Forest Boy

[20] Phi Phi (and the Flowertots)

"When you leave here, where would you go?"

"Probably whatever city you're in," he replied, barely leaving himself a second to think.

I chuckled. "London is super expensive and super busy."

In response, he shrugged casually. "I think I could make it work."

"What about your studies?"

"I was homeschooled and did my exams a little early. I think I did pretty okay."

I cocked a brow. "How okay is pretty okay?"

The corner of Rhyse's mouth visibly coiled upwards and I knew then and there he did more than pretty okay. "Two A stars and an A. Kinda average really."

"You are so cocky!" I exclaimed, nudging him jokingly. "With those grades, you could easily go to a prestigious university."

"I could, yeah. I don't know if it would be too much for me to handle. I'd have to get used to not living in seclusion and being away from my parents. I want to do languages, or maybe something to do with books or films. Never really thought about it much." His pensive expression lit up when he revealed what exactly he wanted to study. It was blatantly apparent that he wanted to cross the borders of the forest on a more permanent basis to explore different things and discover what was on the horizon.

"You can study anything you want. You even do it online if in person is too stressful."

"Are you going to go?"

"Hopefully. If get accepted I'll be doing law.

"Are your parents making you? Is it their dream? Like in films where they're like 'no dad, it's your dream, not mine!' And then the dad realises he's in the wrong?" He said, effortlessly putting on an over-emphasised American accent.

I sniggered at the dramatics. "No, I actually like law. I even do a little research for my parents sometimes. They tell me all sorts of insane case law from the past. I don't want to work crazy hours like them though, I hardly see them outside of coming here every year."

"You live with them but don't see them?" He furrowed his brows in perplexity, the concept obviously foreign to him in his personal life.

In a way, I was slightly jealous when I thought about it; I would love to spend all day with both my parents or at least just have the opportunity to. Even while on holiday they often still worked which meant I couldn't just lie around or have quality time with them. Rhyse probably never had to worry about that.

"Yup. That's why we come out here in the summer now."

Rhyse's lips twisted into a frown. "That's... sad. Don't you get scared when they're not there?"

"We had nannies and tutors so... not really. But sometimes when I wanted to talk to my parents or hang out, they weren't there. They missed a lot of events that were important to me."

"Nannies? Tutors? Plural?" His voice raised an octave in shock.

"Yeah?"

"Just what kind of money are your parents earning?" He queried.

I narrowed my eyes, seeing exactly where he was going to go with his question. It wasn't my first time. "Don't worry about it. They work a lot. Like we don't see them until 11 pm most nights. Some nights we don't see them at all if there's a complex case going on."

"I would hate that. Sounds like hell. Why earn all of that money if you can't enjoy it?"

I shrugged, I never really understood it either. "They seem to love it. But I hope as they get older they slow down. It would be nice."