As Mwana looked at Malkia, her eyes seemed to meet his causing his memories from when he was 6 years old to come rushing back. He had just been enrolled into the academy when he met Malkia. At that time, the Maji cousins had started bullying him for no reason with their dogs. ‘We didn't even know each other, ye t they had their dogs chase after me every time I went to and from school.’ Mwana’s memories of this time were not pleasant as he could not walk to the academy in peace. Even after telling his mother and her speaking to both the Maji cousins and their parents multiple times, the bullying did not stop.
Mwana already expected his mornings to be filled with running from dogs until one fateful day. It had been the memorial of one of his distant aunts, Jua Sahau, a cousin of his father. On that day, his distant similar-aged cousin, Jua Fury Jin, came to the Jua village to celebrate her mother with the family. Apart from her father, a new girl came along who Fury Jua called cousin. Mwana did not know her or recognize her as part of their family so he guessed she was related to Fury Jin’s father instead of her mother who was the one from the Jua clan.
It was on the same day of meeting Kia for the first time that the bullying stopped. As Mwana had been taking her on a village tour, the Maji cousins thought it was the best opportunity to bully and embarrass him. However, they were not prepared for what they experienced that day. At first when the dogs chased after them, Malkia ran away alongside Mwana. However, she ended up falling at which point she got extremely angry and tragedy ensued on the Maji cousins.
Unlike Mwana who was still a bit weak at that age, Kia had the power to fight back. Both the dogs and the Maji cousins received a beat-down they would never forget. Even watching from the side, Mwana had never forgotten the savagery the Maji cousins experienced as they ran away bleeding like fountains. It was from watching that scene of pure violence, pure justice, and pure karma that Mwana first felt the early tingling of love in this life. He developed his first crush. From that day on, Mwana was never bullied by the Maji brothers again even after Malkia left the village and for that alone he was eternally grateful. While a tiger cannot change its stripes in Maji 1s case, the rest of the Maji cousins seemed to have mellowed out in general.
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Although Kia stayed in the village for a few weeks, the day still came when she had to leave Jua village and go back home to Eastern Jin Nation. Mwana’s memories of those few weeks spent with her were filled with happiness and some embarrassment. He still remembered how he sheepishly tried to seem taller by standing almost on his toes to boost his height as Kia was taller than him. However, the memories that stuck with him the most were the playful moments, the evening talks, and the time he almost confessed to her during an eclipse.
‘Kia’, seeing her again, Mwana could not help but sigh with a hint of hope. ‘I won’t miss my chance this time.’
As Kia was joining the Academy, she could not help but think back to the home she had left behind. It was a huge change to make, moving from one country to another. For most of her life, she had been living in Eastern Jin Nation with her uncle and cousin. The Jua clan had other branches and villages outside the main Jua village. Out of the bigger villages, there was the Jua Tanga village also called the Wandering Sun village, the Jua Moto village also called Scorching Sun village and the Vunja Jua village also called the Breaking Sun village.