The Prince and The Wolf

XXIX

Chapter 29: I'm Nervous

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Min was sitting in the corner of her bed, eyephones in, in a fetal position with her eyes wide. Her phone was being constantly caressed by her hands as the ringtone for calling a person rung through her ears.

After 3 rings, someone picks up. "Hello?"

Carl sure sounds different on the phone. "Hey... Carl?"

There was a clatter and she heard muffled yelling on the other side. "Oh my god, Carl! Is it your girlfriend!?"

There was no response. The boy's sound cleared, he sounded giddier than before. "Oh, sorry, Carl's in the shower, he's almost out." Muffled laughter. "And he sounds pissed. I'll leave you on, I gotta run for my life."

Footsteps pattered away from the phone and eventually faded away. Min wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry in panic. After a moment, she heard someone's low voice cursing and then she presumed that Carl picked up the phone because:

"Clan left her on the phone!?"

Her voice finally came back. "Hey." She mumbled meekly.

She had started shaking.

Silence. Oh god, I like him so much.

"Hey." It was quiet, but he responded. Min felt her chest swell in warmth. She laughed quietly.

"Why'd you call?" He asked.

"To—um... Test if your phone number worked." Min mumbled, feeling jittery again. "Who was that earlier?"

"Declan." An annoyed tone. "A stepbrother."

Min's eyes widened in surprise. "Stepbrother?" She echoed.

He made a noise of "mhmm" and then she heard him walking around. Is he drying his hair? Oh god, I imagined it. It's so cute. Oh no. After a moment of her quietly listening to him moving around in his house, she finally mustered the courage to speak up.

"Well, I made sure it was you so... Uhhh—I guess, we can hang up now."

He sounded surprised at her sudden outburst. "We aren't working on the project?"

"O-Over the phone?" She asked.

"Oh." He paused. "You're right."

She made a noise of agreement but it came out strangled due to her intense nervousness.

"So, er..." He began. "When are you free?"

---

He looked at himself in the mirror and watched as his eyes stared back at him. When was it that I started losing the light in my eyes?

He looked like a corpse under the dim light of the bathroom. His rebellious thoughts had lost their grasp on hope. He was going to accept it, his mother's discipline, the photoshoots, the company of a thousand girls with as much of a plastic heart that he had. There was no other way. He was becoming this person in front of the mirror.

And then Cent floated back into his mind and the bland expression shattered.

I got us so far, and now we've stopped at a standstill.

He hated this cage. This status, this life, his mother. It was all because of her that all the progress he had with Cent was frozen. He was withering away.

Because of mother.

How could his own blood do this to him? Enslave him, disregard his free nature.

He lowered his head.

"Cent." He whispered.

The only thing that his rebellion could hold onto. The only thing he would become a martyr for.

---

A Sunday. That was what they had settled on. After Declan found out, he went into a frenzy and started listing things that Carl shouldn't do. Carl tuned out his ramblings by washing the dishes in his house and mindlessly cleaning and straightening things up.

"Why are you so nonchalant about this!? You asked her on a date, Carl!"

"We're working on the project." He muttered back, not really paying attention.

"You are so indifferent." Declan complained. "And thick in the head."

He was getting on Carl's nerves. "Shut up or get out of my house."

After a moment of silence from Declan, he peeped up again. Like an annoying bird. "So, is she pretty?"

A grunt.

"Do you like her?"

An annoyed grunt.

"Does she set your body on fire?"

"Get out of my house."

"Is she why you want to go to school all the time now?" Declan was smirking. "From her voice she sounds nice. Did she tame you?"

After that Declan was promptly evicted from Carl's house and forcefully sent back to his home.

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