2.4 Tell me who you are

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.