"By the way," I ask as we walk back to the house. "How do you manage to always find me? Like, I had no idea where I was but you found me."

Will walks with his hands shoved in his pockets. It's really cold, so he tries to sink inside the collar of his jacket as he is not wearing the scarf because he lent it to me. In my hysteria, I went out with just what I was wearing inside, which just were jeans and a pastel pink jumper.

"That's easy. I installed a GPS under your skin, so now I know where you are all the time."

As my eyes widen my feet stop moving and I can only stare at him. He stops a few steps ahead and turns to look at me, his brow knitted.

"I'm kidding!" he exclaims, laughing out loud while my cheeks blush, per usual. "You didn't really believe it, did you?"

"Of course not," I try to cover it up, running to catch up with him but he continues laughing so I have no other option but smack his arm. "Stop it!"

"I can't," he snorts. "You are incredible naïve at times, aren't you?"

Wiping away a tear that rolled down his eyes, he wraps his other arm around my shoulders, bringing me close until I'm tightly pressed to his side. I get flustered and for a little bit it's awkward walking like this, but then we match our steps and find the right pace.

"I don't know how I find you," he finally replies, honestly. "It's serendipity, I believe. I was just taking a look around and saw someone. I thought it was one of the kids and it's really cold so I was going to tell them to go inside. Only when I was close enough I noticed it was you."

"Your timing is something," I mumble and he chuckles, his hand rubbing my arm.

When he offered me his jacket before, I refused. However, I realise now that he's keeping me close so I don't get so cold.

"I'm charming in many ways, you're the only one in denial." Will turns his head to look at me, that cheeky grin back. "You should just surrender to my charms."

I roll my eyes, not wanting to admit out loud that he is charming. I know he's just teasing me, he isn't that arrogant and full of himself, but he likes pushing me and making me blush. And I like joking along.

"If by charms you mean your self-centred personality, then I guess I have to admit it."

"Ouch," he dramatises, clenching his hand to his chest as if I've pierced his heart. "So cruel, Princess. Don't I have any other good points?"

"That's not even a good point," I make him see and he laughs. "Let me think. This is actually a very hard question."

It's easy to remember the time when we talked like this, but there was venom in our words. We really meant to offend the other. Now our bickering isn't more than just playful banter.

"You're warm," I say out loud and his smile grows as he pulls me a bit closer.

"Then I'll stay around this winter and keep you warm."

I trip on my own feet, stumbling forward but not clumsy enough to fall, besides, Will is holding me so he stabilises me. I can't look at him because when he says that, my mind doesn't exactly think of the most innocent thing.

I blame it on all those movies and shows that alway put another meaning to the whole 'keeping you warm' part!

"Why are you blushing?" Will asks, still spotting my flaming cheeks. I try to hide my face, cursing my head for those two seconds that it took to interpret his words differently. "What did you think about, Princess?"

"I thought nothing!" I try to plead my case.

"Oh, my God," he laughs, turning to face me and grabbing my arms, bending his head so we can be at eye level. I try to escape him, but he follows. "Did you imagine something naughty?"

My eyes widen in horror and humiliation, my whole face burns and the fact Will is laughing so hard doesn't help. Oh, God, why can't the earth just open up and swallow me to save me from this?

"Even if you imagine those things, I'm sorry to break it to you, Princess, but we can't." A part of me wants to ask why, but I stop myself. If I do, I'll just have to kill myself to end my misery. "There are too many kids around. We need to be respectful."

I close my eyes, doing my best to control my emotions. When I open them I just hit him in the chest as hard as I can, and he steps back, laughing and rubbing where I hit him. I give him my best glare.

"Guillermo culiao'!" I shout in Spanish, still embarrassed but also angry that he is laughing so hard at me. "¿Quién te dijo que yo me estaba imaginando eso?" I continue, hands on my hips, expression severe.

"Are you telling me how much you want me in Spanish? If you don't speak in a language I can understand, I'll interpret it as I want it." That makes me snort in disbelief, but the mischief in his eyes is no joke. "Hmm, let me translate. Lovely William. I can't say out loud the many things I want to do—"

"STOP IT!" I rush forward and cover his mouth with my hands, stopping him from saying more nonsense. He laughs, as if he's having the time of his life at my expense.

Arms wrap around my waist, pulling me towards him and I can feel him smirking under my hand. How unnerving of him!

"I said: 'Who told you I was imagining that?'" I translate for him. "The other part was me cursing you out."

Slowly, I take my hand out of his mouth and as I felt before, he is smirking.

"You're teaching me naughty words, Blanca."

"That's what Chileans do," I shrug, noticing he is still holding me. "We teach foreigns to curse and then how to say hello."

