I had to sit through breakfast, barely able to eat anything because I was so excited to hear from someone. I wanted to see my Mom and Dad, but I’d travelled for so long that I didn’t miss them as much as I did, Michael.

I wanted him to contact me. I started to feel paranoid as I picked at my cereal. What if, in a week something had changed and he realised he couldn’t commit himself to me because he wasn’t in the right headspace? Or, what if he decided he was wrong about his feelings? A week was a long time if left alone with his thoughts. It had been for me.

I started feeling nausea swirl in my tummy at the very thought of rejection and I began to regret ever allowing him to know I had some feelings for him.

I tried to shovel in as much food as I could. I didn’t want anything that might go against me during visiting hours.

“Are you nervous today?” Julia asked me, slipping down in the seat across from me. I shook my head, obviously lying.

“I’m tired though, I wasn’t able to sleep very well. So… I stayed up and read the rest of my book.”

“The Seagull one?” she asked. A couple times she had come to see me when I’d been reading.

I nodded.

“Was it any good?” she wondered.

“Yeah it was a nice book. It was pretty up-lifting,” I answered. I totally understood why Michael wanted me to read it and also why he loved it so much being the visionary that he was.

“Do you think I could loan it?” she asked, almost embarrassed to ask.

“Sure, as long as you take care of it, it doesn’t belong to me,” I said to her, “but I don’t think the person who owns it would mind.”

“Oh thanks, I’ll come grab it later, I haven’t been reading much, I’m pretty bored with what I’m reading.”

“Which is?”

She ducked her head shyly. “I’ve been mowing through the Sweet Valley High books in the library.”

I tried not to laugh but grinned at her instead. She really was just a teenager. I remembered devouring that book series when I had been younger too.

“Hey, can I meet Peter?” she asked.

“Well…” I began diplomatically, my heart flip-flopping at the thought, “probably not today, maybe another day.”

“Okay,” she replied, understandingly. “I hope he visits you, you’ll be so happy..” her voice trailed off.

“Do your parents ever come visit you?” I wondered.

She shrugged, “When they remember… they came once early last week, my Mom doesn’t know how to deal with me.”

I was able to chuckle a little cynically, “My Mom is a bit like that too, but at least she tries.”

“Mine doesn’t,” Julia replied, “she thinks cutting is a little game I play for attention… nevermind my Mom has her own set of issues.”

“That’s where we learn them from, don’t you think?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “My therapist says I’m doing good and maybe when I’m done with this place, I could go back to being normal.”

“I hope you can too, I hope we both can.” I told her with a smile.

**

The angels sang to me when I heard one of the nurses call my name to the station. I went straight away to see what they wanted, but I already knew. “Malania, there’s a phone call for you if you press line one.” The nurse handed me a receiver and the phone pad. I dialled the line one button and listened intently, praying that it wasn’t my parents but instead, Michael.

“Hello?”

“Malania…” my breath caught in my throat and I couldn’t have grinned harder. It was only 10 past 9am. I was so happy.

“Mi-“ I stopped myself, “Peter…”

He chuckled. There was an awkward air of silence, both of us probably being too goon-like in our happiness to even speak. Every fear that had been eating at me earlier was quickly allayed in that split instance that I heard his gentle voice.

“I missed your voice…” he remarked, “and I missed your gorgeous face…” he paused. I was about to speak but he interrupted, “God, I can’t wait to see you.”

I smiled, feeling my eyes cloud up with tears. “I missed you so much too. When are you coming?”

I heard his voice fill the end with light laughter, “Girl, I can be there late this afternoon or tonight, what do you prefer?”

“Tonight…” I told him, “My parents will be expecting my call and probably will want to come later and I have group therapy at like, four or something… oh my god…” I sighed happily, feeling giddy.

“Yeah, your parents are coming after lunch, I spoke to them before, I didn’t want to tread on their feet,” he told me and once again proving how thoughtful and considerate he was. “Tell me, are you able to talk for a few minutes?”

“Yes,” I told him, smiling at the nurse behind the desk who I’d noticed was giggling at my breathlessness and gleefulness.

“Okay good, are you okay? Tell me, what have you been doing over the week?”

“I’m good,” I promised him, “its been okay, not as bad as I thought it might be,” I replied, “but I’ve missed you.”

