American Date

"After you become a Sovereign, you couldn't help but know many things. You will stumble upon secrets you can't unlearn," Elara said. "And it might mess with your life forever."

Sorin followed Elara's pace, as he also didn't want to walk too quickly. His mind was full of the things he wished to comprehend. Little by little, he felt that all of this...

Something grazed his palm.

When he turned, he saw Elara's little hand grasped his. He looked at her smiling face. She said, "Don't stress too much about this. Brother also doesn't want us to concern about him and his problems."

But even though Sorin couldn't hear anything of Elara's mind right now, he could subtly see something behind her eyes.

"How about we go on a date? We still have a day left," Elara asked.

"A date?" Sorin tilted his head.

"I've always wanted to try it. American date!" she said.

Sorin held his laugh. "Shouldn't you be a bit more shy about asking a man to date?"

"Huh? I should?" a little panicked face plastered on the girl's face. "A-ah... What kind of date American does that I have to be more shy about it?"

Elara looked pale, and Sorin smiled, enjoying her cute anxiety. With a smug face, Sorin teased her even more, "Then, we should go back to my place so I can show you what kind of date an American does."

Elara flinched. Her face reddened immediately.

[T-that kind of date?!]

***

"Woahh!"

Elara marveled at Sorin's small apartment. She took off her shoes and walked inside with her bare feet, tip-toeing excitedly inside.

All the while, Sorin was on four in front of his door, his head still upside down from the warping.

Elara turned her body to him. "You have such a cute apartment!"

Sorin agreed. He rubbed his lips, still pale and nauseous, but braced himself to show hospitality for his guest.

"Yeah. I found this one with a decent rent cost. Some of the furniture was donated by my university friends when they moved out, and some were upcycled from the flea market."

"You have such good taste!" Elara was truly impressed. Even though there was no particular style to it, Sorin managed to somehow color match and place the furniture in a way that made them look aesthetic.

It was a 1+1/2 floor apartment. The upstairs was used for his bed and dresser, and there was a very small bathroom and kitchen on the bottom floor, right next to the living space.

It was such a warm place that Elara could instantly feel how Sorin called it his place, his home.

As she sat in the living space, she saw Sorin turn toward his small kitchen. It wasn't much, and when Sorin opened his small fridge, Elara noticed some foodstuffs inside.

"I can make you some pasta. Do you like beer?" Sorin asked.

"I like it!" Elara excitedly said.

Before coming here, Sorin asked Elara if she was sure she wanted to go to his place with him. Elara agreed since she herself had never had these kinds of dates before, and she was eager to try it.

"Ah! Should I order some deliveries too? I'll order some snacks," she pulled out her phone.

Sorin glanced at Elara's movement from the kitchen. He was going to tell her she didn't need to, but he then heard her enthusiastic inner thought, [I need to contribute too!]

Cute.

Well. She wanted to contribute to the date, so he shouldn't stop her.

Elara asked him if she could turn on the tv or watch some Netoflixs, and Sorin welcomed the idea. She was being very respectful but also comfy. Sorin wondered if she had ever done something like this before or whether she was a truly chill person.

Whichever it was, Sorin liked her company more than he expected.

Right before the pasta was done, there was a ring on the doorbell. Elara stood, expecting the delivery had arrived. "That was faster than I thought!"

Sorin smiled, seeing Elara skipping toward the front door. She opened the door with a face full of smile, "Yes!"

But then Sorin didn't hear anything else. It was a weird silence after. He turned off the stove, walked toward the door, and called, "What's wrong?"

As he peeked, he saw a woman on the front door. He recognized the woman as his neighbor, Amy, and raised his eyebrows, looking at the awkwardness between Elara and the woman.

"Oh, hi, Shelly," the woman at the door greeted him. "Who is this?"

Sorin blinked. Shelly? Who the fuck is Shel—oh. Wait.

"Oh... Hi, Amy. This is Sugar," Sorin answered her.

"And you are?" Elara asked her with a warm smile.

[Sugar? What kind of name is that? Is it made up?] Amy tilted her head, and Sorin flinched when he suddenly heard Amy's inner thoughts.

"Ah... I'm Shelly's neighbor, Amy..." she said as she nodded. "I didn't see you for three days, and I was worried. I didn't notice you coming home, but I heard your TV on, so I thought I should check up on you."

Sorin realized Shelly was his new name given by the system. So the people who knew him previously would remember him by new names every few days, huh?

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. It seems you're okay, so I'll leave!" Amy smiled, but weirdly, her smile looked a bit forced. She left quickly like a bolt of lightning before Sorin could say sorry for making her worry.

But before Amy disappeared, Sorin could hear Amy's subtle inner thoughts. [Oh, too bad... he already has such a pretty girlfriend...]

Elara closed the door. She blinked at Sorin teasingly, "Aww, did I just scare her away?"

"What?" Sorin didn't understand.

"Next time, tell her I was your relative or something," Elara said with a small chuckle.

Sorin frowned. He processed things with his romantically estranged brain, and something clicked. "Oh, she thought you were my girlfriend?"

"No shit, Shelly," Elara giggled.

"Ahhh, and why is my name Shelly? That's so strange. It's so different from my real name," Sorin muttered.

Elara laughed at that.

They didn't realize that their laughs were heard by the next-door Amy, who frowned in displeasure. She whispered hatefully... "His girlfriend... is so pretty."