Chapter Text
The next day, Poppy decided to end this madness.
She was sick and tired of this uncertainty, this pain. Her thoughts kept going in circles, always arriving to the same conclusion. She was getting nowhere. It was eating her up. She didn’t want their children to notice anything either.
“Look at the bright side, Poppy.” The Queen told herself as she walked among the pods late in the afternoon. Her tone cheerful and forcing a small smile onto her lips. “This might just be a big misunderstanding.”
Deep down she knew it wasn’t but she tried to stay positive until the very end. She let herself get carried away in her grief but what if this was all for nothing? She felt her husband’s love in the morning hug and kiss he gave her. She sang the morning song with him in perfect harmony, like always. She felt the warmth in his smile as he said his goodbye for the day before leaving her to go about his duties around the village, while promising to check up on their children during the day after their classes. He also made lunch and cleaned up by the time she arrived home to eat.
Would a cheating husband do something like this?
Yes. Out of guilt.
The Queen of Pop shook her head, trying to get these thoughts out of her mind for now. What she needed was confirmation and she was about to get it. A quick check of her hugtime bracelet told her it was almost time for her husband to head home.
Poppy walked among the pods, making sure to keep to less walked paths, looking for Branch. Someone told her he was helping with their new go-cart racetrack, about to give his Branch Seal of Approval for safety. If everything goes well, the opening will be in five days.
Then, he appeared.
She hid behind a taller bush when she spotted the teal in the corner of her vision. Soon enough, she watched him walk past her at a distance. Nothing too suspicious about him. He was still on time to get home, actually. He seemed to be on his way. But then, he suddenly took a sharp left and walked on. Poppy raised an eyebrow but didn’t think much of it yet. Instead, she abandoned her hiding spot and launched herself up onto the trees above, doing her best to camouflage herself against the bark and the leaves with her hair. Her heart started to beat louder when she noticed he stopped and turned around to wave at someone walking by, then waited for a bit. Only once he looked around thoroughly, including upwards did he make another turn into a tighter street between pods.
His walk was slow and he kept glancing around until he reached a low hanging yellow pod and knocked on the door. Poppy watched from her hiding spot as a female troll with yellow skin and orange hair answered and ushered him inside.
She felt her world was crashing down above her. The orange hair on his leaf vest… It was her. The worst part was that she knew this girl. Well, not exactly by name but she has seen her around. She seemed to be such a sweet troll with such a gentle voice. She remembered talking to her not a month ago. And all this time she…?
What defense would she have? She didn’t know the Prince Consort was married to her? For more than a decade now? Or that he told her they were on bad terms, about to break apart? Everyone knew their marriage was rock solid. She knew it as well. So why would she…?
“No.” Poppy told herself as she lost her camouflage and narrowed her eyes at herself. How could she jump to conclusions so quickly? Yes, she was very distraught last night and let darkness enter her ray of sunshine but she trusted Branch, right? He was here because he was helping her with something. She kept telling herself this. Yes, this was why he was sneaking around for weeks, making sure nobody saw him, only to be basically pulled inside by this other troll who happened to have orange hair, which was tangled with his leaf vest.
She was doing it again.
She had to stop.
Poppy was the one who always reprimanded Branch for having negative thoughts, which would then spiral him into a depressing cycle. She asked him to be positive in everything or most things, to see the silver lining. To break the cycle. Yet here she was, doing the same as him. Nothing was certain yet.
So, she decided to wait for a bit. She probably waited for ten or fifteen minutes but it felt like hours for her. Then, she decided to crash the party. She used her hair to swing down closer to the pod until she landed in front of the door, one of her hands reached out for the doorknob but she stopped, frozen in place, unsure if she wanted to see what was beyond this door. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her nerves were on edge but she steeled herself. She took a few deeper breaths, then swung the door open.
Poppy froze at what she saw.
They stood in the middle of the pod, in each other’s arms. Branch had his hands on her waist, while the girl had hers on his shoulders. They stood still and looked towards the door, at her with clear shock and mouths gaping open.
It was like her heart stopped beating.
“Poppy?”
She did not answer him.
“What are you doing here?!” Branch asked her, no shouted at her as if she wasn’t supposed to be there. Well, she really wasn’t. She watched as the two of them parted, with him pushing the girl away from him and making his way to her in exchange in a quick pace.
“Queen Poppy…” The girl trailed off as she backed away from her husband, all the while looking between her and him, clearly unsure what to say. “I…”
“Please…” Poppy started in a soft tone laced with disbelief as she stepped back. “Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like…”
Initial anger spent and stopping a few steps away from her, she watched as the senses returned to her husband, who met the gaze of the girl he was with, then looked back at her. She saw the nervousness in his wide blue eyes, the sweat that was rolling down from his brow. He stepped closer, a hand outstretched towards her. “Poppy… This… This isn’t…” He stuttered.
