"I have kept him in my apartment…" Max replied with a calm look. But his words made Lear's eyes widen.

Max looked at him and waved his hands, "Don't worry. I made sure that he can't get out of my apartment."

But his words still didn't change the look on Lear's faces.

"What's wrong?" Max finally asked, he was unable to understand the reason behind Lear's expression.

A while ago….

"Creak!" The door opened and Edward walked in. He looked at Mark and spoke, "Are you ready? Let's go."

"Yup, I am all ready…" Mark who was all done got up onto his feet and looked towards Lear, "I will be going then."

"Sure, let's meet once I am out." Lear replied with a smile and waved his hand.

Lora looked at them leaving and hesitated a bit before finally asking, "Is Aria well?"

Edward who had just touched the doorknob paused in his steps and turned to look at Lora, "Why didn't you come with me then?"

Lora didn't reply to him.

Edward shook his head as he spoke further with a sigh, "She is fine and has even got discharged. They will be partying at her new apartment apparently. I was kicked out, but I am sure Aria wouldn't mind you joining."

'New Apartment?' Lear suddenly had a realization. Wasn't it the same place where Max was staying?

Lear thought of warning Max. But he suddenly stopped. Now that he thought about it, wasn't he here because of him.

'I will let that guy have some troubles, I doubt he will get caught anyway.' Lear thought and left it to fate.

Edward looked at Lora who kept her silent and spoke further, "It is time you forget things from the past. We were kids back then. I am sure everyone wants to forget them as well and make a new start."

He then left along with Mark.

Axel didn't know them at all and hence, he was busy with earphones in his ears. Clearly not interested. As for what he was watching, it was very obvious.

Lear on the other hand looked at Lora not knowing what to do.

…

Current situation….

"You are telling me that they went to my apartment?!!" Max said aloud as he got up onto his feet.

Lear nodded.

"Why didn't you inform me earlier?!" Max really would have punched him if he wasn't on the hospital bed.

"Ahh! That.. I… umn.." Lear found himself lacking in words to explain. He knew very well that if he said something like 'I want you to suffer', he would be asking for it

"I will see you later…." Max said with a grim tone before storming out of the room.

"Phew!" Lear sighed in relief. He was safe for now, now he just needed to come up with a good reason.

"What's going on? Why is he so worked up, if that girl, Aria, wants to party at her apartment?" Axel asked in confusion.

"Oh! You don't know? He lives with her." Lear replied casually.

Axel's eyes widened and the phone slipped from his hands.

"Mio-Chan!!" Axel shouted as immediately dove after his phone giving Lear a scare..

"Phew! I saved her." Axel got up from the floor. Blood flowing out like a shower from the corner of his head.

Lear looked at the guy in fright, 'Can we really depend on him?'

…

On the other side….

There were several packets of snacks and cold drink bottles on the table. There empty bowls of food were lying unwashed in the sink as well.

It seemed they already had their meal for the night.

"Sob!.. I can't understand.. Sob! Why is he like that to me? Sob!..." Lisa continued sobbing while holding onto Aria, while Elly looked at her and sighed. Janet on the other hand was busy filming the scene on her phone.

"Don't worry… I am sure he didn't mean it… you are so cute after all…" Aria said with a sweet tone.

Lisa raised her head with tears and snot flying out and spoke, "Really?"

Aria flinched, but still nodded.

Janet couldn't control herself from laughing, "This is great! Let's get her drunk every day!"

"Why is he avoiding her?" Aria asked. She didn't know particularly what was going on very well. She only knew that there was someone who kept avoiding Lisa and that she and Janet were on some kind of bet on it.

She had clearly told them not to disturb others, but Lisa retorted that she just was looking to say a proper thanks for some reason. Hence, she didn't say anything else.

"Yeah, now that you say it, she never mentioned it." Janet said with realisation, "Do you know anything Elly?"

"Well, she has been into it from Arcane. It was after an incident…" Elly said casually, not going into detail. After all, the case of Kidnapping was not disclosed and they were asked to maintain silence on it.

She still remembered everything clearly. As the memory of the past emerged, she suddenly remembered something.

'That guy has changed so much…' Elly thought. She remembered the Max of the past and the current one. The look in his eyes had changed. Something which she found familiar in Max was now missing.

Well, it didn't matter much to her. In all honesty, she was just curious.

"Stop crying Lisa, " Aria tried to coax her but it didn't seem to be working. She had lost control after getting drunk.

"Well it was obvious, why would he look at you? You are ugly, you stink and that attitude of yours is terrible…" Janet said with a smile.

The sound of Lisa's cries immediately intensified on Janet's remark.

"Janet!" Aria shouted but Janet couldn't help herself.

"Let's go to my room, you are too drunk…" Aria said as she supported Lisa by her shoulder. "I will come back after putting her to sleep into my room."

…

Aria pulled the blanket over to Lisa's chest as she finally fell asleep. That was a lot of hard work for her.

Aria got out of the room and as she was moving on towards the stairs, she suddenly heard a noise.

"Thud!"

Aria turned her head to see the door to Max's room. 'Is he home?'

But after a bit of consideration, she realised that he shouldn't be, 'He clearly said that he wouldn't be here tonight. Am I hearing things?'

"Thud!"

The second time, it confirmed that she wasn't hearing things.

Aria took a step forward and slightly knocked onto the door before speaking in a low voice,"Is it you, Max?"

The lack of reply made her frown a bit. She extended her hand out and twisted the doorknob.

If Max wasn't there, who was?

"Clutch!"

But the door was locked.

Aria's expression turned even worse. If the door was locked, it could only mean that someone has come in through the window in the room.

Thief!

That was the only possibility here.

Aria suddenly controlled her mana and gently sent it through the keyhole on the doorknob.

''Got it.." Aria mumbled as she pointed her finger out and the next instant, a white crystal-like structure began to emerge from the tip of her finger. The crystal then formed the shape of a key and Aria inserted it in the keyhole.

"Click!"

The sound as she turned the key signified that it indeed had worked.

On the other side of the door, the spirit snake sat with its body coiled around. It was ready to lunge at the person as long as the door opened.

…

In Aria's room…

Lisa suddenly woke up and she mumbled, "Hicc! I need to go to the washroom…"

…

In the hall….

"What is she taking so long for her?" Janet asked as she looked upstairs.

"I will go and take a look." Elly said as she pulled the blanket and got up from the couch.

…

Outside the Apartment…

Max had finally arrived.

"As expected.."Max mumbled under his breath. He could sense a few powerful presences around. There was no way that the girls would be roaming out so late without any protection.

Only Aria was the one who was without any guard. Max had confirmed it. It was very likely that she was hiding the fact that she was not in Academy dorms from her family.

'Expert level mages…' Max mumbled feeling the tinge on his skin. It was a relief to him. Getting by past an expert level mages sense was still possible for him as long as they were not at the peak.

Max scanned the area and observed the place where the fluctuation seemed to be the weakest before proceeding forward.

As Max got nearer to the guard, he immediately entered stealth. He then circulated his spirit energy and pushed out all the impure energy with mana out. Even though it would make his elemental ability weaker, he would have a much better chance of getting by since these people could only sense mana.

As Max got nearer to the place, he felt the connection with his spirit snake. When he observed what was going around it, he couldn't help but curse, 'Damn it!'