Lorelei POV

"Okay," he finally muttered, and my eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yay!" The little girl clapped her paint-stained hands together and bounced on her heels. "Now, you have to sit right beside this pretty miss!"

With a low, almost imperceptible sigh, he moved to sit on the grass beside me. Even then, he made sure to leave a very noticeable, awkward gap of several inches between us.

The little girl didn’t seem to approve of that arrangement at all. She planted her hands on her hips, her brows furrowing into a stern line.

"Closer," she instructed.

He shifted an inch closer.

"Closer," she demanded, tapping her foot impatiently.

Another inch.

"Closer!"

He moved again, slowly, until his shoulder was nearly touching mine.

"Closer again!"

This time, Kaelen closed the distance completely until his shoulder pressed firmly against mine.

The sudden contact sent a jolt through my entire system. I could feel the heat radiating from his body through the thin fabric of my shirt, and my breath caught in my throat. I stared straight ahead, trying to maintain my still-life model posture, but inside, my thoughts were spiraling.

At this point, we were practically glued together, which I assumed would finally satisfy our demanding little artist. But just as she was about to return to her painting, she paused and tilted her head, studying us carefully.

Then she shook her head in disapproval.

"Something is still wrong," she announced.

I practically stopped breathing.

My fingers twisted together in my lap as the tension between Kaelen and me stretched tighter and tighter.

"You guys need to be boyfriend and girlfriend," she declared matter-of-factly, as if she were simply pointing out a mistake in her drawing.

The words hit me like a slap.

Panic flared instantly in my chest as I already knew what was going to happen.

Kaelen would refuse.

I mean, he was already being forced to sit beside me against his will, and he’d spent the last month actively avoiding me. There was no way he was going to go along with this.

Before he could reject the idea, before he could pull away and humiliate me in front of everyone, I decided I needed to take control of the situation.

I would refuse first.

But just as I opened my mouth, ready to apologize to the little girl and pull away, Kaelen moved.

His large arm suddenly came around my shoulders, wrapping firmly around me as he pulled me securely against his side. The sheer heat and solid weight of his body surrounded me completely. Without looking at me, he kept his gaze fixed on the little girl, his expression unreadable as he spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

"Is this okay?"

My heart stopped.

My entire brain short-circuited beneath the weight of his arm around my shoulders.

The little girl’s face lit up, her earlier frustration disappearing instantly. "Perfect!"

With that, she finally started painting. I couldn’t see what she was creating from where I sat, but her little brush moved with intense focus while the tip of her tongue peeked out from the corner of her mouth in concentration.

My breathing turned uneven as I sat there, fighting with everything in me not to look up at the man beside me.

I was painfully aware of every slight shift of his body, and I didn’t miss the way his grip would absentmindedly tighten around my shoulders every now and then, pulling me just a little closer.

I was sure at least thirty minutes had passed with us sitting like this, the heavy silence stretching between us like a taut wire.

"Smile," the little girl suddenly said, her arms and shirt now covered in colorful streaks of paint.

I forced a small, awkward smile, my cheeks aching from how tense I was.

"No, a real smile," she insisted, shaking her head. "Like you’re happy."

I tried again, desperately searching for something that could make me smile.

But with Kaelen’s arm still wrapped around me, his warmth seeping through every layer between us and his clean, crisp scent filling my lungs, my mind went completely blank.

Besides, if I was being honest, I couldn’t think of a single happy memory strong enough to bring a genuine smile to my face, and that realization alone made my expression fall.

"A hippo wearing a tutu," Kaelen suddenly whispered beside me, his deep voice catching me completely off guard.

"What?" I whispered back, thoroughly confused.

I broke my own rule and glanced at him, only to find him still staring straight ahead at the canvas. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, but there was a genuine, soft smile tugging at his lips.

"That’s what I’m thinking of," he replied quietly.

Before I could stop it, a laugh bubbled up in my throat.

It came out of nowhere, a bright, startled sound that surprised even me. The image of a massive hippo squeezed into a tiny pink tutu was so ridiculous that it completely cleared away the heavy fog hanging over my head.

The little girl’s eyes lit up the second she saw my smile, and she immediately dipped her brush back into the paint, her hands moving even faster than before.

But when my laughter faded, I found myself staring at him for a little longer than necessary.

I studied the sharp line of his jaw and wondered if I was overthinking everything. Maybe he wasn’t actually avoiding me these past few weeks. Why else would he say something like that just to make me smile? And now that we were sitting this close together, maybe this was finally the right time to properly thank him for everything he had done for me so far.

"All done!" the little girl announced loudly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

She immediately stepped back from her easel.

I rose to my feet, grateful for the chance to stretch my legs and finally see her masterpiece.

A warm smile stayed on my face as I walked over to the canvas, but the second my eyes landed on the painting, my smile froze.

It was a stick drawing.

Just two crudely painted stick figures with oversized heads, one with long hair and a paper cap, holding hands in the middle of a chaotic explosion of colorful streaks.

"Wow," I said, recovering quickly so I wouldn’t accidentally crush her feelings. "This is... really beautiful."

"You think so?" the little girl asked, her face lighting up even more as her eyes sparkled with excitement.

My heart softened instantly.

I crouched back down to her level and gently patted her head.

"You did really good," I told her with a smile. "You should be proud of yourself."

The little girl nodded eagerly. "Thank you, Miss... Miss, uhm..."

"Ella," I supplied gently.

"Thank you, Miss Ella." She gave a surprisingly polite little bow. "I’ll go show my friends!"

With that, she grabbed her canvas and took off across the grass, shouting excitedly for her friends as she ran.

I let out a slow breath, a genuine smile lingering on my face as I watched her disappear into the crowd.

But the moment she was gone, reality came crashing back.

The heaviness settled right back into my chest, and I remembered Kaelen.

Realizing we were finally alone and that this was probably the perfect opportunity to talk to him, I turned around, taking a steadying breath.

Only to find him already walking away.

His back was to me as he headed toward the main building, his long strides carrying him farther across the field with every second.

I stared after him in disbelief.

Was he seriously still doing this? At that moment my hands curled into fists at my sides in frustration.

For an entire month I hadn’t caught a glimpse of his shadow, and now that I finally had the chance, he was doing this.

Before I could stop myself or think about the consequences, I did the most stupid thing.

I spun around and hurried across the field after him.