Does he still hate you?

What kind of question is that? Of course he does. The resentment Keegan holds for you lingers to this day. So much so that every time he sees something that even remotely reminds him of you, he can’t help but scowl at the thought. Although, as much as he hates to admit it, when he thinks about you, it’s hurt that consumes him more than anything else.

So why is it, that after all these years, as he stands in front of you… Keegan can’t help but feel inexorably drawn to you?

He hates it. No one could have guessed that on the very first of his days spent off-duty, on Christmas day no less, that he’d come face to face with you again. And yet, somehow, by some way, the two of you have been brought back together.

“Excuse me…” he sighs, not even having the energy to act as though he hates you. He just wants to enter this last shop and leave. It’s a cozy place, one where he plans to purchase some last-minute Christmas decorations. It’s not like he wants to spend his entire holiday feeling sorry for himself, and he hopes that the decor will make things a little better.

You appear to be leaving, a bag full of shopping in your hands. For a split second — though it feels like ages to him — he locks eyes with you, and has to pause his movements for a moment. They’re pretty as ever, but they lack the glow that you had back then, when the two of you were inseparable. It’s a selfish thought, but part of Keegan hopes that you’re suffering just as much as he is.

To avoid giving his emotions away, he quickly shoots a glance upwards as though looking at the scenery. That’s when he sees it: hanging above the doorway of the building, looking down on him, taunting him… Mistletoe. And it appears that you’ve seen it too, as you stop in your tracks to pay it close attention.

He knows he should be mad. He shouldn’t yearn to kiss you as much as he does right now. You broke his heart.

And yet… Whatever cruel hands of fate had twisted the both of yours, your paths seem to have been forever conjoined.