Chapter 8: Other Manifestations of True Love

He was too close.

Ran raised her hand to slap Caph.

He anticipated this and caught her hand.

A mischievous smile took over his face, blue eyes alight with laughter.

'Just an arrangement,' he pointed out.

Heat rose in her cheeks. She scowled.

It was getting difficult to tell the difference between the act and the real thing. He was confusing her by doing things they had not discussed.

'Why are you so legalistic about romance anyway? I mean, there must be some guy out there that you like, right?'

There was a pause. A waiter filled their glasses with ice water.

Ran waited for him to go away and tried to think of a way to change the topic.

She didn't want to talk about romance.

But she was not interested in getting to know him better either.

Caph looked at her expectantly. She sighed.

'Romance is a lie,' she said to Caph. 'It's an abhorrent concept used by society to take advantage of people's weaknesses and undermine true love.'

'Oh? So what is true love?'

Ran narrowed her eyes. She had not expected that question.

'True love is what I feel for my pack. That's why I'm putting up this farce to protect it from power-hungry mutts.'

The waiter came again with their food. A large steak with mashed potatoes soaked in brown gravy.

It smelled good but Caph scratched at his steak with his fork absently.

'There could be other manifestations of true love too, don't you think?'

Ran swept hair out of her face and bit into her steak without cutting it first.

Gravy stained her lips. One strand of black hair had escaped her fingers and clung to her makeshift lip balm.

He bit his lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. When it came to her position of Beta, Ran was attentive and professional. But now that they were relatively out of the public eye, he realised she was just a klutz.

Caph leaned over and pulled the hair from her mouth with one hand.

With the other, he grabbed a napkin.

Ran twisted to the side and blocked his wrist. 'I can do it myself.'

He tossed the napkin to his other hand and leaned closer. 'Let me show you–'

And Ran kicked his shin with her cousin's open-toed high heels. Her attack didn't even make him budge. Instead, she lost her balance and fell off her chair, pulling Caph along with her.

Metal utensils clattered loudly and all the werewolves in the restaurant turned to look at them.

Ran found herself only inches from Caph's playful blue eyes. Too close to see the ironic smile on his lips.

'Nice arrangement,' he whispered to Ran.

Caph took advantage of the situation and looked up with a sheepish expression.

Then, in a louder voice to his audience, he said, 'Sorry. We'll get a room.'

Silence fell in the restaurant.

Ran wanted to club him with the heels of her cousin's shoes.

'We didn't kiss!' she hissed a little too loudly.

That only made matters worse.

Rumours spread like wildfire within the packs of Septrion County that the stoic female Beta of Eridanus had fallen love with a prince charming from Cassiopeia. Retellings of what happened at the Alpha of Phoenix's 100th birthday party became more exaggerated with each telling.

When Ran overheard Cass relating the incident to her brother, it involved the two running away from the restaurant and a tryst at the motel.

'No! We did not! That's ridiculous!' Ran protested, bursting into the room. 'We didn't even kiss!'

Her cousins stared at her, surprised by her outburst and speechless.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Ran shifted into her wolf and raced across Punggol to the apartment Caph rented beside the Buttercup College of Liberal Arts.

She pounded on his door and demanded to be let in.

Caph opened it, peering at her through squinted eyes. His red-brown hair was in disarray.

As Ran stormed into the room, he shook sleep from his eyes and glanced up at the clock on the wall.

'It's only 10am,' he mumbled.

'It's already 10am,' Ran retorted. 'You should be in school.'

He winced. 'Uh... There's no class today.'

He would have to find a more appropriate time to tell her about his suspension.

'Why did you come over?'

Ran scowled at him. 'Have you heard the rumours?'

'What rumours?' He blinked innocently.

'Us!'

Caph smirked and stalked over to her. 'What about...us?'

She was about to explain the latest additions to the retelling of the accident at the restaurant but the words died in her throat and she turned beet red.

'It's getting out of hand!' she said instead.

The irritating smile on Caph's face grew bigger. 'What's getting out of hand?'

'The rumours...' She purposely avoided the specifics. 'About us.'

Caph crossed his arms across his chest.

Ran noticed what he was wearing for the first time. An old t-shirt that was stretched taut over his lean and muscular torso. Had he slept in that last night?

For some reason, she felt her cheeks heat up.

Caph grinned even wider. 'Does it bother you? That our arrangement has everyone fooled?'

Unconsciously, she took a step back. 'That's not what I–.'

He tilted his head. 'Then what's the problem? Do you like me?'

The memory of Caph's hand on her face came to her mind. She remembered the electric touch when he gently swept her hair behind her ear and the glowing warmth of his blue eyes on her.

The same blue eyes were fixed on her now, but they were taunting.

Ran shoved him away from her and stormed out of the apartment, yelling, 'No way!'

Why had she come to him for help in quelling the rumours? They were a good development that benefited their arrangement.