Chapter 77

Opening his eyes, Kazimir turns to his bedroom window, the bright rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains.

"10 in the morning already?"

Sliding out of bed, the young man walks into the bathroom to wash up, before putting on some casual clothing.

He heads downstairs and opens the refrigerator, grabbing an apple and a banana. Rolling up his sleeves, he washes the apple off and begins to chop both fruits up. Pouring it into Heggy's bowl, Kazimir places it in the small animal's cage.

"There you are. Eat up."

Smiling down at the little hedgehog, Kazimir grabs his keys and heads out of the house towards his car.

*BEEP! BEEP!*

Looking up at the sound of a horn, Kazimir watches as his cousin speeds into the driveway.

"Wassup, Kashi?! You said you were free today, so where we going?!"

"I don't know where you're going, but I have to run a few errands before anything else."

"Like what?"

"Shopping."

Chris raises a brow.

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Then what're you shopping for?"

"New clothes."

"You don't look like you've gained any weight to me."

Kazimir shrugs and gets into his car, starting it up.

"Why don't we race to the mall like yesterday?"

"Already on it!" Chris replies, quickly backing out of the driveway.

Following his cousin, Kazimir speeds down the road, eventually catching up to Chris.

*ZOOM!*

Watching as a car quickly overtakes the turn into the entrance of the shopping mall, the two cousins quickly park, before getting out of their cars.

"Why do you two drive so slow?" Pierre asks, stepping out of his car.

"What the fuck are you following me here for?" Kazimir angrily asks, walking over to him. "Your dumbass almost ran me off the fucking road."

"Sorry to hear that." Pierre says, walking forward. "But I'm not following you, I have four days off and I'm using the first one to pick up some gifts for Celeste and Aria."

"You gotta nice ZL1, man." Chris says, looking back at Pierre's car.

"I appreciate that." Pierre replies as he looks over at Chris's car. "How much tint did you put on your windows? I can barely even see inside."

"5%. Gotta be one of the best things I ever bought for her."

Kazimir takes a breath of relief, watching as both Chris and Pierre walk ahead of him.

Entering the shopping mall, the young man heads into a clothing store and walks to the "men's" clothing section.

"Pants, pants. There they are."

Searching through the rack of pants, Kazimir stumbles upon a girl whispering to herself and mentally chuckles.

"Hello." the young woman says, walking over to him.

"Hi." Kazimir replies, turning to her. "Something I can help you with?"

"Oh no! I just thought you were really cute and I was going to ask you if it was alright if I sent this picture I took of you to my best friend. She and I have been hoping to find attractive boys and you're literally what I've dreamed of in a boyfriend. Well, as far as the looks department go."

Kazimir chuckles and shakes his head.

"No, I don't mind. What's your name?"

"It's Lavender." she replies, smiling.

"Beautiful name. Fits you very well."

"Thank you." Lavender says, shyly looking down. "Um, so how old are you?"

"19." Kazimir replies. "I'll be 20 in November."

"I'm 18 as of now, but my birthday's next month! You know, we should hang out some more. You and I seem to have a lot in common."

Kazimir smiles and turns to the side.

"Thanks for the offer, Lavender, but I'm not really looking for any romantic things right now. I'm just kinda busy."

"Oh, I understand." Lavender says, putting her phone in her purse. "My older brother just joined the Claiza City Police and Special Forces Department. He's going to be a detective. My family and I just moved here from New York a few weeks ago to make sure he stays focused."

"So, you're going to college here?" Kazimir asks, scanning through the clothes.

"Yes, I'm a business major. I really wanna start my own restaurant."

"Then I wish you good luck. Hey, maybe we'll see each other around."

"I hope so!" Lavender excitedly says. "See you!"

Kazimir waves, before looking down at a pair of pants in his hands.

"Girls."

After trying on a few pairs of pants, the young detective checks out and exits the store. He decides to walk around some more, eventually stumbling across a shop that sold stuffed animals.

Entering the small store, he picks up a teddy bear that wore a puffy dress and chuckles.

"This one matches her personality all too well."

Waiting in line to purchase the stuffed animal, Kazimir feels something bump into his leg.

Looking down, he smiles down at a little girl who smiled back up at him.

"Hello!" the little girl says, waving up at him.

"Hey." Kazimir replies, waving down at her.

"I'm Miracle. My mommy said she gave me that name because when I was in her tummy she got into a really bad car accident. She said she was happy to know that I was still going to be born!"

"I'm glad you made it. Planet earth could really use more adorable rays of sunlight like you."

"You really think I'm adorable?!" Miracle asks, jumping up and down.

Kazimir lightly smiles.

"Of course. Who wouldn't agree?"

"Some of the kids in my class. They say my skin is too dark and that it looks stupid."

Frowning, Kazimir squats down to the little girl's height.

"They're saying that because deep down inside, they have something that they want to change about themselves but can't."

"What do you think it is?" Miracle asks, tracing her finger on Kazimir's hand.

