“Phew… I’m stuffed,” Flavia leaned back on her chair, massaging her belly.
“Good food,” Growly was happy about the food as well.
“I’m surprised… I managed to eat so much,” Emilia was feeling embarrassed about how much she ate.
“That’s normal. You’ve just come back from the Magic Dungeon. I’m sure it was very straining for your bodies,” Ileena commented, after adjusting her glasses.
“I know I was hungry, but I had never eaten so much in one go. Besides, it’s not like we were starving inside the Magic Dungeon. We had enough food to last us to come back too,” the bunny girl put a finger to her mouth, thinking about it.
“You’re probably hadn’t noticed it. The Magic Dungeon affects your body in a strange way. Some people need much more food while they’re inside of it while others barely eat anything and are totally fine. Usually, people notice it only after some time, like you just now.” Ileena added to her explanation.
“That might be true. But wait, Narias hasn’t finished his food while I had seconds and a dessert,” Flavia pointed out, with everyone turning their faces towards Narias’s side of the table. To everyone’s biggest amazement, his plate was still half full.
“H… hey, I had a snack before coming here. Growly and I went to the campus shop on our way back,” Narias tried to explain himself.
“I had a snack before coming here too, but I still ate so much more. Now that I think about it, Narias was the one leaving some food behind at each Supply Point rooms we had visited, and he also shared his food with Miss Salroze too,” Flavia was getting suspicious about the eating part inside the Magic Dungeon.
“But… I had so much more food with me. I bought extra from the campus shop right before we left for the Magic Dungeon, remember?” he wanted to remind everyone.
“Yes, but Growly had much more food than you did. And it was you who shared with everyone in the end, partner,” the energetic bunny girl insisted on making a point.
“You didn’t eat less on purpose, so others could have more, did you Narias?” Ileena asked worriedly, almost contradicting her own previous statement about some people not needing to eat as much inside the Magic Dungeon.
“No, of course not. I… I just didn’t feel that hungry back then… or now,” Narias honestly wasn’t that hungry.
“Ok, well… As long as… you take care of yourself,” even when she said that, Ileena knew better than anyone that Narias wouldn’t neglect taking care of his health.
“I’m sorry, I need to excuse myself. I need to go to the bathroom,” Narias excused himself with a bow of his head before leaving.
“Wow, look at the time. We’ve been here for so long now,” Nicky finally reminded everyone it was getting late after Narias was gone.
“Hey, you’re right. I haven’t even noticed how late it is.” Flavia agreed with her.
“Good food, but time to go,” Growly was looking forward to some extra sleep, even if the food was so good.
“Thank you so much for inviting me,” Emilia bowed down in a lady-like manner.
“What are you saying, Emilia? You’re a part of our team, of course we will invite you,” Flavia grinned her charming smile.
“Well… yes, but…” the Ice Princess felt a little uncomfortable for some reason.
“You don’t need to worry about not belonging to our student club, Emilia. The students can form their own Magic Dungeon exploration groups even if they belong to different clubs,” Ileena understood right away why Emilia felt uncomfortable.
“That’s what you were worried about?” Flavia realized it only after Ileena mentioned it. “Hah, I’d say you should ditch the ‘Elite something’ club and join ours instead.”
“Flavia,” the girl in glasses threw a piercing stare at the bunny girl.
“What?” Flavia looked at her like she was falsely accused of something.
“Haha,” which also made Nicky laugh.
“I… I will think about it…” Emilia turned her face away, after glancing at Narias’s seat for a brief moment.
“Ahem… I… I don’t mind that too…” Ileena added a comment, not looking at anyone else, but at her own cup when she said that.
“Of course, all is cool,” Flavia added with the usual wide smile on her face, probably not meaning the exact same thing Ileena spoke of.
“Tee-hee~” Nicky was laughing again, but then stood up from her seat. “Sorry, I think I’ll be going now.”
“Hey, I’m back. Sorry it took… huh? Did something happen?” Narias noticed something was amiss.
“No, not really,” Nicky smiled at him cheerfully. “We’ve just noticed it was so late, so I was getting ready to leave. Goodnight all. Have a pleasant evening.”
