You Just Broke Every Stereotype

I told him no.
Well, not yet at least.
I loved Wolf, I was sure of that, but I was also 99% sure that I had eternity to marry him.
There was too much going on right now, too much in my mind. I couldn't add getting married to that list quite yet.
Wolf seemed to understand this. After I shook my head, he let out a little sigh and closed the box.
"I could've guessed that," he said, sliding it back into his bag.
"Sorry...." I mumbled, my voice barely audible. I was still kinda in shock from being proposed to. And I felt bad for turning him down. We walked back home in complete silence. I stayed pretty far behind him, shuffling my feet along the gravel path. I loved the sound of the rocks when you step on them and they move a little. Or when you lightly kick at them and they scattered in all directions.
But I was paying so much attention to my feet that I didn't notice the figure standing in front of me, blocking my path.
Wolf had stopped walking. He had turned around and waited for me, arms crossed. I bumped right into him.
"Watch yourself," he growled.
"Why'd you stop?" I asked, trying to read his pained expression.
"Why am I not good enough for you?" he questioned, staring at the ground and moving some gravel around with his foot.
I had never seen him look this pathetic. This...vulnerable. It worried me.
"It’s not that you're not good enough, Wolf..." I started, reaching out to set my hand on his shoulder.
"Obviously it's something...you said no..."
"It wasn't personal, Wolf...I love you...but there's...too much going on..."
"I can help you...if we were married I could help more...I want to be there for you..."
"I know you do. You are. I'm just not ready to be someone's wife yet...do you understand...?"
"I guess..." he turned around and started walking again. I caught up with him and tried to interlock his fingers with mine.
He pulled away.

---XXX---

"Jaydeeee," Ryder's raspy voice called from the family room couch, "Where's my souppp?"
"Shut up, I'm getting it," I barked as I poured a can of lumpy liquid into a bowl. Ryder had gotten some sort of infection from unclean animal blood. Whatever box he took his bag out of had to be thrown out. Supposedly it happened pretty often. It was like a common cold in humans. It sucked, but it wasn’t life threatening.
I added water to the mixture and after I heated that, blood. Yeah, I was supposed to put blood in his soup. Blood we knew to be clean. Just a cup, but it was still disgusting.
It turned everything a sickly pink color. It looked like a big bowl of Pepto-Bismol. Ugh.
"Here's your freaking soup." I shoved it into his hands.
"You're pretty good in the kitchen, Jayjay… You’d make a good wife… But seriously I don't understand why you don't just marry the guy. It wouldn't change much. You guys would just be...closer."
I thwacked his forehead.
"Message received..." he mumbled, slurping this soup.
I sat down in the recliner near the couch and fiddled with my bracelets.
"He really does love you, you know," I looked up and found Lurk...uh...lurking...above me.
"I know," I muttered, going back to my bracelets. That wasn't the reason I didn't say yes… Why can't people understand that there's just too much happening right now?
Lurk gave me a weak smile and turned to Ryder.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked.
"Sicky. And what's with you and the chatter today?"
Lurk shrugged and asked for a sip of his soup. Ryder reluctantly handed him the bowl.
The minute it touched his lips, there was a forceful knock on the door that shook the entire house. Lurk jumped and the bowl fell from his hands.
The pink liquid immediately became black as it splashed onto the rug. Like a scene from a horror movie.
I opened my mouth to question what the hell had just happened, but Lurk answered before I could ask.
"Chemical imbalance. You must've added too much blood."
"I...um...okay...sorry..."
Lurk sighed and went to answer the door. "You're gonna make me more soup, right?" Ryder whined from the couch.
I shot him a look and followed after Lurk. At the door were Dr. Reed and his group.
"Miss Jaydee Alino?," he started, "There's been a complication...Your uncle...is dead."