A timeless tale of unrequited love is retold in this romance novel like never
before! Fall in love with the mysterious ocean and all its wonders!
Callie Moretti is your average college student in Royal Reef, Australia: when she is not working, she...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The day of the aquarium show came. Callie sat on her bed trying to understand the complexities of cosmetics. Why are there so many brushes? Which one blends the foundation? The unhelpful tutorial video on YouTube played on her phone. One second the girl (or guy?) was demonstrating the blending while talking, then the frame cut away to his (or her?) lines already smoothed over. Callie frowned at her reflection, pausing the video. Her own lines were way too obvious where she had tried her hand at contouring. Frustrated, she was tempted to wipe it all off and just go with her usual regimen of sunscreen, lipgloss and mascara. Better yet, maybe she should just call up Delphi and tell her she came down with a cold... in the middle of summer.
She slapped her cheeks telling her introverted self to go stuff a bean bag. Yes, it would be more fun to curl up in bed and read her latest webtoon updates, but she had promised her friend she'd go support her in her quest for true love. Backing out last minute would not be cool.
The sound of the bathroom shower running accompanied by Triton's tenor voice singing along to the song playing over his speakers drew her focus. It was an upbeat punk rock song and Triton made it his own, ensnaring her senses with just a few chords. Distracted, she accidentally poked herself in the eye with her eyeliner pencil. Cursing, she wiped at her ruined eye with a remover wipe.
By the end of her tutorial video, she would have a pile of those wipes and a clean face. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her eye makeup symmetrical. Better to not try at all than to try and fail miserably! It is not one of her best mottos, but it'll do.
"You ready?" Triton asked knocking on her door.
"Yeah." Shoving her feet in her flip flops, she came out of her room and couldn't help giving the proclaimed demi-god the usual once over. His now golden tan skin beautifully complimented the turquoise v neck he wore. His eyes seemed to be a brighter shade of blue as well.
"Callie... you're staring."
She shrugged seeing no point denying it. Her physical attraction to him was not a secret, after all. She won't give him the satisfaction of seeing her get flustered about it. Not anymore. "Turquoise looks good on you."
"Don't sound so surprised. Everything looks good on me. Oh! Forgive me. What I meant to say was thank you. You look good, too."
"You're welcome," she said dryly, not believing the compliment he gave as an afterthought. She wore blue jean caprese and a tank top under a threadbare soft purple on-brand sweatshirt.
The tension between them for the last few days, that had been widely ignored, came to a climax when they found themselves in the car for a half hour drive to the aquarium. She wanted things to go back to normal, or as normal as the two had ever been. And though she knew she was the one holding back, she didn't know how to get over their fall-out without losing face. If she truly forgave him too fast, what does that say about her own self respect? To win back her favor, Triton has done a number of small chores around the house. Will that stop if she gave in? She couldn't keep him on the hook forever, but she also didn't want to talk through it again.
