"You want to marry Trent, just to mess with his ex?" Clarence was incredulous.

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

"Wow. WOW."

Cygnet shrugged. Why was Clarence making such a big deal about this? "I mean, she's being a nosy bitch and she doesn't seem to accept that he's moved on, so like, what's the problem with just proving it?"

"By legally marrying him."

Cygnet gave Clarence a sardonic look. "I told you," she said, in the same tone of voice she used with Elior sometimes, "she has this really nosy friend who could cause trouble if we half-ass this." She shook her head slightly and dropped to a whisper, her voice more placating. "Look, I'm doing this as a favor to him, okay? He's been a good friend to the family. And I mean, we can get divorced in a year or so—"

"Are you really that naïve?" Clarence interrupted, also in a whisper.

Cygnet scoffed disbelievingly. She was anything but naïve!

"You really think he's going to let you go? I've seen the way he looks at you. I said I was fine with sharing you, but this whole scheme is starting to sound like he wants me out of the picture and is using his crazy ex-girlfriend as an excuse."

"Ha," Cygnet intoned. "It was my idea, actually. We don't want you out of the picture."

"But you want me to give you away?"

"Ceremonially! It's a figure of speech, Clarence, one you'd be familiar with if—" She clapped a hand over her mouth, stopping herself from saying something really mean. "Anyway, I love you and I trust you. But I also love him, and he hasn't given me any reason to not help him out. He's been so, just, remarkably honest, almost…" She licked her lips nervously. "Almost scary honest," she breathed. What she'd seen in the storage unit had thrown her for a loop, just like that time she'd come home from school to find Trent in her room when Clarence and Elior were out shopping and apparently had no idea Trent was there. But she knew Trent wasn't the kind of person you wanted to put on the defensive, so of course she'd been delighted to see him! And of course she was grateful to him for his unending honesty, and she'd do anything she could to help him! Right?

Clarence had known her long enough to understand her train of thought as he watched the expression on her face. Cygnet was good at making herself blend in with whomever she needed to and letting people think what they wanted about her, but she wasn't entirely without autonomy. She'd always been the type to steer into the skid, to think ten steps ahead of any danger and then exploit what she could to keep herself out of trouble. She hoped, now, that Clarence knew she hadn't suddenly lost her mind and decided to abandon her family to run off with a man she'd met at the goddamn pool.

"Okay. Fine," he relented. "I'll give you away. Just bail out as soon as you can, alright? Stay safe."

Cygnet nodded her thanks. She didn't think she was in any immediate danger. Trent had clearly come to depend on this idea he had of her in his head: a combination of expectations he'd had of his ex, and a fantasy of what being loved felt like. He had told her and shown her some pretty extreme things, not that she couldn't relate to them, but looking in a gender-flipped mirror was uncanny, to say the very least. She was careful to the point of being gentle with him in a way she was not with others. He had a dark streak that mirrored her own, and the resources to go farther with his than she could with hers. Knowing this was a blessing because she knew what to expect from him and she knew how to avoid triggering him.

She was genuinely fond of him. If she'd never met Clarence, Trent would be absolutely everything she could ever want in a man. He was intelligent, resourceful, generous, always soft-spoken and mild-mannered, talented at just about everything he did, not to mention stunningly handsome and a strikingly intuitive lover. He was also truly sweet-natured and romantic in a way other men she'd dated were not. Besides, there was a sense of... almost innocence about him. The boyish joy that lit up his face and infused his voice when she showed him any sort of affection or gratitude was incredibly endearing.

But she was afraid, not that he would endanger her in any way, but that if she made this commitment to him, he might lose interest. Playing house with another man, she was a challenge, something to strive for. If she married him, even if she refused to let him edge Clarence out, he would believe her primary devotion was to himself and, in Cygnet's experience, men got bored when something was handed to them on a silver platter. It would be a fine line to walk, having him continue to chase her without triggering a spiral.

This wasn't something she could talk about with Trent, because why plant the seed in his head? Or, conversely, he would rush to assure her that wasn't the case, and his sweet romantic attention could become suffocating in his attempt to overcorrect for other men. This also wasn't something she could talk about with Clarence, because Trent was pretty likely to listen in on their conversations, from what she knew of him. She also couldn't write it down, because anything written could be found. She'd begun taking care to write only positive things or things with which she actually wanted Trent's tangible assistance in her diary.

She was careful as could be; even so, she felt herself actually falling for Trent more and more, day after day. Something about him, or perhaps everything about him, called out to her irresistibly. She and Clarence had had a lot in common shortly after they'd met, partly because she had remolded her interests to suit his before their first breakup. She had been drifting through life, he had caught her, and she hadn't wanted to let him go. But she and Trent had a lot in common right off the bat. Sure, some of it could be because he had been observing her for a while before they met, but much of it just felt innate. She really did love them both, and as long as she didn't have to choose, she'd be fine.

She took a minute to re-comb her hair and collect her thoughts before going downstairs to tell Trent the good news— "Clarence gave us the go-ahead, and he's even willing to give me away!"— delivered with the brightest of smiles, of course. The delight on Trent's face was endearing (Cygnet couldn't resist a man with dimples) and she gave him a tender kiss.

