bitternpillâ:
Barkis had not, in fact, gone out of his way since arriving in Corona to find Emily. He hadnât kept tabs on her, hadnât asked around to find her most frequent haunts to make himself a presence, because quite frankly he had better things to do with his time. And anyway, this was much better, the call of fate or chance, finding her doing her shopping of all things, with the little one he knew absolutely nothing about, but he still hadnât seen a father. Perhaps not surprising, but still curious. More curious still, Emily sent her away. All Barkis had uttered was a coy, âFancy seeing you here,â and Emily responded with quite disproportionate rage, he thought. He wondered why.
His answer came easily, unruffled. âTo say hello? Thereâs nothing wrong with greeting an old friend, last time I checked, but I can tell you disagree. Itâs been a while since Iâve seen you, Emily.â His voice grew softer then, less haughty though there was always an air of privilege in his tone that he couldnât shake if he tried. âI almost thought youâd run off again. Itâs good to see you.â
Emily rolled her eyes at him. âI am not leaving Corona because of you. I have a life here. One that I made on my own, thank you.â And one that was perfect before he showed up. âAlso, we are not friends. We arenât anything to each other.â She hated how childish she always felt in comparison to him. He always dressed and talked so maturely and she felt like he was talking down on her even when he wasnât trying. âItâs best if we pretend like we donât know one another. It would make my lif-â she stopped herself the moment she felt Helena tugging at her dress. âHelena, darling, this isnât the time..â she turned to look at her, gently taking the candy she had brought to her and placing it in their cart. âOkay, you can have that oneâŚnow please be a dear and go pick out some fruits for mommy.â She pressed a kiss to Helenaâs head and watched her safely go over to the produce section before turning once more to Barkis. âAre we done here?â
Barkis shook his head, aghast at the accusations that Emily seemed quite content to level against him, and none with any basis. "I would never try to force you out of a life you built," he murmured, softer now, and that was true enough. He likes to play, to see what he could do, to see what sort of influence he had on people, especially those he'd loved or lost in one way or another, and Emily was the most innocent candidate for both realities in Barkis's life. He was listening to her, actively even, curious to see what she had left to fight him on, when the child came up to her again, and Barkis squinted. Smiled, of course - he wasn't a monster - but he was certainly curious. Emily sent her away just as quickly as she'd arrived, and Barkis, against his best instincts, cocked his head just slightly to the side. "How old?"




















