Caroline marched into my apartment with anger painted in her features. She crossed her arms as soon as she stood in front of me and glared. "Did you know that your boyfriend stopped looking for a way to bring Bonnie and Damon back?"

   I stared at her for a couple of seconds, letting her words sink in. "What?" I asked, still a bit dazed. 

   "Alaric has been giving Stefan leads for months," she said, taking a seat in front of me. "Stefan, your boyfriend, let all of us believe that he was actually following them when in reality he just gave up."

   "What?" I repeated. It wasn't in confusion, but out of anger. Stefan Salvatore, the man I loved, decided to leave four months ago to search for something that could bring back his brother and Bonnie from wherever they were. Stefan Salvatore, the man that had broken my heart, had stopped looking for his brother and never picked up my calls. "So, you're telling me that no one has been looking for a way to help Damon and Bonnie?"

   Caroline sucked in a breath between her teeth. "Not exactly," she said. "Remember our dear old friend Enzo?"

   "Enzo?" Damon's friend, or best friend (I wasn't sure), when they were part of the Augustine vampires at Whitmore. "What does Enzo have to do with this?"

   "Well, he's actually been trying to help." Caroline stood from her seat and clapped her hands together once. "Which is why I need you to pack a bag and get your butt in the car."

   I stared at her for a couple of seconds, brows furrowed. "For..."

   "We're going to hunt Enzo down," she simply said. "And then, we're going to look for that stupid boyfriend of yours and kick his ass."

   Instead of fighting with Caroline, I made my way to my bedroom and began to pack a small bag. As I reached for my clothes, I stumbled over one of Stefan's shirt. I held it for a couple of seconds, just feeling its texture between my fingers. It was soft, gently, and it smelt of him. I sighed and laid it back in the dresser, then continued to grab my things. 

   As soon as I finished, I met Caroline in her car. As soon as I got inside of it, she began to talk about what she would plan to do when she saw Enzo. I listened, nodded along, and agreed. I wanted to slap Enzo, just for being a terrible person, but at the same time I wanted to see him because he had somehow become a slight friend. He was killed because of Elena and I, but he had also tried to stop me from fighting Helen Otto as the Other Side was collapsing. 

   After half a day of driving, we ended up in Georgia, in a small hotel called Hotel Albert. It was in the centre of town, full of people, and also full of passing supernatural. I stood in the centre of the hotel with my arms crossed, angry and anxious. While Caroline busied herself looking, I decided to use my supernatural hearing. Conversations that meant nothing to me, laughter that I could no longer find hilarious, and the distinct English accent of the man we had been looking for. I sighed and headed in that direction, a coat closet with a half-dressed woman and Enzo.

   "Okay, there's a coven in Oregon," the woman moaned, her head pushed back in pleasure. "They'd found a way to communicate with their ancestors on the Other Side before it went away. Maybe they know what happened to your friends." She was staring down at him, hands on his neck. "They call themselves the Gemini Coven; they're small and weird and they don't like outsiders."

   "See?" Enzo breathed. "You did know something."

   "I just wanted you to work for it."

   I cleared my throat as they kissed, already feeling disgusted at the scene before me. 

   Enzo stopped kissing the woman and let out a chuckle. "Well, well, well," he sighed as he dropped his hands from the woman's waist and turned. "Well, there's a blast from the past. Hello, gorgeous."

   "Sorry to break whatever this is between you," I said with a tight smile, "but I'm going to need to borrow him for a while."

   "No need to be jealous," chuckled Enzo as he lazily ambled towards me. "I'll go." He waved at the woman with his fingers before brushing past me, smiling. 

   I turned and followed after him, pulling out my phone to call Caroline to inform her about finding him. She met us outside, arms crossed, anger and calmness mixed in her face. "You've been spying on our lives," she said, crossing her arms.

   "Don't be jealous," he chuckled. "I've been searching, not spying."

   "And I've been annoyed," I sighed, glancing between the two of them with a sarcastic smile. "So, Enzo here found something while having his tongue down the coat check girl's throat."

   "Garment attendant," he corrected.

   "Coat check girl," I repeated. "Now, get in the car and lead the way."

   "When did she get this feisty?" he asked as he got in the backseat of the car, all smiles and annoyed. "Right, after best friend disappears and boyfriend leaves."

   I glanced over at Caroline with a tight lipped smile. "Can I just break his neck?"

