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This, talking to Ash like this, being with her like this. Seeing her finally up and about again filled me with a euphoria I can’t even begin to describe. Until the sun comes up, I just want to be here with her and just simply forget about everything else.

“A gift for Master...” She mused quietly to herself, looking quite the adorable sight in her diligence. “This would prove quite the predicament, indeed. Hmm...”

Would have loved to tease and taunt, drop in hints that don’t actually mean anything, but then I heard her yawning, saw the look in her eyes slightly succumbing to exhaustion, and I was once again painfully reminded that all good things must eventually come to an end.

“I see someone didn’t sleep a wink today,” I remarked. “Why don’t you go and sleep on it, huh? Maybe an idea will come to you, then.”

Ash took a look at me, then took one look at the ruinous state of the house, the garbage bags halfway filled with trash, the kitchen sink piled with plates like a makeshift Evervest, and I had to quickly chime in before she could come to her next natural course of action.

“Housework can come later,” I said. “Besides, it’s my mess anyway. You shouldn’t have to.”

.....

“I’m your Servant, Master,” She simply said. “I want to.”

“Then do what I want for you first, alright?” I scooted her off, walking her towards the stairs. “Go on, off to bed with you.”

It took a few more light back and forths before Ash finally caved to my demands. Up the stairs, one reluctant step at a time, but then halfway through, she turned around again.

“And what of you, Master?” She asked, a concerned gaze looking down at me at the foot of the stairs. “Should you not be resting too? If you’d like, perhaps you could... I mean that is if you would rather not spend the rest of the night alone, then perhaps, um...”

Embarrassed, timid, pausing more than speaking, I knew where this was going. Seems normal Ash was not as bold and shameless as bedridden Ash.

“Tempting offer,” I said. “But I rather not risk being late for work. I’ll just hang around, wait out the night... don’t worry, I’ll see you in the morning.”

There was a sliver of disappointment that poured over her face, which Ash attempted to hide away by falling to a gracious bow.

“Very well, Master,” She said. “I will be looking forward to this gift of yours... wherever it may take me in its course.”

“And I’ll be sure to keep smiling giddily over what you might have in store. No pressure, of course.”

She smiled at that, and with a parting tender look, she made her way up the rest of the stairs, and then with a faint shuffle of footsteps, I heard the echo of her door clicking close.

I let her go now, but in truth, I actually wanted to rein her back in. There was so much I wanted to say that I deliberately left unsaid. About her past, about her Lenora, the events that transpired after, and how she was currently feeling about it... but I ultimately decided that now wasn’t the right time for any of that just yet.

Besides, now that she was healthier, there’s always plenty of time next time.

I took a few steps back into the living room, simply looking and drifting away into the mesmerizing lights of the Christmas tree, feeling tired, feeling sluggish... and yet also feeling very, very happy.

Then amidst my delight, my brief moment of silent serenity, I received the jump scare of my life.

“Well, wasn’t that romantic?” drearily spoke a low voice, nearly throwing my goddamn soul out of my skin. “So that’s how you usually talk with Ash. You’re so sweet, so gentle, reassuring... ”

Amanda huddled upright was what caused my heart to nearly stop beating, sitting there, staring blankly at the empty space of the stair landing.

“All in all,” She continued on, her voice ridden in an audible mixture of awe and disbelief. “You’re actually a very good boyfriend.”

Then the atmosphere took an immediate dive into the abyss, and I was suddenly blasted with a heavy stare full of grump.

“So how come you aren’t like that when you’re with me?” She demanded to know.

Once I realized I wasn’t being haunted by a rather jealous ghost, I settled down again, then gazing right back at her, I simply shrugged. “You’re just built different, I guess.”

Goes without saying, she didn’t exactly find my answer to her liking.

“See?” She said in-between wide yawns and bleary eyes. “All I usually get is deadpan humor, sarcastic answers, a drunken mess, the occasional outrage over my actions...”

“And free coffee,” I added.

“It’s pretty much night and day when you compare how you are to the two of us!” She exclaimed. “It’s like you’re a totally different person when you’re with her!”