“Me too, but this is just temporary. I tried to call a few days ago to see if I could deliver a letter to you but I wasn’t allowed…”

I smiled, so relieved that he was alright. “How are you?” I asked him, “is there any news about … you know?”

“A little bit, my lawyer is having trouble tracking down Larry which is a bit frustrating. I have a feeling he probably went to Spain to find his daughters. When he worked for me there was no real way of him being able to see them because he was busy… so they’re going to try to track down his ex and speak with her,” he informed me. “And we got the report back about the DNA matches they’ve found and some of the evidence they think they have – I’ll tell you a bit about that later face-to-face.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I was just going to be happy to see him face-to-face. “I can’t wait to give you a hug.”

“Me either…”

There was a little bit of silence where our words were just left to linger in the air. I pushed myself to ask a question that was playing over in my mind.

“You haven’t… changed your mind about me, have you?” I asked in a tiny voice.

There was a big tension-relieving laugh that erupted from him on the other end of the line. “Ahhhh… Malania, no, no, don’t be crazy…”

I laughed too, “I have too much time to think…” I let my voice trail off.

“Well, don’t be silly, I haven’t changed my mind… tell me, what can I bring you? What would you like?”

“Oh, I’m okay, just bring yourself…”

He chuckled, “don’t be humble, tell me what you’d like. I’m allowed to bring you books, a small stash of candy or junk food, anything you want?”

I loved him for his kindness. “A pillow, like, a good one. Is that too much to ask?” I giggled.

“No, Carsen and I will go shopping this afternoon before I come. What else? Did you want a comforter as well?”

“No, there’s a couple of lovely weighted blankets… could you bring me some wool?”

“Wool?” Michael questioned with a slight laugh, “what are you doing?”

“There’s a girl in here who I’ve been hanging out with and they were trying to teach her to crochet in art therapy, I was too grumpy that day to join in, but I watched and I’m pretty sure I can figure it out… I’d like to teach her and work on a project with her in our spare time.”

“Okay sweetheart, wool… anything else? Chocolate? Cheetos? Coca cola?”

I laughed at his constant urge to feed me. “Can I be incredibly stereotypical? I would love some sachets of miso and some dried shitake… and maybe some books, just whatever you think I’d enjoy reading… I just finished Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.”

“Oh! What did you think?”

I grinned as if he were standing before me, “I can see why you love it. Its very uplifting, is that how you view your career? Imagine you’re already king of the world and then it just spontaneously happens?”

“Pretty much…” he chuckled, “I took a lot from that book… its okay to be different is the main focus, even if you feel like an outcast or if people don’t get you, its okay because your purpose is bigger than that,” he explained, “that’s what I hoped you’d get from it…”

“It is, it made me feel happy… I actually loaned it to someone I felt might get something out of it, I hope that’s okay, I’ll get it back…”

“That’s fine, sweetheart, I have a bunch of copies of it, I won’t notice it if it goes missing.”  

“I can’t wait to see you…” I told him.

“Me either… what’s the rest of your day looking like?” he asked me.

“Hmm, well – there’s art therapy in about 20 minutes, then lunch and then I have a choice of outdoor meditation which is just as awful as it sounds, or there’s a little self-help class which sounds a bit geeky so I might just hang out in my room.”

“Can I choose for you?” he asked with a little giggle.

I laughed too. “Okay shoot…”

“Do the geeky self-help class… It may sound silly, but it might be good… and, I’m afraid to ask, but … how’s the self-harm going?”

“Okay, I’ll go, just for you and secondly; its not…I’ve been very good.” I told him for once feeling proud of myself. I hadn’t even had so much of an urge since I’d been at the treatment facility.

“Good, sweetheart, that’s the best news…”

I started getting looks from the nurses and knew it was time to wrap the phone conversation up. “Peter, I gotta go…” I told him.

“Okay, I’ll go and beautify myself to get ready to see you tonight. I’m very excited.”

“Me too, see you soon.”

“You bet,” he replied.

I hung up the phone and rested my arms on the surface of the nurses desk, not being able to wipe the smile off of my face. “Is there are a limit on how long I’m allowed to speak on the phone for?” I wondered.

The nurse, who had an English accent looked up at me, “Yes, at the desk its five minutes. Patients are welcome to pay for their own phones in their rooms if they choose.”

“Okay, cool…” I needed to get on to my parents about that.