   "As much as I want that to happen, we need him awake." She gave me a smile and patted me on the shoulders.

   I groaned, but got in the car. Instead of keeping quiet, Enzo began to hum to every song that came on the radio. I turned down the radio, and then he began to sing whatever came to mind. I let out a small groan and rubbed my temples, until Elena's voice filled the car. She called Caroline to tell her that she got Ric to compel away her memories of Damon. Caroline, to her surprise, was objecting. She spoke about if's: if Damon and Bonnie came back, what would happen? Elena responded that Alaric would bring her memories back. Then, Caroline said she was trying to think of what Bonnie would say, which made the conversation between her and Elena a bit more significant.

    "Girl bonding, very sweet," Enzo groaned when the conversation finished. "I heard you dropped out of school. And you, Clara, I heard you got into school."

   "I heard you were a lurker that was spying on our lives," I said with a sarcastic smile, quickly glancing at him.

   "When do we exit?" Caroline asked, ignoring his words.

   "Soon," he answered her, before turning to me. "Looks can only get a girl so far these days, Clara."

   I rolled my eyes and let out a sarcastic laugh. "I'm not taking feminist tips from a guy who just used his tongue to get secrets out of a coat check girl."

   "Garment attendant," he said, just like before we left the hotel.

   "You just made that up."

   "Wow, I feel like I'm driving with two children," Caroline said. "Anyway, Gemini Coven. I've never heard of them. Who are they?"

   "No idea," he simply said, staring out the window. "That's not where we're headed."

   "What?" I looked back at him. "Where are you taking us?"

   "You'll see," he simply said. There was no sign of what could it be on his face, just a bleak face staring out the window. Bleak and annoying. Slapable. 

   When night fell, we ended up in front of a house in the middle of nowhere. Trees everywhere, a nice and country smell emitting from everywhere. I stared at the house for several moments, just taking in the sight. Small and blue and lovely. A little house in the middle of nowhere. Quiet and calm, scenic. I got out of the car as Enzo and Caroline did, and continued to stare. 

   "What are you guys doing here?" a woman's voice said. I turned my head to see a nice looking woman, a generous smile on her lips. 

   "Do you live here?" Caroline asked.

   The woman shook her head. "No, I don't. My friend does, thought."

   "Is this Stefan's house?" Enzo asked, his voice full of amusement.

   "Wait, what?" I took a step back, glancing from Enzo to the house. "Enzo, what the hell?!"

   "Oh, no," Caroline mumbled. She quickly came to my side and gave me a smile. "It'll be okay, Clara."

   I continued to stare at the house, feeling my breath get stuck at my throat. Stefan. My boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend? What were we? Were we still together? Were we considered a couple even after four months of intentional avoiding? I couldn't breath, my heart was going fast, and my fingers trembled. Stefan.

   "We're friends of his," Enzo said. 

   "Oh," the woman nodded, slowly, glancing all around us. "Um, let me tell him you're here." She walked up the steps, slowly, glancing back at us in curiosity.

   I marched up to Enzo. "Why didn't you say you were taking us here?" I hissed. 

   "Surprise," he smiled. "Isn't it a nice surprise, Clara?"

   "No," I truthfully answered. "It's a terrible one."

   "Come on." He grabbed me by the arm and began to pull me up the steps. "Wouldn't it be nice to see your dear boyfriend after four months?"

   "This is going to be bad," Caroline mumbled from besides me. She had a hand on my back, almost as if she were trying to steady me.

   The door was open, sending a waft of cooking vegetables in our direction. The woman stood in front, and in front of her a very familiar man. Enzo was the first to go through the front door, arms wide open.

   "Stefan!" he yelled. "You're a hard man to track down. Uh, I wasn't sure if you're new friend would invite us in, but she said this was your place. Which means, open invitation for all your mates, right?" He rubbed his hands together. "Got any bourbon?" He walked away, searching for the alcohol.

   I stood a couple of feet away from him, arms crossed, heart at my throat. I couldn't help but continue to stare at Stefan, wondering if I should walk up to him and hug him, or slap him. His eyes finally moved towards me, and his figure changed. He stood rigid, tall, guilty. I swallowed hard and looked away, knowing that if I continued to stare at him I would want to kiss him, not slap him.

