The moon shone brightly like a giant lantern in the sky. Its reflected counterpart on the river's surface only served to strengthen its presence despite the ripples that coursed through it every once in a while; jumping fishes, frogs, dragonflies and stones thrown in by bystanders had a part to play.

It was mating season, probably. The dragonflies that occasionally touched the surface of the water while riding atop the other and the frogs that looked like they were playing piggyback at the bank of the river suggested so. Ravea and Jerome sat by the river's edge and watched.

"This is peaceful." Jerome looked at Ravea, "Right?"

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked.

"Because I enjoyed our time here", he turned to the right and looked at the tree in the village square. "I'd probably consider doing it all over again if I were asked to."

She looked at him in surprise, "You want me to frame you again?" She paused for a second, "Or are you planning on raping me for real this time?!"

"Neither! No one has to force themselves on anybody!" He replied.

"Huh?! I did not force myself on you!" She retorted.

"Well not directly."

"What?"

"I kept telling you to leave but you refused", He laid down, "That counts as you forcing yourself on me."

"And I kept telling you that I did it because I felt guilty", She replied pissed.

"But you said you stopped feeling guilty." He looked at her, "Why then did you stay?"

Ravea felt attacked. She didn't know what to say, so she changed the topic, "I reckon you wish Rima was the one who came this evening, and also the one that catered to you while you were being punished." She pouted.

Jerome sat up, "At first, yes, but not anymore." He touched his stomach.

"Why? What changed?"

"The feelings I had for her. At the time it was something akin to admiration, now it's just... Fear."

"Well, that's not surprising. She terrifies even me sometimes. What did she do?"

"It's a bit embarrassing."

"There's no one else here, just say it." She frowned.

"Well, she punched me." For a second he felt the pain from the punch course through him again. He shuddered.

"What? Why?! When?!" Ravea asked. She was shocked.

"The night you didn't come to feed me, she came instead, punched me right in the gut, then left without saying a single word." Jerome said dully, trying his best not to sound like he was complaining.

"That was around the time when I was ill", Ravea thought to herself. "Don't tell me-"

Jerome looked at Ravea, she looked like she had figured something out. "What is it? You know why she hit me? Did she tell you?"

Ravea folded her legs and placed it close to her chest. "Well, I was already aware of why she hit you. It's actually the reason why my family refused to attend your party."

"Really? Tell me, what is it?" He leaned closer to her. She leaned away.

"I'm sure you're aware that my father was planning to buy a land from your father right?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm aware." He replied.

"Well, after what happened between you and I that ended up with you being punished and disgraced publicly, your dad ended up calling off the agreement, refusing to sell land to us." Ravea shut her eyes.

Jerome was quiet for a bit. "Is that all? That's nothing to be pissed about! You can just buy land from someone else."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ravea was stunned, like she had been hit on the head with a blunt object. "Are you that insensitive?"

"I'm not insensitive, I'm smart. It's either that or you guys are being surprisingly dumb about this matter."

"You aren't smart and we aren't dumb either!" Ravea replied sharply. "I don't expect you to understand."

"Then make me understand."

Ravea kept mute for a while. Seeing as how Jerome couldn't relate to the gravity of the situation, she didn't want to continue the conversation any longer, but, "Well, for as long as I can remember my family has always been saving up to buy a land." Hoping she could guilt Jerome into convincing his Father to sell her family the land, she decided to tell him. "We managed everything we had. Any money we got from our inn, we cast aside and put it into savings. Once I was old enough to understand the position my family was in, I started doing my part to help. I juggled a lot of jobs at once but it made my health deteriorate, so I had to stop. Nevertheless, I still wanted to help. And Hopas, you remember Hopas right?" Ravea asked then turned to look at Jerome.

His eyes were glued to her. They were like that of a beast watching its prey except their wasn't any form of hostility or animosity in them, it was just a pure, undivided and intense stare. What emotion laid behind those eyes were a mystery to her.

