Chapter 1 - NOT TONIGHT
KIA
Kai Kingston woke up with a strange heaviness he couldn’t explain at first. The girl beside him was gone. At first, he didn’t move,just stared at the ceiling, trying to piece the night together. Then he noticed it. His watch was missing. The cash he kept aside was gone too. That was when it fully sank in. She hadn’t just left. She had taken something with her.
By the time he got to training, he was already late.
Coach didn’t shout immediately. He just looked at him for a moment, disappointed more than angry. “Kai,” he said, “you’ve been one of my best players. Don’t start today on the wrong foot. Go out there and make me proud.”
Kai nodded once. “Sorry, Coach.”
That was all he said before joining the team.
The match started strong. Kai played like himself again—focused, sharp, in control. They were leading, and everything felt like it was going according to plan. For most of the game, it looked like they had it.
Until ten minutes before the final whistle.
One of their best players went down hard after a challenge. The stadium went quiet for a moment before panic spread. The injury changed everything. The rhythm broke, the pressure shifted, and within minutes, the game slipped out of their hands.
They lost.
Badly.
Kai didn’t say much after the final whistle. He just stood there for a moment, breathing hard, watching the field like he was trying to understand where it went wrong.
That night, he still went to the party.
It was loud, crowded, and full of people pretending the loss didn’t matter. His teammates were there, including Kane, his best friend, already comfortable in the middle of everything with his girlfriend beside him.
Kai stayed a little apart.
Not because he wanted attention, but because he didn’t feel like talking.
Kane noticed him anyway and smirked. “Kai, you really think life is just about doing whatever you want? You need to calm down with all of this.”
A few of the guys laughed.
Kai didn’t react much. He just leaned back slightly, staring at the drink in his hand.
“You can’t trust people like that,” he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.
Kane shook his head. “Until you find one person who truly catches your attention, you’ll just keep living like this. Or are you planning to wait until your hair turns gray?”
The joke got laughter again, but Kai didn’t join in. The words stayed with him longer than they should’ve.
Find one that catches your eye.
Later, he left the noise and went to the bar section just to breathe properly. That was when he saw her.
The waitress.
Nothing dramatic about her. She was just doing her job, moving between tables, serving drinks like she had done it a hundred times before. But Kai noticed her anyway. Not because she was trying to be noticed, but because she wasn’t.
When she came to his table and placed his drink down, their eyes met briefly.
Just a moment.
Nothing said.
Nothing obvious.
But something shifted anyway.
She walked away like it meant nothing.
Kai watched her go.
And for some reason he didn’t understand yet, that bothered him more than anything else that had happened that day.
