“How do we pretend like nothing happened? Anyone could tell from how flushed I am,” I tell Zeath as we make it back to the carnival.

“I told mother we were going for a walk.”

“And how do you know she won’t doubt that after seeing me now?”

Some hours ago, mom and Oasis joined Zeath and I on our date. We had all planned to attend a carnival in Country L together.

The peak of the carnival was just getting started when we left them. They must be wondering why we took so long.

The ...