Being an
official journalist for a couple of months now, Britney’s days were filled with
writing and researching. There was not much room for anything besides that, but
this was what she wanted to do, anyway. The first thing she did in the morning,
right after she got up, was to check her mails. Often, her boss had sent her a
request overnight, and she always wanted to be prepared when she entered work,
instead of being surprised by a potential story she hadn’t thought about
before. She sometimes even answered his mails in the middle of the night,
having spent hours and hours researching. This job was her life, and she didn’t
need anything else.
To improve
her writing skills, she still grabbed a book every now and then. There was
always something she could learn and use to make her own writing even more
unique. And unique writing, shown off in a great article, was what her boss
wanted to see more than anything.
Anna’s life
had been less structured ever since she had quit her job at the science center.
Most of her children had moved out by now, living their own lives, and she was
sitting at home, reading a book and gardening. This was not what she wanted to
do. This was not living. When she got a party invitation from Beth, she
immediately accepted and rushed over there to see her daughter again. It had
been a while since Beth had moved out, and rumors had been spread about her
quickly. Anna wanted to know which ones were true.
She was, in
fact, engaged to the much older Cornell Riffin, who she apparently had met only
days after she moved into her own place. When he was sure of the young girl’s
affection, he asked her to move in with him, and now they were sharing a house.
Anna was worried about this relationship, since Cornell was not much younger
than herself. But Beth was grown-up now. This invitation seemed to have been a
peace-offering, and Anna never wanted to lose her daughter again. So she kept
quiet.
Britney
still had no time for love or anything close to that. She was on the hunt for a
good story, and mingled with the population of Appaloosa Plains for some
gossip.
One guy she
met seemed particularly interested in her job, and asked her a number of
questions, which she answered happily. It was always a pleasure to tell somebody
how great journalism was.
The
conversation slowly drifted to more personal questions, but Britney was still
willing to answer them. He seemed a very nice guy, and maybe he would spill
some information once she got to know him better. When he asked for her phone
number, she scribbled it on her notepad and gave it to him.
Only a few
days later, she received a call from her boss, Karim Paape, who wanted to come
over for a chat. She accepted right away, wondering what he could possibly want
from her.
He didn’t
want to come into the house, instead they stayed on the lawn and talked for
what seemed like ages. Even though they spent a lot of time together at work,
there was still a lot to chat about. Britney learned that, unlike her, Karim
didn’t work as a journalist because he loved everything connected to it, but
because he wanted to get to know as many people as possible. Reaching max
influence with all social groups present in Appaloosa Plains was what he really
wanted to achieve.
Later, he
actually followed her inside and listened to some of Anna’s songs she had
written throughout the last days. He confessed that he usually was not into
acoustic music, since he loved going to or hosting parties and heard other
music there, but her songs warmed his heart nevertheless. When he left to head
home hours later, he gave both Anna and Britney a hug, although those hugs
weren’t exactly identical.
It wasn’t
long before their good relationship was put to the test. The pink-haired guy
Britney had been talking not too long ago was a journalist himself, working for
an adversarial newspaper. His job had been to examine at least one of the
journalists from Britney’s newspaper, and to expose that newspaper’s
weaknesses. Since Britney had answered every question willingly, he had been
able to write a fantastic article that got her newspaper into trouble. She was
blamed by the management, and suspended from work for a while. Her behavior was
considered irresponsible and incautious. In her despair, she called Karim that
night, asking him to come over.
Of course,
he had heard about what happened, but instead of being mad, he consoled
Britney. It had been a stupid mistake to open up to a stranger, but it still
could have happened to everybody. And it wasn’t like Britney had given that man
safe combinations, just a few pieces of information.
When he let
go of her after a long hug, she looked into his eyes. There was something
sparkling in there. He didn’t move, and so they stood there face to face for a
few seconds. This felt so natural. Maybe Britney didn’t need to open up to a
stranger ever again, maybe the person to open up to was right in front of her.
There was only one way to find out.
Karim was
more than surprised by Britney’s approach, and for a second she was worried
this had been the wrong decision.
But then he
kissed her back, and all the sorrows and bad thoughts from the last few days
just seemed to disappear. As if she had been wishing for this to happen
forever, she couldn’t imagine spending one single day without him anymore. Only
one kiss, only a few moments turned everything completely around, and she felt
that being spontaneous was right this time. This man wouldn’t let her down, for
sure. And when she asked him to move in, he smiled at her and agreed. Sometimes
two souls just clicked, and this seemed to be what was going on here.
And so
Karim Paape moved into the Vocis’ residence and straight into Britney's heart.
Author's notes: I admit that I wanted that pink guy's genes sooooo bad, but it wasn't supposed to be.^^ Karim is quite a cutie, and even though I might have altered his looks a little on the mirror - like the hair colour, which was a very dark brown before -, I already liked him the first time I saw him in the game.
