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From a little crack in the door, her voice comes softly, in such low volume he almost didn’t hear her. “Are you free?”

Steven’s head tilts her way slightly, not looking up from brushing a carnelian free of dust. “I’ll be just a moment.”

He places it back onto a tray, as not to lose it, and pushes his chair away from his desk to get up to his feet. Brushing away loose strands of hair and smoothing his suit out, he calls out her name.

The crack gets wider as she lets herself in, heading straight to his couch. She lets out a sigh as she lowers herself on it. “I suppose you’ve already spoken to him about our predicament,” she says, going straight to business. “And what are your thoughts?”

Their predicament… it was an odd way to call it, but it seemed like the best suit. At first, when his father presented the plan, both of them were so baffled that they couldn’t even form words.

It’ll just be a little while, he had said. Sales have been low for the past quarter. It’ll bring back the attention to you and Devon.

And what about her? was Steven’s reply. Are you forcing her too?

Her mother was the one who came up with the idea.

They were good friends since childhood, since the time he got lost in a cave and almost died before she found him cowering in a corner. Both of them were very interested in geology, although then she was a tad but more proficient than him. They’d been inseparable ever since she led him down two left turns, back to sunlight.

Perhaps they would’ve ended up dating soon, with all the tension between them. This predicament just jammed the tape of the cassette and he wasn’t sure how to fix it.

So he just tells the truth. “I’m as confused as you are.“

A sigh. She runs her hand through her hair, breaking her gaze to stare at the floor. “If you’re alright with it,” she says, crossing her arms. “It wouldn’t hurt to try. We both do need experience before the real thing, right?”

He blinks. This was not the reaction he was expecting; in fact, he was expecting anything but indifference. “You’re completely fine with it?”

“Of course,” she gives him a quick smile, trying to ease his nerves. “It’s a new journey. And it’ll be over in a month at least, I suspect.”

Strangely, his heart drooped a bit at that statement—but he makes up for it by straightening himself, trying to show her that his emotions aren’t already playing in this game. “I will try my best to make this work, for both of us, for our happiness,” Steven confesses. “And for our parents,” he adds, not to commit himself. But he’s not sure he’ll keep his promise.