I don't think I'll ever forget Ren's reaction to seeing me. They took me straight to him. He'd been assigned Field duty and was busy digging something on the ground. When I called his name, he turned to look back. His hazel eyes widened and a big smile split his lips wide. He bounded over to me and wrapped me in his arms, saying "So good to see you, Red." in my ear.

He held me close for a while before he introduced me to his friends, I nodded politely at all of them, my hand clasped tightly with my childhood friend's.

Both of us grinned widely at each other and I felt the urge to hug him again, so I did.

"I've missed you so much." I told him.

When I let go, he was still smiling. Then he looked down at our hands and said, "I got you all muddy."

I laughed at that and was about to reply when the District Leader asked us to get back to work. Ren and I shared a grin and kneeled on the ground, digging our hands into the soil, weeding and airing it out.

He caught me up on everything that was happening. He told me he'd taken up Art and I raised my eyebrows, "I didn't know you were interested in Art!" I exclaimed.

He chuckled, "Neither did I, but I think I'm doing okay."

"You have to show me your work!" I demanded.

He nodded, grinning.

We worked comfortably for a few minutes in silence. Perspiration had started dotting my forehead and immediately my suit stretched out a hood for me, covering my head from the sun. The insides of my suit started to cool itself and my skin automatically cooled in response.

Ren noticed the hood that had come out of my suit and whistled, "Your suit is so much cooler!" He said.

I tossed him a grin then asked the question that had been bothering me since I'd come here, "Why are you wearing your night suit anyway?"

Because it was made from the same material as the night suits at my District.

Ren blinked at me.

"Night suit?"

I nodded, jerking my head towards his suit, "Isn't that the night suit?" I asked.

Ren laughed, "We don't have night suits. This is our work suits."

"Oh." I said, looking down at my hands.

"Do you know, the soil on this planet can leave a stain on your hands if you leave them in the soil too long?" Ren told me.

I laughed, "That's what gloves are for." I said.

Ren threw me a funny look, "What gloves?" He asked me.

I stilled. "Gloves that they give while doing work..." I trailed off as Ren started shake his head.

"We don't get gloves." He said, still smiling.

I went quiet. Is this how different our lives have been?

Ren nudged me, "So tell me about your District?" He said.

I'm shaken out of my reverie at that, "Before that, I might need to speak to the District Leaders about my schedule." I said.

"Why?" He asked tossing me a confused glance.

"I was given detention," I said, throwing him a smirk, "I'm to be confined to the rooms except for work and Education and my works on Day Seven, Eight and Nine are doubled."

Ren tossed me a horrified look, "Doubled? What'll you do, work through the night?" He asked.

I stared at him. What'd he mean by work through the night?

"Work through the night? No, Ren. I'll just work the whole day, instead of half the day."

Ren shrugged, "Oh, that's what we do anyway. Except on Day Nine. Day Nine we work half days."

"You work every day?" I asked him, my heart squeezing in my chest.

"Except Day Nine." He said again.

I stayed quiet for sometime, swallowing.

"And when do you study or have some free time?" I whisper.

"Towards the evening." He said.

"Oh."

I stay silent for some time again. His schedule was brutal.

"Are you okay here, Ren?" I asked.

Ren tossed me a surprised look, "Of course I am. I have missed you so much though," he said.

I smiled at him, nudging his shoulder with mine.

"So, tell me about your District. Made any friends?" He asked, then wiggled his eyebrows, "Or did your friend-making skills stop after you met me?"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh ha ha. I did make friends. There's Kylee, of course, Freesia, Wolf...Rafe..."

"A grand total of four? That's all?" Ren said in a mock disappointed tone.

I scoffed at him, flicking a bit of wet soil on him. It caught him on the cheek and he made a face at me as I laughed at him. He wiped it off muttering, "Brat."

I just smirked at him.

"So, any of the guys catch your interest?" He asked me, smiling.

"Maybe..." I say, truthfully. Then I cast a glance around, wondering if the person I had gained an interest in was listening through his many devious ways.

Ren tossed me a surprised glance, "Are you serious?" He asked.

I shrugged.

He pushed my shoulder with the back of his hand, "Well, tell me more. Don't just stop."

I shrug again, "There actually isn't anything more to tell. I may have a thing for him, the Lord knows what he's feeling."

I thought about the snowflake earrings. Why would he make those for me? What did they signify?

