Carmen’s vision blurred as she tilted her head up to look at Hunter, the tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. “Why not?”
“Because,” he paused, breaking the eye contact and looking down at his hands, “the minute I tell you that I care, that I’m sorry, that I do accept you as one of my own, that I never meant for all the hurt I caused—it will become real. Everything becomes real. It becomes real that I caused you so much pain, that I let you down, that I was supposed to be your brother and protect your heart from getting broken, but instead, I went ahead and broke it before any other man ever had the chance to. And once all that sinks in, I’ll be forced to accept it… and I don’t think I could ever live with myself after that, Carmen.”
Carmen couldn’t recall the last time she’d been rendered speechless but oddly enough, she found it touching, even more so that this was coming from the ice king himself.
“I…don’t know what to say.” She blinked, a tiny smile tugging at her mouth.
“Say that you won’t make this easy on me,” he replied, a corner of his lips lifting in something of a smile. “That you’ll make me work towards earning your trust back because I want to deserve it. Rather that than you giving it to me out of that forgiving heart of yours.”
“Kind of hard when I can’t find it in me to hold anything against you anymore.” Carmen grinned, her first real smile during the whole night.
“You can’t just forgive me that easily, Carmen.” Hunter sighed, looking troubled. “Or anyone for that matter.”
“You’re not anyone.” She nudged him with her elbow. “You’re like my—what’s that phrase again?—ah, yes, Achilles’ heel. That’s what you are.”
Hunter frowned, looking even more unimpressed by the second. “You do know his heel got him killed, right?”
Carmen blinked at him, furrowing her brows together. “Wait, that phrase actually means something? I thought it was a fancy way of referring to someone’s blind spot or weak point.”
Hunter snorted loudly, surprising both Carmen and himself with the suddenness of the gesture, causing them to dissolve into laughter.
Warmth blossomed in her chest at the simplicity of that moment—two people who’d suffered just as much tonight but who had also found a way to make each other laugh.
“Hey, Hunter?” Carmen spoke into the silence that had fallen amongst them, the ghost of her laughter still lingering in her voice.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“For?” His forehead creased ever so slightly, never the one to display his emotions to their fullest extent.
“When I was five, this classmate of mine—I think his name was Ben—used to follow me around all the time and spend every single lunch hour with me. You hated it. You never liked it much when someone took up too much of my attention away from you. And one day, you hid his favourite action figure he always brought to school so that he would waste the entire period looking for it while you finally got to spend that time with me.”
Hunter’s face flushed and he scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. “I forgot about that,” he muttered. “But, yeah, I remember now. I didn’t know that you knew I was the one who hid his toy.”
Carmen grinned. “Of course I knew. It was such a typical move of yours. You used to be so possessive back when we’re kids.”
“All right, all right,” he grumbled. “I think I’m more mature than that now.”
“You are.” She smiled, hesitating briefly before she leant sideways and rested her head on his shoulder.
Hunter froze for a few seconds and then seemed to relax, allowing a small breath of relief to leave Carmen’s lungs.
“That’s why I was thanking you,” she mumbled, her eyes drifting shut as the exhaustion of the night caught up with her. “Because I know you’re not Asa’s biggest fan and that you’re finally getting to spend some time with me after all these years. But you didn’t let that territorial nature of yours to stop you from putting my needs first when you offered to call Asa tonight.” She subconsciously snuggled further into his side, a yawn escaping her mouth. “So thank you.”
She heard Hunter mutter something inaudible under his breath and smiled to herself, the last thing floating through her mind as she surrendered to sleep being the wish that this newfound happiness would last.
•••
Breakfast the next morning was tensed.
Carmen sat on one end of the medium-sized table, and her father on the other, both staring down at their food listlessly.
Hunter—who had passed out on the other couch last night while he waited for Carmen’s dad to show up after she’d fallen asleep—seemed to either not notice the awkwardness or he was deliberately not acknowledging it.
Carmen figured it was probably the latter; the boy had an infuriating ability to remain stoic regardless of what the situation was. The earth could split open and he’d still remain unfazed.
She supposed that was another one of their similarities. Carmen too had a tendency to wear nonchalance so well that it drove Asa insane sometimes.
The mere thought of him lifted her lips into a soft smile.
She knew she’d seen him just yesterday, right before she left for the god-awful dinner—but it felt like forever with everything that had happened.
“Carmen,” her dad finally spoke, making the smile on her face drop and her head snap towards him.
“Yeah, Dad?” she asked, her words a little rushed because she wasn’t expecting him to say anything.
“Your phone was ringing when I got home last night,” he said, letting his fork fall back on his plate. “The two of you were completely out of it so you
