I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 124: The Catchup

I started to head back toward the stairs but Alisha stopped me again.

“Did she text you?” she asked.

I fished my phone out and checked.

“No,” I answered.

Alisha took a slow breath. “We don’t know why she’s here,” she pointed out.

I blinked, a little confused. 

“She could’ve been coerced,” Alisha explained. “If someone found out she knew where this was.”

I followed the logic, but couldn’t allow myself to not engage. “I don’t think she’d hurt me if she was after you. Let me talk to her and see what’s up.”

Alisha nodded, either permission or understanding.

I went down the steps and right to the front door, finding Sophia alone, anxiously debating whether to knock or stay by her car.

“Hey,” I greeted her lightly. “What’s up?”

I didn’t realize at first, but there were still tear stains down her cheeks and she came up to me without a word, simply pulling me in and pressing her face to my shoulder.

“Oh–, okay,” I managed and held her while she caught her breath. It had been a long time since I’d seen my sister cry like this. Probably not since her highschool boyfriend broke up with her with a text message.

After a moment I guided her to sit on the slim brick in front of the door. It wasn’t the most comfortable but I’d rather know what was going on before letting her in to see Alisha. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked her gently as she wiped some more tears away and sniffled.

“I don’t get it,” she said, voice hollow and rough at the same time.

“Get what?” I asked.

“Mom and Dad,” she explained. “They’re so hateful and I’m so sick of it.” Her inhale trembled uncontrollably.

“Did they do something?” 

She shook her head, then sobbed again and buried her face in her hands. “My phone,” she managed. “They took my phone. And–” she had to stop to sniffle again and wipe more tears from her eyes. “They said such terrible things about you and about Alisha and when I told them to grow the fuck up, Dad–” she reached up to touch one of her cheeks, where the redness I thought was from crying was a little darker. “He tried to take my car keys but I ran out the front door and you know he won’t act like that where the neighbors can see.”

I nodded and laid a hand on her shoulder, hoping to give her something to help steady the emotions.

She calmed down slowly, controlling her breathing until she wasn’t sobbing or trembling anymore.

There was a crunch of gravel under tires and the sound of an engine I recognized as Tye’s Hon-yoda.

“Crap,” I managed, realizing I should have called him so he knew we weren’t dying.

Sophia looked confused and I explained. “When you turned onto the driveway, there’s a road sensor up there that goes off so Alisha’s security was notified.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. Not a big deal.” I stood, feeling the impression the concrete had left on my butt and let Tye approach me.

He was wary, still, but recognized Sophia.

He was also in a suit which fit him perfectly. I guessed moving from captain to underboss necessitated a wardrobe upgrade as well.

“We’re okay,” I informed him.

He sighed, ran a hand through his hair and looked at me. “Good,” he managed, still terse.

A moment later Alisha crept out from the front door, hands folded in front of her. “Why don’t you all come inside,” she offered. Her gaze trailed down to where Sophia was still on the ground, looking upset but stabilized.

I nodded and helped herd Sophia inside where the smell of pork broth hit me hard and I was suddenly very hungry. 

I sat Sophia down at the dining table, giving Tye and Alisha a moment to catch up, which they did in low voices in the other room. Their chat was too muted for me to make out but at the very least there was no arguing. I still remembered the panic in Alisha’s voice when I informed her Tye had been delegating tasks down. He didn’t look as exhausted as before, which I hoped was a good sign, though I couldn’t be sure.

When they reentered, Alisha made a gesture for Tye to sit. He pulled the suit jacket off and draped it neatly on the back of his chair before doing so. Alisha finally sat next to me, fully composed like nothing about this was strange at all.

“Why are you upset?” she asked Sophia.

I gave her a look because that was a little harsh sounding.

“Oh it was just some family drama,” Sophia explained lightly.

“My dad hit her,” I filled in. “And took her phone and was going to take her car keys too but she ran.”

Sophia looked down at the floor, ashamed. It put a knife in my chest and I was suddenly aware of why Alisha might have decided to help me way back when we first met. It was in human nature to want to help someone so down.

“Well, if he’s being a jerk you can stay here for the night,” Alisha decided.

I saw Tye’s tick of disagreement but he held his tongue rather than fighting with her. Sophia wasn’t their biggest concern in terms of threats.

“That’s okay I–” Sophia started to protest.

“I insist,” Alisha said before she could get much further. “There’s a living room with a spacious couch. It should be quite comfortable and I can get you some blankets and pillows.”

Sophia was silent, completely blindsided. I was too, suddenly a little too aware of the gun pressing against my back still, and the others I knew were in the house, probably at least one in the living room.

“You’re too generous,” Sophia finally stated.

Alisha was already moving to talk to Xue in the kitchen. She paused just long enough to say, “a sister of Kit’s is a sister of mine.”

I wasn’t sure if she knew what she was implying but at Sophia's shocked expression I quietly informed her we were not engaged. Alisha was just like that.

Tye ended up staying for dinner as well. Apparently ramen was a ‘big batch’ kind of meal so it wasn’t much effort to feed two more people.

Xue’s ramen wasn’t quite as good as the Ichihana ramen we had in the city, but it was still so good. Sophia had started picking at the noodles in the bowl without much interest until she took a bite and mumbled, ‘oh my god,’ and proceeded to eat as enthusiastically as good manners allowed.

Tye on the other hand struggled with the chopstick and spoon situation, finally resorting to twirling noodles on the chopsticks like one would spaghetti on a fork. Alisha watched him, but didn’t say anything about it, instead settling into one of her business-as-usual positions and finally asking.

“How have things been other than your parents, Sophia? No one’s been giving you trouble?”

Sophia shook her head, still with a clump of noodles in her mouth she was trying to slurp in without slurping.

“Life hasn't been too bad. Classes are going good and work isn't terrible. Actually how is your cafe job Kit?” Sophia turned to me then and the silence fell.

“Uhm. I resigned,” I said carefully.

“Oh, why?” Sophia looked worried more than anything.

“Well, my manager didn't really care much about my emotional or physical safety so it didn't really work out.”

“She nearly got assaulted in the back alley,” Alisha put in definingly.

“Jesus,” Sophia agreed. “And you quit because of that.”

“Because my manager made me serve the guy after he was being really gross. On purpose,” I clarified.

“I'm glad you're safe either way.” Sophia poked at the soft boiled egg briefly, seeming fascinated that an egg wasn't served to her cooked hard.

“It's really tasty if you let the noodles pull through the yolk,” I advised.

She looked confused. “You eat like this?” she asked.

I opened my mouth, closed it and decided to say, “sometimes.”

She did take a leap of faith and followed my advice and made an mm of approval. “It's like gravy,” she said.

Alisha quirked an eyebrow, an expression of amusement I’d never seen on her face before.

Tye continued his quiet observation. Whatever business he and Alisha had discussed before it wasn't urgent enough to warrant Alisha’s attention so the rest of the night was quite peaceful. He left after dinner, only exchanging a few more brief words with Alisha before departing.

Sophia waited awkwardly and I snapped into host mode and brought her to the living room with the barely used couch.

“Here, let me grab some blankets and stuff,” I explained before routing around in some of Alisha’s storage area to bring one over to her. It was jumbo size and as Sophia spread it out she laughed at the absurdity. “That's a big bed,” she commented. 

“It-it is,” I agreed.