Chapter 8: What is Love?

The next week or so went by rather uneventfully. Well, as uneventful as a week with Dandelion could possibly be. During that time while we stayed in our hotel in the town I shall now name Nothingtown 2, I discovered the advantages of having 2 location independent jobs. During this week, I bought myself a new bicycle and began doing deliveries with Dandelion again for income.

Despite her pleas, it was only Dandelion who accompanied me on these journeys and not the bevy of critters she managed to sneak into our hotel room. At the end of the week, we made a trip to the forest nearby to return the critters. I explained to Dandelion the concept of a video call and who Mr. Tusin was.

"Can you spend the morning here by yourself?"

She gave me a thumbs up while staring at a tree.

"You promise you'll return alone with no 'friends' coming along?"

"I promise!"

Definitely not reassuring to be honest, better raise the stakes.

"If you keep your promise, we'll go out for tacos tonight."

"Yay!" She responded with a smile.

So precious.

They have hotels in the mountains?" Mr. Tusin asked.

"I'm at the base right now."

"Is that a Mexican Restaurant behind you?"

"What that?" I said turning around, "Oh uhhh… yes it's a restaurant that specializes in tacos. Vagabonds love tacos don't you know?"

"Huh… today I learned. Anyways Kane, I finished reading your next 3 chapters. You know, I was skeptical at first, but I'm warming up to the conspiracy idea."

"Oh, thanks sir."

"Just make sure it all ties together in the end. Add that one ingredient every good story needs. You know what I'm referring to right?"

I nodded. It was the ingredient consistent in every one of my stories.

"Love,"

Mr. Tusin nodded back approvingly.

"The ones who say sex sells only ever made short term profit. The truth is all humans are secretly saps don't you think?"

"Very true sir,"

"The first 6 chapters are edited by the way. You can finish the rest of the story in what, 2 weeks?"

"It depends on the vagabond."

"What?"

"Sorry, just being we…"

Before I could finish my catchphrase, a knock suddenly came from my door along with a loud howl.

"AWHOOOOOOOOOOO"

"Kane, what the hell was that? Are there wolves in your area?"

"Uhhh… yeah! Plenty of them! They're pretty much everywhere."

Suddenly the sound of paws began hitting against my door as well.

"Kane, are you going to be alr…"

"I'll be alright!" I said reaching for my mouse, "Whelp, if everything's alright then I'll be seeing you in 2 weeks!"

"Wait… what's the plan for…"

"Bye now!"

"There's a full moon tonight, make sure to be careful of the…"

I pressed the disconnect button before Mr. Tusin could finish.

"Dandelion…" I sighed walking up to the door, "What did I say about bringing to the hotel room…"

I opened the door.

"Critters?"

To my greatest surprise, the only critter in the vicinity happened to be a small dark haired woman who for some reason was squatting down and putting her hands in the air as if they were paws.

"How… how did you make those wolf noises?"

"AWHOOOOOOOOO," she howled. I had to cover my ears from the loud sound as somehow Dandelion managed to increase her volume to perfectly mimic a wolf's. I also noticed that her finger nails had a bit of white paint on them. Upon inspection of the hotel door, the scratch marks damaging the hotel door confirmed what I feared.

"Kane?" Dandelion said returning to her usual soft voice but still kneeling with her hands up as if she were a puppy.

"Yes Dandelion?"

"I'm hungry."

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"Your dinner miss,"

A wide smile appeared on Dandelion's face as her plate of 6 tacos was brought down by our waiter.

"And your boyfriend's as well," the waiter said dropping off my own plate.

"Oh actually she's just my… uhh…"

I paused for a moment as Dandelion began stuffing her face full of taco.

"Early stages?" the waiter asked with a wink.

"She's more of a pet…"

He gave me a weird look.

"I don't judge but keep that to yourself," he said walking away.

"Wait no, that's not…"

He had already moved to another table however. I sighed as I began eating my own tacos. Whatever Dandelion was to me, I was stuck with her for now in any case, best just focus my thoughts elsewhere. What did Mr. Tusin say my story was missing again?