The tiny girl sent a wink to Ileena, which only her friend managed to notice.
“Oh, yeah. It is late,” Narias scratched the back of his head.
“Yes, well… Goodnight then,” Emilia said, brushing her snow-white hair to the side, flushing mildly.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, Narias,” Flavia being Flavia, wasn’t shy about being the first one to give Narias a goodbye kiss. The happy bunny girl grinned wide after she did that.
“Goodnight… Flavia,” Narias was yet to get used to being kissed by a girl in public.
“Goodnight,” Emilia, taking advantage of Flavia catching everyone’s attention, kissed Narias on a cheek too.
This… still feels like a dream. Huh? Ileena? Narias was blushing like no tomorrow, but then noticed Ileena hadn’t moved from her seat yet. He was surprised to realize she wasn’t the first one to kiss him this time.
“I’ll go now. Bye,” Growly said goodbye and left without waiting for Narias for some reason.
Everyone was gone, except for Narias and Ileena.
Huh? Wait, I thought I’ll walk back together with Growly. Oh, but Ileena is still here. I probably shouldn’t leave her like that. Narias was a little confused about the whole situation, but he was yet to say goodbye to his girlfriend.
“Shall we go too?” Ileena stood up, hugging his arm after she stepped closer.
“Oh, sure,” he smiled at her.
They left the diner and were slowly walking through the campus park.
“Is… everything ok?” Narias finally asked after a short while, not knowing what to say.
“Yes, it is now,” Ileena said, still hugging his arm as they walked. “I’m sorry, I was just… really worried about you for the past two days.”
“Ah… Yeah, I understand,” Narias knew why.
They walked for a while longer, until they reached the intersection where each one of them would have to turn towards their respective dorms.
“Well, here we are…” Narias stopped, which made Ileena stop as well. But she still wouldn’t let go of his arm, nor it looked like she intended to turn towards her dorm either. “Ileena?”
“…” she didn’t say anything, but brushed her dark brown hair to the side with her other free hand.
“Would you like me to… walk you to your…” Narias wanted to turn to go, but was stopped by Ileena’s tighter grip on his arm. “Sorry, is something the matter?”
She looks tense. I wonder what happened? He wondered in his head.
“Nothing. We should go,” Ileena pulled him gently and they started to walk again, but not towards the direction where her dorm was.
“Right,” Narias decided to follow along.
Maybe she was worried about me more than I thought she would. I suppose we can walk longer. It’s not that late yet. He didn’t mind spending more time with her.
It was almost dark, but the open sky with the moon offered enough light to brighten their path. Narias and Ileena weren’t talking much. Just being together was enough for them to enjoy their quiet walk. Finally, they have arrived at the dorm where Narias lived.
“Oh, we’re here,” only when they were in front of the building, Narias has noticed it. He stood there for a brief moment before wanting to turn around. “Well… it’s late now, so… we better go.”
“Yes,” said Ileena, but she didn’t turn around when Narias tried to do so.
“Huh? Your dorm is that way, isn’t it?” Narias wanted to make sure if he wasn’t confused about it.
“It is, but… I won’t be going there tonight,” Ileena tightened her grip while lowering her head just slightly.
“Not going to your dorm? But then…” he turned to face her.
She’s not going to her dorm? Where will she… Narias saw Ileena standing there next to him, eyes closed, cheeks burning red. She was still holding on to his arm, afraid to let go. Seeing how adorably flustered Ileena was, it suddenly hit him. Wait! Does that mean… But… Oh, that’s right. We’ve made a promise before I left for the Magic Dungeon. Oh man, she probably thinks I’m the worst. Sigh…
“I… I’m sorry. Yes… please,” Narias motioned with his free hand, making a step forward.
“Thank you,” instantly, Ileena’s face brightened and her steps felt so much lighter than before. They went inside his dorm building.
“Would you like something to drink? I think I still have some lemon tea left,” Narias offered once they were in his room. He knew lemon tea was Ileena’s favorite.
“Yes, thank you,” she said somewhat quietly.