"He's looking at me", she thought as her eyes locked with his. She immediately felt limp. She thanked the gods that she wasn't standing; her fall to the earth would've been a spectacular one. His eyes seemed to pull her in. She resisted but it was futile. She kept going closer, or was it he that kept coming closer? It didn't matter. Her heart was racing. She didn't want to resist anymore. But-

"I don't think I can ever forget him." Jerome replied. His voice seemed to cancel out whatever force it was that was pulling them together.

"A-Alright", she stuttered. "Hopas began teaching me to", she paused and held her dress tightly, "--steal. And it wasn't the normal stealing you'd instinctively think of. He taught me to steal from anyone and everyone. Who they were didn't matter. There was no moral or honor in it. At some point I could no longer handle the guilt, so I told Hopas I wanted out. But he refused. He said if I were to ever bring up the topic again he'd expose everything. I and my family were in enough mess already, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if I brought more shame and pain unto them. So I kept doing it, and soon I lost my sense of judgement. The line between good and bad seemed really bleak to me. Anyone I saw looked like a potential money source." At that point she could no longer keep her eyes open anymore. "Things continued like that until the day your father came to our inn to celebrate my father's purchase of a land from him. I don't know what came over me, I was the one that ended up suggesting that we steal your father's pouch. And as you might guess, Hopas didn't have any problems with it. All was going smoothly, infact that was one of our biggest haul in a single operation, until you showed up, and everything went downhill. Hopas abandoned me after that."

They both sat quietly and stared at the river. It was now calm. The fishes, frogs and dragonflies had disappeared. At the other side of the river, two wolves began sending new waves of ripples across the river's surface as they quenched their taste. Then they wandered back into the forest when they were done.

"Thank you for saving me." Ravea said. "And I'm sorry for framing you."

Jerome smiled, "I'm glad you did." He replied.

"What?! Why?!"

"My life before I met you was really pale. Apparently, before I was born I had a sister. My parents had waited 10 whole years before a child finally came into their lives. They were happy, or at least I think they were. But the baby was born around this time, a couple weeks before the festival. And as you know, tradition demands that every year, when the wave of plenty passes over the land, the fields will be overgrown with crops, the livestock would increase 5 folds and the wombs of women would be blessed with children. But in exchange, a child had to be given up as a sacrifice to the gods. A rather small price to pay for the miracles we have been blessed with. But to my parents it wasn't, because the child the gods seeked was theirs. Their first child in ten years, their only child, one they had prayed and yearned so much for. My mum suggested that she and my dad flee the village with the child but he refused. He said it was his duty as the Elder. That he had to live by example. And so he gave the child up. But a couple months later, my mum carried a second child, me. She was happy, but she never forgave my father for what he did. And I don't think my father forgave himself either. I had to grow up watching them quarrel all the time. They barely talked to each other, they acted like being together was a burden. My mum tried her best to be there for me, but my dad... Well he has his problems. I tried everything to get him to like me, or at least show that he did, but nothing worked. He only focused on his work and his money. So one day I decided to save up and buy him a pouch. He welcomed the gift but when everything happened between us and he lost it, he never tried to get it back."

"I'm really sorry." Ravea said. That was the only thing she could say. She knew he was hurting and most of it was her fault, so all she could do was apologize.

Jerome looked at her, then held her hand. "The time I spent with you under that tree were the best days of my life. If you hadn't framed me, I'd probably be at home right now wishing that I wasn't born. So thank you for framing me." Then he kissed her.

She immediately jerked backwards and slapped him. "Ah! What do you think you're doing?!!"

Jerome held his cheek in confusion. "Um, I thought-"

"You thought what?! Because we shared stories about our pasts you suddenly have the right to kiss me?!!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Just what sort of girl do you think I am?!!"

"I'm sorry okay?! I thought there was something going on between us. I guess I didn't read the mood correctly."

"No, you didn't." She got up and left.