“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I won’t fight your battles for you. I’m done trying to save the world.”

“I’ve been a fool. You won’t come with me. Not for excitement...”

“No.”

“Nor for adventure.”

“Nope.”

“Certainly not for love.”

“Thousands of true loves, across an infinite number of universes. Remember?”

“Rolfe Primero would only come… for my dick, as proven by himself several times last night.”

………………

………

…

“I’m gonna punch you in the dick really, really hard right now.”

“Please don’t. You can hit anywhere on my body except my dick and my face.”

“Why the hell not?”

“They’re my moneymaker. I depend on them to make a living these days.”

“Dyin’ ain’t much of a living. Just clench your teeth or something. It’ll be over soon.”

“For gods’ sake Rolfe, think of my children.”

“You don’t have any children.”

*hopefully “Someday I might.”

“…”

“Rolfe, no!”

Just as the entity is about to deliver a devastating punch, a knock is heard coming from the front door. Rolfe (whose fist is in mid-strike) and the boy (who’s trying to shield his face and genital area at the same time) both look at the entrance

.

“Are you expecting company?”

“Short answer, not today.”

“And the long answer?”

“I didn't think they would call for me so soon. Delyth must have pulled some serious strings to get her mother to come here as quickly as possible.”

“…”

“Her mother is a notorious workaholic and she’s very peculiar on how she manages her time.”

“Then I guess I won’t take up any more of yours.”

“Thank you, Rolfe.”

“We’ll pick up this conversation later on tonight.”

“You know I love you, right?”

“Get out of here, you.”

“With all my heart. Till death do us part.”

“It’s cute how you think death can get you out of this relationship.”

“…”

Just as the boy’s hand is about to reach the doorknob to the front door, he hears something from behind him.

“Catch.”

The boy turns and immediately sees something sailing through the air. He catches the item and holds it up to examine it. It is a tiny cologne bottle, the main body that holds its dark liquid content is made out of crystal while the part that covers the top is made out of gold.

“This is…”

“It’s something that I concocted in my spare time.”

“…”

“Don’t make that face. It’s nothing to be cautious about at all.”

“You saying that makes it all the more suspicious.”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to look at a gift horse in the mouth?”

“Knowing you, I’m checking to see to if this giant hollow wooden horse has any enemy soldiers hidden inside it.”

“If you’re gonna doubt every little thing that I will make for you, I guess I’ll just stop making them at all.”

“I’mputtingiton. I’mputtingiton.”

“Atta boy. Off you go to save the world now.”

“Bye Rolfe.”

“Bye darling.”

The boy turns around after closing the front door and comes face to face with the beautiful third year student known as Delyth Anatol. She raises a quizzical eyebrow at the boy. It seems this best friend of Synnove has accidently heard a female voice bidding farewell just now, a voice that came out from a place of residence that was supposed to be occupied by solely male students.

“Don’t ask.” the boy says.

“Don’t tell.” replies the older girl curtly.

“If you're here to escort me, then by all means, lead the way.”

“Follow me. And just so you'll know, we're gonna be moving quickly. Most of the students are about to finish lunch at the North Hall and if it’s possible, I’d like to avoid running into them.”

“Are you ashamed about being seen together with me?”

“Present company excluded, it would benefit us all if the spotlight isn’t shined on me. I do my best work when I’m walking unnoticed in the crowd.”

“Must be hard work as well since you’re too eye-catching to go unnoticed.”

“You know, your silver tongue might work on Synnove but it won’t fool me. Wait, why are we still talking?”

“I have that effect on people. And don’t think I haven’t noticed you didn’t deny about the eye-catching part.”

“Just die already. And if that’s not possible, do your best to keep up.”

The beautiful third year student known as Delyth Anatol immediately turns around and walks down the path, away from the manor where Rolfe calls home. She doesn’t even check to see if the boy is following her or not. He sighs and moves quickly, trying to chase down the figure that is attempting to put as much distance as possible between the two.

***************************************************************

As they are nearing the bottom of the hill, heading towards the school, the silence is broken by Delyth.

“Can I ask you a question?” says the older girl without turning around.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Why are you walking awkwardly?”

Even though Delyth has been facing forward the whole time and never once has she looked back, the third year student must have noticed the boy’s shambling movement.

“Interesting. That’s not the question that you wanted to ask me.”

“Are we really gonna do this song and dance routine?”

“I’ll stop singing if you stop dancing around the issue.”

“…”

“Fine, I’ll bite. The answer to your first question is; ‘I am walking awkwardly because I went to see a man about a horse’. Which is the polite way of saying I really don’t want to tell you about what or who I was doing.”

“…”

“The answer to your second question is; yes, your mother does love you. Is it a calculative love? No, it isn’t. Is it an unconditional love? No, it’s not that either. It’s just love. If you think your mother will sell you off to be married to someone in order to further her own goals and ambition, you have nothing to fear. She’s not that cold.”

“…”

“I mean, yeah your mother will arrange a political marriage for you in the future, but she’s only doing it because she thinks it’s for your own benefit. Not for her sake.”

“…”

“Just go talk to her and be honest about your true feelings. I guarantee you she’ll understand.”

“…”

“For your third and final question, the real question that you wanted to ask all along, the answer is; yes, Synnove is fine.”

“I heard she was taken yesterday.”

“Her mother just wanted to see and have a little chat with her own daughter.”

“Will she be okay?”

“As long as Synnove is not too honest about her true feelings, her mother will let her return back to school.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You really do care about Synnove’s wellbeing, don’t you? She’s lucky to have you as her best friend.”

“That street goes both ways. I’m blessed to be her friend as well.”

“Yeah, the funny thing about blessings is that it can sometimes turn out to be a curse.”

“You’re telling me. I had to make up various plausible excuses on why I was suddenly not fond of eating soup.”

“Soup is a liquid, so I think the correct term should be drinking. No, wait. The soup that’s available to the commoner students is different than what's served to the elite students. Your soup has cream and meat and veggies in it that you can chew while all we got was the watered-down version. You guys get to eat soup while we drink ours.”

“Don’t forget the piss.”

“But the more that I think about it, the less clear it becomes. If you're picking up the bowl and putting your mouth on it to get at that soup, that's 'drinking'. But if you’re using a spoon, even if the soup doesn’t have any solids, you're 'eating' it.”

“We’re here.” the older girl and the boy have finally reached their destination. Delyth stops walking and turns around to face the boy directly.

“The reason I asked you why were you walking awkwardly is because we’re about to enter a place where you have no business of entering. I am breaking several written and unwritten rules here to give you this face to face meeting. So in the interest of your health as well as mine, I’m begging you, with tears in my eyes, don’t fuck this up.”

“Understood. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“One misspoken word here or one wrong step there, you’ll find your silver tongue ripped out from your mouth so fast and shoved up your asshole so far, it’s gonna taste what you had for dinner last night.”

“I actually skipped dinner last night.”

“For fuck sake!”

“Relax Delyth, I know all about your sacred clubhouse where the elite students have their fancy lunches or teatimes with their visiting rich parents. Trust me, I’m psyched to be here as well.”

“I’m not talking about bringing you into this building, you fucking idiot! I’m talking about bringing you to meet my moth- oh wait. You’re trolling me...”

“Since Synnove is currently unavailable for the time being, it’s up to you now to pick up the slack. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.” smiles the boy as he passes by the older girl and puts his hand on the door.

“Do try to keep up.” the boy walks through the doorway and disappears into the building, much to the annoyance of the beautiful third year student known as Delyth Anatol.

***************************************************************