EVAN
Yena was pacing in the kitchen. Her lips were moving, like she was reciting something or having an imaginary argument.
“Hey,” Evan said, and Yena jumped.
“Oh, hey!”
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked, smirking.
She laughed. “Sorry, just talking to… myself.”
Evan looked at the table and smiled. An empty pie tin, a can of whipped cream, and a dirty fork.
“Healthy breakfast today, I see.”
“Well, it’s no cold pizza.” She came over and suddenly put her arms around Evan’s waist. He hugged her back.
“I still can’t sleep, Evan.” Yena’s cheek was flat against his chest, and he could feel the vibration of her voice inside his chest as she spoke. “And I’m so tired.”
“Aw. How can I help?”
She sighed, then walked away again, resuming her
#Chapter 121: Whatever you needNOLAN “This needs to happen today.” The woman on the video call looked nervous now. Nolan’s tone was very firm. “Absolutely,” she said. “We’ll send Yena’s acceptance letter right away. I’ll have a it delivered to the palace as soon as possible.” Nolan paused. “Actually, I am going to give you an alternate address to send it to. Yena is visiting her family tonight.” The admissions lady nodded. “Of course. Whatever you need.” “And you received the donation this morning by wire transfer?” Now she smiled.“Yes, and thank you so much for your generous gift! We’ve been trying to build this library for years. Your donation will benefit so many students.” Nolan nodded. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for making this possible.” The fact was that he’d wound up needing to give them a big incentive to move faster with Yena’s admission.
“Spooky…”Evan was leading me through the boxing gym. It was bigger than I expected.It was a long, narrow building with a single room that just went on and on, with tons of equipment stations, punching bags, and full-size boxing rings.“Why?” Evan asked. “Cuz it’s empty? You’re the one who wanted privacy.”The sarcastic tone that Evan used kind of stung.We’d talked about why I didn’t want to be in a crowd… It wasn’t that I wantedprivacy. I just had to be careful about my safety, now I was a public figure.
ADANSome weird impulse had Adan wanting to call Yena again right away after she didn’t answer the first time.When had he started feeling like that about Yena? Desperate to talk to her?He tossed the phone down on his bed.Then realized he was just staring at it, waiting for it to ring.He shook his head. Turned to look at the video that was playing on his laptop.It was the interview she gave on TV at the werewolf orphanage. He’d been rewatching it, listening to all three of them talking about Nolan. Studying what they said.If Adan could count on his little brother for anything, it was for him to always be soft. Generous and caring, and going out of his way to do stuff for other people.Nolan would be going back to visit these friends of his at some point.Adan was just trying to figure out the timi
YENA“Right,” Nolan said. “Evan. Your brother is going with you.”“Mm-hmm. We talked about that, right?”“Yes. Of course, I guess I just… forgot.” Nolan’s tone was calm and even.But suddenly I understood that Nolan saw Evan as a rival, even a threat.And he didn’t even know what had been happening between me and my brother since I’d been home.I guess Nolan must have sensed it before. Even when I didn’t
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 arg
YENALucy put one last bite of pancake into her mouth.Then Tina appeared at her side and slipped another one, fresh off the griddle, onto the empty plate.“Tina!” Lucy covered her mouth with her hand as she chewed. “Please, if I eat another bite, I’m going to burst.”“Alright, alright,” Tina said. “That was just the last of the batter. Someone needed to eat it.”Evan reached across the table and stabbed the steaming pancake with his fork, removed it from Lucy’s plate, and plopped it down on his own.&ldquo
YENA“Sorry to just drop in on you like this,” I said to the person at the front desk at the nursing home. “But we thought we’d just come by and see if we could talk to a… manager or something? Because we’ve got an idea for some volunteer work we’d like to do here.”“Oh,” the woman said. “Well, that’s very nice. If you wanna talk to the director, though, unfortunately he’s not here right now, and the doctor’s busy with a patient.”“Okay,” I said. “Maybe you can help?”“Of course. You said you want to volunteer? We can
I sat at the kitchen table and put the big envelope down in front of me. Then I tore it open and pulled everything out.On top was a beautiful letter printed on thick, bright white paper.Congratulations on your acceptance to our Fashion Design program!I was so excited after reading that first line that my eyes blurred with tears, and I couldn’t even really skim any of the text underneath it.There was a course catalog in the package as well, and a page with instructions for setting up an online account for the student portal and how to enroll in classes online.&nb