“I’m sorry, my room is still a mess,” he was embarrassed about his room having so little free space thanks to all the books laying around.
“It’s ok, you were away for the last two days,” Ileena didn’t mind.
The room looked exactly the same the last time she was here. It was right before Narias was to leave for the Magic Dungeon exploration. That’s when they made a promise too. A promise that Ileena will get to spend a night at his room once he was back.
“It will take a few minutes until it is ready,” Narias came back to the table where Ileena was sitting. “What… would you like to do in the meantime?”
What? What did I just say? Actually, Narias was feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation.
“Could you tell me more about the dungeon exploration?” Ileena asked calmly, probably noticing how uncomfortable her boyfriend felt. “I’m curious, how did you come up with an idea on which path to choose? I still can’t believe your group managed to find the boss monster’s lair on your first run.”
“Oh, that. In all honesty, I don’t know. I just thought it would be easier to find our way back when we need to leave. I also didn’t expect for the dungeon to be so big. And Miss Salroze said the first floor of the Magic Dungeon is the smallest of all the floors inside of it,” Narias felt at ease as soon as the talk turned about a dungeon exploration.
They spent a while talking about it. As they spoke, the topic eventually turned from how the exploration was going to how he get along with Flavia and Emilia during the run. He noticed right away that Ileena was feeling jealous about not being able to snuggle up close to Narias when they laid down to rest at the Supply Point room. Narias had to explain that Emilia was honestly being scared to fall asleep at the time. Only when he woke up, Narias found Flavia curled up next to him as well.
Narias had a good explanation why he gave his blanket to Miss Salroze too. Apparently, the teacher didn’t expect they would stay inside the Magic Dungeon for so long, so she didn’t bring any with her. Narias admitted it was the group’s fault for not telling their plans to Miss Salroze before they left. As he spoke about Miss Salroze, Narias also had to admit he should’ve explained about the Thank You gift to everyone in advance as well.
“That’s ok. I think a Thank You gift is a wonderful idea,” Ileena finally said.
“Sorry, I didn’t know people usually don’t do that here,” he said, but then instantly thought he shouldn’t have added the word ‘here’ at the end.
“I… I must apologize for my behavior back then. I reacted in such a selfish manner when the reason behind it was to express your thanks,” Ileena lowered her head in shame, but then flushed mildly. “Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t give flowers to other girls … or to other women…”
“Eh? That is…” that made Narias feel really uncomfortable.
“Are you worried about something, Narias?” his girlfriend quickly noticed it.
“Well…” he tried to smile normally, but it probably came out as weird twitching.
“Are you worried that I am upset about you dating other girls?” Ileena asked point blank.
“Huh?” Narias’s eyes widened, but he had to face the facts. “Yes… I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now. You and I are dating, but then there’s Flavia and Emilia, and…”
He stopped just in time before saying someone’s else name, but it didn’t look like Ileena was upset about it at all.
“That’s what fascinates me about you, Narias. Sometimes, I feel like you are not from this world,” Ileena’s words pierced Narias in more than one way.
“Aaah… not from this world… hah… haha,” he tried to laugh about it.
“Yes. You always come up with all kinds of new ideas on how to do things. I know you love books more than anyone, but not everything can be learnt from books. You’ve done so many amazing things in such a short amount of time, and yet sometimes you are absolutely oblivious about the most common things in this world,” Ileena was speaking her heart out.
“I guess… I think outside the box?” Narias tried to smile again.
“And that’s what I mean. What does ‘think outside the box’ actually mean? You’re not sitting in the box now, are you? Unless you think of your room being a box?” His girlfriend was as open with her words as she was surprised about hearing a new metaphor.
Ah, crap. I’ve done it again. Narias had to think of something quick.
“Well, it’s just a saying I…” he was rubbing the back of his head with one hand.
“You came up with yourself?” Ileena finished his sentence for him. She knew Narias well enough by now, but he’d always manage to surprise her. “I’d be curious to learn what it actually means later on, but going back to the topic we spoke of. You do know that it is normal for people to have more than one husband or wife, right?”
