I ran my hands down my face in frustration at the dozens of emails Vullons sent me about him and his colleagues' multiple theories and hypotheses about what would come of my "love affair" with Syn-as he called it. Even emailing him back made me sick to my stomach. I used to love my work before he involved himself in every aspect of what I was doing. It'd only been a day of working with him and I was infuriated with how overbearing he was.

I adjusted the dress on my thigh as I crossed my legs and typed away on my computer. He sent me stupid questions about Syn-all to which I had no answers, but I had to bullshit it.

He was aware of my date with him tonight, and he reminded me multiple times to write an in-depth analysis of tonight and send it to him by six a.m.

Fuck my life. I buried my face into my hands and groaned. A knock sounded at my door, and I sat up, suddenly on high alert. I stood up, fixing the mini velvet dress as I walked to the door. When I opened the door, my eyes landed on Syn, and bit my tongue in an effort to keep my mouth from dropping.

His hands were shoved into the pockets of his jeans, his almost see-through white shirt showcasing the display of tattoos on his torso. I never imagined him as a leather jacket and jeans type of guy, but as I looked at him, my mouth watered.

Damn.

"Hey," I breathed out, clearing my throat as I looked back up at him.

"Hi," he said to me, "you ready?"

"Yes, let me just grab my...jacket." I closed the door and leaned against it, allowing myself to take a few deep breaths. I wished he wasn't so damn attractive. How was I supposed to work when I wanted to melt every time he looked at me?

I pushed my hair out of my face, quickly grabbed my purse and jacket, and left the room. "Where are we going?"

"I have no idea," he said. "I've never done this before and I figured you'd just tell me what you wanted to do."

I held back a small smile at the fact that I was the first person he was going on a date with, and I cleared my throat. "We can go anywhere?"

"Anywhere you want," he said.

I bit my lip, knowing exactly where I wanted to go and I looked up at him. "In that case, I need to change."

"Where do you want to go?"

"It's a surprise," I whispered, handing him my purse and jacket as I disappeared into my room.

꧁꧂

I clapped my hands and bounced in the seat excitedly as Syn pulled into the parking lot of the amusement park. After being so busy and miserable with work, this was what I needed. And who better to go with than the man who seemed like he needed to loosen up a bit. "Are you sure this is the place?" He lowered his head to look at the scene and I took note of the nervous gulp in his throat.

I smiled at him. "This is the place." He acted a bit strange as we left the car, but I didn't pay much mind to it. It was his first date, and as hard as it was to believe, maybe he was nervous. I looked up at him as we walked to the entrance and saw his eyes focused on the floor, his face set in a stone expression.

I moved closer to him in hopes of getting him to loosen up, and I locked my arm with his. "Excited?" I asked, peeking up at him. He responded with a curt nod, and I snickered silently. Something was going on, and I was sure I'd figure it out sooner rather than later.

We bought our tickets, walked inside the park together, and I smiled as the familiar screams of the people on the ride filled my ears. The rumbling of the ground beneath us from the rollercoasters made me bounce up and down in my spot and squeal excitedly. My movements jolted Syn's arm, yet he didn't seem to mind it. If he did, he sure didn't say it. Instead, he watched me with what seemed like curiosity.

"Let's go on that one." I pointed at the biggest ride, gasping as it shot up into the sky. I glanced towards Syn whose eyes remained on the high rollercoaster as his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Okay," he whispered. At his single word, I pulled him through the crowd of people and to the line for the ride. The line was thankfully short, and I stood in front of Syn, slightly bobbing my head to the music. I didn't know when our hands had intertwined like they were now, but I didn't mind it.

I looked over my shoulder at him and our eyes connected, making me bite the inside of my cheek before turning back around. For someone who asked me out to talk, he was strangely silent. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Hmm?"

"When you asked me out." I glanced at him. "You said you wanted to talk about us?"

