"Well.. Mrs. and Mr.- umm.." The guy escorting us to our room faltered, not sure how to address my parents. Dad placed his hand on his right shoulder and said, "Mellarks. I am Peeta Mellark and she is Katniss Everdeen Mel-"
"Katniss and Peeta! Oh my godd! The rebellion guys! There's two chapters dedicated to you in History, Katniss madam! Two to you too Mr. Mellark! The Victor duo- Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! And Rise of the mockingjay- Katniss Everdeen! I heard you were hijacked by the President, Mr. Mellark! Oh! You're alright! They didn't tell us that you were married! I am gonna become famous! I am gonna inform everyone that you two got married!" He cried, definitely excited.
Mom and dad exchanged looks, not able to believe what he said. This shocked them completely. He had disturbed the inner peace they had due to Cinna's return.
This stupid fellow told my parents that they teach us about them.
Finnick! Poor Finnick!
He dropped his jaw, and widened his eyes in amazement.
"Dad hijacked someone?!" He asked.
"Doesn't your girl know about it too? They taught all of us about you in history, when we were 15. You know it no, girl?"
"This girl has a specific name! Call her Prim!" I blurted out, yelling all the insults I know at him, inside.
He pulled off the trigger.
"They teach you about us?" Mom asked, looking at me.
"Um-"
"Prim! Do you agree with Zeke?" Dad asked, almost on the verge of firing at me
Oh! So the guy's name is Zeke?! Who the heck does he think is?! I am not going to leave him...
I nodded my head, not able to believe that they found out about this. My plan was to silently disclose to them that we know about their past, after even Finnick learnt about the Games.
"I-I" Mom stuttered, almost losing her balance. She fell upon dad, who caught her by her arms right in time. Mom looked very shocked, she was muttering something to herself as dad dragged her to the room allotted to us. Finnick glanced at me as if asking me whether everything is okay and followed them, totally confused.
I turned towards the guy who was now scratching his head.
"Your parents are awesome!" He praised them. "What happened to Katniss?! I mean Mrs. Everdeen? Is she alright?"
I didn't reply. I was trying to contain my rage within me and control myself.
"Prim! Are y-"
"NO! I AIN'T ALRIGHT! YOU STUPID FELLOW! YOU JUST TOLD THEM WHAT I NEVER WANTED TO TELL THEM! YOU COMPLETELY UPSET THEM! THEY ARE BROKEN, ZEKE! THEY'RE MENTALLY DAMAGED FOREVER! YOU LITERALLY KILLED THEM!"
"Whoa! Babe! Calm do-"
"SHUT UP! NEVER TALK TO ME! AND... DO NOT CALL ME A BABY!"
"I said BABE."
"Whatever!" I yelled, panting for breath. He was staring at me as if I took him by surprise.
"You seem to be upset. I'll talk to you later!"
"NEVER SHOW ME YOUR FACE AGAIN! YOU MONKEY FILLED WITH FILTH!"
"Monkey filled with filth?" He laughed. "Girl! You're as scary as a guinea pig!" He said, and walked away.
"What?" I asked, no one in particular. He walked away, as if nothing ever happened.
I will make him feel guilty for upsetting my parents like this...
"Katniss! Are you okay?!" I asked, handing her a water bottle. She denied it, and I put it on the table. Luckily, Finnick and Prim have gone out, to play. We finally got some time. Alone
"Peeta! I knew, when they were born, that they would eventually get to know about us. But, so soon and that too at school?! Prim knew everything. Everything. And, yet, she was so cool as if we were normal, like her friends' parents." She breathed, her voice very soft.
I can understand. We never expected our daughter to know about us at school. She must have gotten this royal treatment and, I can somewhat imagine the pressure they exert on Prim because of us. The progeny of famous people often suffer from trying to meet up the standards of their parents. Their yardstick is slightly higher, compared to the others.
"Prim is brave, Katniss. Like you." I told, putting my hand on her shoulder. She squeezed it and lay her head on my hand.
"Like you too!"
I slowly began to stroke her hair. She didn't say anything, neither did I. Throughout our life, we have spent wordless moments, just acknowledging each others' presence and communicating through gestures and expressions. We find each other very comforting. Memories, horrible and terrible ones, from both the Games and the rebellion, taunt us. Katniss has often woken up in midnight, yelling, "Peeta! I ain't a mutt! Peeta..."
Its horrible. Looking at the reason I am alive today; my Katniss cry like that. It takes me a lot of energy to calm her down. How to explain to a distressed, scared woman, who is totally convinced that her husband thinks she is a mutt, that everything is alright?!
"Hey... Now, that I have thought about it... It won't be scary at all!" I said, breaking the awful silence surrounding us.
"What?" She asked, raising her head.
"Teenagers these days..." I paused, looking into her eyes. I took her hand and kissed smiled a little, and forced me to let go of her hand.
"What about them?"
"They're totally like the people of Capitol!" I said. She looked at me, quizzically, as if asking me to elaborate.
"Yeah. Remember how the Capitol people boasted about the star-crossed lovers and didn't bother a bit about the brutal killings?"
She nodded her head, and frowned a bit, not wanting to remember those times...
"Even our kids would do the same. And, they'd ship us."
"Ship?" She asked, clearly confused.
"Its like... Adoring a couple and believing they should get married." I said, to a laughing Katniss.
"Aha!"
"And, we'd be their OTP. Everyone's OTP."
"Peeta... What does that mean?!" She asked, clearly confused.
"One True Pairing... Probably?"
"You know too much!" She said, laughing.
"They would ship you and me, sometimes, with weird people... Like... You and Finnick, Johanna and me..."
"Yuck!" She spat, and started laughing again.
"Believe me, they would do everything except for focus on the brutality of the Games."
"You, sir, are a ray of sunshine!" Katniss said, beaming at me
I stood up, and bowed, as if thanking her.
"By the way, how do you know these..." She faltered.
"Prim." I said, without any conviction.
"What?!"
"She reads a lot of books..."
"You don't say!"
"She uses these words very frequently! They also combine the letters of their OTP. Like, there's Percabeth "
"Percy and Annabeth?" Katniss asked, looking smug.
"How do you know?!" I asked, surprised.
"She blabbers a lot." Katniss waved her hand, irritated.
"What would our name be?"
"Peeta +Katniss. Peeniss?" She asked.
"Yuck!" I grunted.
"Keeta?"
"No Katniss!"
"You try." She said, sitting straight. I love the way Katniss involved herself in some childish things.
"Everdeen+Mellark. Melldeen."
"Everlark " Katniss said.
"Yesssss! Everlark!". I cried, joyously
She grinned, from ear to ear.
" Missed me?!" We heard a voice, walking towards us.
"Cinna?!" She cried, standing up.
"Sorry for disturbing your romance!"
"No. Nothing like that!" Katniss grumbled, her ears red.
"Where were you?!"
"I was just admiring the scenery." He answered, walking away from us.
Something is wrong with him...