What does Kay do best when she's stressed out, nervous, and dealing with too much?

Sleep. I sleep.

Brian was good at catching the clues. Just minutes after Jun left to unwind, Brian led me over to the motel bed. It wasn't for lovemaking or smooching, which could've been good, too. But he turned into my human body pillow. Laid down on the pillows for me, opened his arms wide, and when I found the comfy nook between his arm and chest and closed my eyes, he let me sleep.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been out by the time I opened my eyes again, but the sun was a lot lower in the sky, the room wasn't as bright, and Brian—Mr. Sweetheart Brian—decided to sleep with me.

As I lifted my head, I did it as softly as possible. His chest rose and fell beneath me, long deep breaths. I pulled my hand out from under me, placing it above his heart. When he stirred, I smiled because I thought he'd wake up. Instead, he shifted and pulled me closer. My smile grew.

A part of me thought we could just stay this way; locked in each other's arms, sleeping away the day. It had been a while since we did it. But I knew Rianne and Sean were getting tired of running the shop of their own for our spontaneous weekends. I mean, they never said it, but I would have been tired of it. Like, the bosses are never there at work and the little ones carry the load? It had to be poop.

Once I had brought it up to Rianne, asked if it was okay. I remember she said, "You guys left like, twice. It's fine."

Wasn't two times a lot? We were already closed on Sundays.

Next to me, Brian stirred again, and I looked at his face. His eyes slowly moved under their lids, shifting through a dream. With the way he seemed so relaxed, I wondered if he dreamt of me, of our life, our future child. The three were in my dreams a lot; every time I woke up with a smile.

Lately, however, I thought of my mother. And the vibrating phone on the nightstand reminded me of what I was in town to do.

Come to terms with this fake Harmony.

As I turned to grab my phone, Brian's arm stretched with me. His hand wrapped around my wrist before sliding up into mine. Our fingers linked effortlessly. When I turned and looked at him, he looked back at me with hooded, bedroom eyes. Shimmers of golden flecks peered at me.

I sighed, swooning inwardly.

He's forever beautiful.

"We're napping," he said, voice groggy.

"I know," I whispered. I pulled my hand from mine to touch his face, slowly tracing the scar along his chin. "And we've been napping for a while."

"Okay." Brian leaned into my touch. His cheek pressed into my palm, his eyes closed. With a satisfied sigh, I moved his head back against the pillow as if my touch meant everything to him, His reaction made me smile.

"Yeah," I said. "Okay is right. So, I think we need to wake up now."

"For what?" He inched his head forward, eyes still hooded. His brows lifted. "To go see your mom?"

"Mhm." I nodded. "For dinner."

"Dinner." The way Brian said dinner, combined with the way he looked at me, I had to widen my eyes. There was a devilish smirk on his face. The flicker in his eyes.

My stomach did a summersault as I giggled, not fighting him as his arms tightened around me, lips leaving quick kisses down the side of my neck. "Wait, wait, wait!" I squealed.

"We'll wait." Brian leaned back. One of his hands cupped the back of my head, fingers linking through the locks of my curls. The smirk he had widened into a smile, and I was lost in the look in his eyes. "You know for you, I can wait forever."

Oh, his voice was like music to my ears. Sweet, sexy, husky music. Even after the horrid start to our afternoon, after the incident at my parents' house, he still found it in him to make me blush.

Sighing happily through my nose, I traced my thumb gently over the cut on his lip. The swelling had gone down during our nap, and with the blood gone, it didn't look as bad as it could've been. "This will scar," I whispered as my gaze moved away from his lips and up into his eyes.

Despite what I said, Brian smiled. "It's all right," he said, bringing his lips down to mine for a softer, warming, longing kiss. When he pulled back, his breath was hot against my lips. "I have a lot of them. It won't make a difference to me."

"I know." Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I watched as his eyes searched my face. I could see the flicker of emotions in his eyes; with so many thoughts in his head, I wanted to know what they were.

But before I could ask, he lifted himself up with one arm and scooped me under him with his other. It took just one second to have me trapped under his weight, one of his legs gently pressed between mine. Balancing himself on his elbow, his hand brushed away my curls. His thumb brushed at the heat spreading across my cheeks.

He closed his eyes, and pressed his forehead to mine, as he lovingly said, "You're my sun and moon, Kay, don't forget that."

How could I? He reminded me all the time. He didn't do it with words, but it was the look in his eyes, his body language, and the love in his touch.

I lifted my hand and slid my fingers along the side of his neck, so he trembled. When his eyes opened, sunlight gaze so close to mine, I thought I'd melt beneath him.

His lips moved closer. His leg shifted up, knee brushing against my thigh. A warmth came over me.

