A small frown grew on Emilin's face as her eyebrows scrunched up as if trying to meet in the middle.

She was superstitious, especially considering the fact that she had lived a previous life.

​​

Emilin believed that it was simply not possible that she was the only person on this great planet who experience such an out-of-body experience, maybe there were even people who had supernatural powers in this world.

After all, the population was great, and the number of smart people was also not of small numbers.

Emilin believed that there were bound to be people who were more unique than others.

Those who could not hide would duly die, and those who could, they would not get themselves caught.

It was as simple as that.

Even if Emilin were to never find another like her, she would still believe that they existed.

Her superstitious nature, especially in some cases with Karma and words, made her prone to be more sensitive than others on such matters.

This was directed at people who were either already a part of her life, going to be a part of her life, or people who had very good karma.

Xander fit the bill to a T, perfectly.

Emilin couldn't simply stop interacting with him, and like a good doctor who did his job without cutting corners, Xander's good Karma wasn't insignificant at all.

She had to set this straight before they continued with their business.

Emilin stared straight at Xander, who paled in an instant.

"Let us make clear boundaries on what you can and can not say."

Emilin was completely serious when it came to matters such as setting boundaries.

Even when she hadn't been in many relationships in person, her business expeditions had taught her a lot, and one of the most important lessons she had learned was that setting boundaries early in a relationship was good for long-lasting interactions while avoiding all the avoidable misunderstandings.

This gave the opposing party a good idea of what kind of values she had, and she could also probe the other party's position and character at the same time.

Two birds with one stone.

Emilin always found it rather absurd when she watched shows where the female character got upset with the male lead for a reason that she wouldn't tell the male lead for no reason whatsoever, or vice versa, thus extending the show for another 1 or 2 useless episodes, filled with moments in which the audience simply wanted to pull their hairs out or maybe just self-harm with the pillow they had in hand, more so with every passing second.

Well, at least there would be some development in the relationship.

It was good that they had at least learned how important communication was in a relationship in the end, but not so much when it took them 80 minutes worth of showtime.

And if they didn't learn that fact, well Emilin could only say bye-bye, by the second time they made the same play with the same misunderstandings, in the same scenario.

"What you just said, and don't repeat it, is unacceptable. That along with any curse words that swear at my parents or family-like son of a *****, bast*rd, etc will also not be tolerated. I won't care what you say otherwise, but careful with whom your words are directed. Capiche?"

Emilin was no longer using her hypnotic voice, but rather her usual one, the one that reached out to talk with Xander's reason, after all, she wanted human interactions, not interactions with someone who was not thinking properly.

She didn't want to always hear what exactly was on the other person's mind either.

It just didn't feel right.

As for why she used her own methods to make Xander speak his mind despite having interacted with him for prolonged periods of time since the age of around 5, well everyone was somewhat different across the screen.

Just like how Xander was much more shameless on the phone, people tended to portray themselves differently when talking face to face, or maybe that was just because he had yet to discover that she was actually M.

Xander, who was a genius in his own right, didn't need to be told twice to know just how serious this young lady in front of him was.

Dead serious was the answer to that prompt, no questioning it.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Xander said, returning the seriousness right back while also making a mental note.

It was actually a good thing for Xander to have discovered one of Emilin's bottom lines early on. At least he wouldn't make the same mistake again, and thankfully also not in an even more offensive way.

He was offended at all by the way she was speaking nor how big she had blown up his 'joke'. After all, everyone had different taboos and bottom lines.

Something casual for you may be serious for someone else. You don't really get to decide what is or is not 'just' a joke when you are in a conversation with someone else, after all, it's a conversation, not a monologue.

If it's offensive to the person you are talking to, then you apologize. You don't make excuses while undermining the other person's views!

This isn't about who is in a higher position in society, nor who is older, who has lived longer, nor who has more power.

This is a matter of principles, people, and relations.

And Xander really didn't have to be embarrassed to have made such a mistake or to have apologized.

He didn't know, and now he does.

"Good. Since you are free, we will head to Phashi Country, Opaque city tomorrow." Emilin informed Xander of their traveling plans.

Xander had already decided to follow Emilin for now, determined to learn more from her, and he could already tell from the conversation so far that she was definitely more mature than the number that represented her age.

"Get a good night's rest and I'll inform you of everything else after I finish informing Master of the results."