   We somehow ended up seating around the table with food and wine. I was seated in front of Stefan, which was purposely made by Enzo. He sat besides me, the unknown girl to my other side, and then Caroline. She sat between Stefan and the girl, between Stefan and I, because she would stop me if I decided that I suddenly needed to break his neck. Instead of eating, I drank the wine and continued to stare down instead of at the man in front of me. I had longed to look at him, to see him, to hear him, but at that moment my chest was hurting too much. Who was this girl? Who was she to him?

   "So," the girl began, "how do you guys know Stefan?"

   "We went to high school together," Caroline said.

   "I dated his brother," I spoke, quickly glancing at him before looking at the girl. I wanted to hurt him, because he hurt me. God, I was pathetic.

   "He dated two of my best friends," Caroline said.

   "Never really broke up with one of them," I continued as I placed my hands under my chin. My eyes landed on him. He cleared his throat. 

   "Um, are you two dating?" Caroline asked, pointing between the girl and Stefan.

   "No," she said, blushing and looking down at her plate. She liked him, it was obvious. I got jealous again."No."

   "So, how did you two meet?" Caroline continued. 

   "Uh, Ivy's car was in the shop," Stefan slowly said, "where I work."

   I looked up at him. "You work at an auto-repair shop?"

   He smacked his lips and nodded slowly. "It's relaxing."

   "Why?" the girl, Ivy, asked. "What did you used to do?"

   "Ah, man of all seasons," Enzo answered with sarcasm laced in his tone. "Jack of all trades." He looked towards Ivy. "You have a lovely clavicle."

   "Oh," she giggled. "Thank you, I think."

   "Forgive me, I always notice a woman's neck. I'm a neck person! So is Stefan. Right, Stefan?"

   "Not anymore."

   "Ah, well, that's silly. You can't just stop being a neck person."

   Ivy, the woman, leaned towards me. "Is Enzo your boyfriend?" she asked. 

   "Ugh! Oh, god no." I made a face and shook my head.

   "Would you date that?" Caroline asked, joining the conversation. They giggled, while my face remained unchanged from bleak. 

   "Uh, hello," Enzo spoke up. "I'm right here. I have super-sensitive hearing. Practically supernatural. Do you believe in the supernatural, Ivy?"

   "I've..." She shook her head. "I've never really thought about it."

   "I myself, am a believer," he said. "Had to get a witch to do a locator's spell to find my buddy here." Everyone around the table exchanged looks, the they laughed. I didn't. I kept my eyes staring down at the untouched food, avoiding everyone else. 

   "Aren't you going to eat?" Ivy asked me. 

   I gave her a small and polite smile. "Not hungry," I said. 

   "So," Enzo began ad he leaned back on his seat, "Stefan, tell us. This house—very charming—when'd you get it?"

   "About a month or so ago," Stefan responded.

   "No, more than that, remember?" Ivy spoke up. "We met two months ago and you already had it."

   I looked over at him. "You've lived here for more than two months?" I asked, my voice breaking. 

   He stared at me for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, I guess I have."

   "That's weird," I scoffed. "You know, everyone thought you were living somewhere else. Or you were dead in a ditch."

   "Stefan, your job was supposed to be investigative work," Caroline snapped, "not auto-repair."

   "Right, well, I've moved on from that job," he responded. 

   "From everything else, too?" I asked, my voice breaking again. I held myself together as much as I could, tears threatening to fall. He just stared at me, no emotion on his face except a hint of guilt.

   "Well, you can't move on from investigative work," Caroline continued, her tone rising, "until you solved the investigation, Stefan."

   "How about we just drop it? I'm happy doing what I'm doing now, and that's all that should really matter, right?"

   I leaned over the table to protest, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. 

   "There, darling," Enzo said. "No need to make a scene. Really, it's all just some big misunderstanding. Perhaps, this will clear it all up." With a smile, he grabbed his fork and stabbed Stefan's hand to the table. 

   "What the hell is wrong with you?" Stefan winced. 

   "So many secrets," Enzo hummed, "what are you running from, Stefan?" He pulled the fork out of his hand, the wound healing.

   Ivy looked shocked. Caroline immediately grabbed her by the chin and compelled her to follow her upstairs. She turned to the boys and glared. "No need to make a scene!" She left with Ivy in her hand. 