**

It was odd to see my family arrive all together. Arriving in a little group was my Mama, Dad, Anica, Danijela and my eldest brother who I hadn’t seen in more than six months, Kaito. I wondered where my brother-in-law was.

Kaito looked different, he’d lost a bit of weight. He was a lot like me in looks. We were gifted predominantly with Japanese genetics. He looked a little Korean and had azure eyes making him just slightly exotic looking. I almost laughed at that thought. Sometimes people had referred to me as exotic when they found out my heritage. It was a polite way of saying that I was a mongrel breed.

Kaito must have been home in California on business. He worked for an airline and took after my Dad in more ways than just looks.

I was a little overwhelmed by all of the attention afforded to me. I wasn’t expecting it. I bit my lip, feeling my face heating up with embarrassment and shyness. Kaito was almost ten years older than me and I’d never been particularly close to him since he left home when I was around 8 or 9 years old, but his presence felt immediately sincere and heartfelt.

“Hello…” I murmured.

My mother hugged me tightly first and everybody followed including my baby neice who just had to be second. She climbed up my legs impatiently until I picked her up. “Hiiiiiiii Dani!” I gushed glad for her taking the attention away from me briefly. I kissed her cheeks and gave her a squeeze.

“Auntie, Mommy said that I can play a game with you today!” she told me.

Anica laughed, “I did not say that, stop trying to con your auntie.”

I was able to laugh too as I balanced my neice on my hip and hugged my sister. She took her child back off of me, allowing me a moment with my brother.

“Malania-chan,” he always added the honorific to my name just like my father. I smiled at him a little bashfully. He looked me over in my basic white cotton shirt and grey sweats as if he were in disbelief. “You look….”

“awful?” I supplied with a little chuckle.

“No…” he smiled at me, “you look grown up…” it was almost humiliating to see someone I hadn’t seen for so long in such poor circumstances. I wished I could have been seeing him after landing myself a successful job like him, or that I was able to provide him with something positive about me.

Instead, his stupid little kid sister was in the crazy house for dabbling in teenage-like coping mechanisms.

“Thanks for coming to see me…” I murmured.

“Of course,” he replied, opening his arms up. I hugged him and it felt awkward, natural and unfamiliar all at once. I felt his lips on the crown of my head. “I’m glad to hear you’re doing well…”

“Well… not that well,” I told him, pulling back, “I’m in here.”

He cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “I’m glad you’re here.”

I showed my family in to my bedroom. Mama and Papa lingered behind, slowly looking at everything as if what was on the walls were important and as if they were expecting to see signs that I shouldn’t have been there.

“God,” Anica remarked, “your room is boring… nothing like your room at home.”

“Its okay, I don’t want to get too familiar with this place…” I replied. I couldn’t explain it, but something had changed between Anica and I. It was unspoken, but the tension that had previously been between us was replaced with a casual and caring relationship. It was as if I had my big sister back. It felt very calming. Another person on my side and advocating for me was incredibly necessary.

“But still… some colour wouldn’t go astray, lucky we have some stuff for you, don’t we, Danijela?”

Danijela nodded excitedly. I had noticed them carrying some bags, but I hadn’t said much. She put them on my bed. “Look at this Auntie,” Anica pulled a large piece of paper stock from the bag. It had been folded up. Danijela took it from her mother and handed it to me.

“Is this for me?” I asked my neice, sitting on the bed. Danijela nodded, her tongue protruding from her mouth excitedly and focused. She helped me unfold it to reveal a giant butterfly painting using all the primary colours. Months earlier, I had taught my neice how to create a pretty butterfly by painting one side and folding it over to mirror the other.

“Wowwww!” I gushed in absolute awe. “Michael did it with me!” she told me.

“Dani!” Anica hissed.

“What?” I asked with a laugh, looking from my sister back to my neice.

“Michael helped me at Pa and Grammas house!” she continued.

“Wait, what? Michael was visiting Mom and Dad?” I asked with a laugh, barely being able to believe it.

“Yeah…” Anica finally gave in to the information, “he came to Mom and Dad’s because he tried to call here to get some information and they wouldn’t tell him anything, so he got Dad to call for him.”

“Oh,” I smiled, not being able to help feeling a swelling of affection for him in my heart.

