Chapter 141: Lovers Paradise

Aina & Vance

"Okay, so where are we?" Aina asked, looking around the towering stone archway in front of them with a deep frown.

Vance pushed his hands out toward the entrance, throwing his shoulders back with a proud grin. "This is a botanical retreat." Aina raised an eyebrow, adjusting her glasses. "A botanical retreat? Why have you brought me to some garden forest place?"

Currently, they were standing right beneath a massive wooden sign that read Lovers’ Paradise in glowing cursive letters. Through the archway, the path disappeared into a dense wall of tall pine trees and thick greenery. It looked like a natural forest, but it couldn’t actually be one, a neat wooden fence ran along the perimeter, showing that it was just a massive patch of land where someone had planted a forest on purpose.

"Why are we here?" Aina repeated, crossing her arms over her uniform.

"For our second date, I brought you to the most peaceful place I could think of," Vance said, his chest puffing out slightly.

I definitely have this date in the bag, Vance thought to himself, grinning as he checked his notes mentally. Ally said she likes peace more than anything, and there is literally no place more peaceful than Lovers’ Paradise. I am a genius.

Aina stared at the trees, her stomach dropping. He brought me to a damn forest for peace?! she screamed internally, her eyes twitching. Is he actively trying to get me killed? Does he not know what happens to people in forests?! They die!

Vance pulled a folded paper out of his coat pocket, shaking it proudly in front of her. "We follow this map. At the end of the trail, there’s a private picnic spot where a full catering crew has prepared food for us. So, we have a peaceful walk, and then at the end, we eat."

Aina sighed, already exhausted hearing that she had to walk. "So... I’m walking for food?"

"No, no, no, no," Vance corrected quickly, waving his hand. "It’s a peaceful walk! It’s a botanical walk."

"You want me to walk through a forest?" Aina grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Can’t we just go back to the restaurant we went to last time? The one with the fish?"

"No," Vance said firmly. "And we’re not walking through a wild forest, without help. We have a man, we just have to follow the map."

Aina let out a loud, miserable sigh, stepping past him. "Fine, whatever. Let’s just get this over with. And I hope your map-reading skills are better than mine."

Wait a second... Vance froze, staring at her back as his brain short-circuited. She can’t read a map? I can’t read a map either! Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad.

Aina walked through the pillar archway, turning her head when she realized he wasn’t following. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah! I’m coming!" Vance shouted, scrambling after her.

Vance, you cannot mess this up, he panicked opening the paper map and staring down at the dizzying lines of green and brown. Why on earth did they give us a paper map?! Why not just give us a GPS?!

They started walking down a narrow dirt trail surrounded by towering ferns. Vance felt sweat breaking out on the back of his neck as he tried to figure out whether the squiggly line meant left or right. Okay... right. I think.

He turned onto a side path, trying to sound casual to distract her from his growing panic. "So... what’s your real name, Travis?"

Aina paused, glancing at him sideways. "Huh? Aina."

Vance smiled gently, the sound of her name echoing softly in his head. "Wow. Aina. That’s a nice name. I’m pretty sure your parents loved you."

Aina let out a bitter laugh that carried zero humor. "No. My parents did not love me. They hated me. The only reason my name is Aina is because my grandmother named me. They used to just call me ’that one’ or ’that thing’ until my grandmother finally stepped in and gave me a real name."

Vance stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide as he stared at her. "What? That’s insane."

"Yep," Aina said, walking ahead without missing a beat. "Insanity is a pretty normal part of my world."

Vance caught up to her, his heart aching with a sudden, uncomfortable weight. "So... what was your childhood like?"

"Well, I didn’t really have much of a childhood," Aina replied, her voice flat as she looked at the trees. "I was too busy taking care of my family and doing chores."

Vance looked back down at the map, but at this point, he was just going on pure instinct, taking random left and right turns whenever the path split. "I don’t get it. Why does your family dislike you so much? It doesn’t make any sense. Omegas are usually treasured by their families."

"Well, I presented as an omega late," Aina explained, pulling a stray leaf off a branch as she walked. "And they always hated me because my mother was the second wife. She wasn’t the Luna of the pack, she was just like a second Luna, even though she was never officially recognized. My father hated me because of my mother, and because of the fact that he was forced to marry her."

Vance frowned, turning down another random path. "Had to marry her? I don’t understand. Why did he have to?"

"Drunken decisions, my friend," Aina said, popping her knuckles. "Drunken decisions. I’ve heard the story so many times. It’s why I stay completely away from alcohol. I might just end up having a child that I’ll grow up to hate and despise."

Vance went completely quiet, his jaw tight. Aina glanced over at his silent face and sighed. "I’m joking. Even if I do have a child from a drunken decision, I won’t hate it. In fact, I would love that child with everything I have."

A tiny, choked whimper escaped Vance’s throat. Aina stopped, blinking in confusion. Vance had pulled the map up to completely cover his face, but his shoulders were trembling violently.

She walked closer, bending down to peek under the paper. "Are you... crying?"

"No!" Vance choked out, his voice thick and muffled behind the map.

"Oh my gosh, you are crying!" Aina blurted out, her eyes widening. "Why are you crying?!"

"Your childhood is just so sad!" Vance sobbed, wiping his eyes frantically with his sleeve. "And we... my brothers and I... we didn’t make anything better for you, did we?!"

Aina stood there, completely stunned. "Oh... there’s no reason to cry! It’s all right. It’s not your fault... well, it’s kind of your fault, but it’s fine! There’s nothing you could have done about my parents."

"I know!" Vance wailed, sniffling heavily. Aina let out a long breath, reluctantly reaching out to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders. She patted his back awkwardly. "There, there... it’s all right. It’s all right."

Vance sniffed, pulling back and wiping his face. "Okay... I’m fine."

Why is HE the one crying when I’m the one who actually went through the abuse?! Aina thought, rolling her eyes toward the sky in utter disbelief. He has to be an empath. Wow. A royal prince who’s a hyper-sensitive empath. What a weird combination.

Right on cue, a loud, violent rumble echoed from Aina’s stomach. They stood there awkwardly in the middle of the trail. Aina cleared her throat, pulling her arms back. "Okay... yeah. We need to get that food now. I’m starving."

Vance wiped his nose, looking down at the crumpled map. "Oh, yes! We... we go straight!"

"Oh, okay," Aina said, taking a confident step forward onto the dirt path.

CRASH!

"AAAH!"

Aina went flying straight downward, her body tumbling through a layer of hidden leaves before crashing hard onto the dirt floor of a deep, concealed pit.

"Ow!" Aina groaned, rubbing her lower back as dirt settled over her glasses. She looked up, seeing Vance’s head poke over the top edge of the pit, looking down at her with wide, terrified eyes.

"Oh, sorry!" Vance called down. "How did you get down there.?" Aina glared up at him through her dirty lenses. "I went straight, just like you told me to go straight!"

"Okay, don’t panic! I’ll get you out!" Vance said frantically, looking around the ground. "Just give me a second! Let me find a stick!"

He rushed off, coming back a second later with a thin, brittle tree branch. He leaned over the edge, dangling the stick down into the hole. "Here! Grab this!"

Aina stared at the tiny branch, her jaw dropping. "How am I supposed to get up with a stick?! Please tell me how on earth that is supposed to work!"

Vance blinked, looking at the stick. "Yeah... that doesn’t work. It only works in movies."

Aina pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a frustrated breath. "I don’t understand. How did I even fall in a ditch? The map should have marked a massive pit on the main trail!"

Vance rubbed the back of his neck, looking intensely guilty. "Is this... a bad time to say that I can’t read a map?"