"I love you so much," he murmured, holding her close to his body with strong, gentle arms and breathing in the scent of her hair. She'd let him draw her a bath and wash her hair before she'd gone up to talk to Clarence. Now, she cuddled into him and held him tightly, stifling tears of stress and relief.

"I love you too," she said after a breath. "And I love these sweaters you wear, they're so soft and cozy."

Later, after Trent had gone to sleep for the night, Cygnet went into his unused second bedroom with a small blanket she was crocheting and her phone, intending to open Nook and make her phone's accessibility read out loud to her. But she got distracted by her Instagram notifications. Rebecca had responded, and how. She'd expressed her own view of events at length, and had ended the stream of messages with: What do you even see in someone like him?

Cygnet sighed. She could be the bigger person and let this go, or she could continue feeding into this petty feud. It was past midnight and she had nothing better to do, so she decided to just dive back into the drama. Addressing only the last message, she wrote:

He's romantically viable (read: hot, smart, successful, sweet, emotionally available) and interested in me. Why? Is that not your thing?

She suspected this girl was the type who only went after men who weren't entirely appropriate or viable and rejected the ones who were. If her suspicion was correct, she'd just hit below the belt with that question, but she was annoyed with this. It was really fucking audacious of the Rooftop Killer to go after the Almost Rooftop Deadee's subsequent relationships and try to instill doubt in them. In fact, she had reason to believe Trent had made his confession exonerating Rebecca under duress and that it was therefore inadmissible by California law. For now, she just wrote:

I'll send you an e-vite to the wedding. Cheers!

With that, she made her Nook app read to her, some 2-star story she'd gotten off Freebooksy that wasn't her usual area of interest but informative nonetheless. So she felt pretty neutral when her phone buzzed again with another series of angry replies.

(Boring, boring, boring) Are you really ignoring everything he's done just because (Boring, boring, boring) I do NOT only go for unavailable men (Boring, boring, boring) What WEDDING!? There's no wedding! You've known each other for two seconds!

Cygnet laughed disbelievingly. This girl was really something.

Yes, thank you for asking, she wrote back. He hasn't done anything to harm me, personally, so I couldn't give a fig about his past. I assumed you snubbed your nose at available men because he told me you had used him to get to a man who was dating another woman at the time, and then turned him away after he confessed to you. The wedding thing was a figure of speech, but if you must know, he's actually known me, or at least known *of* me, since 2018. I think that's a little bit closer to three years than two seconds.

She expected another barrage of angry, boring messages, but what she got back instead was:

That's impossible. Trent was in the hospital in 2018.

Cygnet clenched her jaw and glared down at her phone.

Yeah, I guess you'd know all about that, since you're the one who put him there, she shot back. He was transferred to a different hospital after he "confessed"... under duress from your friend, if memory serves? Kinda throws out your whole defense, don't you think? Hey, you went to a better school than dumb lil community college me - what's the statute of limitations on attempted murder again? Also, is it a crime to coerce someone into making a (potentially false) confession? Sorry, I'm a little rusty on crim :) Anyway, he says he first saw me a couple months before my ex-girlfriend and I broke up, which means December 2018. He heals, like, WICKED fast!

Cygnet was aware that she was just being mean-spirited at this point, making empty veiled threats, but she didn't care that much. Rebecca reminded her of how she'd been back when she and Yamazaki were together and she didn't like it one bit. She'd matured since then and it grated on her that this woman, who was two years older than herself, assuming Rebecca and Trent were the same age, was being so unnecessarily like this.

They kept arguing well into the wee hours, when Trent came in and saw Cygnet typing furiously on her phone, eyes dry and probably red from lack of sleep.

"I was wondering when you got up," he said, disappointment heavy in his voice. "Have you been in here all night?"

Cygnet looked up at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I got caught up in an argument online." There was no use lying; he'd probably already hacked into her Instagram DMs and read the entire conversation. She got up, slowly and stiffly, and stumbled into his arms. "I'll just go take a nap," she muttered into his chest. He hugged her tightly.

"I think you're putting too much energy into this feud with Rebecca," he said. "Does it really matter to you what other people think of me? I mean, you believe in me, and that's what's important, right?"

She nodded against him. He had a good point. "I'm sorry, Trenty Bear. It's just, when people criticize you for being calculating, scary, manipulative, or whatever, I take it personally. We're so compatible, and I think it's because we have so much in common. So when they call you toxic, it's like they're saying that about me, too."

Trent rubbed her back reassuringly. "People can be really mean when they don't understand you," he said. "But as long as we have each other, we can handle being misunderstood by others."

"You're so sweet and kind. I should be the one comforting you, and here you are, rescuing me from myself." She gave him a little nuzzle.

"You should get your rest, babygirl. I have to get ready for work or I'd go back to bed and rest with you." The San Jose branch of his software company was really taking off, and he would be interviewing for several positions today. Cygnet knew he took pride in his work and his success, but the love bubble they'd been in had put a dent in productivity and some of his staff had gotten overwhelmed. He'd offered her a job for when she graduated, but she didn't think it was a good idea for him to hire someone with whom he was romantically involved when there were loads of talented, hard-working, intelligent people who actually knew about computers. The only things she knew how to do were proofreading, office administration, and billing, and she'd told him so. He'd accepted her answer but left the offer open in case she changed her mind.

"I'll have dinner ready when you get home," she said, and padded off to the master bedroom.