"He hasn't said anything? Wait, have you said anything?" He asked.

My eyes were on my hands, working in the soil, as I shook my head, "Neither of us have said anything."

"Wow. Then what makes you think he's into you?" Ren asked me, curiously.

I just let out a bitter laugh, "Because of the way he behaves with me..." I said.

"Who is this guy anyway? He's got you all knotted up." Ren asks, teasingly.

"Not so much as a guy as an alien to me," I murmured.

Ren caught my arm and turned me to look at him, his voice low, almost skating even my hearing, "Do you mean that in the sense that he's a mystery to you or that he's actually an alien to you?" He whispered.

I looked up at Ren and I knew I had a sad smile on my face, "What do you think?" I asked.

Ren's eyes widened, "Ho....ly Hell. Red, are you serious?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Wow. What's it like?" He asked, his eyes widening in excitement.

"What's what like?" I asked, spluttering out a laugh.

"You know?" He nudged me, "Being with a C'Riel?"

Why was he stressing on the...?

Colour filled my cheeks.

Oh my gosh.

"Ren," I whisper-yelled, "Nothing like that has happened! The asshole hasn't even kissed me yet!"

Ren stared at me, "Are you serious?" He asked, his lips pursing a little.

I nodded, unable to hold back the embarrassed laugh that slipped out of my lips.

"What a boring guy." Ren said, but he seemed to be thinking about something seriously.

I snorted, "They have some kind of...rules." I said, making a face.

"Rules? What kind of rules can you possibly have for se-"

I slapped Ren on the shoulder to shut him up before he could complete that sentence.

"What about you Lover Boy? Any one catch your interest?" I ask.

"Not really, no." He said. But he had a disturbed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He stayed quiet for awhile before shaking his hands a little to dislodge some of the wet soil and turned to look at me.

"There's just something that has been bothering me." He said.

I turned to face him too, my knees twisting in the soil beneath me.

"What?" I asked.

His eyes flitted around us, as if he was paranoid about being overheard.

When he looked back at me, I leaned in closer.

"Why, out of all the C'Riel men out there, would a C'Riel woman want a human?" He asked.

"Clearly she has a type." I joked, because this question hit too close to home. This somehow reminded me of something daddy had said to me when I first saw him at the Education Centre.

Ren shook his head, "Listen to me. Why would they want to be with someone that their species collectively consider inferior?"

"I...I don't know." I told him, truthfully. Because he was right. Who in their right mind would want to develop a relationship with someone society considers lesser-than? If they were going against everything society considered wrong, then they have to have a strong motive.

Love...? My heart soared at that, before a small voice in my head whispered to me, Or is it something else?

Fear crept into me at the thought of the small voice being true. Ren continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil.

"Why would they want to have relationship with us, when the progeny that would stem from the relationship would only be half C'Riel?"

Before I could answer, he continued, "Especially when human population domination is most likely their biggest fear."

I almost gave into my urge to press my hands to my ears, wanting to shut everything out. Something, anything to stop my heart from the possibility of breaking.

"Red."

I looked at him, trying to keep my face impassive, he nodded his head surreptitiously at a girl who was kneeling on the soil with her back to us, my eyes flicked to her and back to Ren.

"She's been trying to get me alone for a long time, Red. And trust me, she's not interested in my brain. That's not what she wants from me."

My brows furrowed, "What.." I cleared my suddenly hoarse throat, "What do you mean?"

Ren leaned in closer, "Red, she's been trying to get me to sleep with her."

My breath rushed out of me.

"Why?" I whispered, looking down.

Why was I feeling like I was being punched in the gut? Rafe had never tried anything like this with me. Why do I feel like the very floor beneath me has fallen out?

"I've been trying to find out." Ren murmured.

I looked up, trying to look at the girl's face, but I could only see her back as she worked on the soul beneath her. Ren and I worked in silence after that, me still trying to catch a glimpse of the dark haired C'Riel who Ren had pointed at.

Just when we'd been asked to disperse back to the Resting Stations, I gave up on catching a glimpse of the mystery girl and decided to try later. But as I turned to head away, so did she and I froze.

It was Rey.

My breath caught when she looked right at me, her eyes glaring darkly at me, before slipping to my right. I looked to my right and watched Ren's eyes narrow at Rey.

They had a stare-off right in front of my eyes. But before I could say anything, Ren caught my hand in his and dragged me away. He set a brutal pace back to the Resting Stations. I went with him, quietly, because I'd never seen him this angry. He has always been the calm one and brought me back to my senses when I've gotten short tempered with something.

