♪♪We got a situation that we can't ignore

    'Cause ignorance is not bliss

    We don't have to take this, no 

   With every big decision

   Comes an equally important share of the risk. ♪♪

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ [Can't back down] - [Camp rock 2]

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 Having Kian decide to let her into his world, not because he wanted to put up appearances and be nice to her, brought an enormous smile to her face, thinking about it. But the smile didn't last long as her eyes settled on the cosmic mountain that lay on her dressing table, taking up the breathing space there.

Esmé moved towards the dressing table and picked the stack of letters Kristin had left for Kian the other day. From the story Kian told her the previous day, she understood clearly the reason for Kian's hatred for her, along with Petra's dislike. This made her wary about giving the letters to Kian, despite her promise to Kristin.

Looking at the letters made her give a lot of thought. What would read them mean to Kian? Kristin seemed to regret having left then and if she had taken the liberty to write that many letters, it meant she had her reasons, and maybe having Kian read those reasons would give him a much-needed closure.

She stepped out of her room and headed to Kian's room, which had his door slightly ajar. A smile made its way to her lips as she raised her hand to knock on the door, remembering her experiences standing outside of that door. Shuffling of feet from behind the door became louder after a quick 'Come in.'

Esmé halted after Kian spoke. In the art of remembering the previous times she made her way to the front of Kian's room door, she had never made her way inside his room. She opened the door slowly, taking her sweet time to pass the threshold she had never crossed.

It felt like stepping into a distinct reality. The brightness that seeped in from the windows at the drawn turquoise blue curtains complemented the pure white painted walls, void of any hung pictures.

He had a fully stacked bookshelf by the side of his king-sized neatly laid bed that held books ranging from medical books to sports news and a couple of novels. A trophy case stood by the bookshelf holding a lot of trophies and awards he won in his younger years. The overall neatness in the room wouldn't have shocked her too much if she had not experienced firsthand the messy way he had been in the previous couple of days.

The only thing that showed that a broody person had lived there was a black scratch by the bedside stool where she assumed he might have thrown something at during his depressed state.

Kian turned around to face her in his seat by his desk, where he was packing up some torn sheets of paper and a broken framed picture. "Sorry about the mess," Kian said, drawing her attention to him.

Esmé's mouth wept slack. Her gaze swept over the entire room once more before settling back on Kian. "You call this is a mess?"

"To some extent it is," he said with a light chuckle, pointing to the carton and a few transparent nylon bags by him where he had placed things he wanted to dispose of.

"Oh no, I'm going to have to disagree with you. Even your dirt is organized, Doc. Definitely not a mess."

A smile tugged at Kian's lips, at the brightened expression on her face. His eyes swept to the stack of letters in her hands and his smile turned into a grin as he stood up making his way to her. "You kept them?" he asked, stretching his hands forward to collect them once he got to her. "I thought you didn't want me to see them before and now you're bringing them to me?" he added with a teasing glint, looking up at her.

Esmé's squished eyebrows made his grin go down a notch as he titled his head. Kian wove the letters in the air with a suggestive eye, as if trying to remind her of what she had brought to him. "The apology letters you wrote before giving me the ones you settled on."

It took Esmé a minute to realize what he was referring to. She flushed, chuckling timidly. "Oh, my goodness! You saw them?!"

"Unfortunately, you were not quick enough to lock your door, and they were definitely hard to miss," he said with a bemused smile. He moved on to open the first letter whilst asking, "What changed your mind and why did you go through the trouble of putting them in envelopes?"

"Those are actually from Kristin."

Kian's hands and the smile froze in place. While his previous anger towards Kristin wasn't there in full force anymore, the shock of having heard her name was still there. His lips pressed tight as he finally noticed the address on top of the envelope. "Oh."

Warmth radiated through Esmé at the sudden lack of enthusiasm to open the letters, knowing they were not from her, but she quickly chased the feeling away, seeing his still frozen state. "She left them a few days ago since she really wanted to see you talk things out and you didn't look like you were ready for that. So I told her to drop them off. I'll give them to you when you're ready," she explained.

Kian stood lost in thought. He heard Esmé speak, but he focused his mind on the letters in his hands. It hadn't even occurred to him that clearing the air with Kristin was something he had to do. He had been ready to just let bygones be bygones whilst learning to forgive himself but the weight of the letters in his hand made him realize that talking things out with Kristin even if it was just to find out why she up and left would help him.

"Is something wrong?" Esmé asked in a lowered voice.

The lack of enthusiasm in them previously got Kian's attention. He looked up from the letters to Esmé, who had a frown on her face and her eyes gazing at him.

"Should I not have...?"

"No, it's fine," Kian interrupted, wanting to ease her worries. "Thank you, actually. I just hadn't really given it a thought as it being something I had to do. I guess we both need a closure."

Esmé's stooped posture relaxed, and she nodded. "Yeah, listening to her side of the story might help. And she looked like she's been in a huge messy state for the past year. She had regret written in every aspect of her, as you can see with the number of letters, which I assume are apology letters with explanations, she's written. She needs her side of the story heard to give her a sense of relief and you need to hear it to move past the hurt she made you feel."

Whilst she wanted to encourage him by letting him know that was the best option, she also didn't want it to seem like she was telling him how to leave their life. "Or you could just read them here and make the choice of what you want to do when you're ready," she added, to show she was giving him a choice.

Kian released an appreciative sigh and his expression grew softer. That she was putting in the extra effort not to dictate the choices he should make softened his expression to her. He thought of everything she said and thought of how he was going to move from there.

"Meeting up with her first sounds like the best option."

"You will not read the letters?" Esmé asked with her lips pursed.

He shook his head, putting back the letter he had removed into its envelope. "No. There really isn't any use since I'm going to still want to hear her say her side of the story. Talking about her, looking for her, and talking to her is something I've avoided for a year now. That's why I think talking to her would work better."

Kian took a deep intake of breath. It was time to meet Kristin Wood.

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😬🙊

Yello there.

It looks like a whole lot of dynamics are changing. But it's time to face the past head-on!

What are your thoughts on the chapter?! Did anything in particular surprise you? You know the drill, swing it at me right here! 💭👉

Things are about to change and hopefully, after we finally get to really meet Kristin, they change for the better.

Till next time!💕