifts are almost over."

Gwen and I grabbed our bags and headed outside towards my car.

Denise's PoV:

When the remainder of my students left, I packed my suitcase and scanned the hallway to see if Allisson was anywhere to be seen. When I felt the coast was clear, I shuffled towards the glass double doors. As I looked through the glass, I saw my supposed sister and a what appeared to be a mulatta woman with her. I waved and motioned for them to come inside, which was the biggest mistake because ere comes my bigoted, blonde co-worker.

"Hello, Denise," Allisson greeted in her trademark valspeak. When she saw Kira and the mulatta, Allisson asked, "Who are they?"

"This is Denise," I answered, "and this is her friend..."

"Gwendolyn Stewart," the mulata replied.

"Ohhh.." Allisson groaned curiously "You mean you guys don't know each other?" She pointed at me and Gwendolyn.

"No, we just met," I informed.

"Wow, that's shocking. I kind of figured you two would. And, if I'm not mistaken, she"-------Allisson pointed at Gwendolyn again-----"is mixed, too."

Gwendolyn's mouth tightly formed into a straight line, but she politely confirmed she was half white.

"Oh, that explains why you're so pretty." Allisson sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Well, so much for you being the prettiest black woman here, Denise. I mean, not to sound racist, but I can't really find any non-mixed black people as good-looking as the mixed ones. Oriental blood can help you guys look a little better and smarter, but whiteness sure does go a long way. I mean, just look at Gwendolyn, she's a perfect example of that."

Kira's eyes popped out of her head as went ajar, Gwendolyn's jaw became tighter, and I, as usual, bit my tongue to keep from telling her off.

Suddenly, Allisson's watch beeped. "Oh, I've got to run." She ran down the hall, but stopped halfway to turn around and yelled, "Sayonara, Denise!" before continuing up the hall.

"I thought she'd never leave," Gwendolyn seethed. "She was seriously asking for a beat down."

"You've got to put up with that every day?" Kira asked. "I feel so sorry for you."

"Yeah, I do," I sighed. "I wonder what she would've said if I told her we were related. Anyways, what brings you here, Denise?" 

"My friend wanted to meet you." 

I approached Gwendolyn and shook her hand. "Nice to officially meet you, Gwendolyn."

"Call me Gwen."

I offered them a seat on the couch behind them while I perched on the arm.

"So, your mom told you about me?" I asked Kira.

"She told me your dad left her when I was little because he didn't want to leave your mother."

"Well, neither of my parents said anything to me about that. I never would have imagined my own parents hiding something like this from me."

"So, you never knew you had a little sister?" Gwen asked.

"No clue."

"And you mom is still with you dad?"

"That's right."

Now it was Gwen's turn for to hang ajar. "Wow, you mom is good. I could never be able to put up with another man betraying me like that."

"It's just very upsetting to me that I have to find out about this from someone I barely know." I sighed and buried my face into my hands.

"Denise, don't beat yourself up about this," Kira reassured. "I had no idea about this either. I'm sure your parents love you very much."

"Well, look on the bright side," Gwen suggested. "A least you mother isn't getting on you about looking as non-Japanese as possible."

I looked up at gazed at Kira in shock. "Your mom does stuff like that?"

"She's trying to get me to dye my hair so I can look more like her," Kira grumbled. "You should have seen her when I told her I wanted to adopt my father's last name. She practically had a fit."

"No offense, but you mom...she's got a problem."

"Tell me about it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my mother, but she works my nerves when she puts down my Japanese heritage."

"Well, my mom is inviting me to dinner on Friday, would you like to come with me? We've got plenty of Japanese stuff at my house."

"Uh, I don't think that would be a very good idea."

"Well, you've got to face your father sooner or later, Kira," Gwen advised. "You do want to know more about the side of you you've never seen before, don't you?"

After thinking for a minute, Kira reluctantly accepted my invitation.

"Do you want to bring your mother?"

"Oh!" Kira's eyes formed into saucers once again. "Now that would definitely be a gateway to trouble if my mom came to your mother's house."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, my mom still has a grudge against our dad for leaving her, which is one of the main reasons why she tries to get me to look more White."

"I can't go with you because I've got a family to look after now, but you can call me if anything should go wrong," Gwen comforted. "Speaking of family, I've got to go because my husband is going to be at work soon. It was nice to meet you, Denise."

"See you later," I say. 

"Bye, Gwen," Kira waved at her friend as she went through the doors.

"I'd better go, too, Kira. My fiancé is probably wondering where I've gone to. See you tomorrow." I rose from the couch and toted my suitcase.

"Bye, Denise," Kira called after me as I opened the doors to the warm afternoon.

Kira's PoV:

I watch my sister disappear behind the double doors. After she went around the corner, I admired how successful my sister was. The fact she can go home to someone who loves her very much is the highlight of her life. It also makes me question everything Gwen and I spoke about yesterday.

Success means nothing if you have no one to share it with.

After seeing how I'm losing my friend, and a sister I never knew I had, it seems as if Gwen was right. However, I haven't had much luck in the dating department so far. Gwen set me up on multiple blind dates, and every last one of them went wrong in some kind of shape or form.

I let out a sigh and rose from the couch when all of a sudden, I bumped into someone, I'm guessing a man because of the stranger's strong stature, so hard that I fell back into the couch.

"Watch where you're going, you jerk!" I shouted out in pain.

"I'm very sorry," a husky voice replied. "Are you okay?"

I looked up from the fetal position the crash put me in to look the stranger in the eye. Looks like I was right about the person being a man. A beautiful, very tall Chinese man at that. 

"Are you okay?" the man repeated. I detected a slight accent, but it sounded otherwise American.

I snapped out of my daydreaming to answer, "Yeah, I'm okay."

The man smiled, making him appear even more godlike, and extended his hand out to me. When I took it, the man, with a surprisingly strong grip, pulled me up. "I'm sorry."

"You're okay. Kira Kobayashi."

"Kobayashi? Are you in any way related to Denise?"

"Yes, she's my half-sister."

"Really? Wow, I never would have guessed it. I mean, umm..."

"It's fine. I know what you meant by that."

"I mean, she never told me she had a sister. Then again, we never really talk with the exception of us occasionally crossing paths in the hallway. Are you a new teacher here?"

"Oh, no. I'm a lawyer."

"Good for you. By the way, I'm Li WenHan

I smiled almost simultaneously when he did. Then, the both of us chuckled. His eyes formed crescent moons as his cheeks lifted. I marveled at the sharp contrast of his snow white skin and jet black hair. Suddenly, his watched beeped.

"Well, I hope I can see you again, Kira." 

"Bye." I waved as he went through the doors and around the right corner. Maybe I have a chance at finding someone after all.

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So concludes this chapter. I'm thinking about adding some scenes of Kira and Denise spending some time together later in the story.

Thanks for reading.