Kai

Fiction author || Flowing through the chaos.

[Kai @Only1kai]

My ex-husband and I split two years ago after he had an emotional affair that turned physical with his 28-year-old coworker. We have a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. The divorce was ugly but we settled on 50/50 custody and tried to keep things civil for the kids. I even bit my tongue when he moved her in six months after we signed the papers……

[21 Cents @21wontmiss]

As a man, if you get a chance, marry that rich lady too.

[Kai @Only1kai]

@bees1634 Wicker Park, Minneapolis, MN

[Kai @Only1kai]

I was at my usual coffee shop last week, the one I go to almost every morning before work. There’s this barista, Mia, who’s been there for years. She’s always super chatty with the regulars, laughing and remembering orders. But for the past few months, she’s been giving me these short, almost cold responses. Just “Here you go” and a quick nod. I started thinking maybe I did something to annoy her without realizing it….

[Kai @Only1kai]

@itsnwts “…Nearly detained”

[Kai @Only1kai]

@giftty_k I was like “wtf… whet does men have to do with this shit? Like why drag all men into it?” 😆

[Kai @Only1kai]

A couple behind me overheard and jumped in, one guy calling her a “walking red flag” and the other defending her like it was some gender war debate. Next thing I know, the manager’s breaking it up, Mia’s in tears, and two Karens at the next table start filming everything on their phones, yelling about “toxic masculinity” and “employee abuse.”

The shouting got so loud that someone called the cops. Ten minutes later, two officers walk in, hands on their belts, asking what the hell is going on. Mia points at me saying I “triggered her trauma,” the guy who called her a red flag starts arguing with the cops about free speech, and one of the Karens claims the whole thing is a hate crime against women. I’m just standing there with my lukewarm latte, trying to explain I was literally just checking if she was okay.

The cops end up separating everyone, taking statements, and nearly detaining the loudest dude for “disorderly conduct.” The shop’s half-empty by the time they leave, Mia’s sent home, and now there’s a viral TikTok with my back in the background titled “Coffee shop meltdown exposes everything wrong with men.”

[Kai @Only1kai]

One day, I finally asked, half-joking, “Hey, did I offend you or something? You seem off with me lately.” She looked surprised, then a bit embarrassed. Turns out, she has pretty severe social anxiety that flares up in the mornings.

The shop gets busy, and she uses all her energy to keep it together for customers. She wasn’t mad at me at all, she just didn’t have the bandwidth for small talk some days. She’d been forcing smiles with everyone else but felt safe enough with the “quiet regular” (me) to drop the act a little.

I felt like such an idiot for assuming the worst. We’ve chatted more since then, and she’s even shared a few tips on managing anxiety. But then it got weird. She leaned in and started going off about how “men like you” are the reason women burn out, always expecting smiles and energy while hiding their own issues, and that the whole mental health awareness thing is just corporate BS to keep people productive.

[Lyn🦋 @_ayandamay]

Apple, there has to be a better way to put an app into a folder than dragging it around while the folder dodges like it's in a full-on dogfight… 😭

[Kai @Only1kai]

@ukanadah1 Amen 🙏

[Kai @Only1kai]

My father passed away in the summer of 2023 after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 64, a quiet engineer who spent most of his life working for the same manufacturing company in the Midwest. I was the only one living close enough to help day-to-day. My older brother was building his career in Seattle, my sister was raising her kids in Denver, and they both had demanding lives…..

[Kai @Only1kai]

@lipeter775 Exactly… Respect to the real ones who always stay.

[Roland @rolandgavince]

A woman will cry at midnight, wipe her face by morning, make breakfast for everyone, show up to work on time, hold somebody else together, answer every call, solve every problem, and still ask herself if she is doing enough.
The strength of a woman is not celebrated loudly enough.
Because she rarely lets you see the cost of it.

[Kai @Only1kai]

@tfbvngz How?

[Kai @Only1kai]

I spoke to my mom privately. She was exhausted and grieving, but she agreed. We used the money carefully: paid off all remaining medical debts, finished the home modifications Dad had always wanted, bought a smaller rental property nearby for steady income, and invested the rest conservatively so Mom would never have to worry about bills again. For the first time in years, she had security and breathing room.

It stayed quiet for almost eighteen months.

Then, last month, my brother was helping Mom update some old financial paperwork and came across a stray statement. Everything exploded. Group texts, accusatory calls at 2 a.m., even a family Zoom where they demanded I “account for every dollar of Dad’s money.” My sister posted vague but pointed things on Facebook about betrayal and “certain family members who think they’re entitled.” They’re now talking to lawyers and suggesting we “do the right thing and divide it properly.”

I’m exhausted. Yes, I kept it secret. But I also know exactly where that money would have gone that somehow never quite materialized when Dad was the one who needed help. Instead, Mom has stability. The rental covers her expenses. There’s something real left from Dad’s quiet, careful life.

I don’t know how this ends, but I sleep better knowing I protected what he worked for.

[Kai @Only1kai]

They’d call on weekends, send flowers, and transfer a few hundred dollars here and there when things got critical. But the endless doctor visits, chemotherapy runs, late-night emergency room trips, and the mountain of uncovered medical bills was all on me. I burned through my savings, took unpaid leave from my marketing job, and even refinanced my condo just to keep him comfortable at home in his final months.

After the funeral, while sorting through his home office, I found a folder he’d kept hidden. Years earlier, Dad had invested in a small tech startup founded by a former colleague. It wasn’t much at the time, just $80,000 he’d quietly put in from an inheritance and some stock options. He never told the family because he didn’t want pressure or opinions. The company had grown quietly and was acquired in early 2024. The payout sitting in that brokerage account was just over $1.4 million.

I sat on the floor of his study for a long time, staring at the statements. Part of me wanted to call my siblings immediately and split everything three ways. Then I remembered the nights I begged them for help with his pain medication copays, the silence when I asked if anyone could fly in for a week so I could rest, and the way they’d talk about “Dad’s house” like it was already an asset to divide. So I didn’t say a word.

[Kai @Only1kai]

@profpheonix And everyone does want a normal one too

[Kai @Only1kai]

I’m 34 now, and for most of my life I thought my mother was the victim of a cruel world. She raised me and my two sisters alone after Dad ‘abandoned’ us when I was 10. She worked doubles at the hospital, came home exhausted, and still made sure we had homemade meals and ballet lessons. She cried on our birthdays about how much she missed him but God had a plan.

We hated him. We tore up his letters unopened. We told teachers and friends he was a deadbeat who chose drugs over his kids. Mom never corrected us. She just hugged us tighter.

[Kai @Only1kai]

@Ahmerd_yaroo Koh kuma ta bada DPO dinta a bata ba 😂💔

[Kai @Only1kai]

@jaynemuse So many of us grew up with one parent’s version of the story and lost years hating the wrong person. And yeah…. Time with dad is everything now.

[Kai @Only1kai]

Unpopular opinion: It’s better to marry for financial stability than for love.

[Kai @Only1kai]

@Renn_on_twtt She wrecked the home and poisoned us against Dad for years. No sugarcoating that. Forgiving her doesn’t erase what she did, but thanks anyway.