"Who knows? Maybe they're jealous of you being the most adorable little one in the class. Now, where's your mommy and daddy? I want to make sure you get back to them safely."

"I don't know." Miracle says, shrugging. "I ran in here when mommy couldn't see me! I saw a teddy bear that I wanted!"

"Oh boy." Kazimir whispers, looking around the store. "Uh, what does the teddy bear look like?"

Pulling the young man over to a section of the store, Miracle picks up a large teddy bear that she could barely hold.

"It's cute, Miracle. Really cute."

Taking it from her, Kazimir walks back in line and Miracle follows him.

"If I buy this for you, you have to promise me that you won't leave your mother's sight ever again."

"I promise, I promise!" Miracle says, spinning around.

Walking up to the cashier, Kazimir places both stuffed animals on the counter.

"Would you like a custom name embroidery? It only takes a few minutes."

"Sure." Kazimir says with a shrug. "I'd like the name Miracle to go on this one and the name Khristina with a "Kh" on the other."

The cashier nods and takes the stuffed animals to the back.

"Do you have a lot of money, Mr.?" Miracle asks, peeking over the counter.

"Nope, I'm as broke as they come."

"My mommy helps people divorce. She helped her and daddy divorce. She gets a lot of money!"

"Miracle, I don't think your mother would like that to be known." Kazimir replies, chuckling.

"But everyone knows about where she works! My daddy has his own business in the States. He owns a music company!"

"You'd think he let me record a song one day?" the young detective asks.

Miracle laughs and nods.

"Yeah! He lets me record songs!"

"Okay, sir. Here are your finished products."

The cashier places the stuffed animals on the counter and Kazimir swipes his debit card through the card reader.

"Could I get a gift bag for the smaller bear?"

"Of course." the cashier replies as she walks off.

"It's in red! My favorite color!" Miracle says, hugging the large stuffed bear. "Thank you, um...

"My name's Kazimir."

"Thank you, Kazimir! You're a really nice man!"

"Here you are, sir." the cashier says, placing the smaller bear in the bag.

Taking the bag from the woman, the young man waves.

"Thanks."

Walking out of the store, Kazimir and Miracle take a seat on a bench.

"We'll wait here for a couple of minutes to see if your mommy shows up."

"But what if she doesn't?" Miracle asks, hugging her teddy bear.

"Then we'll find her. Do you know her phone number?"

"Yeah! It's 888-9375!"

"Oh, wow. You're really smart. Not too many kids know their parents' phone number."

The little girl smiles and nods.

"Mommy said it was good to know in case I ever got lost."

Swinging her legs, Miracle watches as Kazimir talks on the phone.

"Alright, Miracle. Your mommy said she's on her way."

"Yay! I was getting scared 'cause I didn't think she'd come back for me! Can we get a donut?"

Kazimir watches as Miracle points to a donut shop and shrugs.

"Of course."

Walking into the shop, Kazimir places an order of half a dozen of donuts.

"I wanna hold the box!" Miracle yells, as the two make their way back over to the bench.

"But you're holding your teddy bear."

"Then you can hold Stuffy!"

Taking Miracle's teddy bear, Kazimir hands her the box of donuts.

"There's three for you and three for your mother."

"Kazimir?"

"Yes, Miracle?"

"What's your job?"

"I work as a detective."

"Oh! My mommy said she needs a detective to find her missing car!" Miracle says, bouncing up and down.

"Missing car?"

"Yeah! It went missing like two days ago! And since she needs one for her work, she got a new one last night!"

"Miracle!"

Looking up, Kazimir watches as a woman in heels runs over to him and Miracle.

"Miracle, you should've let me know that you wanted to go here!"

"But you seemed like you were in a hurry, mommy! Sorry!"

"It's okay, girl. Just tell me next time, alright?"

"Alright! Guess what?! Kazimir bought me this stuffed bear and these donuts!"

"Goodness, Miracle." the woman says, sighing. "Sir, I'm deeply sorry if my little girl caused you all of this trouble. I'll pay you back, may I have your billing address?"

"Oh, it's perfectly fine, miss." Kazimir replies, shaking his hands. "Your daughter told me about your missing car and I'd like to help you find it. I'm a detective for the Claiza City Police and Special Forces Department."

"Did she?" Miracle's mother rhetorically asks, smiling. "I didn't have time to report it since I've been busy with work. It's a 2020 silver Mercedes AMG GT. It's a four door and the license plate is STR550."

Entering the information onto his phone's notepad, Kazimir nods.

"Okay. I'll call you once we find something out."

"Thank you, Mr...?"

"My last name's Cizetto."

"Thank you, Mr. Cizetto. I'm Nyelle Richards. I'd also like to thank you for watching my Miracle."

"Yeah, it wasn't a problem. I better get going; see you next time, Miracle."

"Bye bye, Kazimir!" Miracle says, waving. "Mommy, can Kazimir be my new daddy here in Claiza City?"

Laughing, Mrs. Richards shakes her head.

"Honey, Kazimir looks a little too young for me. Come on, we have more shopping to do."