He chuckles, in a very different way, not mocking but just amused, then hugs me just a bit tighter. I can't help smiling back, even if I'm still embarrassed but his good humour is contagious. But his expression changes, his eyes soften and his smile becomes warmer, even his arms hold me more cautiously.

"That's nice," he mumbles softly. "Now you're smiling. Feeling any better?"

I blink surprised, just realising how my concerns slipped out of my mind completely, too caught up in this moment with Will. Surely, he laughed at me and I seriously consider this a type of torture and perhaps in some country is punishable by law, but it did help me to breathe again. The hands squeezing my heart have loosen up and the pain and weight are more bearable.

"Hmm," I mumble, leaning more on him. "Thank you."

His arms draw me closer, in a warmer hug as I take deep breaths.

"You're still a dick for teasing me like that." He chuckles when I say that. "But you're not always a dick. At times you can be unbelievable kind."

"I have my moments," he shrugs.

I pull back and look at him, truly feeling grateful towards him. So I stand on my toes and kiss his cheek. As soon as I pull away he looks at me with raised eyebrows and questioning looks.

"Is this your way to seduce me to do naughty things?"

Instead of getting angry, I just laugh this time, shaking my head.

"Come on, let's go inside. I'll keep you warmer there without the need to take our clothes off."

I smack his chest again, breaking the embrace and huffing as I walk ahead, still hearing his chuckles behind as he trots to catch up. I cover my face with my hands, once again feeling like this is in flames. Not even the chilly wind helps, or the fact Will keeps teasing from behind. I end up practically running the rest of the way back inside the house, and once I step inside, I almost bump into Nora.

"Omo," she exclaims in surprise, her hands on my arms. "Gwenchanhayo?" Are you okay? in Korean.

"Neh," I affirm. "Sorry, I was just escaping Guillermo," I explain in English, smiling.

I notice now that her expression is serious, troubled and guilty, so I'm reminded of our argument before and I mirror her emotions. My chest feels heavy again.

"Blanca, about before—"

"I'm sorry," I cut her in, saying it first and she blinks in surprise. "I know you're just protecting me and my mum, and you're right, I shouldn't contact her. It's just too troublesome trying to explain things to her without putting her in any sort of danger. I just... I just feel guilty for making her go through this."

"You shouldn't be the one feeling guilty. You're just reacting, you're being pushed to do this," my best friend reminds me. "If someone needs to feel guilty, that's Laura."

"I know, but it's in my hands to end up her worry and this misunderstanding. I feel like it's my duty to spare her any pain."

Nora smiles softly, reassuring as her hands rub my arms in a comforting way.

"I know, but there are ways to do things in life, you know that, too. Not because we can we should actually do something."

I nod because I am indeed very aware of that. It is still annoying and bothersome, but there are ways to proceed to do things well. The one who rushes will be careless and sloppy, that one will make mistakes and will lack stability. The one who's cautious and thoughtful, the one who plans and acts based on the best strategy will accomplish a better goal, even if it takes time.

In business, it's all about strategy, about making the cold calculations that will give you the best profit, not the most immediate one. The rest of life is the same and I shouldn't let my emotions cloud my judgement.

"I'm sorry for making things harder than they are," I apologise again, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around her. She does the same.

"I'm sorry I can't do more to help you," she says, her hands squeezing the fabric of my jumper.

"Buuu," someone else mutters, breaking the mood. When I pull back from Nora's arms, I notice Will standing next to us. "Did you have to make up so fast? I was having nice time with the princess over here." Nora chuckles lightly at that, and Will leans closer, covering one side of his mouth with one hand in a secretive manner. "She was even proposing naughty things to me!"

"I never proposed anything!" I gasp, trying to smack him but he escapes me. Nora laughs out loud, hooking her arm with mine.

"I'm sorry to you, Will, but we can't share my best friend for too long."

Will pouts. He actually does that and I'm as shocked as if suddenly a dragon landed outside the house.

"Sharing is caring!" he protests and I keep gapping in disbelief.

Nora clicks her tongue. "Nah. I rather not." She is the one smirking now. "Besides, I have way more privileges than you as her best friend."

I turn to look at Nora, surprised she's teasing Will like this. I remember his jealousy this morning and that makes this situation really amusing. I have to press my lips together not to laugh.

"I'm the one who actually goes to bed with her every night."

Will's face falls as Nora just gives him an evil smirk and I can't control it anymore, I actually laugh out loud this time at his shock. He looks at me and I just shrug, doing my best to control my laughing fit.

Nora then just leads me upstairs, away from Will who can't still say anything. We giggle together.

"You're evil," I mumble and we keep giggling. I really love my best friend.

❅ ❅ ❅

I have a bad cold, like really bad with fever and such, so if I missed more typos than usual and it's crappy, please understand. Also, I go back to town this weekend so things should be normal next week.

Bel, xx

~next update hopefully on Friday~