小嫂子的味道

"So you finally changed your mind?" I asked as I approached her.

"Well…yeah, something like that," Ellyn replied.

"Anyway, come inside," I said and made way for her to enter. However, her facial expression clearly showed that she was hesitating.

"No, no, it\'s fine. I\'ll stay in an inn. I came here only because I wanted to meet with you," she replied.

"I don\'t think I can allow that."

"Huh?" she mumbled in surprise.

"Staying alone at an inn outside the academy and away from me is the worst choice you could make safety-wise," I explained.

"That\'s true, but I don\'t want to trouble your family."

"It\'s not really a problem, in fact, they will be more than happy to have you. And it\'s not like we don\'t have a few guest rooms," I said. "Come."

"Sigh…fine. But are you sure it\'s okay?"

"Yeah."

She still looked like she wasn\'t completely pleased by the idea, but for now, she stepped inside along with the bag that she was carrying on her back.

"By the way," I said as we were walking in the hallway. "How did you find my address?"

"Oh, that? I asked Mr. Jekar about it," she replied.

"I see."

\'Ryfin, huh? Normally the academy shouldn\'t have given away the information of their students that easily. But I guess since it was me, Ryfin didn\'t bother doing that.\'

We came out from the hallway and stepped into the hall where Ron, Ainge, and Anya sat. They looked up at us, and except for Anya—who already knew Ellyn—the expression of everyone else didn\'t suit my eye.

"She\'s Anya\'s friend," I said before any misunderstanding could take birth.

I\'ve read a fair amount of rom-com myself and the misunderstanding troupe was among the ones I hated so much that my eyes started bleeding from cringe every time I saw that.

There was a hint of disappointment on Ainge\'s face, but Ron… He was trying to keep up a poker face but I knew what thoughts were going on in his mind.

***

After that, we had a bit of a conversation. Ellyn explained that she\'d come to visit Anya, although she did not make her reasons clear which was a thing I\'d told her to do.

I\'ve also instructed her to not tell her family name until someone asks, since knowing them I knew they would be pretty intimated if they knew she was from such a high-ranking family.

In the end, it was settled that Ellyn will stay here with us and a guest room was cleaned and maintained for her right after that.

Anya was a little confused too, as she had no clue at all that Ellyn will be coming here. And to be honest, she was taken aback at first—anyone would be if put in that situation.

But things cooled down soon enough.

"Oh, Ellyn! We were just about to go do some shopping. Would you like to join us?" Anya asked.

"I don\'t think that\'s a good idea. She\'s also coming after traveling a lot hence it\'s obvious she must be tired. If you really want to go, I think we should postpone it till evening," I said before Ellyn could respond.

"What do you say?" I looked at Ellyn, and since she\'s been working with me for a while now she knew when I was giving her a signal.

"Yeah. I would\'ve loved to go, but I think I should rest a little for now," she replied.

"Humph. You\'re just saying because you yourself don\'t want to do it," Anya said with a puffed face.

"Of course not," I said and tried to force a smile. Though I failed.

***

I parted ways with Anya and Ellyn as Ellyn went into her room and Anya was busy checking her things to figure out what she had to buy.

Since I didn\'t have anything in particular to do, I took a hallway and right now was sitting in the garden.

The sun was up in the sky and even though there were some clouds, I could feel the warm sun rays embracing my skin.

The grass in the garden had grown quite a bit, and now it swayed whenever the wind passed by.

"Ho! So here you are," someone said from behind as they put their hand on my shoulders. I didn\'t need to think once to guess who it was.

"And? Why are you filled with so much energy and looking like a teenager instead of a father," I asked as I stood up ad turned behind me.

"Oh, come on. Don\'t try to act dumb in front of me. I\'m your father, I know my son\'s choice very well," he said with a proud smile on his face as he pointed at himself with his thumb.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to beat the bush since I didn\'t want to discuss the topic he was getting at.

"That red-haired girl, she\'s your girl isn\'t she?" he said. "Don\'t worry. It\'ll only be natural that you would want to keep something like that a secret," he brushed my hair with his hands as he stood beside me and stared at the sky.

"I guess you\'re coming to that age…time passes so quickly, it feels like just yesterday when you weren\'t even able to walk on your own. But then after that incident, your condition started improving. You even started to learn sword arts, then you entered the academy."

He let out a breath. "You\'ve grown up," he said.

"I don\'t want to ruin your moment, but Ellyn isn\'t my girlfriend. It\'s true," I said, and then regretted saying it.

"Yeah, I believe you. I\'ve been through hell too when I had to introduce your mother to my father. But it\'s okay, you can take your sweet time."

This was one of those situations where the more you try to justify yourself, the more wrong you seem. That\'s why I wanted to avoid this discussion.

There was a moment of silence as both of us stared at the sky, the sun, and the grass as it swayed gently in the wind.