Author's Note: HAI GUUUUUYYYYYYYYSSSSS ! It's been ages since I've been here! I missed you all, I missed writing, I miss the Peculiar family, esp Soleil and Millard in particular. I don't have enough time yet to really the story, so I just uploaded this one-shot I wrote a few months ago, just so we can feel the romance again. 3 Wieee. :3 Anyway, it's almost summer, which means...? I'll be updating real soon! I'm so excited. ^_^

Anyway, thanks for the continued support, this is my gift to all of you, have fun. Hope you enjoy. :)

"Can we just please take a break now?" Horace complains. I sigh. "Fine. We'll need all the energy we can get right now but first thing we do later night is walk. And we'll keep walking and walking until... Well until we come across something," I shrink into myself again, knowing not what to do. Enoch looks at me with disgust but I try to shake it off.

If only Emma and Jacob were here, we wouldn't be as doomed as we are now. I know all the facts and I'm certainly great when it comes to analyzing situations and things like that but I have not the slightest clue about leadership. I feel a pat on my back. "Don't put too much weight on yourself, you're doing great." Soleil whispers, smiling sweetly.

We divided into two groups, my group and Enoch's. My group consists of Soleil, Horace, Bronwyn, Marlon and Olive while Enoch is with Melina, Hugh, Deirdre, Yuan and Isla. We walk on opposite sides of the road so as not to create conflicts between Marlon and Enoch. Enoch didn't want to go anywhere near Marlon so he basically separated himself from us, walking on the opposite side of the road. We can't let anyone walk alone so Hugh suggested we divide equally.

I sit against a tree and huff while Soleil sits beside me. "I know nothing on how to lead a pack of peculiar children, Sol. God, if you knew Emma – "

"If I knew Emma then I would know better than to compare you with her." She cuts me, fixing my collar and smoothening it out. It briefly passes into my mind that this is how it would be every morning if I went to work when she became my wife. Then Soleil would give me a kiss and wave goodbye with our child as I walk out of the house. As soon as I realize what I'm thinking, my cheeks flush.

I try to remember what Soleil had replied to me and exhale. She continues, completely oblivious of what just happened. "Emma may be a great leader, but having to protect and take care of a bunch of peculiar children for a very long period of time can and will do that to you. As for you, you're only getting the hang of it now and you're not doing bad at all..."

I shake my head. "Stop making me feel better." She laughs. "Whatever you do, I will always try to make you feel better. But surely I'll do it in the sincerest way," and with that, she smiles her sweet, sugary, sunny smile. We sit in silence after that while she plays with a twig she found in the grass.

"Damn is it hot," she mutters. Soleil pulls her hair up, twists it and puts it in a bun on top of her head. She uses the twig to secure it, not noticing she left out one lock of her hair and now it falls just on the side of her face.

Without noticing, I was actually staring at her and admiring every detail of how she looks now. How the afternoon sun brings out the green in her eyes and creates these rays of light that highlights the color of her lip as she bites it, how the shape of her jaws are emphasized as she turns her head sideways, the prominence of her collarbones, how the color of her hair radiates as the light hits it, everything. I feel afloat when I see her, out of my own senses.

She grunts, noticing the stray lock. She moves to tuck it in the bun but I stop her. "No, don't!"

"Don't what?" Soleil says, clearly puzzled. I gulp and turn away. She chuckles. "Don't what, Millard?" And because Soleil has an amused look painted on her face, I struggle to find my voice. "N-nothing..."

"Oh c'mon Mill..." she laughs and smiles so bright I was almost convinced I wasn't going to be humiliated when I told her what I was thinking. There was no point in still hiding it however, so I tell her.

"Don't... tuck that stray lock in," I say in a total rush. She touches her hair and asks, "Oh, this? Why not?"

I had to tell her, but I didn't want to. Well, I did, but I didn't have the guts. But I had to tell her, I want to, but I don't. This thought ran over and over in my head, until I had this tiny bit of courage mustered inside me and I just blurted it out. "Because you look... stunning," Soleil makes this awkward but cute smile, crinkles her nose and looks away. You don't have to look at her to know she's blushing. I laugh first, a shaky, nervous laugh, then she follows.

"Thank you. That's... That's very sweet for you to say. I – I'm flattered, honestly." Then she laughs heartily that I lost my nerves. I laughed too, because I was relieved that she hadn't taken this negatively, though I have no idea why she would even do that. I don't know, okay? The only thing I know is that I'm going crazy. "I apologize," I say, crinkling my nose in disgust but laughing all the same.

"There's nothing to apologize for," Soleil caresses my cheek and presses her lips against it. My eyebrows immediately shoot up, my chest tight. Only my eyes can move at this point. It really is a good thing she can't see me. "Hey now, don't you go suffocating on me," That's where everything wears off and I laugh again, putting my head in my hands. "Ah, birds. What am I even doing?"

"See you later, Mill." Soleil stands up to go get food for the journey (she knows her plants) and she takes Olive with her, but not before giving me a slight wink and biting her lip. I noticed she does that either when she's nervous, excited or over-emotional. Whichever she's feeling, I'm pretty sure they're all good things. I'm rather hoping for the second one though.