“Ah, well… my dad would always joke about me having more than one girlfriend, but…” this time, Narias was seriously taken aback by what she said, yet tried not to show it.
During the social gatherings his mother would take him, Narias had witnessed numerous times when a certain guest, man or woman alike, would be surrounded by more than one opposite sex patrons. At the time, he simply thought it was someone important who was also single, and that’s why they would get more attention. His mom wouldn’t talk about it in front of other guests, but she had probably mentioned who those people really were when it was only the two of them.
However, Anthony, who was now Narias, was yet to adapt to the new world at the time. The social gatherings were really nerve-wracking for him. The little boy was feeling so tense, he wouldn’t hear or remember more than half of what his mom was telling him. And he never took his dad’s teasing seriously either.
“I have never told you this, but…” Ileena let out a mild sigh. “My brother and I don’t come from the same mother.”
“Huh? What? Really?” Narias was really surprised to hear that.
“Yes. I never told you this, because… it’s not that big of a deal, really. My father has three wives and, as far as I know, they all love him dearly. I was always treated fairly by all of them. My brother for example has a fiancée and two other girlfriends. It’s not uncommon for someone from a higher status rank family to have more than one husband or wife.” Ileena explained to him in a serious manner. “Take Zhanna too. She has more than one boyfriend, even if she doesn’t call them that.”
“Right…” Narias remembered the girl with the white umbrella would always have a few boys following her. “But… my family status rank is only four. That’s bellow avera-“
“I don’t care,” Ileena cut him off suddenly. “I… I’m sorry, I mean… I don’t mind that. I’d rather be one of your wives than have many husbands. Oh… aaa… that is… I wanted to say…”
Ileena expressed her thoughts without thinking, but then she realized she might’ve said too much. Narias’s girlfriend became so embarrassed about what she had said, she wouldn’t lift her eyes from her cup.
“Ileena…” Narias placed his hands on hers, which made her lift her head up and look at him. “I’m really happy I have you as my girlfriend.”
“Narias…” her eyes sparkled from joy.
The next thing they knew, the couple was embracing each other in their arms, kissing passionately.
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“Phew… I’m stuffed,” Flavia leaned back on her chair, massaging her belly.
“Good food,” Growly was happy about the food as well.
“I’m surprised… I managed to eat so much,” Emilia was feeling embarrassed about how much she ate.
“That’s normal. You’ve just come back from the Magic Dungeon. I’m sure it was very straining for your bodies,” Ileena commented, after adjusting her glasses.
“I know I was hungry, but I had never eaten so much in one go. Besides, it’s not like we were starving inside the Magic Dungeon. We had enough food to last us to come back too,” the bunny girl put a finger to her mouth, thinking about it.
“You’re probably hadn’t noticed it. The Magic Dungeon affects your body in a strange way. Some people need much more food while they’re inside of it while others barely eat anything and are totally fine. Usually, people notice it only after some time, like you just now.” Ileena added to her explanation.
“That might be true. But wait, Narias hasn’t finished his food while I had seconds and a dessert,” Flavia pointed out, with everyone turning their faces towards Narias’s side of the table. To everyone’s biggest amazement, his plate was still half full.
“H… hey, I had a snack before coming here. Growly and I went to the campus shop on our way back,” Narias tried to explain himself.
“I had a snack before coming here too, but I still ate so much more. Now that I think about it, Narias was the one leaving some food behind at each Supply Point rooms we had visited, and he also shared his food with Miss Salroze too,” Flavia was getting suspicious about the eating part inside the Magic Dungeon.
“But… I had so much more food with me. I bought extra from the campus shop right before we left for the Magic Dungeon, remember?” he wanted to remind everyone.
“Yes, but Growly had much more food than you did. And it was you who shared with everyone in the end, partner,” the energetic bunny girl insisted on making a point.
“You didn’t eat less on purpose, so others could have more, did you Narias?” Ileena asked worriedly, almost contradicting her own previous statement about some people not needing to eat as much inside the Magic Dungeon.
“No, of course not. I… I just didn’t feel that hungry back then… or now,” Narias honestly wasn’t that hungry.
