[Music Recommendation: "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips" by O'Neill Brothers (instrumental only)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

[Please note: We're back to Senara's POV - when they were being ninjas and observing Verrill's reaction to the confession]

[Also PS: Did you enjoy Verrill's POV? Because I did hahahahahaha XD]

We just finished observing how evil Verrill really was but Hora seemed to be pondering on something. What could she be thinking? Crystal and I agreed that we were both deceived by him, falling from his honey trap smile. But why was it that Hora seemed to have a different opinion?

"What is it, Hora?" I asked, curious of what it was she was thinking.

"Hmm… I just thought that it wasn't so bad at all."

My eyes widened in disbelief of what I'm hearing from her. Crystal was shocked, too! Was she brainwashed by that little devil?

"W-what do you mean? He just rudely rejected a girl who liked him! He could have said it better, gentler. Not like that. He even rolled his eyes! Clearly, he doesn't even have any humanity in him to appreciate the girl's confession and say no in a gentle manner."

"I agree," Crystal added. "He could have at least thanked the girl for her feelings. She said she liked him for years and it's just nothing for him. T-that hurts, you know."

'Oh no. Crystal is feeling for the girl. She must have seen herself in her if she was to confess to Verrill.'

Hora's face saddened after hearing that. Wait a minute. Did she know? About Crystal liking Verrill?

And then, she toughened herself and looked at Crystal straight in the eyes.

"But if he had become gentle in rejecting, that could give false hopes to the girl. In the end, she will cling to that hope and just be more hurt… right?"

A moment of silence passed by.

Woah! I did NOT think of that. And I was supposed to be the eldest here. This quality of Hora was one of the things that made me admire her all the more. Yeah, I simp my bestie, too. Whenever she would open an argument, she always made sense. Don't even try arguing or you'd lose inevitably. She sees and observes things beyond the eyes could see. Truly… what a queen.

She was right though. If Verrill rejected in a kind manner, like saying 'Sorry, I'm not interested in romance right now', or something like 'Sorry, I don't see you like that as of the moment', or anything along those lines, the girl would just be persistent. She could say, 'It's okay. I'll wait for you' and all that kind of stuff. Especially since they liked him for years. They wouldn't just give up as easily as that unless they were rejected brutally.

So… Verrill wasn't really being evil but he just had to do it that way, right? Awww… it seemed I judged him too quickly. Then, the reason why Kaiden badmouthed Verrill in such a manner… it was probably his act of kindness for Crystal.

Basically, he's saying if Crystal confessed, she would be treated like that—brutally rejected. But instead of saying it directly, he wanted Crystal to move on instead. Besides, Kaiden was right. Crystal didn't like Verrill as a person but was just physically attracted to him and her idea of him. So they really wouldn't end up together by any means. Unless Verrill liked Crystal which was impossible given the way he's treating her.

And besides, he already liked Hora. My instincts were right. I knew from that moment during the barbecue party. There was already something fishy going on. I'd say they were attracted to each other naturally—though still physical, maybe?

Hmmm… but still! That didn't change the fact that he was a sly fox and I still didn't know what happened to them last night. My opinion of him would only improve if I'm assured nothing happened. If not… WRAAAAA!!! I would rage war! How dare he try to touch my precious bestie! If not for what happened to Crystal, I wouldn't leave her alone with him in his bedroom!

Crystal and I were taken aback by what Hora said since she had a point. Crystal then looked like she had a lot of pondering to do. That, plus we needed to go to our next class. I just borrowed them for a bit anyway.

And so, we all returned to class and continued the rest of the day. Crystal and Callan weren't able to join us for lunch since they were needed somewhere, according to Kaiden. But I guessed Crystal just needed some space and Callan was comforting her. Poor Crystal… she might have been disillusioned but still, moving on wouldn't be that easy given she liked him since childhood. I wanted to comfort her, too, but I could only do so much. Callan should be able to help cheer her up.

During lunch, Verrill kept on staring at Hora so I covered her face with the menu book. Good thing, it was huge enough to cover both our faces.

"So, when are you planning to tell me?" I whispered to Hora as I covered our faces with the menu book open in front of our faces.

Hora blushed. "Uuuuhhh… after classes? At home?"

I squinted my eyes towards her. "Alright. Make sure you don't leave out any details, are we clear on that?"

She nodded reluctantly at me, to which, I raised my eyebrows and she averted her eyes from me. Tsk. Tsk. This girl… You're too young to hide anything from this time travelling friend of yours.

Anyway, hours passed after lunch and before we knew it, classes ended. We all went back to our respective homes and as soon as we came back, I made sure to pester Hora in her room.

"So," I said strictly, with my eyes squinting on her, "care to tell me now?"

"Alright, I will. But please, sit down first."

I did as she said, and sat beside her, in her room's receiving area. Tea and coffee, with some snacks, were ready in front of us. I dropped two cubes of sugar in my coffee and started sipping, waiting for her to spill the beans.

Hora breathed deeply.

"Okay. I'm telling you everything but you have to promise me that you won't freak out."

Just hearing her say that was already making me freak out but…

"Alright," I gulped, "I'll do my best not to."

Breathing deeply again, she started telling her story. From the moment I left her by the pond, up to where Verrill let her rest in his bedroom since she was sick. Then, when she woke up, she felt sticky and wanted to take a bath. Verrill offered to do so in his bedroom—the audacity—saying he didn't want her to exhaust herself and all that. So that was why her clothes were suddenly missing from the guest room prepared for us.

What I didn't expect though was what she said next.

"Then… w-we… kissed."

I swear. The moment I heard that… I saw red!

"HOW DARE THAT EVIL SLY FOX!!! WRAAAAAAAA!!!"