Following the sound of the door’s lock chain being unlocked, Nathan swallowed the lump forming in his throat and slowly entered the building. ‘It’s quite chilly in here…’ Being in his birthday costume probably played a big role in this discovery, but indeed, compared to the outside world, it was a touch colder inside the building.

With a quick glance around the place, Nathan sighed in relief as Ayla’s figure was nowhere to be seen. ‘Probably in her study.’ He thought and silently made his way around the house. Having already gone through the house’s ground floor once already, Nathan didn’t waste time and quickly made his way upstairs. There was one thing he took with him though…

‘Forgive me, juggling dude. I’ll be borrowing your frame for a moment…’ Using the funny painting of the headless man juggling heads, while also spanking the horse on its butt as cover for his nether regions, Nathan was struck with a sudden flood of thoughts. ‘I am naked. Naked to the bone. Naked...’ With a bright flash across his cheeks, realization finally hit him as he had cold sweat running down his spine.

‘What the hell are you doing, Nathan? Walking around naked inside a girl’s house…’ His mind swirled and swirled around that thought. Maybe due to the outside world’s dangers, Nathan didn’t worry too much about appearances there, but now? Now, everything was different. He was already inside the house, where he felt relatively safe.

After all, so long as he followed Ayla’s rules of the spirit contract or whatnot, he would be safe until he asked three questions… Probably. ‘Damn it! You better not have thrown my clothes away!’ thought Nathan as he inched hesitantly towards the stairway.

He did pause in front of the kitchen though, staring at the knife rack for a moment, wondering whether he should arm himself with one of them or not. ‘Don’t even think of it...’ He chuckled at the stupid thought and continued on his way.

After all, if Ayla could freeze his entire body with a thought, what good would a knife be against her? And besides, his hands were already full holding his new underwear, Mr. Juggling Dude. Driving the pointless thoughts out of his mind, Nathan’s naked figure reached the house’s second storey. The last door to the right was still halfway opened and scribbles could be heard coming from inside. ‘Yep, she is definitely here… I mean, why wouldn’t she? This is her house,’ Nathan contemplated inwardly as his gaze fell on the pile of clothes right outside the room’s door.

‘Not mine,’ he pointed out as he made further inspections from a distance. Not only were the clothes brand new, but they were also neatly folded on top of each other in a stack, making him wonder. ‘Why does she have men’s clothing laying casually around?’ Then again, why not? He mused while taking one step closer towards the pile.

Thinking Ayla had most likely placed the clothes there for him to wear, Nathan didn’t hesitate to try and take them. After all, other than a pervert, who would rather remain naked inside a stranger’s house when a pair of neatly placed apparel lay quietly before them?

*Creak*

Not having taken a single step away from the stairway, the floor creaked loudly under Nathan’s feet. And, with his nerves already being on the edge, Nathan jumped in surprise at the sudden sound, sending the juggling man covering his little buddy flying through the air. ‘Oh no…’ Was all his mind could think of as the painting landed on top of the wooden beam at the end of the stair’s handrail.

*Riiip*

Staring blankly at the mess he had created due to embarrassment, Nathan was fidgeting as he pulled the painting out of the beam. ‘At the very least, the man never had a head to begin with…’ Marveling at his creation when he shouldn’t, Nathan left the poor painting by the stairway and used the walls as cover to edge closer to the clothes.

The floor creaked with every step he took, ‘for fuck sake! You never creaked the first time around!’ Or did it? He was pretty sure it had, but then again, he wasn’t trying to be sneaky the first time around.

After trekking through what seemed to be the longest stretch of his life, Nathan finally made it to the pile of clothes. It might have taken a long time for Nathan to reach the pile, but it took him less than a second to pick them up and retreat downstairs.

