"Hi, Wendy!" Mrs. Miller greets me at her door.

"Hi, I was just coming by to drop off gifts."

"Oh, that's so kind of you. Come in, it's cold out."

"It's fine, I shouldn't be intruding."

"No, you should stay for dinner. Vincent will probably be excited to see you." Mrs. Miller turns her head back to yell, "Vincent, Wendy's here."

In a flash, Vincent's downstairs and his mom moves aside so he could pull me inside.

"Here, this is for you. This is for Veronica. And this is for your mom. I wasn't sure what to get your dad, so its a pretty boring gift." I hand each one to Vincent.

"You didn't have to do all of this."

"I'll take her gift then," I tease, reaching for it, but Vincent dodges my hand.

"I love it. Thanks," he cheekily smiles.

"I should be getting home."

"No, stay," Vincent whines.

"I should go before its dark."

"Why? Cause you're scared about driving home at night?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah, I didn't get to ask you. Do you like yoyur car? How's the color?"

"How did you know I got a car?" I asked, suprised.

"Oh, I-um..."

"You knew didn't you?"

"Knew what?"

"Why my dad and Wren were acting weird. You knew they were buying me a car."

Vincent's face reddens. "No..."

"I didn't even tell you a got a car, but you knew."

"Okay, fine I did. I picked out the color. You like gray, right?"

"Yeah, I do. How did you know?"

"You always wear gray clothes."

"Stalker."

"I'm proud of it."

"Bye," I say as I head for the door.

"Nice keys."

"What?" I turn around to see Vincent dangling my new car keys from his finger, before shoving them into his pocket.

"My mom makes really good grilled chicken. Let's eat."

I sigh and give in to Vincent. Plus, the smell of dinner was drawing me in. Curse my gluttony.

I'm stopped in my track when I see a stern man sitting at the table. Most would sit comfortably at the dinner table, but his suit jacket was toned up and his tie was tight around his collar. He had the same dark hair as Vincent and the same green eyes, but his gaze was cold and approving of my presence.

"This is my student. The one I told you about that tutors Vincent."

"Hi, nice to meet you... Mr. Miller." I'm hesitant to assume that he's Vincent's dad. They're look the same, but give off completely different auras.

He gives me one last glance, and without replying, clears his throat and goes back to looking at his mail.

"Ignore my dad," Vincent whispers into my ears.

I don't need to ignore him. He's ignoring me...

"Wendy!" Veronica comes into the kitchen and grabs onto my legs.

"Hi, Veronica. I like your shirt." I point to the graphic of a cat with sunglasses on her t-shirt.

"Thanks! You should see my new tutu. I got it because I'm going to be the swan for my recital!"

"That's great."

"You should come!"

"I don't know. I'll try-"

"Veronica, she's probably busy with stuff. Don't brother her," Mr. Miller says without looking up,

"Take a seat. Dinner's ready," Mrs. Miller says as she peaces down five plates, each with a piece of chicken and mashes potatoes already on it. In the center, she places bowls of extra sides, piping hot with so much stream radiating off of it my mouth starts to water.

Intimidated, I sit next to Vincent on the farthest end from his dad. Once his plate of food is placed in front of him, he finally lets go of the mail and starts to eat before anyone else. I slowly dig in, feeling like every move I made was under the scrutiny of Mr. Miller.

"So, Wendy, what are you planning to do in the future?" Mr. Miller's sudden question alarms me.

"Um, I actually haven't decided yet."

"Did you pick a general field to go into?"

"Not yet..."

"Did you pick a college yet?"

"No..."

"So why do you need my wife's recommendation?"

"Honey, she needs one to help her into college," Mrs. Miller inervenes.

"Do you even tutor Vincent anymore?"

"No, sir," I meekly reply.

"I figured since Vincent gets straight A's nowadays," he scoffs.

"Because Wendy tutored me," Vincent suddenly reputes.

"Her job's done. You don't need anymore tutoring. You should be busy joining clubs and getting internships instead of following someone around."

"Honey! Please! We have a guest," Mrs. Miller yells at her husband. I sink back into my seat.

"I'm not trying to be rude. It's just a fact. Only people with goals succeed. You both should be trying to find motivation, instead of messing around together and implicating one another."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do with my life. And neither does Wendy," Vincent says, almost as a warning.

"I'm only saying this because I want you to be successful."

"What? Like you? Sitting in an office all day?"

"It's my company, Vincent. You have to be dedicated to succeed."

"Yeah, well," Vincent scoffs. "Try being like that with your family for once."

"I am. I'm going to Veronica's recital!" Mr. Miller's voice became increasingly loud.

