The Fate Gets To Decide That

A day had passed since after I met up with the Principal. I'm currently making my way downtown once again to meet up with Sophia.

After reaching the expensive looking restaurant, I surveyed the whole place to look for her. "Now, where is she?" I wondered. Then, my gaze fell on the masked-lady that was inside the VIP area.

I walked up to the door, but some guards stopped me after I was only a few meters on reaching it.

"This is the VIP area, kiddo," The guard spoke. "Anyone who doesn't have any reservations here can't enter inside this area."

Hearing this, I took out an ticket inside my [Pocket Ring], then showed it to him. He then took it from my hand lightly before starting to examine it.

After he's done, the guard turned around and nodded to his companions, who slowly opened the door for me.

𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘢'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨...

I shook my head and went inside the area without changing my indifference expression. Sophia noticed me entering inside as she gestured the people surrounding her to leave.

Soon, only the two of us was left alone.

I sat down to the seat across her as I immediately took out something inside my [Pocket Ring] and placed it on the table.

"What's that?" She asked. Taking the folder from the table and opening them one by one, she began examining what the paper was all about.

"You know anything about this boy's family?" I asked, pointing my finger towards the photo of a young man who seemed to be the same age as I am.

Sophia squinted her eyes and stared at thee photo for a couple of seconds before answering, "Yes... Yes, I do know something about them. Is there any reason for you asking?"

"Not much of a reason," I said, slumping my back on the seat out of boredom. "You can say that I'm just doing my job properly."

"I see..." With her fingertips under her chin, Sophia continued, "Is there something that you want to know about them?"

"I want an information about them... No, I want every secrets they're hide under their family's name."

"So... You want to sniff their dirt out." She crossed her arms. "That's gonna be a hard job for me."

𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴... I thought. For a moment, I remembered the time when I was negotiating about my company back from my previous life.

With that mental image in my head, I adjusted my sitting posture, and smiled just like what I used to do back then... The same smile that some people used to refered as the 'Devil'.

"No... You can easily do that." I smiled. Pointing my fingers towards the crest from her clothes, I once again took out some papers from my [Pocket Ring].

Here's the first hurdle. One of the main option of negotiations is to 'state your business in a roundabout way when you want to negotiate carefully' but since I want to end our conversation quickly, I'll go with the second option... 'cut to the chase when you want to achieve your goal quickly.'

"...This?" The moment she took them, the aura she was excluding suddenly became cold.

Sophia's family was a merchant. Not just any other merchant, but the number 1! So, her having a hard time getting information about the person I was talking about is impossible.

"Calm down," I said. "Although I may not look like it, I know a bunch of information about almost everyone in this school. You're not the only one that has high connections, you see."

Soon after that, her aura slowly turned back to normal as she nodded her head in understanding. "I guess that's true." Sophia said, averting her eyes elsewhere.

"Also, don't worry about the reward. Soon you'll understand that what you do is worth it."

"Hm?"

Taking out a scroll from my [Pocket Ring], I extended my hands to give it to her. "This'll help you someday," Said I, while taking a quick glance over her mask.

She was about to open the scroll, but I stopped her.

"You can't open it for now... Probably in the future if it's time. Right now, make sure to be ready for what may happen in the future." Propping my elbow on the table, I supported my chin and let out a long sigh. "Don't worry, I have my own reasons for not telling you why you can't open that scroll."

For a second, I suddenly felt like she was quirking her brows inside her mask. It's probably just my imagination... I think?

"It looks like our talk is done," I spoke, letting out a fake cough. "I'll be leaving now. I still have something to do at home."

Just when I was to stood up, Sophia grabbed my wrist to stop me. "Wait.... There's still something I would like to tell and ask you."

I tilted my head and confusion and stared at her. "And what do you want to talk about?"

"Take a sit first. I have something important to tell you." She replied.

Hearing her suspicious words, I just shrugged it off with my shoulder and once again took a sit.

After she finished collecting her breath, Sophia stared at me with a serious expression before saying, "I have the ability to take a glance on someone fate. You may not believe me for this, but that's fine. I'll-"

"Nope, I believe you." I responded to her words flatly. Sophia became shock because of this as she was left speechless from hearing what I said after hearing about her hidden ability.

Although I was shocked from hearing what she just said, I managed to calm myself down and hide those emotions.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰 𝘮𝘦? I thought to myself.

In the novel, she was supposed to reveal her secret to Arthur after the festival that will happen in a few months. This also became one of Arthur's main key on obtaining his hidden talents.

Again, after collecting her breath, Sophia tried to repeat her sentence, "As I was saying, I had the ability...."

Before she could even continue, I spoke once again. "Like I said, I believe you."

She became silent because of this. Few seconds later, Sophia bashfully turned her head aside while letting out a fake cough. She probably didn't expect me to say that.

"I see..." She said, ignoring my gaze embarrassingly.

I somehow find this cute as I began teasing her by saying, "Do I look like someone who always tell lies to people?". Though, it looks like my teasing got back fired.

"...Yes," She muttered.

Hearing her say that, I almost fell off my seat. But thankfully, I managed to grasp the side of the table to avoid myself from falling.

But, soon the joke turned into a scolding. "You look like a person who would lie on someone just to achieve what you want. Athan, you should think about others too, ya'know."

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳... 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳? I thought, fixing my chair properly.

The scolding continued on within a few minutes before Sophia realized the time.

After checking her watch, Sophia stood up from her seat and placed the papers I gave her earlier to a suitcase.

"Athan." She called out my name.

After I finished preparing my things, I turned my head to face her direction. "What?" I gently asked.

"You'll experience something worse than death in the future. But, can you promise me that you'll kept your head high and continue looking forward?" Sophia had an expression of pain, worried and aggrieved. It looks to me like she had experienced an amalgam of emotions.

"It'll be a tough and long journey. You'll lose things and gained things. But, remember..." With a short pause, she finally continued.

"Your life had purpose even though it doesn't have meaning."

***

After the talk with Sophia was done, I went ahead and took a quick shopping before I going back home.

Although what Sophia said was a but serious, I just shrugged it off and acted like nothing happened. Well, it's not like I can do something about it anyway.

If my future is already sealed, then...

𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.