Chapter 024
1661 Words
I stand before Senyor Pablo as he takes care of the drinks for a customer. He’s pouring cocktails on the customer’s glasses while the customer drones on about their problems.
When he finally notices me, he says, “Holly! Since when have you been there?!”
“A few minutes,” I answer as the customers glance at me as if seeing me for the first time.
“You should not do that,” Senyor Pablo says, referring to the fact that sometimes my presence is imperceptible as if I am never there.
“Can I talk to Aaron?” I ask.
Senyor Pablo thinks for a while and then says to his customer, “Wait for me here. Let me just help this girl.”
The customers nod, and to me, Senyor Pablo says, “Come with me. I’ll call him for you.”
I follow, and when we’re in front of a door, he knocks.
“What is it?” I listen to Aaron’s voice from behind the door. I hear my heartbeat quicken.
“I have something for you,” Senyor Pablo says.
“Just leave it by the door. I’ll get it later.”
Senyor Pablo looks at me and smiles. “Unfortunately, I can’t. Too precious to leave.”
I hear rustling from inside, the lock clicking, and then Aaron’s face.
“Wha--” But then he stops as his eyes shift to me.
“Can I talk--”
“Ouch!”
The cry of pain is because Senyor Pablo places his feet in between the door when Aaron attempts to close it in my face.
Annoyed, Aaron pushes Senyor Pablo’s feet and tries to still close the door. The two men in front of me start to wrestle by the door as if I don’t exist.
“Get off.”
“I will, but first, let the girl in.”
“Stop meddling with my life.”
“It’s not your life I’m trying to meddle in.”
“You old man.”
“I’m old, so take your hands off the door already.”
And I feel offended by Aaron’s response.
“I need to talk to you.” I interrupt.
Aaron glances at me but immediately turns his attention to Senyor Pablo. It’s irking me, so I close my eyes and breathe. I need to be patient, especially when it’s my fault he’s acting like this.
“Aaron, it will be quick, just ten minutes?”
“Just say it here,” he answers.
I look around. We are on the inn’s second floor, and some customers come and go to their rooms. Some are looking at us and seem amused at the scene.
“Aaron, please, just let me in, okay? We’re attracting attention.”
“No,” is the flat reply.
Just as I thought, I would never have the patience, but at least, I tried. So I stare at the ground and try to feel Anitun Tabu. I am a few meters from the ground, but I can still feel her. I gather the wind in my hand, make it larger so that Senyor Pablo starts to look concerned, rotates its direction, and touches the door.
The effect is instantaneous. The door opens and makes a squeaking sound. My wind almost unhinges it, but it is still attached to the frame. Aaron is pushed back and hits the bed that is a meter away from the door.
“If you don’t want me here, just say it directly to me!” I scold.
“That’s not the issue,” Aaron says and covers his face as if embarrassed. He can’t fight anymore since I am already inside, so he just slumps on his bed.
“Look around, that’s the issue, dear,” Senyor Pablo suggests as he heaves from the struggle to open the door.
I obey and travel my eyes around the room. Senyor Pablo is correct; it can really be an issue. My face is in two or three photo frames. My figurines, in different costumes, are on his bedside table. The room is even using a blue theme. Although I’m not sure if it’s his preference or is an attempt to honor Anitun Tabu.
I sit on the side of his bed and hold one figurine. “When did you collect this?”
Some figurines have costumes I wore even before we met. However, what caught my attention is the figurine that’s wearing the same costume I did during the last ati-atihan festival.
“I’ll go back to my customers,” Senyor Pablo says and chuckles before leaving. “Enjoy the day,” he says and closes the door.
“So?” I prod Aaron on.
“A few years,” he answers. “When we just arrived in Marahuyo.”
“So you are not a Benia citizen?”
“My grandparents are from Benia, but they abandoned it and left for Caltra, which is a far more powerful and richer nation.”
“And?”
“They kicked us off from Caltra.”
“Then why choose Benia? It’s not a powerful country.”
“Yes. But they are hospitable to people with nowhere to go.”
I nod and put down the figurine from where I got it.
“You don’t need these if you have the real one, you know,” I say, getting Master Orson’s manner of speaking.
“We didn’t separate on good terms last time, so I thought that...” he trails off.
“Sorry about that,” I say. “I was frustrated and panicking, and I know those are not good excuses, but I’m really sorry. I should have not lashed out at you. It’s not even your fault. How will I be able to make it up to you?”
“Just say you do not regret giving me a chance.”
“Of course not! If there’s something I’ll regret, I regret I didn’t meet you sooner.”
This time Aaron makes a huge smile as if he’s the one at fault, and he’s being forgiven for it. “Can you promise not to lash out at me again?”
“Stop being cliched!”
Aaron thinks for a while. “How about not doing it anymore?”
“That’s the point of apologies, right?”
“Then, how about promising something to me?”
“What is it?”
“I want you to promise first before I say it.”
“That’s not how promises go.”
“I know,” he exhales. “I thought you wanted to make it up to me?”
“You’re not gonna ask me to commit suicide, right? Or kill someone?”
“Of course not,” he says.
“How about forcing me to destroy my relationship with someone?”
He taps my forehead and says, “Tempting, but no.”
“Make me sick?”
He shakes his head.
“Make me give up my dream?”
“Is that really what you think of me?”
I think for a while. “No.”
“Then I am not sure where you are taking all these sick ideas.”
“But it’s hard to trust blindly.”
“Which is exactly how you’re gonna make it up to me. If you’re not comfortable then--”
“I am,” I say, reaching for his arms when he’s about to get up. He sits beside me again. “Let me hear it.”
“I want you to think of this place as your home.”
I frown. “That’s beneficial for me. If this is my home, I don’t need to pay you every time I stay. I’ll always get free meals, free drinks, and--”
Aaron leans forward and kisses my forehead. I blink, and my hand automatically goes to the same spot he kissed.
“That’s exactly what I am asking from you.”
“But...”
“We are closer to the border. You can train there. Master Orson is always here, too, since that’s the type of Scepter he is. And--”
“But this is all for me,” I say, feeling guilty that I will be at the receiving end of it all. “What will you get from it?”
He removes my hand on my forehead and kisses me twice, this time closer between my eyes.
“This,” he says. “I will get more opportunities like this.”
Then he kisses me the third time at the top of my nose. He is about to do it the fourth time when I get up. He’s smiling. I grab my chest and take a deep breath. This little boy! I am older than him!
He reaches for my hand and pulls me back to my seat. He looks amused. He’s about to restart with the kisses when I push him. He falls from the bed and groans. But then, he laughs, and I am getting more confused as I watch him laughing on the floor.
“What is wrong with you?!”
No, what is wrong with me? This, whatever he’s doing, I like it. That is why I don’t strongly protest this ploy to stir me. But, at twenty years of age, and I still allow an eighteen years old to make me all clumsy like this?
“See now? I’ll benefit the most from it.”
“I am a mage! You’ve seen me blast Ethan for how many meters before! So don’t test me.”
“And you didn’t do that with me. You just push me from the bed. That’s why I’m sure that I can make you get used to it.”
“Get used to what?”
Without Aaron’s answer, I understand it. I feel my cheeks get warm, and to hide it, I glance away.
To be continued…
- Writer