Xander limited himself to a nod, trying his best to hide his excitement.

Though on the outside he was acting stern and serious, whenever it came to a matter related to M, he was actually much more like a child.

'God damn it, I'm so excited, how the hell am I supposed to sleep without knowing?'

Xander's prediction was about to come true, he really had no hopes of sleeping this evening.

Emilin didn't know that her simple decision to practice what she was going to say to Xander the next day had led both of them to go without much sleep that night.

The next morning, around 6 AM, Emilin stepped out of her room, not expecting to find anyone else awake at the moment.

"Miss Emilin, you are already awake. Do you want to join us for breakfast?"

Emilin looked from Levi who was cooking to Xander who sat at the counter stuffing his mouth as if he were stress eating at the moment.

Well, not as if.

He was doing exactly that.

"There are pancakes and omelets since there aren't any waffle makers here." Levi clearly insinuated which form on breakfast was superior and Emilin didn't comment.

"How come you have woken up so early?" Emilin asked to make some small talk.

However, the moment her words dropped, both of the men's faces contorted, especially Levi.

This scene was strangely familiar to Emilin, who had only tried small talk with a handful of people, all of whom had similar reactions.

She really didn't know what she was doing wrong!

Why was it always like this? He wasn't hypnotized, nor a possible criminal.

All the small talk 101 videos were clearly lying to her!

"You see it seems we had trouble sleeping," Levi said as he gave his boss a glare.

Xander couldn't sleep and didn't allow Levi to get any rest, not because Xander kept him up, but rather because Levi was too worried for him.

He wasn't worried that Master M wouldn't accept Xander, after all, all main characters simply could not fail in this category, rather he was worried that Xander would kill himself from anxiety before anything could even start.

"Has Master M said anything yet?" Levi asked for the sanity of both men.

At that question, Xander perked up his ears and sat on the edge of his seat, his hands moving away from the utensils that had been moving nonstop.

Emilin nodded in response.

"Yes, we will head out in the afternoon if that's okay with the both of you."

"Sure, sure!" This time it was Xander who spoke.

He restarted eating to stop his hands from fiddling.

"That's good. Now that you have agreed, I will teach you everything I know, starting this week. We will head to Phashi immediately for the matters I have to attend to. We will do a simple Master-Disciple acceptance ceremony when we get there. If there is a need for a more complex ceremony in the future on your side, we will deal with it then. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Sorry what?"

Xander had no clue what was going on.

'Weren't they just talking about Master M's response? Did Master M ask her to teach him first? Am I finally going to meet him at Phashi?'

Even Emilin felt like she was being too forceful, but when she had been talking to the hypnotized Moulan, she could only really talk to him like that, or Moulan wouldn't be able to process in the right context.

Knowing that she wasn't able to converse that way, she just made do. Nonetheless, even though she was serious on the outside, she was really facepalming as she drew circles on the inside.

These were the moments where being socially awkward was really depressing.

As for Xander, he didn't want to sound deprecating, but he really didn't understand just what was happening.

He was really being taken in for an emotional roller-coaster, especially considering he was slightly sleep-deprived.

***

Mini-Theater

Simple tips for small talk 101 that will prevent all awkward silences!

*15 minutes later*

Emilin: Okay! I got this.

Emilin: I'll just watch it one more time!

*15 minutes later*

Emilin: I should get another video for reference!

*20 minutes later*

Emilin: More sources= make sure of the accuracy

**** hours later

Emilin: Oh it's already morning?

Emilin: I should go practice! *Smiley*

Levi and Xander: *Scrunched up face*

Emilin: What the hell? They're liars! Liars I tell you!

Emilin: Just you watch!

Random person: Oooo, this video looks cool. *clicks: learning how to do small talk 103*

Random person: ehhhh? why is this banned?

*20 minutes later*

Random person: Wtf? All the videos on this channel are banned? Why don't you just ban the whole channel then?

*5 seconds and refresh later*

[The channel you are looking for no longer exists...]

Random person: ???

Channel owner: (ￗ﹏ￗ )

*** ***

Words are very powerful.

They are a tool you start learning to use from birth, but not one that you can master no matter how much you try.

At times, you will be wielding the weapon against someone without even knowing it or meaning to, there will always be blunders, yet humans live and learn.

So let's all live, learn, and grow together.

-You_li_er