Chapter 16
In the days that followed, Keira and Stellan often went to the vet together. Under the nurses‘ care, the kitten’s condition improved significantly,
Keira had initially planned to take it home, but the landlord had made it clear that no pets were allowed in the apartment. That was one of the rules she bad to follow
“The kitten can stay with me. My place is bigger, and I’ve had cats before.” Stellan offered.
As his words fell, he pulled out his phone and showed her his phone’s photo gallery. His wallpaper was a pleture of a beautiful little tabby with big, round eyes. It was utterly adorable.
“Alright, but I’ll buy the cat food and supplies. You’ve already paid for the vet bills, so let me handle this part,” Keira said, looking down at the kitten in
“Olory. But you won’t be able to carry everything by yourself. I’ll go with you,” Stellan suggested.
Keira hadn’t expected him to be so thoughtful. She agreed with utmost gratitude.
The two of them went on a small shopping spree to pick out cat supplies and toys.
Although Keira struggled deciding which things to buy, Stellan wasn’t the least bit impatient with her. Instead, he gave her constructive and helpful
suggestions
Keira felt a surge of warmth in her heart. She had never experienced someone being so patient with her before
She was suddenly reminded that Vincent had once been like that, too. But in the end, he wasn’t even willing to spare some time to listen to a cassette
“What’s wrong? Steen asked immediately upon noticing the change in her expression
“Nothing… I just realized we haven’t given the kitten a name yet,” Keira responded.
“Then you should name it. You found it, after all, Stellan said, smiling.
Keira thought about it for a moment.
“What about Summer? Since we found it in the summer. What do you think?” she asked while looking at Stellan expectantly,
“I think it’s really cute. Alright then. It’ll be Summer from now on,” Stellan agreed.
Since it was already lace by the time they returned from the vet, Stellan hailed a ride. He even called ahead to confirm with the driver if he was okay with then bringing a cat along
The driver readily agreed without any issue.
When the driver arrived, he gave Keira a strange look and said something in a foreign language to Stellan.
Keira didn’t understand, so she leaned in and asked, “Why did he look at me like that just now? What did he say?”
“He said that your kitten is so cute that he wants to steal it,” Stellan deadpanned.
“Really? Why would he do that? Keira immediately hugged the kitten protectively.
Her reaction made Stellan Laugh. “I was just Iddding”
Keira didn’t say anything but hugged the latten even tighter. She was unaware that Stellan was smiling brightly as her face was turned to the other side.
After reluctantly placing the kitten in Stellan’s apartment, Keira rushed back home to take a shower.
Just as
as she came out of the bathroom, her phone buzzed.
Keira was puzzled as to who would be messaging her this late. She glanced at her phone screen and saw that it was a news push notification.
The headline read, “Vincent Slater Cancels Wedding Publicly“.
It was followed by a short line stating that Vincent had dumped his bride at the wedding venue and announced that she wasn’t the one he’d been looking
for.
The photo captured the chaotic moment at the banquet hall. But what caught Keira’s eye were the sunflowers everywhere. There was a hand–drawn sunflower on the poster. Each of the wedding favors on the guests‘ tables had cartoon sunflowers printed on them, too.
This was all because she, Kild, had once said that she loved sunflowers. She had even said her dream wedding was a sunflower–themed one.
Evidently, Vincent remembered all those detalls
As the scrolled down the news article, Keira felt a pang in her heart. She figured that he must have finally listened to the recording
But even so, she would no longer place any hope in him. Everything he had done to her before still lingered in her mind. At this point, anything he did to make up for it was too little, too late.
Keira closed the page and silently unfollowed the news account. She was done with Vincent and anything related to their shared past