“Yeah,” Kaito sat on the empty opposing bed. “What’s this about my kid sister hanging out with the King of Pop?” he asked, “Papa said something to me about it last time we talked and I thought maybe he was confused, you know…” he added giving a good-natured roll of his eyes as if to explain that sometimes my Dad came up with some odd things.

I laughed, embarrassed. “I dunno, I guess we just began hanging out…” I shrugged.

“No,” Kaito shook his head, not accepting that answer. He grinned at me, “no, no, no, don’t give me that cop out, what I want to know is, how do you go from being a normal every day 20 year old girl, to high-rolling with the king of pop and going to dinner and shopping and a freakin’ court hearing!”

“Court hearing,” I chuckled, “you’ve been living in London too long.”

“I’m interested too, actually…”

I looked back to Danijela who was still waiting for me to pay her attention, “thank you for this my little darling,” I told her, ignoring my brother and sister’s questioning for a few moments, “I am going to hang it on my wall!” I gave her a hug and a kiss.

I glanced up to see my parents in the hallway advancing toward my room. “Malania-chan,” Papa began, “your mother and I are going to have a word to the director for a few minutes, we will be back soon.”

“Okay…” I figured they wanted to chat about my progress.

I looked back at Kaito who was exchanging a glance with my sister. “Fine,” I laughed, “my friend and I met Michael in Mexico the night we heard about those allegations and we went to tell him that we were sorry and that we didn’t believe it, and he hadn’t even heard about it yet…”

“But how does that even happen?” he asked, he turned to Anica, “did you know she was off in Mexico?”

Anica laughed too. It was a stark contrast to the disgust and ridicule I had been met with earlier when she knew I was going around from show to show. “I knew some of it… but not the true extent.”

I wanted to tell them that Anica knew as little as possible because of how stupid she constantly made me feel about it, but for the sake of our relationship and the mood, I shut up.

“I don’t know… just pure luck. When we found out Michael had been arrested, I decided to go to his family home where my friend and I thought he might be and it was in Encino… the friend proved to be a psycho and left me there on my own… Michael happened to be walking around the premises, heard the heated discussion with my friend, heard her leave me and then opened up his home to me…. And we made friends from there…” I explained.

“What the hell…” Kaito laughed, “well, I’m jealous, kiddo, I want to meet Michael Jackson…”

I held my finger to my lips, “not too loud, I don’t want anyone to find out… so far everyone is treating me normally.”

“How is he going to visit without anyone noticing?” Anica asked a little cynically. “Maybe he shouldn’t.”

“No way, I’ve gone an entire week without seeing him, I can’t go eight weeks… he will figure it out, he has my best interests at heart.”

“He’s a nice guy… I’ll give him that.”

“What!” Kaito exclaimed, “you’ve met him too?” Anica just laughed at our starstruck brother. “Malania-chan when can I, your favourite brother meet Michael?”

As the words fell out of his mouth, I knew he realised he shouldn’t have said them.

I wasn’t going to let it dampen the mood though, “Well to be fair, you don’t have too much competition…” I joked. Both my sister and brother became a little quiet.

“Oh, lighten up…” I urged them, “yes he did some awful things, but I’m not going to spontaneously burst in to tears…. Not right now anyway.”

“Not the point,” Kaito replied, “I’m sorry, I didn’t choose my words correctly.”

I just shook my head. “Anyway, I’m sure Michael will be delighted to meet you… He’s keen to work hard to make sure everyone likes him, especially right now.”

“Yeah… how’s it all going for him?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, he is visiting me later tonight so I guess I’ll find out…”

At that, my parents returned. They asked for Anica to join them. She got up, picking up her daughter and taking them with her. They stood in the hall, closing my door so I couldn’t hear. The director who I’d only met on my admission was standing out there too.

“What’s going on?” I asked my brother.

He looked at me and shrugged. “Do you want to go for a walk? Must be kind of stuffy to sit in here all day long.”

“Okay…” the awkwardness between us from so long without contact didn’t go unnoticed.

I opened the door to my room and realised there was a heated debate happening. “What’s happening?” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing, Malania-chan,” My father said quickly. Everyone avoided eye contact. I’d clearly walked in to something.

“Are you all arguing about me?” I asked, shooting a glance to the director and then back at my mother. She was a hideous liar.

“No, Malania, nothing like that…” Anica promised me. She looked at Kaito expectantly.

“We’re going for a walk…” he told them, putting an arm around me and guiding me away without another word.