"Kwee"

A soft voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Kwee"

"Swallow your food before speaking Dandelion…" I replied as I handed her a water glass. She nodded and did as I instructed.

"Kane,"

"Yes Dandelion?"

"How are babies made?"

I nearly spit out my drink at the question.

"Excuse me?"

"How are babies made?" Dandelion repeated.

"Ahhh… haha… well you see…"

"Small Luther."

"Sorry?"

"I saw a small Luther today!" Dandelion said, "Luther's baby,"

"Oh… congratulations to him?"

"Where did he come from?"

"Well you see…" I said trying to find the correct words. I took another drink to properly gather my thoughts trying to scramble for an answer.

"Can you make one with me?"

I nearly spit out my drink again choking on the water.

"Please… no more questions; I'll explain this to you properly."

Dandelion nodded and continued to look at me in anticipation.

"Well you see… when two creatures, a guy and a girl, love each other very much…"

"Kane,"

"Yes Dandelion?"

"What's love?"

The time at the restaurant passed rather awkwardly as I tried my best to answer Dandelion's question.

"It's like when two people care about each other a lot."

"Like you and Mr. Tusin?"

"No not like that. It can't really be for business I suppose. It's two people, or I suppose this is true for animals as well, who prioritize each other more than anything or anyone else unconditionally."

"Kane,"

"Yes?"

"What does prioritize mean?"

The more I attempted to explain, the more questions Dandelion had on the subject due to her lack of vocabulary. I remember thinking that perhaps it would have been easier to show her a movie, or read her a book online that covers the issue to satisfy her curiosity. Romeo and Juliet? No no, too violent. Titanic? Why do all the best classic romances involve death? Kimi No Na Wa? Maybe…

By the time we had finished our tacos, it seemed Dandelion was even more confused on the subject than when we started. Perhaps it was also because I never really understood love either. It had been years, since college in fact, that I had dated anyone. And even during those times, my relationships never lasted more than a couple months at most. Whenever I wrote on the subject, I just imitated all the romantic tropes from other stories; butterflies in the stomach, banter, dramatic confessions, nothing that happened in real life outside the early years of puppy love.

As we began walking home that night however, Dandelion asked me another peculiar question. The sort of question I will never forget for the rest of my life.

"Did the Prince love the Rose?"

"Sorry?" I asked puzzled.

"In the story, did the Prince love the rose despite her thorns?"

It took me a minute to process that Dandelion was referencing the Saint-Exupery Tale I had read to her the first night we met. Despite all the reads and rereads of the story, not once had that question popped into my head. It took me another minute before I could formulate my response.

"I suppose he did, didn't he? He took care of her despite her thorns watering her every day."

"Then why did he leave?"

"Why did he leave?"

This question on the other hand, I had thought about many times before.

"Self-discovery, exploration, the quest for knowledge perhaps, there are many reasons for the Prince's departure." I replied

"But why did he leave if he loved the rose?"

My mouth remained closed as I once again could not think of an accurate answer.

"Well… like I said before, the rose likely could not survive if…"

"No…" Dandelion interrupted shaking her head, "why did he leave the plant at all if he loves her, if he cares about her more than anything else."

"Maybe he only left because he loves her,"

"He left because he loves her?"

"Yeah something like that, perhaps he wanted knowledge and self-discovery to be a better person for her. Or so that she can help herself more."

"But how did he know leaving would help?"

"I… I don't know,"

We stood there for a moment in silence as I reached for my hotel card in my pocket as we had reached our hotel door.

"Love is confusing,"

"It is," I said opening the door. "Sometimes when you love someone, I suppose you have to let them go, for a bit at least. He came back in the end of the story didn't he?

Dandelion nodded before jumping under her blanket.

"Make sure to shower…" I said pulling the covers away. Dandelion groaned and slowly got up to the shower.

As she went into a bathroom a small smile appeared on my face remembering a key detail of the story.

"There were many roses that looked exactly like her on planet Earth. She really wasn't that special. Still, he returned all the same."