It has been some days since we came back to the Celeste Mansion in Gardenia. We only spent two days in Azalea but it felt like a long time.

Gardenia was still cold as ever but I was able to cope up with it a little.

I sat next to the fire place and thought about what Azlo had said:

"A wormhole will open in a few weeks."

'Will we be able to find it at the right time?' I asked myself as I gently tugged on the flower dangling from the necklace that Al gave me.

'Where would it open? Will we be able to return back?' As I sat back on the couch thinking, mother entered the room.

"Adline, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, mother. What about you? Everything alright?" I asked.

"Everything's alright for me. The problem's your father, he's been sulking in the room ever since you got here and he keeps on cursing Al." She said.

We both sighed.

Dads can be so problematic at times.

"So, did you do anything?" She asked. Her tone sounded as if she was excited.

"Did what?" I asked, confused.

"Come on, you may be a young adult now and tend to hide things but I'm your mother, and you're still my baby." She continued. "What else did you do with Al, back in Azalea?"

"What?!"

I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"There's nothing between Al and I."

She glanced at the necklace I was wearing.

"If you're wondering about this necklace, I didn't have money with me so he bought it for me." (I mean I really didn't have any money with me so I wasn't lying.)

"You can't lie to your mother, Adline. You're already calling him without his title."

I totally forgot to add his title before his name which led mother to believe that there really was something between Al and I.

"You don't need to hide anything, as your mother, I fully support your relationship with Duke Ezar's son. He's also a very handsome young man and he has bla bla bla…" she continued praising Al and talked about how many grandkids she wanted.

After thirty minutes of non-stop talk about Al, I managed to go out of the house for some fresh air.

I saw a carriage in front of the gates. The person that came down from it was the last person I wanted to see that day.

'Al Ascian.'

I wanted to shoo him off but mother would murder me if I did that, so I decided run away and hide for sometime. Just as I turned around, a maid called out my name.

"Lady Jerinah! Lord Al is here to see you."

Me and my dumb luck! I turned around slowly and found Al standing there. 'Why did he have to come today?!'

"Lord Al, what a pleasant surprise. Welcome to the Celeste Mansion." I tried to smile as much as I could.

"Good afternoon, Lady Jerinah. I suppose you weren't trying to run away after you saw the carriage outside?"

He saw right through me!

"Ha ha.. quite funny jokes you crack up these days."

Right now I really wanted to run away from him. Adding to my bad luck, mother appeared from the front door.

"Al, how have you been? Please come in." She then turned to me. "Jerinah what are you doing standing outside with the guest? Welcome him in."

We went inside and mother started the topic from earlier once again. I wished to disappear at that moment. I turned at Al to see his face all flushed.

He looked like a small puppy.

'Haha so cute.' I thought.

Our eyes met and the next second, I looked away. 'Why was I feeling flushed too?'

"Now I'll leave both you alone. Don't be shy and talk, all right?" Mother left the room soon after.

'Hah… I could breathe again.'

"Sorry about that, mother thinks we are in some kind of relationship after we returned from Azalea. I don't even know how I make her stop."

"She doesn't need to stop." He said, then suddenly placed his hand on his mouth as if he said something he shouldn't have said out loud.

"What are you looking at?" His face reddened.

"N-nothing!" I quickly turned my gaze from him.

"So what brings you here today?" I asked to escape the embarrassing, awkward situation we were facing.

Al looked as if he just remembered why he came here in the first place. He quickly put on a serious expression.

"I'll be leaving to Azalea tomorrow."

"Azalea? Again?" I asked. "Didn't you just return back a few days ago?"

He said that it was for the retrieval of the sorcerer's tower from the outlaws and that he had to go too.

"I specifically came here to tell you this because knowing the outskirts of Azalea, the outlaws are of no joke. And retrieving the tower is the main task so we are directly going into the enemy's den."

Even the tone of his voice was serious.

"Why are you telling me this as if you aren't going to come back alive?" I asked. "Don't scare me, Al. Back then, you told Azlo as if you'd retrieve the tower at ease, just within a few days."

"I thought so too. But it seems like that wasn't the case. The outlaws have been increasing at an overwhelming rate; moreover, the King had already planned to tackle the outskirts of Azalea for some time now." He replied.

"That's why you need to go too?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then if it's that dangerous, let's tell Azlo that retrieving his tower is an impossible task." I suggested.

"I don't think my pride would make me do that." He said and it made me mad.

"What pride are you talking about now?!" I cried out loud. "You don't have to do any of these either! We just need to return to the real world and as Azlo had said, a wormhole would open in a few weeks!"

"I must do this as a gratitude to the sorcerer too." He said.

I couldn't understand this man anymore. 'Gratitude to Azlo?' I thought.

"What are you talking about?"

Ignoring my question, he spoke.

"Jerinah, if I don't return, the possibility of the wormhole opening in a few weeks may be changed as you'll be the only one left from the real world. Since you haven't been here for even a year, the next wormhole would open three years later. You need to live till then and get out of this world all right? It's not like people in the real world would remember me either."

He said it all at once, the things I didn't want to hear.

"Why are you telling me this? You'll come back alive and we'll both return to the real world together." My voice trembled.

"It's just a possibility." He said.

'What was he even saying? If he wasn't going to return back to the real world with me, why did he even follow me to this world in the first place?!'

"Say that you'll come back alive!" Tears started rolling down my cheeks as I looked at him.

"Ah, I'm already making you cry again, I'm sorry." He came closer to me. "Don't cry."

At the beginning, I thought Al was a cold and distant kind of person and as time went by, I believed he was changing. But I realised he wasn't at all cold and distant, but the expressions he had, gave people the wrong impression about him. He never changed, he had always been this way from the start.

He wiped the tears from my eyes cupped my cheeks.

"Please stop crying."

He said as if he was begging me to stop.

I rubbed my eyes and held back my tears.

He drew his face closer to mine. My heart thumped so fast. Our faces were inches apart when he suddenly pulled me to an embrace and stayed that way for a moment. He then let me go.

'What was all that?' I wondered.

He caressed my face and gave me a warm smile, different than the ones he usually gave me.

"I'll be back soon."

I felt as if my body was going to melt. My heart felt a pinch, I didn't understand why.

"It's about time I take some steps forward now." He said.

"Steps forward?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when I get back all right?" He smiled at me. "I'll take my leave now. I'll write to you whenever I can."

After he left, I went up to my room and laid down on the bed. I placed my palm on my forehead and grazed it gently with my fingertips.

'What was all that about? Also, was Al always a sensitive kind of person?'

I rolled over on the bed and wondered what Al was thinking.

• • •

At a distance, Al returns back home on a carriage.

"Did I just tried to kiss her? What was I doing?" He covered his mouth as he blushed and leaned by the window.

"Anyhow, I must return back to her at any cost."

~In another part of the capital.~

"Make sure you do your job well. Don't let Al Ascian return back alive."

"Yes, Your Highness."

• • •