Secrets
1k 2 22
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind having some friends come over. However, I wouldn’t call Salt or Pepper normal in any sense. More so in the relationship I have with each of them.

The first thing that’s clear would be the whole deal with Salt. She told me that none of the soldiers or her sister were going to tell the king about what happened between us in the bathroom. Which explains as to why he didn’t try to have me killed back then.

Still though, Saffron doesn’t know about it either. I’ve never gotten the courage to tell her because… Well because I really don’t want her to get mad at me. Look, I understand that I wasn’t the one to kiss that girl. But I think a lot of people would be upset if they heard that their significant other kiss someone else. Honestly, that’s on me, I should’ve been smarter about the situation.

It’s too late to try and change the past now. So all I can do is deal with the girls while they’re here. Pepper shouldn’t be a problem, since I’m sure she wants to put that behind us. Salt on the other hand…

“So, Alan?” She says to me as we enter the guest room. “I hope things have been going well for you since the last time we saw each other.”

“Oh, I’ve been enjoying myself.” I respond. “Anyway, this will be the room you two can stay in while you’re here.” I show off the room I used to sleep in when I first got here. There is only one bed here though, and it looks like they don’t intend on sharing it.

“Pepper, I’m too old to be sharing a bed with you.” Funny that she would say that, seeing as this is the same girl who was too scared to sleep by herself during a lightning storm.

“She’s kind of right.” Pepper agrees with her sister. “You guys have another bedroom in here?”

“There’s another just a couple doors down.” It’s a little smaller than this one. That should be fine for Salt though, since she is small herself. So I help the little girl with her bags as we walk down the hall to the next room. It’s a short trip. So if she’s ever in trouble, then her sister will be there in no time. Not that we should be expecting any of that.

“Wow, this bed’s so soft.” The girl leaps right onto where she’ll be sleeping as soon as we enter. I suppose that would be an important detail to ensure is right. “You should come and feel it.”

“I’m not falling for this.” I can tell what she’s up to here. I’m not dumb. “Saffron’s my girlfriend already, and you’re only 12.” If there’s one way to let a girl down, there’s always a more harsh method to ensure that the meaning is clear. “Come on, there’s no reason for you to like me.”

“What do you mean no reason?” She gets up from the bed to pull out some clothes. “I’m happiest with you. It’s fun to pull tricks on you and even though you act mad about it, on the inside you enjoy it too.”

“I do not.” I respond, huffing up my chest. “You’re just the one that’s taking it the wrong way.” Okay, I can look back on being pranked with a laugh. But under no… Few… Okay, sometimes it’s not so bad in the moment either. “Look, I don’t know what things you like in a boy, but them being nearly twice your age shouldn’t be one of those things.” Kind of a hypocritical statement from me, seeing that I know my own girlfriend is at least twice my age given all the clues I can gather through the stories.

“Why not?” She cross her arms in defiance. “When I get older, you won’t be twice my age then.”

“Again, not the only problem here.” I’m not going to back down to a child. “I have a girlfriend, so please move on. It’ll be healthier for you.”

“Okay…” Considering how quick and deflated that response is. I’m going to assume that she’s not being honest about it. Still, I’m sure she’ll move on eventually. That girl’s still young, and I’m sure her prince will arrive someday.

“All right then.” I’ll accept her statement for now. “Anyway, it looks like you’re about to take a bath, so I’ll leave you alone.” My finger is pointed just to the room next door towards where Pepper is sleeping. “The bathroom is between your rooms, so it’s not far at all.”

“Thanks, could you grab one of those bath balls from my bag?”

“Oh, you brought those too?” Without thinking too much about it, I reach into the bag I was bringing here. Perhaps I still need to sharpen my trick radar, as I feel the snap of something crushing my fingers. “Ow!” Whatever it was, it really hurts. On instinct, I pull my arm out of the bag, only for a mouse trap to be revealed hanging onto my digits.

“Hehe” Her giggling isn’t lost on me as I get my hand out of it. “I guess I caught you again.” Whatever this strange infatuation she has for me is the least of my concerns. Her tricks are going to end up being the death of me at this rate.

“I’m leaving now.” I say with dead eyes at her, while she doesn’t seem to care as she continues to laugh at me. That girl can grab her own bath balls. As I exit the room to go look for Saffron on how to care for our guests, I see that Pepper’s left her own room with towel in hand.

“I hope my sister hasn’t given you too much trouble.” She can tell from my mood how unhappy I am.

“I’ll survive.” Is the only response needed to explain it all. “By the way, it looks like Salt wants to take a bath too.” With that towel, it’s clear Pepper was looking get herself cleaned up.

“I guess I should let her go first.” She’s not happy to hear that, and turns right around to return to her room. “I’ll just wait for her to finish up first.”

“Well, don’t need to be all cooped up in your room to do that, right?” I ask if we could perhaps chat a little to catch up. However, it doesn’t seem that’s what she wants to do. Odd, since she doesn’t dislike me anymore.

“It’s fine. I can stay in my room alone for a little bit.” The way she’s talking makes it seem like she wants to get away from me quickly. Again, she shouldn’t hate me anymore, so why the cold shoulder?

Then I notice it by simply looking at this girl. Her hair is disheveled, there’s dirt on her clothing. Not to mention that there’s a bit of a stench coming from her. I see now, she’s a bit self-conscious about her current state that surely has come from traveling on the road so much now. One would’ve thought she might not care all that much from seeing all the training she did before. I guess things are a little different in this context.

“If you would like to take a bath.” I say, which stops her right before she returned to her room. “There’s another place you can wash yourself.” That one washroom that me and Saffron share is pretty big. Surely she wouldn’t mind if others use it, especially if they’re our friends.

She seems accepting to it, seeing as she follows me as I direct her towards the room. “Here it is.” I say when we arrive. “If you and Salt would like different rooms to wash if you’re doing it at the same time, then you’re free to use this.” Pepper slowly walks past me without saying a word. Then once she’s right at the door, the girl turns to look at me. Her face as a stressed look to it, as if she’s worried about saying something wrong.

“Th-thank you.” She tells me with a bowed head.

“It’s no problem.” I respond. “There’s no need to be so formal either. It’s not like we’re at the castle.”

“I mean, thank you for… For saving my life earlier.” I’m a bit taken aback to hear her say that. After all, when I pushed her out of the way, it didn’t even matter in the end. Saffron was there to save the day. Still, she’s having a hard time with talking, which is not expected coming from this girl. “I didn’t get the chance to thank you for it. And there’s nothing I can think of to make it up to you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I brush it off. Maybe I shouldn’t since I would’ve died there, but all’s well that ends well. “I’m just happy that you don’t hate me anymore.” With that, I say my farewell to Pepper so that I can go look for Saffron.

22