Paper Hearts (Nozel x OC)

18. The gossip

Helena was on her way back from the hospital. She was walking through the busy capital streets, when she noticed a familiar mess of brown hair. The man she saw wore a green tunic and a Black Bull's mantle. He was trying to hit on two pretty ladies. They wore matching, pink dresses, one of them was a blonde and the other brunette. They were giggling excitedly from the received attention.

Helena sighed taking in the relief she felt, when she saw that Finral was okay. The Black Bulls finally came back. Now she needed to make sure that Vanessa and the rest of their squad members were okay. She wondered about Noelle too.

Helena just needed to get Finral away from the ladies and she came up with a brilliant way to do so. A little prank would hurt nobody.

She lowered her head so that her hair would cover most of her face. With a swift movement she took off her paper mask and hid it beneath her cloak. She had put it on, so that she could travel unnoticed through the capital streets. Now it was not needed, since she wanted for Finral to recognise her.

Helena shook her hair so it would fall down in nice waves. She plastered on a confident smile and approached the group, walking from behind her friend's back. Finral was gesticulating something with his right hand. The blonde girl blushed.

Suddenly Helena caught his sleeve and pulled him close to herself.

"There you are honey!" She shouted pretending to be overly excited, but there was a mischievous glint to her eyes. Finral barely kept his balance and looked at her shocked. "Who are these nice ladies?" Helena continued. "Will you introduce me?" She smiled at them innocently.

Their expressions changed to confusion, then distaste. They looked uncomfortable.

"I just remembered we have to do something, right Rosie?" The blonde girl turned to her friend.

"Of course!" the brunette reacted overly dramatic.

"But you've just said that you have lots of time," Finral yelped clearly disappointed.

"We were wrong," the blonde huffed and crossed her arms over her shoulders. She stared at Helena and her friend unsympathetically. Finral caught her gaze and then tried to shake off Helena's hand.

"She's not my girlfriend," he screeched and reached out his arm, but the ladies did not listen and turned their backs on them. They quickly walked away and seemed to be complaining to one another. Finral looked at Helena shocked and offended. His mouth was wide open. "You did this on purpose!" He accused her.

"Guilty as charged," Helena laughed and let go of his sleeve. She raised her arms in a sign of surrender. "It was worth it."

"What if one of them was my soulmate?" Finral asked, still offended. "You may have just kept me away from getting to know my other half."

"And which one of the two would that be?" She asked in a mocking tone.

He did not answer, just angrily shook his already messy brown hair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're awful," he stated after a moment.

"I'll be your greatest wingwoman, when I see someone, who you genuinely care for," Helena's tone changed to serious. Finral's expression softened and his anger seemed to give away. Then suddenly he raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth.

"What are you doing here?!" He shouted surprised.

"I was just on my way home, when I saw your messy hairstyle," she explained. "I thought I'd say hi, especially since you and Vanessa had me worried sick," the last few words she spoke a bit irritated and pointed her finger at him in an accusing manner.