“What?” She asked, unapologetically. Releasing her grip slightly from Phil who looked anxious and embarrassed. His face flared red and his body began to perspire as the incident unfolded.

“You know what! Why are you cuddled up on Phil in the break room? You barely even know him!” Anger and frustration built up inside of him like an overfilled bag of popcorn kernels over a hot fire.

“Okay, and? Last time I checked, I’m a free bitch, and I’m allowed to do that. And aren’t you supposed to be eating lunch at the cafeteria? Why are you here in the first place? No one invited you!”

Phil scooted away awkwardly from Josephine, escaping her grip as she sat up to face Kairus. She turned and looked at him as he stood up and began to exit the room. “Hey, where are you going?” She asked as he slipped out of the room without speaking. “Great. You scared Phil away, Kai!”

“Good. For. Him! I hope he never talks to you again… for his sake.”

“You get so fucking jealous for no reason, Kai! This is why I don’t want to be your girlfriend! You try to put a fucking leash on me, and I am not a dog. I’m sick of it!” Josephine exclaimed loudly, glowing completely red in the face. She was furious, throwing her hands around as she bounced around angrily in her seat. “Again. Why the hell are you even here?” She insisted.

“You didn’t show up to lunch today. I came by because I wanted to make sure you were okay. I stopped at your room first, but neither you or Alana were there,” he tried to explain, sounding desperate.

“Then why didn’t you just text me or call me or something? It’s 2020, Kai! We have smartphones now!”

“I don’t know… okay,” he lied and Josephine caught this.

“Why didn’t you just text me, Kai? Because you knew I was coming here with Phil? Didn’t you?” She accused, and his silent, shame-ridden face confirmed these accusations.

“I saw you two walking together from the English building and I followed you here. I just wanted to see what you guys were up to. I was just worried and jealous. That’s all,” he admitted, sounding entirely defeated. With his head hung low, he looked away from Josephine, sadness littered on his face.

“I… I can’t deal with this, okay? I need some space. You’re suffocating me. Just… how long were you here listening to us? Watching us?” Josephine was livid but also sad. Her emotions gathered together in a tight confused knot, completely disheveled

“It’s not like that. I didn’t even know you guys were here at first. Like I said, I went to your room to see if you were there. And it turned out you were down here cuddling up on Phil instead.”

“Oh what, did you think you’d walk in on me fucking Phil? That’s real mature of you, Kai. So much fucking trust you have in me. You want to know why Phil and I came here together?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“No, that's not what I thought at all. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. Why did you guys come here?”

“To play fucking ping-pong and look over our pyschology notes! We have a test on Friday. I literally texted you and said that I was going to be busy during lunch today! Phil and I were talking in class, and I asked him if he could help me study and maybe play some ping-pong. You know I love that game and you rarely want to play with me.”

“Okay, look. I’m sorry, alright? I shouldn’t have followed you here. That was really stupid of me. I know you need some space, and I’ll give it to you. Alright? I promise,” Kairus pleaded, sitting down next to Josephine and giving her a tight hug.

He managed to relieve the tension and she hugged him back calmly. “You frustrate me, you know that?” She said with a smile and kissed him on the cheek sweetly.

“I promise I’m going to stop breathing down your neck. Look, I’ll start right now,” he said as he removed himself from Josephine’s grip. “See. Not a single breath on your neck anymore,” he smiled, trying to win her back with humor.

“If you can prove to me for an entire week that you can stop this leash shit, I will stop being such an attention whore. I promise.”

“You have my word, Jos. No leash. I’ll keep it for the dogs only,” he assured, reaching out for a hug. Josephine then stood to her feet and hugged him tightly, rubbing his back.

“Okay, Kai. I’m holding you to that. I’m done being so stressed out. That’s why I needed to spend some time with someone else… I just needed to be away from you for a little bit. I hope you understand.” She was sincere and honest, concealing her bratty, pretentious behavior for a moment.

“I understand,” he assured, but he wasn’t entirely convinced, himself. A part of him ached at the thought of being away from her more often, not constantly checking in to make sure she was doing well, and not always knowing where she was and who she was with.

Kairus cared for Josephine a lot, and the feelings he had often made him too clingy for her liking. She wanted to be free and not have to report to anyone whenever she did anything and went somewhere.

He would hover over her, making sure she was safe, that she was happy, and that she was protected. However, she did not want this from him or anyone else. She felt that she was strong and confident on her own and that she didn’t need anyone to protect her or to make her happy. She knew that Kairus meant well, but all of the constant checking in and the responsibility she had to him, stressed her out, and it was time for that to change.

“I love you, Jos. I just wanted you to know that, alright?” He opened up and confessed how he felt about her, but Josephine did not receive this information as well as he had hoped.

“Oh thanks, Kai,” she smiled smugly with her hand pressed glamorously to her face. “I know!” She concluded, highlighting her typical conceited persona.

Kairus laughed and smiled back to her, shaking his head politely. He liked Josephine’s confidence even though he knew it wasn’t entirely real, but this was one of the main things he was attracted to. And even though she didn’t say that she loved him back, Kairus was okay with this because he expected it.

It was then that Kairus fully understood her point of view. Josephine needed to put on an act to demonstrate how strong, independent, and confident she was, and he was only getting in the way of that. By constantly being concerned and always available to catch her when she stumbled, he was stealing parts of her script, taking away from her role as the main event, and blocking her spotlight with his shadow. If she were ever to fall in the spotlight, she wanted to be the one to catch herself with her own arms and legs, no one else's.

“Sure thing, Jos’!” He said as he dismissed himself and Josephine waved him goodbye.