“Something is going on, what are you all keeping from me?” I asked him.

“Nothing, I promise, its nothing serious for you to worry about.” I realised no one was going to tell me anything. I sighed. “No one is sending me away to some ranch retreat or anything are they?” I asked with mock-seriousness as we travelled down a corridor to the outside doors.

We passed Peyton in the hallway who sneered at me. I pretended not to notice, but my big brother did. “Who is that?”

“Some idiot…” I murmured quietly.

It was beautiful and sunny outside. The facility was situated upon a beautiful block of lush green land that was landscaped to a fanatical degree. The shaded areas were long, white painted lattice pergolas with the most beautiful Jasmine vines threaded through the holes.

“Here, lets go sit down out here and have a chat,” Kaito directed me to the farthest pergola away from any patients and other visitors and down the cobblestone path to a white wicker outdoor setting.

If you’d arrived in that particular area of the facility, you’d have never known the place was full of crazies.

I picked a stem of Jasmine as the shade covered us and we both took seats. I could smell it’s scent before I pressed it close to my nostrils. I loved the smell of Jasmine.

“So, how’s this experience actually been, for real?” he asked me. I looked away from the flower and placed it upon the table top. I folded my arms and paid his question some attention. I found myself looking away from his almond-eyes just as quickly. I felt shy with my older brother, I wasn’t completely sure how to interact with him.

“Its been okay. Better than the hospital that’s for sure.”

“Are you okay here?” he asked, “I mean, bullshit aside, Malania, you can be honest, I’m not highly strung like Mom or Dad or Anica…”

“I’m okay here,” I nodded, “I know it’s the best place for me right now. I want to be better.”

“Is it true about Samuel?” he asked. He wasn’t a huge fan of Samuel. They had fought a lot and given that Kaito was easily a bigger build and older, he was never threatened by his younger brother. I had wished he’d been around to stick up for me when Samuel was hurting me.

“Depends on the stories you’ve heard…”

“Anica told me that he…” his voice trailed off. I felt instant frustration with my sister. It wasn’t her secret to share.

“How nice of Anica to share that with you without keeping it to herself like she promised me.”

“Malania-chan, I deserved to know as well.”

The old feelings began to dredge themselves up. My anger began to rise and I became agitated again. I remembered Michael’s advice to never feel guilty for that anger.

Michael had always been such a warm source of advice even when he didn’t realise it. I remembered back to a time that I was in Germany. It was the only time I ever saw him without Beth. The concert had been amazing and I spoke to him after the show.

“Where’s your friend?” he asked me kindly.

“Oh,” I replied feeling slightly put out that he cared more for her than me. Or at least it seemed. “She couldn’t come, she had mid terms.”

“You’re alone?” he wanted to know, taking my hand and walking along side me in that chivalrous way that he always did. His minders were used to seeing me and I did happen to notice the presence of that woman and her child that he seemed to momentarily forget about. They walked ahead, stopping momentarily to turn, making sure he was still following.

“Yeah, but its fine. When you go to Brussels, I’m going to do some sightseeing and Beth will join me in Copenhagen,” I explained.

He smiled, “Be safe okay?” he advised me, “don’t stay out too late on your own. Do you need some money for a cab to get back to your hotel?”

I almost laughed at his sweetness, “No, Michael, I can walk…”

“No,” he said quickly, “a gorgeous young woman can’t be left alone to walk in a foreign city,” he said seriously, not even trying to flirt with me, but I couldn’t help that my face flushed. “I’ll get you some money for a cab.” Before I had the chance to respond, he called out to his manager, Frank.

“Frank, give me some cash!” he demanded as if it were nothing.

“Michael, no.” I said firmly, “I have money, its fine, I promise.”

He stopped and stared in to my eyes for a moment. “Promise me that you’ll catch a cab?”

“I promise.” I said again.

“Okay, don’t talk to anyone you don’t know, I mean it,” he added, not waiting for me to say I wouldn’t. “If I were you, I’d make sure I don’t go out after about 8pm, just to keep safe. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

I just laughed, “thank you, but I’ll be okay. Have a good relax after your show.”

I knew that his crew were waiting on him impatiently. I knew when to wind things up so as not to feel embarrassed by his sometimes cruel staff.