“Ok, well… As long as… you take care of yourself,” even when she said that, Ileena knew better than anyone that Narias wouldn’t neglect taking care of his health.
“I’m sorry, I need to excuse myself. I need to go to the bathroom,” Narias excused himself with a bow of his head before leaving.
“Wow, look at the time. We’ve been here for so long now,” Nicky finally reminded everyone it was getting late after Narias was gone.
“Hey, you’re right. I haven’t even noticed how late it is.” Flavia agreed with her.
“Good food, but time to go,” Growly was looking forward to some extra sleep, even if the food was so good.
“Thank you so much for inviting me,” Emilia bowed down in a lady-like manner.
“What are you saying, Emilia? You’re a part of our team, of course we will invite you,” Flavia grinned her charming smile.
“Well… yes, but…” the Ice Princess felt a little uncomfortable for some reason.
“You don’t need to worry about not belonging to our student club, Emilia. The students can form their own Magic Dungeon exploration groups even if they belong to different clubs,” Ileena understood right away why Emilia felt uncomfortable.
“That’s what you were worried about?” Flavia realized it only after Ileena mentioned it. “Hah, I’d say you should ditch the ‘Elite something’ club and join ours instead.”
“Flavia,” the girl in glasses threw a piercing stare at the bunny girl.
“What?” Flavia looked at her like she was falsely accused of something.
“Haha,” which also made Nicky laugh.
“I… I will think about it…” Emilia turned her face away, after glancing at Narias’s seat for a brief moment.
“Ahem… I… I don’t mind that too…” Ileena added a comment, not looking at anyone else, but at her own cup when she said that.
“Of course, all is cool,” Flavia added with the usual wide smile on her face, probably not meaning the exact same thing Ileena spoke of.
“Tee-hee~” Nicky was laughing again, but then stood up from her seat. “Sorry, I think I’ll be going now.”
“Hey, I’m back. Sorry it took… huh? Did something happen?” Narias noticed something was amiss.
“No, not really,” Nicky smiled at him cheerfully. “We’ve just noticed it was so late, so I was getting ready to leave. Goodnight all. Have a pleasant evening.”
The tiny girl sent a wink to Ileena, which only her friend managed to notice.
“Oh, yeah. It is late,” Narias scratched the back of his head.
“Yes, well… Goodnight then,” Emilia said, brushing her snow-white hair to the side, flushing mildly.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, Narias,” Flavia being Flavia, wasn’t shy about being the first one to give Narias a goodbye kiss. The happy bunny girl grinned wide after she did that.
“Goodnight… Flavia,” Narias was yet to get used to being kissed by a girl in public.
“Goodnight,” Emilia, taking advantage of Flavia catching everyone’s attention, kissed Narias on a cheek too.
This… still feels like a dream. Huh? Ileena? Narias was blushing like no tomorrow, but then noticed Ileena hadn’t moved from her seat yet. He was surprised to realize she wasn’t the first one to kiss him this time.
“I’ll go now. Bye,” Growly said goodbye and left without waiting for Narias for some reason.
Everyone was gone, except for Narias and Ileena.
Huh? Wait, I thought I’ll walk back together with Growly. Oh, but Ileena is still here. I probably shouldn’t leave her like that. Narias was a little confused about the whole situation, but he was yet to say goodbye to his girlfriend.
“Shall we go too?” Ileena stood up, hugging his arm after she stepped closer.
“Oh, sure,” he smiled at her.
They left the diner and were slowly walking through the campus park.
“Is… everything ok?” Narias finally asked after a short while, not knowing what to say.
“Yes, it is now,” Ileena said, still hugging his arm as they walked. “I’m sorry, I was just… really worried about you for the past two days.”
“Ah… Yeah, I understand,” Narias knew why.
They walked for a while longer, until they reached the intersection where each one of them would have to turn towards their respective dorms.
“Well, here we are…” Narias stopped, which made Ileena stop as well. But she still wouldn’t let go of his arm, nor it looked like she intended to turn towards her dorm either. “Ileena?”
“…” she didn’t say anything, but brushed her dark brown hair to the side with her other free hand.
