NOLAN

“Well?” Gina asked. “Did you give it any more thought – what we talked about?”

She had once again dropped by the palace unannounced.

“Yes,” Nolan said. “And my only thoughts on the topic are… that I still feel the same as before. I can’t marry you, Gina.”

“Do you really have to marry for love?” she asked. “You’re a prince, Nolan. Aren’t your responsibilities more important than… your emotions?”

Nolan closed his eyes. Remembered it was no use arguing with someone who just never gave up, always had something to say in response.

“That’s not fair,” Nolan said.

Gina looked away.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Her eyes looked wet, and her voice was verging on tears.

Nolan’s memory went back to the first time he talked to Yena.

Because something Gina had just said… it reminded Nolan of something he, himself, had said to Yena that night.

Do you really have to marry for love?

Nolan no longer recognized the person that he used to be – the man he was in that memory.

He offered Yena marriage as a contract.

The love that happened later was a surprise. But it changed everything.

“The bottom line, Gina, is that I can’t marry you. Not while I love Yena.”

“Fine,” Gina said. “I’ll go now, and I’ll try to leave you alone, if that’s what you want. But I still think I have more to offer you than that… than she does.”

Gina rose to stand, and Nolan did the same.

She met his eyes and said, “But I’ll be waiting for you, anyway. Just in case something changes.”

YENA

“Hey,” Evan said, politely knocking on my open bedroom door.

“Hey. What’s up?”

He came inside and took a seat in my desk chair.

“I was wondering if I could talk to you about something,” he said.

Immediately I started worrying that he wanted to talk about… the boxing ring again.

Evan was too tall for my chair. He looked very uncomfortable.

“Come here,” I said, patting the space next to me on my bed.

I’d been looking at magazines I got from the library. They were old fashion magazines from the human world. The styles were totally wild, but they were giving me some inspiration.

Evan came over and sat next to me. I scooted to the side to make room, adjusted the pillows, and put the magazine aside on my nightstand.

“What’s up?” I asked again.

“I don’t know how to pack,” he said with a laugh.

I chuckled. “Really? That’s why you’re so stressed out right now?”

“Who said I’m stressed out?”

I shrugged. “I can just feel it. And you only ever have a hard time talking, when it’s something important.”

Evan sighed. “It is important. It’s not just the packing, it’s…”

I remembered what Lucy said this afternoon about how she’d never moved before.

What Nolan said, also, about my being brave to take a big leap like this.

“Evan, I know I’ve asked you this before, and I know what you said. But I have to ask you one more time. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Yeah,” he answered quickly. “Of course. I really want to do this with you, Yena.”

“Okay…”

“It’s just, I dunno, I’m scared, I guess.”

“That’s fair. I’m scared too.”

“You are?” Evan sounded genuinely surprised.

“Of course! This is super scary!”

Evan laughed, then sighed like in relief.

“K, it kinda makes me feel better knowing you’re feelin’ it, too.”

“Of course,” I said. “Oh my Goddess, did you really think I wasn’t afraid?”

“You’re so confident all the time these days, Yena. You make it look easy.”

I shook my head. “Well, that’s crazy. Cuz it’s not how I feel on the inside.”

Evan looked away quietly.

“It’s gonna be okay, though,” I told him. “I did this once before, and it was scary at first, but then I got over it, and… my new life was great…”

“It was great…” That was a sweet, cheerful voice inside my mind.

Lily.

“It was a beautiful life you had with Nolan. Why would you ever leave him…???”

I continued my conversation with my brother to drown her out.

“And anyway,” I went on. “I even did that all alone. This time, you and I have each other.”

“Thanks.” Evan smiled at me. “You’re right, we will have each other.”

“And the packing thing,” I told him. “Don’t worry about bringing too many clothes. Just whatever you need for a few days.”

“A few days? I thought you’d be able to stick it out for longer than that?”

I threw a pillow at him.

“Yes, we’ll be there longer than a few days. What I mean is, we can do some shopping, and I’ll make you some clothes, too.”

Evan nodded.

“That mean you’re gonna give me a makeover?”

“Ha!” Then I thought about it. Yeah, I guess I did intend to give Evan a makeover when we got to our new place.

I just wanted to get him into, like, some real, grown-up clothes. Maybe a suit, just for once.

“What kinda clothes we talking about?” Evan asked. “You’re not gonna try to dress me up all fancy like you did for the prince, are you?”

“Huh?”

Took me a second – while Evan awkwardly paused – to realize he was talking about the retro suit I’d made for Nolan for his birthday party.

So Evan had seen pictures of that. Must’ve read an article or something, too, to know that I’d made the suit myself.

I started blushing a little, embarrassed… thinking about Evan keeping tabs on me while I’d been away.

“Yeah,” he said, “the pictures were everywhere, the two of you at that party. The big… kiss.”

The kiss at the party… I remembered that very well.

The way Nolan swept me up in a surge of passion, in front of a cheering crowd that disappeared in the presence of the magic between us.

“Anyway,” Evan said. But then he struggled to find something else to follow up with.

“I can make whatever kind of clothes you want,” I told Evan. “And the shopping there is amazing.”

Evan frowned. “Shopping sounds… expensive.”

“Hmm. Oh, yeah.”

I’d forgotten about having to pay for things on my own, now. Especially since I refused Nolan’s offers for alimony.

But a thought occurred to me. Maybe all those clothes I’d been sewing for samples for my and Nolan’s new business didn’t have to go to waste. I didn’t need to start a big, fancy company to sell my designs – I could just start selling some stuff online.

It was an exciting idea… a simple way to find some independence from Nolan. And a new project to work on, so I had something to do that wasn’t just for school.

I looked back to Evan and saw that he was staring at my wedding ring.

I touched it and said, “You really hate Nolan, don’t you?”

Evan opened his mouth. Stopped himself before words could come out, though, and looked away. His ears were turning red.

“Just tell me how you really feel,” I said. “I promise I won’t be offended.”

He gave me a doubtful look. Then sighed and said, “I don’t think you really want to know.”

“Tell me,” I said sternly.

Evan looked down at his hands.

“Of course I hate him,” he finally said. “He took you away from me, and I already hated him for that. And then, he broke your heart.”

“Well,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s that simple… things with him were so complicated.”

“Please don’t make excuses for him, Yena.”

Evan’s voice was bare. He sounded totally vulnerable. I’d demanded he tell me the truth about his feelings, finally, and he was being honest with me.

“You deserve to be treated better than that, Yena,” he said. “He hurt you. You deserve better.”