KIARA'S POV 

“Can I have the last bite of the sundae?” I asked staring longingly at the melting chocolate and ice-cream. Aria was slumped back on her chair, looking at Ruhan chatting up with the new friends he made at the restaurant - an old couple out for their lunch.

“Sure, go ahead.” She smiled, as I yay-ed excitedly and picked up the plate with all the enthuse of a ten-year old. “Listen, I was thinking we could go away for the weekend. A little trip, not very far off. You, me, Ruhan.”

I wiped the chocolate from the corners of my mouth and beamed at her. “Sounds really nice. I think we both could do with a trip. It’s been so exhausting lately at work.”

It had been a week since the dramatic events that we had both come to refer to as The BigBang Tragedy.

Post my sorry exit from the field of action, Kiara followed suit after exchanging some unfortunate words with the duo, which made me cringe every time I thought about them.

We fought like mad-caps back home dragging issues from the long dead past as part of the defense, with Ruhan asking some really inappropriate questions. And after a day of cold-shouldering each other, we mixed up some drinks and laughed really really hard at all that had happened.

Well, to be honest it went from laughing to gushing to fangirling to feminist mouth-bashing...and repeat. In the darkest recesses of our drinking chronicles, embarrassing things surfaced which we pointedly avoided talking or thinking about.

“KI I mouth-bashed T.O.P….T.O.P!!!! why whyyyyy would I do that? It’s all because of youuu. Youuu betrayer, you , youuu. Why am I such a good friend? Whyyy? Why??? I met T.O.P and what did I do? I threw my boot at him and I mouth-bashed him! And if that wasn’t enough, I punched the leader of BigBang! And why, may I ask? For you! Ki, listen, I am breaking up with you. I’m too good a friend for youu er!”

“Mmmmm he kissed me. 3 times! G freaking Dragon kissed me, me, Kiara! And I punched him. It was such a good kiss also...aaaaahhh no one will ever kiss me like that ever again. Didn’t I also kick him? Aaaaaaaa….I’m a monster! Aria, I’m so pathetic, this person kissed me without my consent and I want him to kiss me again, Ariaa...I have no dignity! The only thing I thought I had…”

Yeah that.

We did catch up with Dara and Bom a few times but decided to steer clear of any scenes where we might see them again. I knew though that Aria really wanted to know the latest scoop on them, and who was I kidding, she knew that I did too. At the end of it, we wrote a couple of heavily-coded blog posts (which only one of the two of us or the two of them could understand) and called it a day. And now we were sitting at a cafe happily leading, what I’m pretty sure Aria too thinks of as, Life after BigBang.

...or not.

I sputter on my coffee as I stare at who was standing behind Aria.

His face was covered with a half mask and a black cap but I could tell he had a half-grin plastered across that sparkling skin. I almost self-consciously touch my own, much less sparkling skin.

Aria turned around and froze.

“You sure did not make it any easier finding you, Kiara.”  

Okay, if any of what had already happened made me feel like being swallowed into the earth, and all of them did, this was the worst feeling ever. Because I was absolutely sane, enjoying a normal, laid back day, wearing sweatpants and an old tee I borrowed from Aria. And when I was sane, making sense while talking while knowing that my face had turned red was not one of my best suits.

After a very long time I found myself falling back into my childhood telepathic experiments with Aria. ARIA HELP ME. TALK. SAY SOMETHING. NO GET ME OUT OF HERE. LET THIS BE THE MOMENT YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE A SPY AND YOU HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT. I willed her to understand and act.

Instead, I realised that day that she was an of the first order.

My head was ringing so hard, everything slowed down around me. I could see blurred images and blurred voices. GD was talking to Aria but I could not make any