“Would you like me to… walk you to your…” Narias wanted to turn to go, but was stopped by Ileena’s tighter grip on his arm. “Sorry, is something the matter?”
She looks tense. I wonder what happened? He wondered in his head.
“Nothing. We should go,” Ileena pulled him gently and they started to walk again, but not towards the direction where her dorm was.
“Right,” Narias decided to follow along.
Maybe she was worried about me more than I thought she would. I suppose we can walk longer. It’s not that late yet. He didn’t mind spending more time with her.
It was almost dark, but the open sky with the moon offered enough light to brighten their path. Narias and Ileena weren’t talking much. Just being together was enough for them to enjoy their quiet walk. Finally, they have arrived at the dorm where Narias lived.
“Oh, we’re here,” only when they were in front of the building, Narias has noticed it. He stood there for a brief moment before wanting to turn around. “Well… it’s late now, so… we better go.”
“Yes,” said Ileena, but she didn’t turn around when Narias tried to do so.
“Huh? Your dorm is that way, isn’t it?” Narias wanted to make sure if he wasn’t confused about it.
“It is, but… I won’t be going there tonight,” Ileena tightened her grip while lowering her head just slightly.
“Not going to your dorm? But then…” he turned to face her.
She’s not going to her dorm? Where will she… Narias saw Ileena standing there next to him, eyes closed, cheeks burning red. She was still holding on to his arm, afraid to let go. Seeing how adorably flustered Ileena was, it suddenly hit him. Wait! Does that mean… But… Oh, that’s right. We’ve made a promise before I left for the Magic Dungeon. Oh man, she probably thinks I’m the worst. Sigh…
“I… I’m sorry. Yes… please,” Narias motioned with his free hand, making a step forward.
“Thank you,” instantly, Ileena’s face brightened and her steps felt so much lighter than before. They went inside his dorm building.
“Would you like something to drink? I think I still have some lemon tea left,” Narias offered once they were in his room. He knew lemon tea was Ileena’s favorite.
“Yes, thank you,” she said somewhat quietly.
“I’m sorry, my room is still a mess,” he was embarrassed about his room having so little free space thanks to all the books laying around.
“It’s ok, you were away for the last two days,” Ileena didn’t mind.
The room looked exactly the same the last time she was here. It was right before Narias was to leave for the Magic Dungeon exploration. That’s when they made a promise too. A promise that Ileena will get to spend a night at his room once he was back.
“It will take a few minutes until it is ready,” Narias came back to the table where Ileena was sitting. “What… would you like to do in the meantime?”
What? What did I just say? Actually, Narias was feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation.
“Could you tell me more about the dungeon exploration?” Ileena asked calmly, probably noticing how uncomfortable her boyfriend felt. “I’m curious, how did you come up with an idea on which path to choose? I still can’t believe your group managed to find the boss monster’s lair on your first run.”
“Oh, that. In all honesty, I don’t know. I just thought it would be easier to find our way back when we need to leave. I also didn’t expect for the dungeon to be so big. And Miss Salroze said the first floor of the Magic Dungeon is the smallest of all the floors inside of it,” Narias felt at ease as soon as the talk turned about a dungeon exploration.
They spent a while talking about it. As they spoke, the topic eventually turned from how the exploration was going to how he get along with Flavia and Emilia during the run. He noticed right away that Ileena was feeling jealous about not being able to snuggle up close to Narias when they laid down to rest at the Supply Point room. Narias had to explain that Emilia was honestly being scared to fall asleep at the time. Only when he woke up, Narias found Flavia curled up next to him as well.
Narias had a good explanation why he gave his blanket to Miss Salroze too. Apparently, the teacher didn’t expect they would stay inside the Magic Dungeon for so long, so she didn’t bring any with her. Narias admitted it was the group’s fault for not telling their plans to Miss Salroze before they left. As he spoke about Miss Salroze, Narias also had to admit he should’ve explained about the Thank You gift to everyone in advance as well.
“That’s ok. I think a Thank You gift is a wonderful idea,” Ileena finally said.