“And just how long have you been up to observe all that, exactly?”

Amanda huffed. “Long enough.”

“How long?”

“How long, you ask? Hmph, well...” She cleared her throat, then breathing in deeply, she swelled her voice in a dramatic cry. “Oh, my sweet, dear beloved, Ash of mine! It doesn’t matter to me that you aren’t perfect! Don’t you see? You already are perfect to me! Oh, if you only knew just how much I cry for you in front of other girls, then you’ll finally see that I-!”

“Alright, alright, I’m fucking cheesy as shit, I get it!”

“Credit to you though, I’d swoon if you said all that to me,” Amanda said, crossing her arms. “If only you would.”

Off to the side, Sammy snorted loudly in her sleep, and it sounded almost contemptuous and snobbish enough to actually sound like she was subconsciously taking Amanda’s side here.

“Pretty sure I did,” I said.

“Drunk doesn’t count.”

Well, then shit, that’s all I got.

“I see you’ve also finally got around to telling her about the convention that you’ll be taking her to,” in the most sarcastic manner she could, she threw her hands together in boisterous applause. “Initiative, boldness, with just a little bit of demure. The exact kind of gentlemanly qualities any fair maiden would crave for.”

“Hmm, it almost sounds like you’re trying to tell me something,” I said. “Kinda wish I knew what though.”

“Oh, no, don’t mind me,” She spun her head away from me. “Just thinking my thoughts out loud, wishing there was someone out there who would finally listen to me, anyone, really... not exactly picky.”

“And I hear you, Amanda,” I replied, dropping the act. “Believe me, I want to do those kinds of things with you as much as you do.”

“Yeah, I know you do,” She said, faintly smiling and dropping the act too. “But all in due time, right? For now, though... I’ll settle with just pecking at you with jibes. It’s fun watching you try and reassure me.”

Oh, this little conniving minx...

“Oh-ho, and would you just look at that there...” Amanda apparently had more to say, leaning forward from her seat, and twice in a row now, I then felt another heavy gaze pressing down at my chest, and Amanda’s brown eyes suddenly reflected back a small tinge of red. “You got a locket, a pretty little locket. A magic locket! That’s what Irene gave you? When? When I was knocked out? What’s even inside it?”

So many questions, with answers that I really, really didn’t wanna tell her, seriously the grumbling and whining would only just skyrocket if I did, but what could I do? Girl’s got a major hard-on for the thorns and throes of jealousy.

“A little piece of her, or her magic specifically,” I begrudgingly confided. “Says to hold on to it, so that in some way, I’m always with her one way or another.”

Amanda’s face emptied of all human emotion. “She... she said that? Said it just like that?”

“Paraphrasing, but,” I shrugged again. “More or less, yeah.”

Her lips narrowed into a long, flat line, and she buried a hand deep into the trenches of her frazzled messy locks. It was like she was trying to mitigate a headache, and by the look of things, a very bad one at that.

“I take it you don’t approve?” I asked, inching a bit forward with caution.

“Approve?” She snapped her gaze back up at me. “No, it’s amazing. It’s perfect. Quite literally the most perfect thing you can give to anyone. Irene did good. Amazing, actually. Kudos to her.”

“Mmm-hmm, only except?”

Amanda made a small shriek like an adorable kettle before quickly burying her face down into her hands and in a waterfall of bushy blonde hair.

Then as if ejected from her seat, she shot straight up, marching over towards me with her head still hung, and pulled my hand out. She hovered over a closed fist, and immediately, I felt something drop into my palm, something light.

Amanda withdrew her arm away, and I caught a glint of something gold in my hand. I almost gasped in complete and utter surprise. I felt a surge of different emotions clashing and colliding... amusement, confusion, bewilderment... I stared again at the glimmer of gold in my palm, hearing it faintly clink and jingle as I began to curl my fingers around it.

Another necklace.

“Only except...” Amanda limply, quietly, continued with a frown, looking more worn and weary than I’ve ever seen her. “...it seems that she has kinda beaten me to it first.”