"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it."

Esme's voice woke Rey up from his drawn-out thoughts.

He turned behind and saw her slowly rising to a seated position too, a friendly smile written on her face as she rose.

"A-ah, it's—!"

"I understand. It's about a girl, right?"

"W-what? How can you be so sure!" As soon as Rey said this, and also saw Esme's smile widen, he realized the ugly truth.

'I've been tricked! Damnit!'

It was too late to realize it at that point, though. He had been careless, and now the price had to be paid.

"I just made a guess. But it seems like I was spot-on."

Rey wanted to ask Esme for the reason behind her guess this time, but before he could say anything, she told him.

"That man… Asher… he referred to you and I as a couple the last time."

Rey remembered how he noticed Esme's face twitching back when it was mentioned.

She didn't say anything after then, but since she was mentioning it now, Rey knew he had to vindicate himself.

"I told him we weren't a couple. No, it wasn't even that! It was—!"

"This isn't meant for me, is it? It's meant for the girl you're thinking of." Esme brought out a necklace from her pocket.

There was a ring at the center of the silver-like chain.

It was the White Ember—or, something similar.

The ring this time still had a frosty white surface, but the gem at the center peered more aqua than ember.

It was a glowing blue gem.

"They designed something a little different for me. It matches my eyes, don't you think?"

"Y-yeah…" Rey managed to say.

The necklace, as well as the ring attached to it, looked exquisite.

"If you don't mind, could you help me put it on?"

She handed the necklace to him and packed her long black hair to the side.

'Is she even giving me a choice in the matter?' Rey wondered as he stole a good look at her delicate, pale neck.

Esme was really pretty, and her skin had a major role to play in that.

Before Rey realized it, he was helping her to put on the necklace. As he did so, his fingers brushed past her skin a few times.

'So soft…' He thought to himself as he did so.

It was no wonder her forehead had a pink shade despite his knock being very mellow.

'I guess she's very delicate.' He found himself laughing internally until he was done.

Once he was done, she flailed her hair back into place, using her fingers to push aside any stray hair that would block the necklace from being seen?

"So? How do I look?"

She was right beside him—a dozen inches apart maybe—and her surprisingly stoic face as she asked the question made his heart nearly skip a beat.

"It looks good on you. Truly."

A small smile formed on her face and she nodded slowly.

"Is that so? Thanks. Even though you didn't mean for something like this to be made for me, I still appreciate the gesture."

'She knows about that too?!' Rey wanted to pull his hair out with the way the girl pulled at his heartstrings.

This time, though, he said nothing to confirm her suspicions.

Esme noticed this and giggled a little.

"Don't be so wary. This isn't a gusss. I know the White Ember was meant for someone else. But since this isn't that, I think I'll be a bit greedy and have it."

Once again, she was very blunt.

"Is that fine by you?" She cocked her head to the side and asked.

At that point, Rey knew he was only presented with two words as a response.

"Yes" and "Yes."

He struggled in his mind to come up with a third option, until he finally did.

It took all he had, but Rey figured out the perfect response to give.

"I guess so."

"Pffft! What's that response?" Esme nearly snickered as she covered her mouth and laughed out loud.

It was only until he heard her laugh at him that he realized the honest truth.

'I should have just gone with one of the two options I had.'

*********

Quite a bit of time passed, and Rey found himself slowly getting more comfortable around Esme.

The butterflies in his stomach disappeared, and he found himself enjoying her company so naturally.

It felt amazing!

As people, they couldn't be any different, yet they got along so well.

'It's like with Alicia all over again. No… Alicia and I had books and a bunch of other things in common.'

However, with Esme, everything was so strange and new.

Yet, that was what made things so much fun.

However, all good things eventually end, and so Rey had to steer the conversation into serious territory.

"I'm working on something right now. If it all works out, you could meet some Elves. Maybe even get to know more about your origins."

The moment Rey said this, he saw Esme beam.

"Really?"

"Yup!" He nodded with a reassuring smile—not that she could see it behind his mask.

He wasn't making empty assertions too.

Now that he had successfully taken all the goods from the warehouse, they could continue their sale with the Elves.

'I just have to get rid of all the opposition first.'

"It's possible you could meet your real family and—"

"No, Rey. My real family remains with the Orphanage. With the Elves, it's nothing more than curiosity… I think."

Once Rey heard this, his expression darkened a little.

'I guess it won't be as simple as I thought. To help her, I'll have to find her Orphanage friends.'

Now that Scylla was the only player in the Black Market, it was possible that they were already sold off into slavery.

Perhaps even…

'No! Let's not think like that!' Rey swallowed his saliva and looked at Esme's resolute expression.

"Yeah, you're right." He nodded.

'For her sake… I can't consider THAT as a possibility.'

*

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Thanks for reading!

I really want to know your thoughts on these two. Do you find Esme's character annoying?

Or is the dynamic between the two of them strange?