I don’t know if I should really be trusting Salt over here, nor should I be following her. I know that I agreed to keep an eye on the two girls, but this place seems pretty safe, surely no one’s going to hurt either of them. Then again, if something does happen to either of them, I’m pretty much dead.

Yeah, I guess I should stick with this girl for now. All that’s repeated in my mind, is that Saffron’s coming back in less than a week. Once she’s back, I’ll be out of this unfortunate situation I found myself in. Just gotta survive until then.

So I follow Salt to where I was certain Pepper was going to be. But she’s not here right now, which is kind of weird. She said she’d be training here, but there’s not a soul to be found here. For a moment, I thought something bad had happened. Then I see how not concerned the little is about her sister. Clearly, she’s aware of that girl’s schedule. More so than I could ever hope to achieve

“So what now?” I ask, which causes her to giggle in response.

“I’m sure it’s been a long day for you, right?” She’s right it has been. Though that’s all on her, what with all the tricks she’s played on me. “Would you like to see our spa room?” The spa room? That doesn’t sound too bad. Plus, I’m certain it must be better than the springs that Saffron took me to once. Ahh, the memories… I say that as if it wasn’t like a month ago. That’s way too early to be nostalgic about.

“Sure, I’d love to check it out.” I tell her, but I’m keeping my guard up for now. Surely if she’s the one offering, there’s gotta be some type of catch here.

“It’s this room right here.” She stops us by a door. I can feel a little bit of its steam escaping through the cracks. It seems that she’s definitely not lying about the existence of this room. “You can change in this other room.” She points to one of the door next to it. There’s another that mirrors it, so I can safely assume that’s for the ladies, while she’s directing me to the men’s. Well, she better be pointing me to the one for men. I’d hate to get tricked again.

So I go in, and there’s no one inside. Well, if it is for girls, then it’s not mattering at this moment. I get my clothes stripped off, and only bring a towel with me. As I exit the changing room, I see that Salt’s gone now.

As much as I’d love to believe that she’s just left me alone to relax. Obviously that can’t be the case. Did she enter the spa room too? Or maybe she’s at least getting changed at this time. I should’ve asked her if this was one of those unisex deals before leaving, but I guess I got a little too excited about the prospect to remember.

“Hello?” I slowly crack open the door to ask if she’s in there. I feel a bit of the heat hit my face, as the steam escapes through the open exit. Considering my lack of clothes, it’s certainly a bad look if I walked in a room with a 12 year old. Maybe even that was a bit bold of me.

“Come in!” Salt surprises me, and pulls me in the steamy spa room. I know, it sounds a little lame that a 12 year old just pulled me, a grown man, inside. In my defense, I was caught off-guard… Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work with the authorities.

Of course, maybe it’s not the police I should be worried about. When I get inside, the steam makes it hard to see. However, I can make out an outline that’s not the little girl. In fact, I’m pretty sure I know exactly who that is.

“Salt, who’s that?” Of all people, why did Pepper have to be here? Okay, I’m sure that Salt’s set me up here.

“H-hello.” I nervously say, and she recognizes my voice.

“Alan!?” She screams at me. “What are you doing here? Get out!” I’m more than ready to oblige with that command, but Salt put a stop to that.

“But Pepper, anyone’s free to use this room.” She makes a plea. As it would turn out, though not that surprising, this is one of those shared type of spa rooms. Though usually, people set up their usage ahead of time. So most of the time, it’s just males or just females in this room.

“You can’t just invite strangers whenever you feel like it.” She scolds her younger sister. “Come one, let’s get out of here.” She takes the little girl by the arm, but again, Salt puts a stop to thing.

“No.” She speaks out in defiance. “I want to stay and hang out with Alan. We never have anyone come over anymore, it’s just not any fun.” I don’t know if fun is what I would have in mind with a situation with that. But maybe she just feels a little lonely having to stay in this castle all her life.

“You know, I could just leave.” I offer, but apparently that’s not enough for Salt. The little girl whimpers at me, with those puppy dog eyes to convince me to stay. I swear, she knows how to use the childlike cuteness to her advantage. Plus, I know about her little sad story. Ugh, I can’t resist… I really need to learn to steel my resolve.

“Well big sister, I guess I have someone to keep an eye on me.” Of course, because I decide to stay. That leaves Pepper basically no choice but to also stay. Though with that look on Salt’s face, her dumb smug smile. Well, I can tell that she enjoys making us feel uncomfortable. I can at least understand her not wanting to leave her little sister alone with a man. I can’t imagine any sane person not doing that. Though she does have some choice words for me, when she crosses back over through me.

“If you even think of doing anything inappropriate to her.” She say, then makes a chopping motion through her hand. “You’re not gonna be a man anymore.” Well, threats to my manhood aside, at least I’m not going to get beaten up.

I swear, I’m not what she thinks I am. It’s not like I’m someone who’s into children. Though I guess from her point-of-view, that might seem reasonable. After all, my girlfriend is barely bigger than Salt.

“I swear Salt, is this another one of your pranks?” I confront the small girl, as I got to sit down. I make sure my spot is about as far as possible from those two, which isn’t really that far. You know, because the spa room isn’t all that big. Being just across from them, is probably 6-7 feet at best.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She replies, though I can’t tell if she’s lying with that look on her face. Perhaps she had innocent intentions in mind? “Is there something wrong with this? We share it with Papa all the time.” I guess she’s just so used to it, that this doesn’t seem wrong. But I don’t know, she can’t be that naive. Too late now though, I’ll just play along and try to relax.

I’ll just lean back, and close my eyes. I’m sure nothing stupid is going to happen here… I hope.

bigbear51

I'm sure some people might take issue with the next chapter. But before anyone asks, no he's not doing anything with the little girl.