I gasped, hooked on his gaze. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you," he replied. One of his fingers brushed over my bottom lip, pulling it gently before we kissed again.

*

By the time we crawled out of bed and adjusted ourselves, the sun had dipped lower in the sky. My phone had buzzed relentlessly, but with Brian's lips on mine, his body over mine, I ignored every call, every text message.

But I knew reality was outside our motel room door, and I couldn't ignore it anymore.

As Brian grabbed his keys and walked over towards the door, I picked up my phone. There were five missed calls from my father, ten from my father, and a missed text from Jun. His had only been sent fifteen minutes before.

Whenever you're ready to go, Bubbles, I am too, his message read.

I quickly typed back a reply as Brian opened our door. I'm ready, Brian's just going out to the car right now.

Cool, his next reply was quick, followed by the typing bubble, I'm down here, too.

When I looked up at Brian, I noticed he hadn't left. He stood in the open doorway, looking down at the parking lot below. He gave a small wave before he looked back at me. "Jun's downstairs," he said.

"I know," I said, laughing, then I waved my phone for him to see. "I just told him we're ready to go."

"All right." Brian's hand stayed on the door as I reached over to grab my purse. I looked at him as he leaned against the open frame, shoulder pressed into the grooves of the wood. When I approached closer, ready to go, he glanced at me. "It's random, but I've got one question."

"Sure?" I pulled my shoulder strap across my body, so my bag hung on the left side. Before I gave Brian my full attention, I looked down at the parking lot, at my brother. He sat on the hood of his Honda Civic, the phone in his hands. He just so happened to look up as I looked down. He waved, and so did I.

"What's the random question?" I pushed curls behind my ear as I smiled up at Brian.

He shifted, turning to face me fully. "You and Jun said your dad had situations where he hit people. What, or who were they?"

His expression changed. Concern glossed over his eyes. As he pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he dipped his head, waiting for me to answer.

I didn't hesitate because the answer, to my memory, was an easy one. "Mario."

Brian's eyes widened. "He hit Mario?"

I nodded.

"And yet," he pushed his brows together, furrowed, "the guy keeps coming around your family?"

I shrugged, pursed my lips, and sighed. "Yup, looks like it. It doesn't make sense to me."

"Yeah..."

Brian didn't ask any more questions. He stayed quiet after, hand reaching over to hold mine. When I linked my fingers through his, he locked the door behind us, and like a gentleman, walked me down the stairs.

When we reached the bottom step, as if he wanted to ease the moment, Brian gave me a twirl, then kissed the side of my face. I had to giggle because it was cute. But that giggle stopped when I glanced at my brother, who huffed and stuffed his phone into the side pocket of his jeans.

"You okay?" I asked him as Brian stepped closer to his car.

Jun looked at me, giving me his weakest smile. "I'll be okay, Bubbles. Elin's upset."

"Elin." Suddenly, I felt like an ass. I hadn't really seen my brother since my birthday slash engagement party. When their baby Julian was born, because he and Elin lived so far, I face-timed them for about a week straight; no time for in-person visits.

And now that I saw him, had him right in front of me, not once had I given him a hug. I hadn't asked about my nephew or sister-in-law.

I was too distracted.

Without saying a word, I hurried forward and hugged Jun as tight as I could. He froze for a second as if he didn't know why I'd done it. But when his arms moved to hug me back, I squeezed tighter. "How is she? How's Julian? How—"

"She's okay." Jun stretched his arms out to push me away, just slightly, just to look at me as he gave me a weak smile. "She just doesn't want me to deal with our parents' shit and asked me to come home."

"Well, go." I shook my head, moving his hands to his side. "Go to Elin. I'm sure she needs you more than mom does."

"I would've, but I'm not here for mom anymore." Jun pushed off the car's hood and walked towards the driver's side. He turned his attention to Brian, who waited at the passenger side with his arms on the car's roof. "Brian, we takin' my car or yours?"

"Whichever you want, Jun," Brian replied with a shrug.

"Mine then."

Pursing my lips, I rushed to Jun's side and grabbed his sleeve. "Well, then why are you still here? If not for mom, then—"

"You, Bubbles." Jun's smile weakened as he tugged open his side door. "Can't leave you behind like this. And I refuse to let Brian get bullied by dad without me being here, so." He shrugged, his gaze dancing between Brian and me. "I have a family to protect here, too."

I frowned. My eyes burned. When I looked at Brian, he had his hand open for me to grab. Quietly, he said, "Let's get this weekend started, okay?"

To him, I may have nodded. But inside, deep inside, tiny Kay made her reappearance. She shook her head. She tried to get my legs to stop.

I don't want to get it started. But if I don't, I'll never get this over with.

***

[Thank you for reading!]