She heard enough.
Poppy struck her hair upwards and swung away. She heard Branch call her name over and over, shouting at her that ‘it wasn’t what she thinks it was’ but she was done. There was no explaining this away. Her own magenta eyes saw what they did, the way they held each other, they were clearly looking at one another and standing close before she barged in. Had she been a few minutes later…
Suddenly, she tripped on something as she made her way up the nearest tree. That was when she realized her vision was blurry. Tears were streaming down her eyes but she stumbled on and on. She sobbed when she heard Branch call her name from somewhere below her. The Queen wanted to camouflage herself again but she knew there was no getting away from his sharp gaze. So, instead, she climbed on as quickly as she could, hoping to lose him in the foliage.
Eventually, she grasped the last branch and hoisted herself up onto it to sit there quietly. Her arms were trembling and her breathing came out in gasps but she did make it. She no longer heard him call after her, which both calmed her and made her feel cold. He gave up so soon. Almost fifteen years meant this much to him. In fact, he gave up on them months ago.
Although she was sitting there on top of the tree branch, overlooking the entire village and the surrounding forest, with such breathtaking sights around but she was blind to it. She felt like she was chocked by that dark Bergen pot all over again. She felt like she was kneeling on the cold metal surface, her heart sinking, her hope lost. Her colors dulling.
And this time… there was nobody to sing them back.
“Poppy!” His voice sounded close, she saw him climb onto the same branch she was sitting on from the corner of her eye but she did not move. She didn’t even look at him or acknowledge him. “Look, Poppy, I… I didn’t… This wasn’t… She is not… We didn’t!” He stuttered on and on, all the while scooting closer to her, trying to explain himself. His nervousness and the way he fidgeted was all she needed to see.
“Then what was it?” She asked calmly, trying to will herself to feel numb to it all.
Branch opened his mouth to say something but no coherent sound came out at first. “I… I… I… Look,…” He finally said but averted his gaze from her nervously. “I am not… It was not what you think it was!” Branch told her firmly, finally finding his words. “If… If that was what you think. This is not…”
“So then what were you doing?” Poppy asked, not exactly interested in this conversation but part of her wanted to hear what he had to say for himself. What kind of excuse will it be? Did he get lost and instead of going home into her arms, he accidentally walked towards the other side of the village, walked into the wrong pod and embraced the wrong girl? Or did he get a bout of amnesia?
“Just trust me, Poppy…” He pleaded. Even after all these years he was still struggling to convey his feelings and thoughts. She watched his hands shake a bit. He was past nervousness. He was panicking. Maybe she should do both of them a favor and go home now before he got a heart attack. She didn’t want anything to happen to him. No matter what happened just now.
Still, the Queen felt a pang of pain in her chest when he asked her to trust him. Trust him? She turned her tear-stained face towards him and stared at him, giving him a long silent look, then made a move to stand. But Branch grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her back down.
“Y-you were not supposed to see that-…” He finally whispered and she closed her eyes, averting her gaze from him now.
“Of course not!” She interrupted him but it wasn’t her talking. It was her broken heart. “Of course I am not supposed to see my husband of nearly fifteen years lovingly embrace another girl!”
“Poppy!”
“Don’t you think I didn’t notice?!”
“Poppy! Just listen-”
“The way you stay out late, then come back home, hop into the shower right away? How your looks became so important! You even work out again, and use a different cologne, and use hair gel again, how you sometimes hum love songs but stop when I walk in-“
“Rumba!”
Poppy stopped at the outburst and turned to look at Branch confused, who just stared back at her with a desperate look on his face. She couldn’t help but frown. Of all the excuses she expected to leave his mouth, she was not prepared to hear a random word.
“What-?”
“Sunny is teaching me how to dance Rumba.” Branch said calmly, emphasizing each word he said.
Poppy still didn’t understand and shook her head, trying to make sense of this.
“Dance… lessons?” She asked, uncertain, her voice quiet.
“Yes!” He almost laughed, which only made her more confused.
The Queen of Pop felt kind of deflated but also unsure. Was this the excuse he decided to come up with? Was this a desperate attempt to save himself? Now that she thought about it… If it were really dance lessons, which she doubted it was, it would make sense to stay out late but it didn’t explain everything else. She felt she wanted to believe him. Every fiber of her being wanted this to be true. And yet…
“But why keep it from me?” She asked, fixing him with a firm glare, demanding an explanation and boy it better be good.
