Happy Endings

23. eventually

"The faster I run from the problem, the harder I fall."

☼

Two days later things were mostly back to normal. Kellin was still a little shaken by his outburst at work, but he dealt with it by distracting himself with even more work. He wanted to clean up his image at the agency. Not with anyone in particular, no one knew exactly what happened at the meeting with Trenton and he was sure Louisa wasn't going to go around telling people how she messed up and got a call-out too, but still.

He ended up having a chat with Lynn too, at the office's kitchen while they had some coffee and vegan donuts Kellin bought for her. He felt bad she got dragged into his mess too but she assured him time and time again that Trenton didn't call her for a meeting about it or anything. She didn't seem worried at all which was something Kellin didn't know much about.

Either way, he felt the need to apologize and that's what he did. Lynn laughed and patted his back in a friendly manner.

"You're one of the good ones, Kello," she said before leaving.

He supposed that was that.

Later that afternoon, he went to pick up his daughter from preschool like usual. He was hoping to see Vic for a little bit, but he wasn't around. He hadn't had the chance to tell him about what happened yet and he was hoping he could do it in person. Oh well, it would have to wait for another time.

Penny was chatting aimlessly about what they were up to in classes while they headed for their car. It wasn't that far and Kellin was smiling the whole time he heard his kid talk and talk about colors and the alphabet. That is until he noticed he had his shoelaces untied. And he found out by almost tripping over them, almost falling on his face in the process.

He cursed to himself in his head and laughed at the scare he got. Penny was yelling if he was okay and he quickly assured her that he was. She started giggling too once she saw his reaction.

"Do you want to learn how to tie a shoe, Monkey?" Kellin asked, getting down on one knee and taking the laces in his hand.

The child nodded eagerly, she probably didn't know what it meant but she was down to learn anything and everything all the time. So Kellin started explaining how to grab the laces, pulling them and crossing them until he got the two perfect bunny ears on his shoe. Penny was looking in awe at the entire process and Kellin knew she didn't exactly learn how to do it, and that would have to wait for another moment later on in the future.

And he was telling her just that when suddenly a shadow blocked the sun above them. Someone was standing beside them now and Kellin frowned, but it died down once he looked up and realized it was Victor Fuentes smiling down at them. The rays of sunlight behind him made him look like he was glowing, or something, and his smile was somehow brighter.

Kelin stood back up before he could keep thinking more and offered a quick greeting.

"Hey! I thought I wouldn't catch you," Vic said in his usual cheerful manner. "I sneaked out from Ms. Juniper for a second, but I wanted to tell you something."

"Oh? What is it?" Kellin's curiosity couldn't help asking right away.

"Do you have a secret Mr. Vic?" Penny asked too, making them laugh.

"Well," Vic smiled at Penny and then looked back at Kellin. "I've been getting some interesting emails since yesterday. From your boss."

"What?" Kellin's eyes popped open without meaning too. Out of everything he could've expected, that wasn't one of them.