   Instead of staying between them, I stood and walked out of the house. I took a seat in the front steps of the porch and stared out at the field, brows furrowed as my head reeled. The sound of fighting, of things breaking was loud and clear. The distinct sound of a neck breaking was loud, the thump of whoever's body falling on the floor. And then Caroline's phone ringing, Elena not knowing when she fell in love with Damon, Stefan hearing, Caroline and him fighting. The next thing I know, is Caroline marching out of the house in anger, mumbling to herself about how much of a dick he is. 

   I swallowed hard and glance back at the house, seeing him stand a few feet away from the front door, mouth slightly open. He stares back at me as his mouth closes, and then he walks over to the table. I stood and walked inside, slowly, afraid. What could I say to him? 

   "Stefan..." His name sounded strange coming from my mouth, as if it belonged to my voice but had a strange taste. I closed my mouth and swallowed again, glancing everywhere except him. "Why did you stop?" I didn't know what I was asking: why did he stop looking for Damon or why did he stop loving me?

   Slowly, he stood and turned to look at me. "Cause I had to," he simply said. "I had to move on. You know, the months before I moved here, I was following every lead that Alaric sent me. I spoke to every witch, every shaman, every psychic in twenty countries around the globe, and every lead was a dead end."

   "Enzo found another lead," I said, taking a step closer to him. It was natural of me wanting to be so close to him. "Some coven in Oregon called..."

   "The Gemini Coven," he finished for me. "Yeah, I looked into them, too. There was nothing there, Cl..." He stopped before he said my name. He glanced away, took a deep breath, and looked back at me. "There's nothing we can do. Damon and Bonnie are dead. I had to come terms with that. And once I did, I had to start over, I just couldn't live my life with my old friends. I just couldn't go near Mystic Falls or Elena or Caroline or..."

   "Me?" I finished for him. "I thought we were a lot more closer than that. Stefan, you could hear it in all those messages that I left you: couldn't you hear that I was completely falling apart without you?" Without wanting, I began to cry. I sniffed and quickly wiped away the tears, glancing away from him. When I looked over at him, he was looking down, guilty. It took me several seconds to realise why he looked so guilty. "You didn't listen to them..."

   "I had to move on," he said, softly, "I didn't have a choice." With each word that left his mouth, tears fell down my cheeks. "I didn't have a choice, Cl..." He stopped himself from saying my name once again.

   "You didn't have a choice?" I asked, my voice loud and filled with disbelief. "You had every choice, Stefan! You could have picked up the phone at least once in the past four months; you could have told me that you stopped looking; you could have told me to move on..." I wiped away the tears and shook my head. "Like, right now, Stefan, you have a choice of saying my name. What, is it terrible now?"

   "I can't say it," he said, shaking his head. "If I say your name, I'll say that I love you. If I say your name, I'll probably kiss you."

   I took a step closer to him. "Then, say it." My voice was low, as if I couldn't go any higher. "Say my name, Stefan, and kiss me."

   He took a step back and shook his head. "I can't," he said, looking away. "I had to erase everything."

   "Even your feelings for me?" I asked. When he didn't respond, I let out a laugh with no emotions. "Savannah, Georgia. Remember when we went to Nova Scotia to get the cure for Elena? We were talking in front of the fire, about a human life that we could have, anywhere, be whoever we wanted. You said Savannah, Georgia—a little house in the middle of nowhere." My lip quivered as I spoke. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from crying, but sobbing, but I was already too far into my tears. "Let me summarise my messages, then: you're breaking my heart, Stefan Salvatore." I turned and walked out of the house. As soon as the cool breeze hit me, I began to sob. I held myself together and walked towards the car, crying, shaking, feeling every emotion move through me. 

   "Clara!" Caroline came running towards me, immediately wrapping her arms around me. "Oh my god, Clara!"

   "I hate him," I cried, shaking my head. "I hate him so much!"

   "I know," she soothingly said, brushing her hand up and down my back. "I'm sorry." She pushed me away a bit and smiled. "Do you want to come to a party with Tyler, Elena, and I?"

   "Oh, well, that was a bit of a bust," Enzo's voice rang around us. He stopped walking when he saw us, the amusement leaving his face. "What happened?"

   "Not now, Enzo," Caroline snapped.

   His face suddenly turned angry. "I'll be right back." He turned and marched back to the house.

   I didn't have the energy to even stop him, so I stood there and silently cried. The pain raked through me, starting from my chest to my head, and sometimes they left my mouth. Instead, I wiped my tears and turned to Caroline. "Let's get out of here, okay?"

   "Yeah," she nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here."