The Gold and the Forest

XII

Chapter 12: Peace and Quiet

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It's been a week since the last time Vivi has shown up for work. She was insistent on ignoring Sean's calls. Vivi lied to her parents, saying that she was just taking a break. She did not go into detail. Her mother looked at her with worry, but did not pry either.

Carl carried on with work, he still had bills to pay. Unlike her, money did not grow on the shrubs in his meticulously cared for backyard.

Sean hired someone new, someone less annoying. Work was productive, lunchtime was peaceful. He had time to himself.

---

"Yeah, we're looking for a new place." Kade rubbed the back of his neck. "I haven't been home for about 2 weeks."

"Has Min told her parents?"

Carl and Kade were strolling through the mall, holding the bags from Min and Kristy's (primarily Kristy's) shopping spree.

Kade sighed. "She said it's not easy. I want to break into her house and tell them for her." He looks off into the distance. "But I can't."

"Do they know you want to marry her?" Carl took a sip out of the drink that bribed him to come to this trip to the mall. He was free today, anyway.

His friend went silent. Carl took this chance to pat him on the back. "It'll work out."

"Maybe it'll work out for me." Kade muttered. "But would it work out for us?"

"It will."

The two guys glanced at Min coming out a shop, snorting at something Kristy was saying. A look of yearning appeared in Kade's eyes. Carl pushed him forward. Kade stumbled with a yelp and fell into step next to Min. She smiled up at her boyfriend.

"Falling for me?" She joked, patting her Prince's cheek.

Kade grinned down at her.

Carl stood there, the distance allowing him to see the whole picture. He knew that they will work out. Though Kade may doubt all he wanted, there was a strong connection between them that refuses to be cut.

Carl had stood at this distance in high school too. He had felt a pain in his chest. He then had met Min's eyes and gave a reassuring nod. Back then, she had looked at him briefly before Kade swept in to sneak a kiss.

And now, her eyes no longer roam. She looked at the man she held in her arms, the heavens would sigh around them. Carl sipped his drink. There was no more pain. He was happy for them.

A bitter taste rose in his mouth. He could only be like that because he had left his poison in someone else's body.

Min messed up Kade's hair before pushing him off, pointing over to some other store and running off with Kristy. Kade returned to Carl's side, looking a lot more relaxed and a lot pinker.

Carl snorted in amusement. Kade was jerked back to reality. He shot a glare. "Shut up, Wolfie."

"Didn't say anything."

"She makes a fool out of me."

"Obviously."

Kade elbowed Carl in the ribs. "By the way." Carl rubbed his side, and turned to look at Kade. "Vivi said something about you kissing her, just recently. She has yet to go into detail."

Carl sucked in a breath at the mention of her name and instantly grimaced.

"That's quite the reaction." Kade raised his eyebrows. "What's up?"

"I dislike her." Carl muttered.

"That makes the kiss even more strange."

"She started it." Carl grumbled. "She overreacts. Good riddance."

"There must be some reason she did it." Kade suggested. "The overreaction, I mean."

"She doesn't get enough attention from me. She solves that by getting into my face."

"I have never seen her like this—ever—in fact."

Carl went silent. Only he and Vivi knows the things that happened during the summer of junior year and senior year. Kade knows next to nothing. Min knows an indefinite amount of it, but not all of it.

Carl has seen this desperate look on Vivi's face before. Please don't go.

And he has ripped himself away more than enough to see the pain in her eyes.

He was not proud of what he had done. What he had done burned his labels deeper. Wolf.

You take what you want and run.

---

Vivi looked at her dolled-up state in the mirror. Chest up, stomach in, back straight. She was going on a date. She was going to wow her date away. Her date said she looked gorgeous. They are going to meet for coffee.

She got there a bit late. He was already waiting for her. He looks at her appreciatively up and down and gets out of the seat to help her into hers. She smiles.

"You look even better in person." He compliments.

"Thank you." Her attention is taken by the menu.

They order, she photographs her food. She laughs at every joke he makes. She follows every cue. He looks confident in his chances. She shifts slightly in her seat, then gets up. "Let me use the bathroom for a moment, sorry."

She flashes a heart-melting smile, walks daintily to the bathroom.

And then from there, she runs.

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