Asanti stops mid conversation, turning on Kenna faster than an eagle. "I don't like kicking a horse when it's down but that was your karma."
"My karma? What did I do?"
"Ever since you found out that we happen to be related, you've been icing me out. I literally had to corner you in your own home just to get you to talk to me."
Kenna initially opens her mouth to defend herself but can't because she knows that's exactly what she's been doing.
She sighs, soothing her temple. "I'm sorry, really, its just...a lot."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"So what do you want to do next?" Kenna asks, offering to sort up some sort of reunion.
Asanti immediately protest however, shutting down the idea before it can even properly form in their minds. "We do nothing. Its over."
"Wait, nothing?" Amara interjects, feeling just as perplexed as Kenna.
Asanti takes a sip from his tea-cup, wanting to move on with the conversation. "Yep. This is the end of the treasure hunt.
"There's not even a tiny bit of you that wants to meet him?" Kenna inquires, squinting her round eyes. "You don't want to get to know the other side of your family?"
Asanti shrugs his shoulders, having spent the entire manhunt focusing on not having high expectations. "Don't take it personal, I only went looking for him once my mother went into rehab. I was scared I'd be the last of a bloodline and would have to consider donating to a sperm bank."
Amara laughs into her tea-cup. "You're so stupid."
"Look, Kenna, I didn't do all of this to try and ruin a family. I was just curious, and now that itch has been scratched, so I'm fine." he states, adjusting his denim jacket around his arms.
"Its not going to ruin my family."
Asante chuckles quietly at Kenna's words. "Look at the way you reacted."
Amara slurps her peppermint tea loudly but before Kenna can apologise for a second time, Riley suddenly burst through the front door, speaking at one hundred miles per hour.
"Kenna I just witnessed the worst family diner I've ever been to, oh, you guys are here too, great, now I have more people I can soundboards off."
Asanti spins in his seat like a super villain making their grand reveal, practically stroking an evil kitten laying in his lap as soon as Riley is done kicking her shoes off. "Now this seems interesting, spill the tea."
Riley gives the three a quick rundown of the events that went down, eventually getting to the juggernaut that Richard laid out to her.
She sits in the most comfortable spot in their tiny kitchen, the corner countertop, looking down at her friends who look just as shocked as she must have, eating every word out her mouth as if god sent.
"So let me get this straight, no pun intended, but Lain's mother sent him to a conversion camp because she thought he had feelings for Arlo? The same Arlo I watched pummel Lain's face in like yesterday?" Asanti asks, still trying to connect the dots with large gaps of context missing.
"Yeah, I'm still lost too." Amara voices.
"So was I. So I asked Lain-"
"-you asked the traumatised straight if he's secretly an even more traumatised bisexual?" Asanti asks, feeling dumfounded by the entire ordeal. "Riley Mitchell, please tell me you didn't."
"I'd rather hear the truth from him than listening to more Chinese whispers and gossip." she argues, pushing back on the judgement being directed at her.
"And what you mean by that is you just wanted to figure out if the guy you're interest in could potentially be a little gay." Kenna remarks.
Riley interlocks her fingers behind her head, pulling down on her neck. "Maybe...but wouldn't you want to know?"
"I know I would." Amara replies.
"And?" Asanti queries. "What did he say?"
Riley closes her eyes, not meaning to exhale as loudly as she does, as she thinks back to the conversation she had only a few moments ago. "He said there were some feelings on his side-"
"Wow."
"Okay."
"-but that he's not attracted to guys. He only ever felt that way about Arlo because they were super close."
Asanti hums knowingly. "Well of course he only ever felt that way with Arlo, his mother shocked the queer right out of him."
Kenna slaps Asanti over the head, finding his words to be in poor taste. "That's not funny."
"And I'm not joking." he replies, scowling as he rubs the back of his head. "And I know, time out, but like how old are we, five?"
Amara walks to the sink and washes up her tea-cup as well as Asanti's. "Do you think that's why Lain slept with Georgina?" she asks after pondering on the situation silently in her mind, thinking leaps ahead of the others.
"You guys know about that?" Riley looks back and forth between her friends, attempting to catch one of them out. "Was I the last to know?"
Kenna shrugs her shoulders. "We found out from Farah."
Riley furiously taps her forehead with the palm of her hand. "The hole was Lance, of course, why didn't I think of that?"
"Probably, most definitely, because you're bad at the game girl." Asanti offers, setting her up to be served on a silver platter.
"And what game would that be?"
"The game of life, what else?"