I cleared my throat, "So..."

Ren looked at me, "I'm telling you Red, this has really been bothering me."

I raised my eyebrows, "I can tell." At least my feet could, with the brutal pace he had set for me to match.

"Can we slow down, I feel like I might drop a kidney and not know it with the pace we're going at?" I muttered to Ren.

Ren finally realised that we were practically running and chuckled, slowing down, his hold on me shifting so that we were holding hands. We walked in a comfortable pace now and my heart finally slowed down and I let our arms swing between us.

Despite the fact that this was clearly bothering him and it would be good for me to divert his mind, I needed to talk to him some more of what was on my mind.

"Ren, I see the point of what you're saying, but...Rafe-the guy I was talking to you about-has never tried anything like this with me. He's never even kissed me."

Ren stopped and turned around, pointing a finger at me, "Exactly, the C'Riel men don't lay a finger on the human women, but the C'Riel women all but demand physical intimacy from the human men. It's a recurrent pattern I'm noticing in this District. And you confirmed that it wasn't just a coincidence by describing your 'love life' to me and it's exactly what's been happening here." He said, holding his hands up to quote the words love life with his fingers, before continuing, "So tell me this, why? What are they trying to achieve?"

I swallowed.

"I..I don't know." I admitted.

Another question added to the millions that had piled in my head.

"You noticed all this?" I murmured to Ren.

"Red, all I've been doing is watching. Especially after your father-" Ren stopped, looking behind him.

I looked behind him too, but there was only large trees and a few people throwing us a weird glance as they passed us by and walked on.

"What's wrong?" I murmured.

"I feel as if..." Ren's eyes continued to look around us. I followed the path of his eyes, but we were literally the only ones around. Everybody had walked past us and were about a hundred meters away.

"Ren?" I asked, shaking him a little bit with my hands on his biceps to bring him out of his thoughts.

He focused his gaze on me again, "Sorry," he murmured, "I just felt like...I was being watched."

I looked around too, wondering if we actually were being watching.

"I feel like I'm going crazy." Ren said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"You're not going crazy, Ren." I told him and he looked at me, understood that I meant when I said that and nodded. Thankfully he didn't ask for anything more. As to how I knew we were being watched. And if I knew that, then if I know who was watching us. And why?

We continued on our journey towards the Resting Stations silently, lost in our own thoughts.

Was Rafe watching me now? Was he listening to what Ren was saying? If he was then could he also hear the doubts in my head, just as easily as he was listening to everything around me?

I pressed my eyes closed, ignoring everything running through my head. I took a breath in and let it out, imagining that all my doubts and pain would leave me-even if it were temporarily-with the breath.

When we reached the Resting Station, I was assigned a room to rest in, and led to it by a blonde C'Riel girl who didn't even look at me, much less talk.

Ren was on the floor below me and I was tempted to go there. I didn't want to be alone. I sighed, walking into the room. I went and sat on the simple mattress that lay on the floor. The mattress did adjust itself around me, but nothing in this room was anything like how it was in my District.

The room was simple. A mattress on the floor, a table and a chair with a small black screened clock and Day keeping device on it, a bathroom with a small sink, closet and bathing space. However here, I had to place my bracelet in a slot rather than run it over a screen. I didn't care about the fact that this place wasn't as good as mine. But...I had been taking it all for granted, while Ren was here, not uttering a single word of complaint and he had seen and noticed so much, while I sat at my District and twiddled my thumbs.

I pressed my face into my hands, squeezing my eyes shut. Doubts, doubts and more doubts with a dash of pain clouded my mind.

Without thinking I pulled out my communication device, sending a quick message to Rafe. All my fears and doubts coming out in the form of six words.

Six stupid stupid words.

Do you even really like me?

His response: Insecure, are we?

Asshole.

He knew why I was asking this. I know he did. He was too much of a control-freak to not know every single bloody thing happening around me. And still, he chose to be nonchalant about my question. Letting me suffer in my doubts. Boil in my insecurities. He was right. I am feeling insecure. And he didn't have it in him to say a single bloody yes?

Screw him.

I picked my communication device again, sending another message to someone I should've spoken to earlier.

I need to talk to you.

______________________________________

Finally. Ta da! :) Have fun, my chocolates! Until next time! 🦄