Faint moonlight pierced the layers of fog, leaving Jenkins feeling utterly lost. He hated complexity, and now that the situation was becoming clearer, he was ready to accept whatever ca his way.
"Why? I still don't understand. I like you both, she likes us, and you like us. So why can't we just have a serious conversation? I'm ready to face all of this. Oh, God, I really don't want to say this..."
He could feel his cat, Chocolate, staring at them from nearby, but he had no ti to pay the feline any mind.
"Yes, I'm going to say it. I like you both. Yes, I'm greedy—I like Hathaway Hersha and Briny Mikhail. So why can't we just make things clear with Briny?"
Jenkins might have been young and immature, but he was, at his core, a man who took his responsibilities seriously. He may have tried to evade this, but the 'stranger' had already forged deep bonds in this world. Greater goals lood in the distance, but he had co to understand that the path right beneath his feet was just as important...
This was one of the rare tis Jenkins had been so serious with Hathaway:
"I don't want to play these gas anymore. Oh, this is just maddening. I've been forced to hide in a closet twice already.
Briny wanted to keep this from you because she was worried you couldn't accept it. But why are you hiding our relationship from her? You know now that she can handle it perfectly calmly. Oh, Hathaway, I'm not trying to be greedy—we can discuss marriage later—but why do we have to keep secrets from each other?"
It felt shaful to say, as it was a tacit admission that Jenkins wanted both young won. But he was truly ready to accept the consequences, even prepared to take them both to Ruen and support Miss Stuart's cause to change the laws if they couldn't remain in the Fidektri Kingdom.
"ow~"
Chocolate considered Jenkins an idiot.
The red-haired young woman watched Jenkins gently, letting him say everything he needed to. Her gaze was fixed on his eyes, which seed to hold an entire world within them:
"I'm so glad you're finally ready to accept all of this... but believe , Jenkins, now is not the right ti. Briny doesn't know as much about us as she thinks she does, and you should know that better than anyone. I will never, ever let her know about Enchanters. So, before we can be completely open, I have to guide her toward discovering the truths she is allowed to know."
Hathaway's tone was perfectly calm, as if she had long anticipated this very conversation:
"You're ready to face this now, and so am I, but Briny is not—even if she thinks she's the only one who knows everything. Please forgive my hesitation, Jenkins. I swear I will have everything ready before sumr ends. Thank you for all you've done for us... I love you."
She rose onto her toes and kissed him.
Jenkins was silent for a long mont afterward, ultimately forced to accept Hathaway's reasoning. He was indeed ready to face it all; the problem, it seed, now lay with the young won.
Although Briny believed she was the one taking the initiative, the blonde girl was, in fact, the one being kept completely in the dark. If their relationship was to beco public, Briny needed ti to learn so of the secrets first.
"Actually, I have a secret too..."
Having finally spoken his mind, Jenkins felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his chest. His eyes dropped to the floor, feigning a sudden fascination with his slippers.
"Actually... there's another girl I like."
He had thought the atmosphere in the room was already unbearably awkward. He never imagined that, with that one sentence, the awkwardness could sohow shatter its previous limits.
"...I know."
Jenkins found it difficult to lift his head and see Hathaway's expression, but he still felt it was better to get certain things out in the open, especially given the atmosphere of the evening.
"I'd suspected as much for a while. After all, you..."
After a sigh, Hathaway murmured, "I've slled a strange perfu on you before."
"..."
Jenkins was thoroughly fed up with this incredible night.
"I'm not going to say 'it doesn't matter,' but Jenkins, you need to be sure about what you truly want. I will support your decision, but please, don't hurt us."
Jenkins interpreted this as a form of tacit permission, and the urge to slap himself was overwhelming.
"Besides, I have sothing to tell you... about your ancestry."
This was the key reason that had driven Briny to make her choice. Jenkins, anwhile, imdiately thought of 'elves,' and his heart suddenly began to pound.
"You an?"
He could hardly believe it. Was he finally going to learn the truth from Hathaway?
"After such a difficult search, could the answer really co so easily?"
Nothing about tonight seed to have anything to do with elves; he couldn't understand why Hathaway was suddenly bringing it up.
"What I an is... you might actually be the descendant of a very powerful noble family... I'm not suggesting you're an illegitimate son or anything. This goes back many generations."
Hathaway explained slowly.
"Hmm?"
This wasn't the answer Jenkins was looking for. Whether the Williams family descended from a duke or a marquis had nothing to do with him—that was rely a mortal affair...
"Wait, maybe the elves still have blood descendants in the material world!"
The thought struck him in a flash.
Although he was on the right track, the connection between the royal Middleton family and the elves was a top-secret matter. Jenkins couldn't yet connect all the pieces; for now, it was rely speculation.
"Sorry, which family are we connected to?"
He felt he was on the verge of uncovering the truth.
"I'm sorry, I only know that it's a very powerful noble family, one that might even have a claim to the throne... Briny's decision wasn't entirely her own... I haven't finished looking into it yet. It's incredibly complicated, and you need to be prepared. That's why this isn't the ti to bring everything into the open. Forces beyond the three of us are influencing this situation... or being influenced by it. But I swear I will resolve everything before the sumr is over. Until then, you are my lover, and you are Briny's lover. But you are not our shared lover. Do you understand?"
The young woman looked at Jenkins with concern. As she saw it, the root of this entire ss was the choice Marquis Mikhail had presented them with. The kind, simple writer was rely a victim caught in the middle.
Chocolate's little paws scraped against the bedspread in an attempt to make noise. Jenkins didn't trim its claws very often, yet they never seed to grow too long.
"You don't need to worry about this, Jenkins. I'll handle everything. Just rember, don't let Briny know about our conversation. I will take care of it all..."
She leaned forward, placed another gentle kiss on his lips, and then gave him a small smile before rising to leave. Jenkins remained seated on the edge of the bed, motionless, for a very long ti. At last, he fell backward onto the mattress, unwilling to think about anything at all.
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