"You are?" Veronica asks, confused.

"Congratulations, father of the year," Vincent sarcastically remarks. "You're going for the first time this year."

"Enough!" Mrs. Miller shrieks. "We have a guest and you two are acting ridiculous. Honey, can you not be so rude by insulting my student? And Vincent, can you please get through a dinner with your father for once? Thank you." Mrs. Miller sighs and falls back into her seat. "I'm going upstairs to lay down. Take your time eating, Wendy."

Now, I could understand why Vincent never talks about his dad. Or maybe why he likes being around mine.

"Excuse me, I should be getting home." I slowly got up and went to clean my plates in the sink. Vincent pulls the plates out of my hands and pulls me out into the living room. He spins me to face him and holds me by my elbows.

"I'm sorry, Wendy. I didn't know my asshole of a father would be home."

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I should at least clean up my plates before I go." I turn to get back into the kitchen, but Vincent stops me by tugging me back.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm sorry if he made you upset."

"I'm fine. People at school way worse things-" I paused, realizing the words accidentally slipped, "...about each other. Not me. No one knows me... Besides, he's right. I should be tutoring you."

"No, you're not my tutor anymore. You mean a lot to me, now."

"Tell Veronica I'm sorry I can't make it to her recital. I'll make it up to her."

"Wendy, promise me you're alright?" Vincent pulls me in closer by the shoulder, searching my face for signs of distress.

"Of course," I fake a smile to assure him, through he doesn't look like he's buying it.

"Okay, that's good. Here, these are for your dad and Wren." Vincent hands me a bunch of boxes from below his tree.

"You didn't have to get them so much stuff."

"Here, I'll walk you out." Vincent helps me carry the presents out into the car and stacks them in the passenger seat. I look as each one that passes by, all of them addressed to my dad or Wren.

"What? All of this is for my dad and Wren?"

"Yep! What? You're upset none of it is for you?"

"No," I lie, slightly bitter. I stomp off to get into the driver's seat, but Vincent pulls my back, dangling something in my face.

"I was about to wrap this, but I wanted to see your face when you saw it."

"It's so pretty," I murmur in the midst of my awe for the sparking chain in front of me.

"Here, hold out your hand." Vincent. Takes one of his hands to fan out my palm and drops the necklace into them. I pick up the tiny pendant and look closely at it.

At the center of the silver chains was a shiny silhouette of a swan. The feathers of its wings are made of various white gems in almond shapes. There is a tiny bead of rhinestone for its eye.

"Woah, how come it's so sparkly?"

"Cause it's real."

"Real?" I gasp. "This-this-this is expensive? How much? Why would you spend so much?"

"It wasn't that much. Look, the pendant's tiny. Don't worry about it, as long as you like it."

"But still... I feel bad."

"Here, let me put it on you."

Vincent takes the necklace away from me and turns me so I'm facing away from him. He reaches his hands in front of me to wrap the necklace across the front. Gently, he moves my hair to reveal the back of my neck. I nervously play with my fingers as I feel his skim along the nape of my neck, trying to clasp the ends of the chain together.

"Done. Let me see." Vincent spins my around and examines the necklace on me. "It suits you," he beams proudly at his gift.

"Thank you. It's so beautiful, I feel bad wearing it."

"You're beautiful."

I stop to recompose myself. "Any-anyways, how come they sell necklaces with swans on them. It's cute, but really specific."

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Swans mate for life. That's why."

"Whys you get me a swan then?"

"You wouldn't be Wendy if you weren't so outrageously dense," Vincent sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Vincent disappointedly dismisses my question.

"I really like it, though," I say, trying to cheer him up again.

"That's a relief. It's cold out, so you should, be getting home. Get some rest and make sure you don't get sick again."

Vincent shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and slowly strides back inside.

"Vincent, wait."

Impulsively, I ran up to him and stopped him my placing my hand on his shoulder. Vincent turned around, confused but giving me his full attention. Then, standing on my toes, I reached up to place a light kiss on his cheek. When I pulled away, a pink imprint was left behind.

"Thanks for being so sweet." Before I could see his reaction, I quickly slid into my car and drove away.

Wendy, are you crazy? What ere you thinking? What did I just do? I don't remember wearing any lipstick. Why was there a mark? That's not the problem right now. The problem is, you're a lunatic. I can't believe you kissed him.

I slowed down and stopped at the side of the park.

What could've caused me to have the uncontrollable urge to kiss Vincent? That he said I'm beautiful? No. Because he got me a necklace? No. Because he put it on me? No. I'm such an idiot! I didn't realize what he meant then, but at the same time, I subconsciously did.

Swans mate for life...

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