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-TWENTY FIVE: EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUS-

Cinder can't stop fidgeting.

She doesn't pay attention to whatever her English teacher is trying to say, knowing that she's probably going to fail her exam but not really caring.

She doesn't even bother to unpack her stuff, keeping her bag on so she can run out of the room once the lesson is over.

Cinder almost crashes into Kai as the two of them reach the same corridor.

"Woah, slow down, empress." Kai smiles.

"Kai, I..."

"I know."

Cinder just groans, "I want to kill Simone."

"You're still a student, please don't."

Cinder laughs, but it's a dangerous laugh. It's the kind of distracted laugh people do when they're secretly thinking of something else and trying not to make it obvious.

"Cinder, you're thinking again."

She winks at Kai as she bell goes, the two of them separating once again.

At this point, her teachers all know she's not going to pay attention, so it's not a shock to anyone when she just stares out of the window for the whole math lesson.

"Hey, Cinder?" someone asks.

She turns at the door, looking for whoever the voice belongs to. It's the boy with curly, pitch black hair that's probably never been touched with a comb.

"You are?"

He shakes his head. "A friend of Kai's. Ask Simone about her father," he advises.

Cinder's so busy frowning that she doesn't notice him slipping out of the classroom. Shaking her head, she pushes the boy to the back of her mind.

Cinder slides along the hallway, trying to remember which classroom Kai's last lesson was meant to be in. She almost goes straight past the room he's in, having to stumble backwards.

Her eyes widen.

Kai and Simone are spinning around each other. She assumes they're dancing, then remembers that common sense is a thing and tries to figure out what they're actually doing, which is fighting.

The two of them are exchanging punches and kicks the way Cinder and Thorne usually exchange insults.

As she watches, Kai blocks a punch from Simone and pushes her back, spinning on his left foot and lifting his right in the air so that it catches Simone's jaw. Simone shrieks but jumps back up, knocking out Kai's knees and elbowing him. Kai coughs but kicks her shin and she buckles just enough for Kai to whack his head onto hers.

Kai waits for her to get up, raking a hand through his hair. When she doesn't try to attack him again, he murmurs something to which she scowls.

"Fine, you win this time." Simone makes a show of wiping the dust off her dress. "You can't win forever."

"I've not had any problems so far and I don't see you getting much better any time soon." Kai folds his arms.

Cinder can't help laughing.

Both Kai and Simone turn to her, but only Kai runs to her and hugs her. "Hey, empress!"

"Stars, you can fight," Cinder laughs.

Kai grins, and Cinder spends far too long admiring his dimples, before turning back to Simone.

"You better keep your end of the bet."

Simone grits her teeth but nods. "You won, I accept that."

"Bet?" Cinder asks once Simone's angrily stormed out of the room.

"She didn't think I could beat her," Kai explains.

"Her mistake."

"Cinder, I can keep fighting her but there's next to no chance of her betting away the marriage."

"Why does she want to marry you anyway?" Cinder asks.

Kai raises an eyebrow. "I'm not actually that bad, you know."

Cinder's eyes widen for a minute before she catches Kai's amused expression. She shakes her head, laughing, and links their hands together as they walk towards the bus stop.

"You know what I mean!"

"I don't think she does want to marry me," Kai says thoughtfully.

"When's the last time you had an eye test done?"

"Sorry?"

"Because you've got to be blind not to see our current situation," Cinder finishes.

Kai rolls his eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Cinder giggles.

"I think Simone's just doing whatever Levana orders her to," Kai admits.

Cinder bites her lip.

"I don't know, but think about it. Why would anyone want to marry someone they've never even seen before?" Kai carries on. "And I'm sure you know how manipulative Levana is."

Cinder nods. "Why would Levana need you?"

Kai chuckles; Cinder cracks a smile before her frown returns.

"I don't know what she'd gain from… from an orphan…" Kai stops, his voice faltering. "I have to go,"

"Kai!"

Cinder watches as Kai sprints into one of the smaller roads opposite their school, unable to follow him until the stream of people getting onto the bus has thinned out.

"Cinder?" Winter asks.

"Take these!" Cinder throws her and Kai's bags at Winter before sprinting.

She hears Cress mutter something about being annoyingly mysterious before the buzz of students is replaced by the buzz of fading street lights. She follows the alley's twists and turns until she gets to what looks like an open field surrounded by trees.

"How am I supposed to find Kai here?"

She gasps as the unmistakable sound of a small explosion rings out.

"I guess that's how,"

She runs towards the sound, almost tripping over the weeds hidden in the grass. When she gets to the tiny clearing through the trees where the explosion had come from, she frowns.

"Kai?"

Then his arms are around her, his grin wide. "You're so slow!"

"Shut up!" Cinder mutters. "What are we doing here?"

"Orphan. I'm an orphan," Kai states, rather obviously.

"I know, and I'm sorry…"

Kai shakes his head. "No, you don't get it, Levana needs an orphan."

"I'm sure there's an abundance of orphanages she could have chosen from!" Cinder exclaims.

"Shh!" Kai places a finger on her lips. "There's also the fact that it would get back at you."

"What? Where are you getting all this information?" Cinder asks.

Kai makes a face at her, as if she's asked about the moon in a conversation regarding tomatoes. Cinder folds her arms defensively, trying her best to understand what he's trying to say.

"Levana wasn't born here and she can't get a citizenship so she can't stay here unless she has a valid reason."

"Right, and?" Cinder asks, never having understood laws in the first place.

"Her daughter getting married is a perfectly good reason," Kai says.

"Oh, stars…" Cinder mutters. "That makes a lot more sense,"

Kai shakes his head. "And I'm meant to be the oblivious one."

"Says who?" Cinder asks.

"Says you!" Kai laughs.

Cinder sticks her tongue out for lack of a better response, then sighs, "Why are we standing in the middle of a forest?"

"Haven't you heard? All masterminds grow their information on trees." Kai winks.

Cinder tries not to smile, she really does.

"I hate to affect that smile but we should go before anything else explodes."

Cinder stares at him in shock but grabs his hand and starts running.

Something explodes behind them but she ignores it, focusing on the feeling of running beside Kai.

Of being with Kai.

It's the only feeling she really needs.

-END OF CHAPTER-

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