The next day, the cabin seemed to be very quiet. Only scarce footsteps would be heard along the hallways. Maribel was already up and was at the garden with Gonzales. Which is strange for her because he doesn't act like he's fond of her. They were exploring the trails within the forest and shared small talks which were mostly awkward. Suddenly, they bump into Glitterman who was shining a bright gold. That was until he saw Maribel. His skin color started to die into a navy blue. "Good morning." He greeted shyly with his head hung and his hands resting on his stomach. Maribel nodded awkwardly while Gonzales just stared him down as he took hold of the girl's shoulder. Glitterman gulped before saying: "What brings you two here?"
"I wanted to visit the garden, but Anne did not want me visiting by myself." He nodded just like Maribel did earlier and avoided eye-contact as much as possible. "Gonzales? Can I walk with Glitterman now?" She asked, looking up at his dark face and holding his hand that was on her shoulder. "I can't let that happen, Maribel. This guy's too clumsy."
"Please, Gonzales?"
He glared at the sparkling man, who's eyes were quite wide in surprise, and finally decided on letting her go. She walked up to him without looking back and kept walking with him beside her. They just advance through the tall and leafy trees, admiring the vivid green that they possess and the beautiful pink flowers which are their denizens. Not a single word was shared between them. Sometimes he would glance at her and she would glance at him. But that was just about it. Glitterman noticed a small bee hovering over one of the flowers and cautiously approached it. He lifted his finger near the bee and waited for it to sit there. Maribel curiously watched from afar wondering what he was doing. All she could see was his back and the trees around him. He turned around slowly and with a bit of a stumble he revealed a bee on his finger. She blinked and watched as he got closer to her. He fearfully pulled out her hand and flipped it up into the form of a cup and placed it in her palm. He let go of her hand and flashed a small smile. Getting an even brighter one in return. He looked over her shoulder and saw a familiar shadow. It was tall and slightly wide. "Oh no…" he whispered, his smile quickly becoming a frown. "Maribel, we must hide." With that he grabbed her arm, the bee flying away back to its leaf. He ran through the trees, pulling Maribel behind him. They hid behind bushes of pink roses, silently watching as the man slowly walked over the stoned trail. The tall man looked over to their direction, them quickly ducking their heads trying to hide even more from him. He huffed and kept walking along the trail.
"These people really tend to misunderstand." He thought.
"Why are we hiding from Jonathan? He looks very peaceful." Maribel whispered, glancing at Jonathan once in a while. "Because we must."
"That is not a very valid reason, G." She argued. His face which was cross quickly turned kinder. "She called me G again."
"Hey! Jonathan!" She greeted loudly, waving her arms to grab his attention. "Maribel, no!" He tried to keep as a whisper but he was too panicked. He tried tugging at her dress to make her stop but it didn't work. Jonathan whipped his head towards her and saw her wave and be tugged by her dress. He furrowed his eyebrows and legged towards her. "What's going on here?" He asked, pulling her up like a baby over the bushes and placing her back down. In the process he met with Glitterman's fear-filled eyes. Slightly shivering against those thorns. "What were you up to, huh?"
"Nothing." Glitterman quaked, quickly rising up from the ground and straightening himself up. "Then why were you tugging her dress?" Jonathan boomed, holding close Maribel under his arm. In that moment Gonzales came back to the garden and came across this. He widened his eyes and ran towards them. "I knew I shouldn't had let her go with this stupid guy." He whispered to himself. "What's going on here?" He nervously interrupted. "This pervert was trynna do some stuff behind those bushes with her." Explained Jonathan, still holding Maribel. "What?"
"That-that is not true, Gonzales. Right, Maribel?" He stuttered. Maribel couldn't speak, she wanted to defend him but was too afraid to argue with Jonathan. She just stared at his nervous eyes that could nearly shiver. "Hey, hey. Who knows what you told her. I'm not believing what she'll tell me, I know what I saw." Spat Jonathan, waving his free hand around. "I don't know what happened here, but I just wanna know why you care 'bout this?" Gonzales joined, crossing his arms. Jonathan clenched his jaw and let go of Maribel. He never answered; he would never tell anyone the reason behind this. He wants to be feared, not pitied. Once he let go of Maribel, he walked past Gonzales and left the garden, locking himself in his room, not wanting to see anyone else until tomorrow.
"What the hell just happened? What did you do? I knew I shouldn't of let you wit' him." He started blabbering, pointing at them as if he was scolding them. "Calm down, Gonzales. Please listen to me." The shining man said with his hands towards Gonzales. "I was hiding her from Jonathan behind those bushes and she started yelling for his attention and I started to tug on her dress so she could sit back down and hide with me. But he saw it differently. That was what happened." Gonzales looked down at Maribel and asked: "Is that true? What he just said?" She nodded slowly and almost apologetically. The cotton candy haired man sighed and lowered to her level to hold her shoulders. "Just listen to us, alright? You're lucky he acted like that and not how he usually does." As he spoke, he stood up and started towards the exit of the garden. Glitterman looked over at her arm and noticed how it was red and with little prickles. "I'm sorry." He murmured. She looked over at him who had his head hung. "For what?"
"For your arm… and everything." She looked at her arm and saw her red skin. "I should cover it before Mr. Hawkins sees it. Or he will be upset with you again." She muttered.
