Her Safe Haven

Chapter 19 - Crisis Part II: Resolutions?

WARNING: Some swearings ahead. Her Safe Haven is largely PG-13 but with some inevitable NC-16 contents (considering my age and the characters' age), so viewers discretion is advised.

Previously on Her Safe Haven: The fake news of Rohan and Winter's engagement went viral on Coffee Break and had affected both Rohan and Winter's social lives gravely, especially after Winter found out that Rohan's family was still relatives to the British monarchy. To solve the crisis, Jacob slept with Rachel Turner, the perpetrator of the hoax, and had successfully convinced her to refute the news. However, Rohan was worried about how Winter felt about the entire crisis, and Lennox had decided on a "brilliant idea" to solve Rohan's worry.

"Seriously, Lennox, this is your brilliant idea?"

Lennox grinned and winked at Jake from the passenger seat, then reached out to ruffle his hair. "Don't you worry, Jake! I've got it all planned in my head!"

And really, all Rohan could think about at that moment as he sat on the front seat of Jake's BMW was, 'How in the world did I get caught up in all of this?'

Apparently, Lennox's definition of a "brilliant idea" involved the three of them making a two hours road trip down to Lakeside to clear out the misunderstanding with Winter and her friends once and for all. Ignoring a small part of him that initially thought of a similar plan (but thought that it could wait until he actually meet Winter at the hospital that weekend instead of making a road trip at four p.m. in the middle of a Tuesday), he was convinced that this could turn up to be indeed a brilliant idea, or a really disastrous one.

And judging from his luck, he would bet all his money that it would be the latter.

On Winter's part, things got a little bit better after the article was pronounced fake: the gossips at school noticeably started to die down, her friends stopped fussing about her so much, and she was glad to finally be able to walk through the hallways of Lakeside High without feeling like there was a shooting target behind her head. However, though this was definitely a big improvement compared to how the situation was when the news first got out, it still didn't stop the secret stares she received in class, or the not-so-subtle whispers some girls still gave her. It troubled her; and it troubled her even more that now, her and Rohan's interactions — if they were still going to have their normal interactions after all these catastrophic conundrums — will be under increased public scrutiny, and any wrong move might just land them another headline on another online magazine.

Needless to say, she was not exactly happy about the entire thing.

Lennox had texted Seth to inform him that the Garrisons were coming, and as soon as she did, Seth reserved a table at McLean's to hold the venue for their discussion. By the time the Garrison siblings arrived, he, Jonah, Rose, Tria, and Winter were there to greet them.

"Seth, Jonah, Rose, Winter, and uh..."

"Tria," Tria offered.

"Tria. Sorry for the wait," Lennox greeted as the Garrisons arrived at their reserved table at McLean's.

"Hey, no problem! Thanks for coming down!" Jonah grinned and gave them a brief hug.

The mood wasn't exactly pleasant that evening, because even though the fake news had been taken down, it had undeniably caused some unnecessary problems on both sides. It was awkward for both parties to breach the subject at first, but as unbelievable as it was, Rohan was glad that Jacob was there to explain to the Lakeside representatives about what had been going on at Dews: about Rachel Turner, how she had started a rumour featuring Rohan and Winter since as early as a few weeks ago* even before the hoax was published, how she had then used her position as the daughter of Coffee Break to publish the news, and finally, how Jake had managed to make an... agreement (though the nature of the agreement was irrelevant and its disclosure was unnecessary, Rohan decided) with Turner that culminated the strings of events in the revocation of the article altogether.