- "Well, I can get a sweetheart and maybe this will help Quylla get over me. It's not like I'm going to marry Phloria, things will probably not work out. I'd say the pros outweigh the cons."
"Only one thing." Solus added. "Whatever you do, this is not one of your business deals. She is a real person with real feelings, don't treat her like a calculated risk, looking for a gain. Otherwise I will be really disappointed in you."–
"I would love to go out with you." Lith replied with his best smile while Solus's words were still echoing in his head.
"The only problem is when and where. The academy takes out almost all our free time and there's nothing to see around here."
"Not a problem." Phloria was radiant, way more than Lith would have expected.
"During the weekend we can go anywhere thanks to the academy's Gate. Do you mind if we take a walk? I've so many things I want to discuss with you right now."
Lith stood up and waved goodbye to his still frozen stiff friends.
"I never saw that coming." Yurial was the first to recover.
"Of all the girls of the academy, Phloria is the last one I would have expected to make a move on Lith. The real shocker is that he didn't turn her down like all the other girls. Maybe he is not made of stone like I always thought."
A faint hiccup stopped him in his tracks. Quylla was on the verge of tears, while Friya was holding her tight, trying to console her.
"It's all right, it's not the end of the world." She said.
"It's all my fault." Quylla sobbed.
"I had countless occasions with him but I wasted them all, always waiting for the right moment instead of creating one as Phloria did. I feel so stupid. I deluded myself into believing I had changed, but I'm still a coward."
Yurial and Friya helper her to get up and brought Quylla to her room, before all the canteen noticed her distress.
Meanwhile, Lith and Phloria were walking along the corridors with Phloria doing most of the talking and listing all the places she wanted to visit in the Griffon Kingdom.
Suddenly Lith noticed they were in front of Phloria's room.
"Come in. There's something I want to tell you, but I don't want anyone else to hear it."
Lith was hesitant.
- "Her room already? This isn't escalating fast, it's skipping all the bases!"–
When she noticed it, Phloria giggled.
"Come on, I will not eat you. Yet."
Phloria closed the door behind them. Then, without saying a word she hugged him tight.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She sniffed, being on the verge of tears.
"The truth is that after the second exam, I am always scared. Down in that dungeon, I realized that death is closer than I thought. I trained my sword and my magic, believing I would become invincible, but now I know it was just an illusion.
When that ogre almost killed me, all I could think about was that I would have never seen my family again, that I had yet to experience love or a boy's touch. There are still so many things I want to do and places I want to see.
I don't want to die with so many regrets."
Lith hugged her back, caressing her head while trying to understand what all of that had to do with him. He was certain that Phloria had never demonstrated romantic feelings for him and Solus had always confirmed his impression.
That turn of events was still incomprehensible to him, but he remained silent. His logic could only trample her feelings.
"The real reason I asked you out is that despite you are shorter than me, stingy, cold, and the gods know how much you remember me of my mother, whenever I'm with you I'm not afraid anymore."