"It can wait until after we leave," he said. "Just have fun." I nodded, turning back around and humming to the tune of the music filling the air. I felt Syn's free hand slowly snake itself around my waist, and pull me against his hard body. Shit...his hand was rested at the waistband of my denim shorts, his touch sending spurts of fire through my body whenever he touched the bare skin under my hoodie.

I swallowed, letting my hands rest on his forearm, and eventually, his other arm found its way around me. As strange as it was, I had never felt safer than I did right there in his hold. His muscular arms creating a sort of cocoon from the windy night.

We remained that way until we reached the front of the line and Syn completely pulled away from me, making me frown at the sudden loss of touch. "Where do you want to sit?" I asked him, looking at all the available rows.

"It doesn't matter." He shrugged. He must not have been an amusement park enthusiast because everyone knew that an entire ride could be good or bad just depending on where you sat. Seeing as he wasn't as excited as I was, I chose a random row and we got hooked up.

I spent the entire ride holding back screams as my stomach did cartwheels from all the flips and turns. When we finished, I staggered off of the seat and laid my hands on my knees to catch my breath. "No more roller coasters," I muttered. That sentence was one of the quickest promises to myself I ever broke.

I pulled Syn along with me to almost every ride in the park and I stuffed my face with an obscene amount of cotton candy. As the night died down, I began to take notice of just how withdrawn Syn was. He was no longer touching me at all and he only spoke when I talked to him first. Was he losing interest already?

I looked to my side to see his brows furrowed as he walked beside me and I sighed. "Syn, if you want we can just call it a n-"

He held a hand in the air to silence me before holding a hand over his stomach. Within a second, he turned his back to me and hunched over, hurling up the contents of his stomach into the bushes beside us. I quickly moved beside him, rubbing his back as he continued throwing up and when he was done, I passed him the few napkins I had in my hand.

He held it over his mouth, taking a couple of deep breaths into it as he stepped away from me. "Are you okay?" I whispered, worry creasing my features. He closed his eyes, nodding and I sighed. "I'll drive you home and-"

"I'm fine," he said, weakly tossing the napkins into a trash can beside us and facing his head towards the sky.

"This entire night you seemed like you didn't want to be here, Syn," I said. "You can be honest with me, you know?"

"You want honesty?" He asked, looking down at me. I nodded and he swallowed a breath before placing a hand on his stomach. "Heights make me sick, sweets make me nauseous, and carnival music gives me headaches."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "I gave you so much cotton candy and..." I dropped my hands.

"You were so excited to have me try everything," he said. ", I'm different enough as is and I didn't feel like disappointing you tonight."

"You wouldn't have disappointed me, Syn." I smiled. "I knew who you were when you asked me to go out with you tonight. You didn't need to pretend with me."

"Okay good." He let out a breath. "Some guy on the first ride screamed that it was raining, but I think my throw up got on him." I held back a small laugh and shook my head. I took notice of the slight jitteriness of his body, and my heart reached out for him.

I had dragged him all over the place tonight, and he quietly did everything while slowly dying inside. What an idiot. A very cute and adorable idiot though. I opened my arms in front of him and he slowly stepped into the hug. He bent down, burying his head into the crook of my neck as I pat his back.

"Let's go get you something to eat, Syn."

꧁꧂

I took deep breaths into the brown bag as I sat back in my passenger seat. Tonight was a fucking mess. I tried my best to keep up with her, and let go for the night, but shit didn't exactly go as planned. Now I had cotton mouth, and there was no way I could have a serious conversation with her let alone kiss her.

Queen started my car, pushing the seat forward until she was almost hugging the steering wheel. "Have you ever driven?" I asked her lowly, groaning as my empty stomach began doing flips.

"Yes, Syn," she muttered. "Just trust me and rest."

"Mmm."

"Do you want gum?" She asked me.

"What are you trying to say?"

Her laugh filled the car, making me relax a bit and she shook her head. "I'm not saying anything. I just didn't know if you liked the taste of throw up..."

"I'll take the gum," I mumbled. She reached into her shirt, pulling out a packet of gum and holding it out for me. I side eyed her as I took it from her hand, and she laughed at my expression. "Do you always keep gum in your boobs?"