“Because it was supposed to be a surprise.” Branch admitted after taking a shaky breath and lowered his gaze from her to watch the leaves dance in the wind below them.
“A surprise?” Poppy echoed and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Yes.” Was all Branch said but Poppy did not relent her hard stare as she waited for him to continue, very curious about what he had to say. “Do you… Do you remember, when we were planning our wedding? How you wanted something out of the norm for our First Dance?” Branch finally asked and looked at her. Once the question left his mouth, Poppy’s eyes widened but before she could answer, her husband continued. “You didn’t want to dance the usual waltz. No, my energetic bubbly wife-to-be wanted to spice things up and dance Rumba.” He paused, letting it sink in for a bit, then lowered his gaze again with a sad smile. “Back then I told you I will not do it. I heard of it but I didn’t know a step of that dance. We had like… a week to practice our First Dance and it wasn’t enough for me to learn something entirely new.” She saw him meet her gaze once again and gave her a sad smile. “And you know what? You were okay with it. My comfort was just as important as the fun you wanted to have, so we had our waltz.” He paused and sighed longingly as memories of their First Dance washed over him. “And it was beautiful.”
And it was indeed. Her own heart took her back to almost fifteen years ago when they both glided over the stage with well-practiced steps, completely in synch, entirely in harmony with each other. It wasn’t perfect, though. She remembered her stumbling but he dipped her to hide it, while he made a wrong step and she pulled him to twirl her so nobody would notice. Their dance wasn’t perfect. Not everything in their marriage was perfect from parenting to choosing vacation spots. But that was what made them perfect for each other. They went into this, knowing they will clash and knowing they will love each other through it.
After a sigh, Branch continued. “So… once I realized our fifteenth anniversary is coming up… I wanted to… I wanted to surprise you by learning how to dance Rumba….”
The mind dead set on catching her husband cheating was suddenly flooded with both happiness and pain upon hearing this confession. She could have fought it. She could have accused him of lying. But Poppy knew from the look and smile he gave her that he was telling the truth. Every fiber of her being knew. There was this thing about him, these twitches, the nervous movements of his fingers, the way he held his ears, the way he talked… Branch wasn’t cheating. Her marriage was never in danger and it filled her with relief and happiness. But she also felt the stabs of pain in her chest. Because she didn’t trust him. It was so easy for her mind to bring her to such a cold conclusion, despite knowing her husband.
“I ruined it…” Was the first thing she happened to say as she stared ahead, fresh tears streamed down her cheeks once she realized this. He was trying to surprise her with something so thoughtful. Something he remembered from nearly fifteen years ago when she forgot about it herself. And she… And she really…?
“No, you didn’t.” Came Branch’s calming voice and put a hand on her shoulder, grounding her. He had this way of knowing what to do when it came to her and sometimes it astonished her. “It was my fault. I should have at least told you I am planning a surprise, even if you would have snuck after me to find out what it was…” He let out a small chuckle to ease the tension between them. “So my secrecy would not cause…. this…”
Poppy felt her heart sink again and slowly she leaned towards her husband, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt him shift as he gladly offered the comfort she needed, feeling that one of his strong hands wrapped around her waist to pull her closer to his side.
“I didn’t trust you… But I always trust you… But now I didn’t. I really thought you were…” She sobbed and snuggled into his side more. Here, in the embrace of her loving and understanding husband, with each sob and each drop of tear, the Queen of Pop felt lighter. A heavy weight was lifted from her heart but just barely. The fact that she did not trust the very troll who was ready to give his life for her without a second thought, who went through fire and ice to keep her safe, who faced his biggest fears for her, it made her feel absolutely horrible. “I don’t know what came over me…”
“I am so sorry…” Both of them said it at the same time and they both looked quite surprised at one another. They stared for a while in silence. Then, they both chuckled, their mood lifting ever so slightly.
“This isn’t your fault.” Branch told her again with a shake of his head, using his embrace to pull her flush against him now. “I guess I should have told you about my reasons and try to keep my secret less of a secret. Because now that you told me about what you noticed… Yeah…” He trailed off with a grimace. He was probably seeing things from her perspective now and he didn’t like what he saw either.
“Speaking of which…” Poppy suddenly spoke up and leaned away a bit as she regarded her husband with a confused look. “So what about all the other stuff? Like you humming love songs to yourself?”
“Oh, that…” The troll beside her chuckled and gave her one of his dashing smiles. “I was humming the song we are going to dance to on our anniversary. I was going over the steps in my mind too.”
“And what about you working out again? And the gifts, and the kisses, and the stuff about your looks?” She asked curiously as she placed her head back onto his shoulder with a content sigh.
“That is a longer story…”