Kami's sudden question made Key hand stop typing Kami's pseudonym on the laptop.
She knew that Kami was probably just curious or she probably just wanted to help her reflect but the question of her sincerity made her stop.
[What do you mean by that, love?] Kitten asked her in confusion, she was starting to read some files from her work on her PC, but Kami's sudden question took their attention
[Well, there are two kinds of apologies, Kitten-chan, one that is said out of repentance and one that is said out of need.] Kami said and Key placed all her attention on that
"What's the difference, Kami?" Key inquisitively asked her
[Hmm, the first one is when you apologize for the mistake you made, after you reflected on your actions, and realized where you were wrong. It's the kind of apology that is genuine and often leads to growth.] Kami said and smiled sweetly at Key
[The second one, however, is the one that is said out of need, is the one you say just because you know that you have to apologize, or just to clear something without really acknowledging or owning the mistake you made. Most of the time, we say this when we just to get it over with,] Kami said and the two went silent
[So, which one is it, Key-chan?] Kami asked her and Key couldn't answer
Kami's description of the two kinds of apologies affected Key, there was no denying that the apology she told the JLNC members falls under the second category, but she can't bring herself to admit it.
Admitting that she did make a mistake is one thing, but accepting the fact that her apology isn't as genuine as it should be when she had grown accustomed to her apologies being accepted even when it's half-made would be quite the challenge.
But, Key won't back down from that challenge, not after Kami asked her about it.
[Personally, the second kind of apology is more frequently used, when we don't want things to get more complicated and just apologize to stop the argument for example. That's alright, but sometimes, we also have to reflect and realize that we should also use the first one when we did make a mistake.] Kami said and they looked at her
[You used the second one a lot, huh,] Kitten said and Kami smiled
[Hmm, but when pride is higher than our rationality, we use neither and push the blame to something or someone else and when the realization comes crashing on us, we often start to beat ourselves,] Kami added, and her words affected both Key and Kitten making them both speechless
They suddenly heard a guy's voice from Kami's side, calling her and asking her if she's ready to leave.
They heard Kami replying; 'Just a moment!' before she faced them again
[You're going out on a date?] Kitten asked and Kami chuckled sweetly
[No, we're going to pick up Mama from the airport, she's coming home today!] Kami said excitedly
[Anyways, it's alright to sometimes make mistakes, we all make mistakes and that doesn't make us any less of a human, and what matters is that we learn something from it. I have to go now, I'll call you both next time. Aishiteru, bye-bye~] Kami said and waved her hands
[Bye, Kami-love,] Kitten said while waving her hands as well
"Bye, Kami-babe," Key said and Kami smiled at them before ending the call
[I'll be focusing on my work now, KC, take care of yourself.] Kitten said then her gaze became sharp
[Don't you dare think of pulling the same stunt you did a couple of millennia ago, I'm warning you, I won't let you off this time if you do, Colie.] Kitten warned her with her sharp gaze before ending the call
"I didn't lose another one of his reincarnations, Khali, I won't do that." Key thought to herself and started reflecting on Kami's words instead of reading her works
When she felt like her emotions are starting to shake again, she started reading Kami's works instead, and while reading a story about a couple who couldn't be together because of their difference in status.
Key felt like she was reading a familiar love story from the spectator's point of view, and when she realized why it felt so familiar, she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Sometimes, I feel like Kami is Fate herself…"
Key shook her head while chuckling to herself because of the sudden thought that crossed her mind when she saw how the story ended.
The main characters didn't end up together, even though they both became successful and had stable lives, they didn't end up together.
While reading, Key realized that although Kami expressed their regrets and the 'what ifs' that the two leads had, it emphasized the fact that love comes in all forms.
Key realized that Kami turned the lessons that she and Kitten had given her about love into books with lessons, as if she wrote the book as her reflection on their lessons, and reading it made Key reflect on the things that she thought she had known and understood.
The lessons came from her, but reflecting on herself, she was merely speaking out of the knowledge she had in her brain when they lectured Kamiela, but the words in the book sent ripples in her heart now.
She may be highly intelligent and may have a lot of collected knowledge from her millennia of existence but she lacked wisdom, the wisdom to have a deeper sense of understanding things.
She went down the stairs and headed to the kitchen after reading the book, she checked the fridge but to her dismay, there wasn't anything that she can cook.
The fridge is practically empty and thinking about it, for sure they will be receiving take-outs for dinner.
She headed to the living room and groaned out of boredom, just to make a noise because she really can't stand silence and because she can't do anything in the living room, she decided to just exercise.
She headed up to her room and took her wireless earphones before connecting it to her phone, after connecting it to her phone.
She played the first playlist that her finger pressed, she didn't know if it's the third or the fourth playlist, or if it's the fifth, she just pressed the shuffle, then she operated the treadmill and began running after putting her phone on the table in the living area.
The song was blasting from her earphones as Key ran on the treadmill, she was also humming alongside it because she knows that the team won't be back until after lunch, which is their usual routine, and it's only half past ten.
After several minutes of running on the treadmill, she placed the yoga mat on the floor and started doing planks and side planks without even resting.
"Fifty-five," Key counted breathily as she lowered her right waist to hit the mat then she raised it until her body formed a straight line again
She was done with her ninety 10-second planks and her seventy counts of left side plank.
She continued doing side planks with her right arm on the mat, and the right side of her waist hitting the mat carefully, and after she was done, she stood up and started doing jumping jacks.
She focused on the song playing from her earphones and waited until the song after is done playing before she stopped doing jumping jacks and decided to take a rest.
She opted to exercise because she felt like she has been very lazy the past few days and having her heart thumping and her head pumping revitalizes her.
She sat on her gaming chair and leaned on the backrest, and she looked up and stared at the ceiling for no apparent reason. She closed her eyes and focused her mind on listening to the song while breathing.
She took a deep breath through her nose for four seconds, and held her breath for four seconds, before exhaling through her lips for four seconds and holding her breath again for four seconds.
Her emotions were too rampant for her to be able to think clearly and for her to think of doing breathing techniques to calm down, but now that she's slowly getting a grasp and she can now hold her emotions to keep them steady, she did the breathing techniques for three minutes to completely calm herself down.
After calming down, she headed up to her room and brought her phone.
She charged her earphones and her phone before entering the bathroom and taking a shower, she stayed under the cold flowing water while leaning her forehead on the wall for quite a while.
She was reassessing her emotions with her eyes closed, she's reflecting on how she reacted to the external factors, on the consequences of her actions that she had already expected but didn't put enough thought to prepare for in advance.
"How sincere was your apology though, Key-chan?"
It was as if Kami's voice was ringing through Key's ears alongside the feeling of the water on her skin.
It wasn't sincere.
Key knows that but she has to fully accept that it wasn't, it was a lesson that Key needed to learn, she needed to learn to accept that she makes mistakes even when she's an immortal.