“I’ll look forward to seeing you soon,” he smiled. He obliged me with a hug and let me kiss his cheek. He waited for me to leave the corridor and find my way back out. I was pretty crafty at getting past the fans who waited at the stage door. Beth and I had worked out that a diversion was created at that stage door so that everyone waited there and then he left by a fire exit that wasn’t manned until the concert was over. Beth and I always let ourselves in and kept ourselves looking busy so as we weren’t questioned by on site security.

It had worked every single time.

“Malania?” Kaito woke me up from my daydream.

“Kaito, what do you want me to say?” I asked him, “oh hey Kaito how’s life in London, did I mention that your baby brother had a small issue with controlling his sexual urges around me?” I snapped with irate.

He looked a little hurt. It was a different reaction to everyone else in my family. He wasn’t quick to jump to excuse his behaviour and it was refreshing.

“I should have been there for you,” he replied, “if you are mad at us, I understand.”

It was probably the most comforting thing any single member of my family had said to me since admitting everything. My sister the control freak had been understanding and loving, but she didn’t at any point tell me she would have protected me.

“I am mad, Kaito,” I told him, feeling the tears welling up, “I am so, so, angry and it might not be valid and it might not be fair but I can’t help it…. And then,” I breathed, “I feel so guilty for blaming others for what happened to me, when maybe I could have done more to stop him.”

“You couldn’t have stopped him. Maybe Anica couldn’t have stopped him either, but I could have, Dad and Mama could have… and I’m angry with them too, I’m angry with me.”

“You weren’t even there…” my voice trailed off.

“Exactly,” he replied quietly, “I should have been there for my baby sister. I shouldn’t have been so quick to run away from everyone.”

“To be fair, why do you think I started chasing after a popstar?” I asked him.

“Because it gave you focus and took your mind off what happened to you. I get it, honey, I totally do.”

“Why did you want to run away so badly?” I asked him.

He looked at his own hands and shrugged. “I guess I couldn’t watch Mama and Dad carry on this bullshit happy family charade. Samuel ruled their world. He caused me trouble in every single avenue and it was always my fault…”

Maybe my brother and I had more in common. “What made me move to London was what happened to Luke and … what happened with you. It scared me so I blocked it out and did what every other immature 24 year old does, I took a job abroad.”

“What made you come back to California this time around? Work?”

“You…” he replied honestly. “After I found out what happened recently with you and your second suicide attempt, I knew I needed to come home and be with my family… it just took awhile to tie up all my loose ends with work.”

“Wait, so you’re back in California for good? Because of me?”

“Yes…” he said with a nod, “and I’m sorry Malania, I’m sorry about everything that Samuel did to you but most of all,” he told me, grabbing my hand bravely, “I am so, so, sorry that I didn’t protect you and that I wasn’t around enough when you needed me the most.”

I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks as I looked in to my brother’s unusual eyes. He hadn’t changed much in all the years he’d been gone. He was still handsome as all-get out and muscular and way too tall to be entirely Asian. He had soft features like my father and gave me a little smile to show his sincerity.

“Will you visit me often?” I asked him.

He nodded, “I promise. I’ll come every day if you want.”

I wiped my eyes. “I am just tired of feeling alone,” I admitted to him.

“Me too,” he replied, “you know what? When you leave here, if you want to, you can come and live with me. I arrived two days ago, I’m staying with Mom and Dad til I find somewhere, but when I do, I will make sure there’s enough space for you—I want to make up for what I lost out on with my little sisters.”

I couldn’t place it, but I felt understood and comforted by his words. I hoped that he meant them all.

“Anica told me I could move in with her…”

He chuckled, “Danijela is beautiful and Anica is a sweetheart, but she’s a control freak, how long do you think it will last before you want to kill her, or worse, before she kills you?”

I laughed through the last of my tears. “The reaping of havoc from one family member is enough for now…”

“I think you need to get out of Mom and Dads place. I love them both with all of my heart, Malania, please believe me, but I think you need to be independent of them. So think about my offer. I’m not going to Lord over your life, you don’t need to answer to me ever, but I will make sure you’re protected.”

A small smile filled my lips. “You’re just hopeful you can hone in on Michael’s visits to me.”

Kaito laughed deeply, a big tension relieving laugh. “Well, you know… it goes without saying. My man crush on the king of pop will reign.”

It felt nice to laugh with my brother and I looked forward to getting to know him all over again as an adult.