An Invulnerable Heart | Man of Steel

X. The Art Of Forgiveness.

"I let my father die because I trusted him. He was convinced that I had to wait. That the world wasn't ready. What do you think?"

"I think you're right."

Drenched in sweat and a few tears, Elaine abruptly sat up from her bed. She pressed a sweaty palm to her forehead, trying her best to recall her "dream". But it wasn't a dream, it was real. Clark Kent was his name – the name of her rescuer. From childhood to present, he's always been there to catch Elaine. As cheesy as it sounds, Elaine brushed the thought away and got herself ready for work. Its good thing Perry didn't print Axel's and her's article, it would have revealed Clark to the world. Not exactly revealing him but it did shine a bit of a light on him. Now, he entrusted Elaine with his secret – until the world was ready to know about him. Pretty big secret to enclose with a girl from California. Elaine chuckled at her joke as she brushed her stray blonde hairs into place.

Her phone vibrated loudly, showing off a notification for a text – a text from Axel.

Surprise! Click the link below! Thank me later; I'm bringing Starbucks to celebrate. Keep it low-key though, Perry doesn't know. – Axel

Low-key? Perry doesn't know? Immediately, Elaine clicked the suspicious link. She was brought to a regular news website, one other than The Daily Planet. It was filled with different kinds of advertisements. The article was entitled, "An Out of This World Savior" and below the headline was Axel's and Elaine's name underneath.

Oh no.

Elaine quickly browsed through the article, her heart skipping a beat at every word she would recognize. This was her article, it had the same exact words she told Axel on the day Clark rescued her. Axel published the article behind Perry's back and without Elaine's permission. Would Perry fire them if he found out? There was specific reason why Perry didn't allow them to publish the article. Now, Elaine knew why the article couldn't be published.

As soon as she stepped out of her apartment, Elaine dialed Axel's number, waiting for his perky voice to pick up on the other line.

"Good timing, I'm at Starbucks right now. Would you like a frap?" He answered.

"Axel, oh gosh! You freaking published the article. Perry is going to kill us!" Elaine cried loudly.

"Perry won't kill us. As of right now, this article has been up for 16 hours and it's piping with reads and comments! So for our celebration, a vanilla bean frap?"

"Shut it with the Starbucks already, Axel. Our jobs are at stake here! Axel, why did you publish the article?"

"Well, I saw how badly you wanted it to be published. You're right, this should be out there, and currently, it's being posted on different websites, all over Metropolis and beyond. Bam! That's how Axel rolls. Okay, I'm buying you a vanilla bean frap with some raspberry."

"Axel! I don't want it to be published. I-I realized that I must have hallucinated the whole thing. I tried searching for this guy but my leads led me to nothing. It didn't pen out." Elaine spoke, licking her chapped lips.

She bit her lip, hoping for Axel to believe her lie, "Okay. Maybe, I should have asked you before publishing this. I'll call to take it down."

The line went dead after Axel spoke. It's a good thing he bought it. Hopefully Perry won't find out or else ... my time at the Planet will be cut short and I'll be forced to take wedding photos for the rest of my life! Elaine thought to herself.

As she approached the Planet building, Elaine took in a deep breath, trying her best to wipe the situation away. So far, no one seemed to notice Elaine's presence as she walked through the crowded hallways of the building. Her hands carefully fixed her new blouse and dress pants as she approached the room.