The longer I stare at those hypnotic irises, the more my face grows hot. I just wish that the poor lighting in this place would hide my blush or so help me...

W-why is he looking at me like that?

He still has his gloved hand on my chin and wasn't planning to let go any moment. I feel so self conscious right now that I wanted to poke his eyes just to make him stop staring.

"Hmmm..." he hummed.

AH! Damn it! Let's just break the tension first!

"Why did you send her away?" I muttered in a low voice.

I cleared my throat after that, feeling silly for being meek. I'm shocked at myself too! Like, when the hell did I ever get so timid like this? Well, maybe I do sometimes.

I even think that I got timid in the presence of Janus as well.. Maybe strong people intimidate me? Yep. They do. They really do.

Lukas cocked his head to the right.

"Who?"

I pursed my lips. Does this guy have some poor memory or what?

"The woman from earlier. She looked like she's going to say something important," I replied and swatted his hand away.

"I don't care and I'm not interested," Lukas bluntly rebuked.

Wha--

I mean... Urkk! He really is not fascinated by her? But in the novel... There was a reason that he was interested in her which is why he followed her outside. I just couldn't remember what it was but... really?

A lot changed. Everything has changed.

"You could have just heard her out..." I trailed off when I noticed that he still has his eyes glued on my face.

Why does this guy keep staring seriously...

"Why?" He bounced back.

I wrung my fingers together.

"I mean, she's pretty, right?"

Lukas brows furrowed slightly from my words.

"Is she? I could not remember her face so I don't know if that's true," he flat out responded.

Hey! That's rude! It was just moments ago and you already forgot?

I can't believe him...

How am I going to reply to that?

"Hmmm... You're blending in with the wall," he then mentioned afterward.

Huh?

I almost spit out blood from that.

"??! T-the wall?"

Is that supposed to be a compliment? Or is he insulting me right now?

"That's a good camouflage," he added.

Which is which?!

Blending in with the wall... why?

"Shut up!" I hissed at him.

I don't even know if I should be happy or get annoyed, it feels complicated for some reason.

I then glared at the man in front of me who still has his left arm on the side of my head. He doesn't look like he's going to move and I have been conjuring up many ways to escape from here. How am I going to slip away from being sandwiched?

"Ah, right," he muttered and stood up straight.

He also removed his arm on the wall, creating a considerable distance between us, to my relief. Even so, he was still close to me so I wasn't fully relaxed just yet.

He then pulled something out of his white overcoat, it was a brown envelope.

Why is it there, I wonder?

Lukas then handed it to me and I accepted it in puzzlement. I looked at it then back to him, a lot of questions in my head. He must have seen that and smirked.

"You asked for my guild's service, right? That's the information you need," he explained.

Oh? I was wondering why it still hadn't been delivered to me and had thought that they scammed me or something like that. I was going to storm back to their guild and burn it down after this event but, it seems like it's unnecessary anymore.

Heh. Just when I had already prepared everything... tch.

"You're not thinking of something bad right now, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He was raising one of his brows as if saying that he doesn't believe me.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Hey. I gave your men a whole fortune but this was only delivered now? Shouldn't your guild compensate me? Huh? I'm a very unsatisfied customer, you know. I will rate you 2 stars!"

I told them to get it done after three days and they just gave it to me after a week? Unforgivable!

"They finished their report after two days but I was busy so I couldn't get to give it to you," he said.

"Ah? Then why didn't they give it to me after then?"

"I was busy,"

"What's that got to do with you?"

Lukas tilted his head again, seemingly confused by my outburst.

Hello, I'm more confused than you! They didn't deliver it to me right away and waited for you instead? Why?! I mean, it's not that I'm in a rush to read the report but still...

Whatever...

Enough of that, I have to go back inside because I have been gone for a while. They must be looking for me now...

I watched Lukas as he fell into thought before he suddenly removed one of his gloves and touched my forehead with his index finger.

'What is he doing?'

His face shifted slightly as his finger trailed down to my nose. Lukas then frowned and shoved his face closer to me which caused my respiratory system to lose it's shit.

His hand then touched my chin and met my bewildered gaze.

"Hey, what are you?" He muttered.

The intensity of his eyes burned brighter than any fuse and it was nailed on mine. It wasn't also helping that only a few inches of space separates our faces. One slight move and my nose would touch his.

My head was also screaming warning bells like crazy. I feel faint guys, please send help.

"W-what?" I whispered in a breathy voice.

'He is too damn close!'

"You're human but I don't read your thoughts at all. And there's a strange energy coming from you," he said and started touching my face and my neck, robbing me off of needed air-- "You also feel cool to the touch. Hey... you have an anima in you, don't you?"

I have no freaking idea what he was rambling on because it just went over my head when he started caressing me. I'm likely to blow my head off if this continues...

I need Jesus.

Wait. Come to think of it, he needs Jesus more than me.

First of all, what is he doing? Second of all, WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!

W-why... why is he touching me....

"Nadia?" Someone called out from nearby.

It sounded like my brother.

As soon as I heard him, all common sense returned to me. I immediately shoved Lukas away with all my might and pinned him down with my dirtiest look before scurrying away like a scared rabbit that I was.