Closing the living room’s door behind him, Nathan finally took a good look at the pile of clothes in his hands.

~~~

No more than five minutes later, Nathan was still struggling with the shirt’s cufflinks. The dark brown jeans weren’t a perfect fit for his waist but they still looked quite good on him. And, if one were to compare them to the pitch-black pants that reeked of blood, these would be considered a great improvement indeed. ‘Do I have to remove the damn shirt entirely just to tie up the buttons?!’ Nathan cried inwardly as he failed miserably with the cufflinks.

The white shirt he wore looked simple and plain, but it still gave a vintage feeling when combined with the pants. ‘Ah, fuck it!’ Giving up on the buttons, Nathan just let the shirt’s long sleeves flutter down as he turned to regard the sole resident of the house.

Now that he had clothes on, Nathan’s earlier embarrassment was slowly shedding away. He wouldn’t have to roam around the house naked anymore and that gave him quite the mental relief.

With his emotions under control again, Nathan once more wondered whether going upstairs was a good idea or not. Sure, he had a pair of free questions to ask, but one small mistake would send his head rolling on the floor! ‘Maybe I should just leave?’ He thought and turned to look at the wooden entrance in the distance. The trusty pair of boots were still lying there, right where he’d left them yesterday, making him wonder where his old rags were as they patiently waited for him to pick them up again. ‘No, even if I leave now, nothing good will come out of it. I have to take advantage of everything at hand, or else I won’t even know what killed me!’

Done hesitating, Nathan resolutely made his way up, contemplating his questions. ‘Okay, first I ask about the dogs… No, maybe something broader? Like, what should I be afraid of in this world, Erion? No, that’s too vague.’ His mind raced as he searched for the right words to say. Sadly, there were too many things he wanted to ask and only two questions. Luckily, there was one thing Nathan was really curious about. ‘Soul threads…’ They had already appeared or been mentioned in several instances, and Nathan wanted to know what they were all about. Could he use them for anything, or not? What was their purpose? And, at the end of the day, what exactly were they?!

With all those questions revolving around Nathan’s mind, he finally made it all the way to the half-opened door. Lost in his thoughts, Nathan’s absent-minded voice resounded for the first time in a while. “Can I…” he had almost asked for permission to enter the room but, luckily, stopped halfway through. ‘Get your shit together Nathan,’ cursing in his mind, he opted to knock on the door. “Come in.” Ayla’s cold and yet melodic voice resounded, ushering him inside.

With a deep breath, Nathan’s barefoot figure entered the small library. Once inside, he just stood there, staring at her picture-perfect figure for a few seconds, unable to find the right words to say. The earlier questions he had in mind, already forgotten.

Even though Ayla had taken his life once already, Nathan couldn’t help feeling a weird attraction towards her. Something enticed him, just like a moth to the flame, and yet he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Maybe, just maybe, that was the reason why he had decided to come back? Or was it the assurance of the three questions rule she had set up? Nathan could no longer tell. Either way, a small part of him somehow wanted to be here.

Different from Nathan’s expectations, when he entered the room, Ayla’s pearly eyes were not focused on her papers but were instead oddly set on his figure. “They suit you.” She casually said and stood up from her comfy chair, slowly walking in Nathan’s direction.

“Eh, ah… Eh?” Lost for words, Nathan panicked on the inside, ‘what the hell am I doing back here?!’ Courting death seemed to be one of the few skills he seemed to always have up his wide-open sleeve, and lamented whether he should make a run for it or not; alas, he just stood there, waiting to see what Ayla wanted from him.

By the time Nathan was done hesitating, she was already right in front of him. “Here, let me fix the buttons for you, Nathan.” She said and raised her small white hands towards Nathan’s sleeves. With eyes wide open, Nathan took a step away from her and said. “How do you know my…” Before even finishing the stupid question forming in his mind though, both of his hands were raised in an attempt to block his babbling mouth.

‘That was damn close!’ He couldn’t help thinking while glaring at her. ‘Don’t try to trick me! I ain’t asking no stupid questions!’ declared his pitch-black eyes, cause his mouth refused to open. “Hmm~~ At least you are learning. Will you let me fix your buttons now?” She said as if nothing even happened. Looking at her smiling face, Nathan’s glare melted away like snow in the spring.

With a flush on his face, he slowly extended his arms and let her fix the damn cufflinks. Her touch was cold to the skin but, with Nathan’s blood boiling, he didn’t mind it at all. ‘Was she always this... Friendly?’ He couldn’t help wondering at Ayla’s sudden change in personality. The picture he had of her in his head was that of a cold-blooded woman, whose sole purpose was to force questions out of Nathan’s mouth.

The price she’d set last time was just a look at his soul; who knows what Ayla would take this time if he asked her three questions. ‘Wait? What does it mean to look into someone’s soul? Is that how she learned my name?’ Filtering the information in his mind, Nathan came to a pretty solid conclusion.

By the time Ayla was done fixing his cufflinks, Nathan already had a question forming in his mind. Locking eyes with her once more, he said. “Ca… Can I…” Okay, locking gazes at such close quarters was too much for Nathan. Stuttering, he averted his gaze from Ayla’s pearly eyes that pierced straight into his soul and uttered.

“Can I… Look into your soul?” With the words finally out of his mouth, Nathan glanced at Ayla’s expression. ‘Wha…’ Her expression had turned solemn, the smile from earlier nowhere to be seen. Taking a step away from him, she turned around and answered coldly as she traced her steps back to the chair. “No, you can’t.”

Nathan didn’t know what to say, partly from the unexpected turn of events and partly due to him admiring her behind, as she airily walked to the comfy-looking chair. ‘No, no! For fuck’s sake, little Nathan! This isn’t the time or place for that! Don’t forget she is a cold-blooded murderer!’ He couldn’t help screaming in his mind as he felt a certain part of him rising like the morning sun. Thankfully, the brown jeans didn’t fit him perfectly, leaving room for breathing. Otherwise, Nathan would have been stuck in a really embarrassing position.

Nathan’s experience with women was pretty much non-existent. He barely had enough time between work and studying throughout his life, so relationships were unexplored waters for him.

‘She is probably not even human, dude… The heck is wrong with me.’ Averting his gaze from Ayla’s buttocks, Nathan’s flustered gaze was turned to the rows upon rows of books resting on top of the bookshelves, in an attempt to regain his peace of mind.

‘Wait a minute…’ Only now did he realize. ‘This didn’t count as a question? No, it was clearly a question!’ Starting from this point, Nathan made further assumptions before finally coming to a conclusion, ‘questions Ayla can’t give a satisfying answer to, don’t count as questions? Or does she have to give a positive answer for it to count as an answer?’

If that was indeed the case, then this was going to be a game-changer for Nathan. Slowly but surely, he felt he got a better grasp of Ayla’s rules.

Having stared at the books long enough for him to calm down, Nathan turned to regard Ayla once more. Back in her usual cold exterior, Ayla’s pearly white eyes were focused on her documents as she scribbled away, uncaring of Nathan’s presence.

‘See? What did I tell you, little Nathan? Cold, scary, and… Pretty? Fuck!’ That last thought was more instinct than anything else.