“You…” she looks at me, not knowing what to say.

“Want to go on a date? I want to visit the Gardens. I was thinking about taking a vacation.”

“What?! You’ve just opened!” Lucinda looks like she’s on the verge of pulling her hair out.

“Well, they’ll wait. You know, sometimes you have to wait for the best things to happen,” I shoot a wink her way, and she blushes a bit.

“Ow,” she punches my arm and then places a hand on the back of my head to kiss me.

“You are an idiot,” she mutters on my lips.

“All the way,” I reply gently.

This woman can’t even fathom how much she warms my heart with her unruly violence.

“Can I ask an uncomfortable question?” I say while pulling back a bit.

There is one obvious thing we still have to discuss.

“Sure.”

“When are you leaving Amorium? And you really don’t mind if I come with you?”

“In two months, for sure. I thought of leaving early to do some networking at the academy, but…” she looks at me with a smile. “I can catch up on that when I am studying there.”

I exhale, happy. Two months is not too bad.

“And if you want, you can certainly come. We are allowed to bring a retinue of servants to help us in our daily life. Residents have to apply if they want to live in the Citadel by the academy. And you are…”

“Too handsome?” I volunteer.

“A Human,” she jabs at my shoulder.

“Ouch, are you always this violent?” I ask reproachfully.

“Only if I like someone,” she says, copying my wink.

Oh, man, my heart just melted.

Hehe.

I start grinning like an idiot.

“Joey, do you really want to come with me?” she asks, biting her lower lip.

“I don’t know that many people here. I’ll miss the girls from the bakeries, but I’m sure I can bring Stanimal with me and open a bakery over there. I’m not sure about Lucillus since the guy’s after Flaminia. But maybe I can convince him too.”

“Only residents and students can open a shop, Joey. And you are neither,” she points out.

“Well, worse comes to worst, I’ll apply as a student, ditch the courses, and bake. How about that?” I wink at her. “I might be a [Light Mage], but I still kick-ass.”

“We still have to talk about your magical aptitude. You… you can do things,” she says with a serious face.

“Yeah, yeah. We can talk magic all we want. But,” I lean in with an extremely serious face. “There is something I want to do, first. It’s immensely important, and it’s something I couldn’t do before. Do you mind if I do this one little thing now that you are my girlfriend? I have dreamt about this since I saw you for the first time.”

She goes serious, probably thinking I’m talking about magic. I guess she’s imagining me showing her one of my great spells.

“Show me. I’m very curious to see what you are capable of,” she braces herself, ready to withstand some first-class magic.

“Now, close your eyes for a second,” I say with a conspiratorial tone.

“Why?” she asks.

“Just do it. It’s going to be great. I promise.”

Hehe.

She closes her eyes, and for a second, I forget my misdeeds. I almost lose myself in her focused expression, with her eyelids so tight and strained, her nose slightly curled. If Plato had the right guess, I can’t believe there’s any other person who’d fit my other half more than Lucinda.

But, alas, more serious matters come calling.

“Well, here we go. Just keep your eyes closed and…”

Something great happens, something she would have never expected me to do.

One could say that the entire universe is actually contained in a single place in the human body. I mean, at least for some people. It depends on the size of that place. There are bigger and smaller places. And sure, one could argue that a smaller place might be cozier and easier to manage. But that’s not me, brother.

See, it’s a simple matter of opportunities per square foot.

If you buy an apartment and are a musician, you need space for your piano, right?

And if you like to beat drums, figuratively, you need space for that too, amiright?

So, making it more explicit for the densest, if you like hanging out around your apartment, office, or whatever, you need to have good square footage.

And when a musician first gets his piano inside the new house, what does he do?

Well, he plays it. Or with it.

That’s why my hand is now quite firmly pinching Lucinda’s caboose while my legs start running off immediately.

“JOEY!” she yelps, outraged.

“Byeeee!” I start pumping my legs, hoping to make it to the door before—

Something latches onto my ankle, and I fall right on my face.

“Ouch,” I say while touching my cheekbone. “Oh, dude, I hope I didn’t break anything. Can’t ruin this national treasure.”

I try not to look directly at Lucinda, but I can’t help noticing the long translucent whip that grabbed my foot. Oof, things will get kinky in this relationship, won’t they?

“Joey Luciani!” she says with her face completely red.

“Lucinda…”

I don’t know her last name, do I?

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I know the last name of anyone here. Mmm.

Well, one thing less to remember.

“You are going to pay for this,” she says while keeping the two extremities of the whip in her hand and suddenly tensing it.

“Oh, boy,” I grin, “I hope you are not going to use that on me.”

Or do I?

Hehe.