She giggled, looking over at me. "I keep whatever the day requires me to keep in here."

"What happened to purses?" I whispered, my vision blurring as I took one stick of gum out. I unwrapped it, plopping it into my mouth and closing my eyes as Queen started the car. She turned on some light music on the radio, cracking the windows open, and I had never felt more comfortable than I did at that moment.

Her low singing along to the lyrics of the song playing in the car somehow cleared the fogginess in my head, and I slowly began to feel better. My eyes opened, taking in our surroundings in traffic, and I turned to Queen. "Where are you taking me?"

"Why do you say that like I'm kidnapping you?" She smiled, keeping her eyes on the road. A small thump in front hitting the windshield of the car made Queen gasp loudly, hitting the brakes, and my eyes snapped to the source of the noise. A small orange fairy laid on the glass, her face squished up to the glass as she looked at us with wide eyes. "Oh no! Is she dead?" Queen panicked, getting ready to exit the car as people behind us honked.

I grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving as I sat up. "She's not dead. I can hear her groaning," I muttered.

"We should help..." I pressed the button in front of Queen to activate the windshield wipers and Queen gasped as the wiper swatted the fairy away in one fatal swoop. I sat back, feeling nothing as I handled the situation while Queen looked at the clear spot with her mouth dropped in shock. "Syn, you did not..."

"I did."

I prepared for some rant from her about how wrong it was, but instead, she began laughing. The hearty laugh was louder than I'd ever heard from her and she held onto her stomach as she began wheezing.

A loud and extended honk from someone behind her made her realize where we were and she sat up, letting her laugh die down as she began driving again. "Sorry," she said, directing it to the person behind her even though they couldn't hear her. I on the other hand, raised my arm through the cracked window and flipped them off. They could've waited a damn second, and I hated the fact that she was apologizing.

We went to a restaurant close to the palace and had a quick meal. One where I was force spoon fed soup by Queen, and she teased me with pulling the spoon whenever I was about to eat. My irritation was quickly combatted with either her smile and her laugh that made me forget why I was upset at all.

Queen yawned as we pulled into the palace and I realized that I didn't even ask her what I needed to. She reached into the backseat for the large teddy bear I had won for her earlier in the night, and I cleared my throat to get her attention. "Can we talk before we go in?"

"Sure." She nodded.

I swung my head in her direction, my eyes locking with hers. "I need you to move into my bedroom."

She frowned. "What?"

"You're not safe, Queen. Whoever this is has already broken into your bedroom, taken pictures of you while you were sleeping and chased you down the palace halls. I don't like the idea of you being by yourself. I can protect you while you-"

"Okay," she whispered.

"Okay?" I questioned, surprised that she didn't put up more of a fight.

"Yeah, I'd feel safer with you," she said softly. I didn't know whether it was the faint music in the background, or the way lazy way she was looking at me...but I never wanted to kiss her more. Her eyes floated down to my lips as she licked her own, and I leaned closer to her. Before our lips could connect, I pulled away, remembering everything that happened tonight.

"Throw up," I reminded her in a hushed voice. She smiled, leaning over the seat and placing a small kiss on my cheek before grabbing her things and leaving the car.

What the hell are you doing to me?

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I answered it as I exited the car. "Hello?"

"Syn, it's me." I recognized my mother's voice as I climbed the steps of the palace.

"How may I help you?

"Let Queen know that her parents are coming for lunch the day after tomorrow and that they're bringing...Sebastian?"

"Who is that?"

"I'm not sure. That's all they told me." I hung up the phone after saying a quick goodbye, and caught up with Queen at the entrance of the palace.

"Your parents are coming in a couple of days for lunch apparently," I said.

"Okay." She nodded.

"And they're bringing someone named Sebastian..." I said, eyeing her reaction.

"Hmm."

"Who is he?"

"It's complicated." She sighed.

"Un-complicate it."

"He's my ex."

Oh.