“Sorry, I didn’t know people usually don’t do that here,” he said, but then instantly thought he shouldn’t have added the word ‘here’ at the end.
“I… I must apologize for my behavior back then. I reacted in such a selfish manner when the reason behind it was to express your thanks,” Ileena lowered her head in shame, but then flushed mildly. “Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t give flowers to other girls … or to other women…”
“Eh? That is…” that made Narias feel really uncomfortable.
“Are you worried about something, Narias?” his girlfriend quickly noticed it.
“Well…” he tried to smile normally, but it probably came out as weird twitching.
“Are you worried that I am upset about you dating other girls?” Ileena asked point blank.
“Huh?” Narias’s eyes widened, but he had to face the facts. “Yes… I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now. You and I are dating, but then there’s Flavia and Emilia, and…”
He stopped just in time before saying someone’s else name, but it didn’t look like Ileena was upset about it at all.
“That’s what fascinates me about you, Narias. Sometimes, I feel like you are not from this world,” Ileena’s words pierced Narias in more than one way.
“Aaah… not from this world… hah… haha,” he tried to laugh about it.
“Yes. You always come up with all kinds of new ideas on how to do things. I know you love books more than anyone, but not everything can be learnt from books. You’ve done so many amazing things in such a short amount of time, and yet sometimes you are absolutely oblivious about the most common things in this world,” Ileena was speaking her heart out.
“I guess… I think outside the box?” Narias tried to smile again.
“And that’s what I mean. What does ‘think outside the box’ actually mean? You’re not sitting in the box now, are you? Unless you think of your room being a box?” His girlfriend was as open with her words as she was surprised about hearing a new metaphor.
Ah, crap. I’ve done it again. Narias had to think of something quick.
“Well, it’s just a saying I…” he was rubbing the back of his head with one hand.
“You came up with yourself?” Ileena finished his sentence for him. She knew Narias well enough by now, but he’d always manage to surprise her. “I’d be curious to learn what it actually means later on, but going back to the topic we spoke of. You do know that it is normal for people to have more than one husband or wife, right?”
“Ah, well… my dad would always joke about me having more than one girlfriend, but…” this time, Narias was seriously taken aback by what she said, yet tried not to show it.
During the social gatherings his mother would take him, Narias had witnessed numerous times when a certain guest, man or woman alike, would be surrounded by more than one opposite sex patrons. At the time, he simply thought it was someone important who was also single, and that’s why they would get more attention. His mom wouldn’t talk about it in front of other guests, but she had probably mentioned who those people really were when it was only the two of them.
However, Anthony, who was now Narias, was yet to adapt to the new world at the time. The social gatherings were really nerve-wracking for him. The little boy was feeling so tense, he wouldn’t hear or remember more than half of what his mom was telling him. And he never took his dad’s teasing seriously either.
“I have never told you this, but…” Ileena let out a mild sigh. “My brother and I don’t come from the same mother.”
“Huh? What? Really?” Narias was really surprised to hear that.
“Yes. I never told you this, because… it’s not that big of a deal, really. My father has three wives and, as far as I know, they all love him dearly. I was always treated fairly by all of them. My brother for example has a fiancée and two other girlfriends. It’s not uncommon for someone from a higher status rank family to have more than one husband or wife.” Ileena explained to him in a serious manner. “Take Zhanna too. She has more than one boyfriend, even if she doesn’t call them that.”
“Right…” Narias remembered the girl with the white umbrella would always have a few boys following her. “But… my family status rank is only four. That’s bellow avera-“
“I don’t care,” Ileena cut him off suddenly. “I… I’m sorry, I mean… I don’t mind that. I’d rather be one of your wives than have many husbands. Oh… aaa… that is… I wanted to say…”
Ileena expressed her thoughts without thinking, but then she realized she might’ve said too much. Narias’s girlfriend became so embarrassed about what she had said, she wouldn’t lift her eyes from her cup.
“Ileena…” Narias placed his hands on hers, which made her lift her head up and look at him. “I’m really happy I have you as my girlfriend.”
“Narias…” her eyes sparkled from joy.
The next thing they knew, the couple was embracing each other in their arms, kissing passionately.
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