Was that really alright?

Spoons-

Warm soup.

Meaty, and filled with vegetables.

Flint had walked into Amanda's place. She apparently had a home here. And no, it wasn't a room from the inn, rather, a bona fide house. Cozy.

Crackle- the fire burned and drinking the soup near the fireplace warmed Flint up.

Amanda was next to him, just drinking her soup.

All in all, not bad.

If anything, this was peaceful.

Appearance wise, this place was really nice; shelves here, stuff there.

However-

With both sipping the very last drop-

"Can I go home now?" Flint managed.

The two were on a sofa-

Flint dressed as he was-

Amanda though- a nightgown. Not very revealing but tight and very suggestive to say the least…

"But sweetie- this is your home…" A big wide grin.

Gulping- "Let's just get this over with-" Flint said, breathing slightly erratic- "Ten kisses."

A snicker. "But of course."

Getting closer- Flint paused- as he stared at those eyes.

Brown- he could see spots in the iris- so close.

Pupils dilated, just the two of them…

Skin, so fresh.

Had she taken a shower when she said she was going to get changed?

And not that just- the way she wore that nightgown… tempting-

She smelled great.

"Well?" Amanda asked.

Smooch!

Heart going haywire.

Breath, uncontrollable-

The warmth of her cheek-

And it's only been one kiss!

One-

Just one goddamn kiss!

But-

Smooch!

Again-

And again-

Flint continued.

Smooching on her cheeks- on her temple- between her brows but never close to her lips-

Flint didn't touch her- but Amanda did, she started with his back, slowly sliding her hands down…

But after the ninth kiss, Amanda stopped him.

This time- she held his head, slowly putting her lips on his- a kiss on the lips-

Or it should have been but her tongue rolled in- along with her taste-

Minty.

It went deep into flint's mouth- tongues fighting for dominance- and as their hands rubbing against each other's bodies- certain hormones raged, and for a moment, through the heat, the tongues almost melted together, uniting-

'I could get hoo-" His brain melted from the pleasure- '-ked… to this.'

Almost-

"Stop!!" Flint somehow managed to break free.

Pant! Pant-

A bulge down there, panting, sweating; yeah, it felt good, but at the same time- he didn't want this.

"Do you have someone you love or-"

"No."

"Then what's wrong with me?" Almost crestfallen.

"Nothing-"

"Then why stop? When a girl asks you to come back to her place, you know she expects you to make a move on her, right? Yet, you didn't. And when I finally did, you now run away?" She spoke as though she was disappointed, and yet- her grin just stayed on.

But Flint could tell-

Definitely disappointed.

He calmed his head. He could spit a lot of intellectual moral bullshit right now, but he didn't want to. "I'm not ready yet. Right now, my head's a mess and doing this now would force me to run away every time something goes terrible, I'll be coming back to you again and again-"

And he ran the risk of getting hooked to this.

And then maybe something even worse- like booze or other drugs to escape reality.

And no- he didn't want those.

He was broke enough to begin with.

"And that's okay. It's okay to run away at times."

"I can respect that. However not this time. I won't run. Two months-" Flint raised two fingers. "Give me two months. Let me finish all this mess- sort out my feelings and- if you still want to…we'll do it…" His face had heated up considerably, making him go all red.

And perhaps the extra blood that circulated down there, made him say quite a few odd things.

And when he realized just what he said- 'Oh shit…'

Lip's curving up, Amanda grinned, a hand on her cheek. "I'll hold you that… always fun popping cherries like you." Snicker. "But don't cheat."

A sigh. "I know you have experience but can you not flaunt that. It hurts you know…" He mumbled.

A giggle followed by a serious of laughter. "Manly pride, right?" Some more laughs. "But I guess you should go back home. Shall I walk you there?"

Flint rolled his eyes. "Enough with the tease. Goodnight Amanda."

"Goodnight My lil Fil."

"Can you at least call me Flint?"

"Nope."

Flint picked up his things, and just left.

Outside, he met with cold.

Snow.

The ground had nothing, not a trace of the snow but it was falling- one, two specks at a time.

'It's gonna be a cold night…'

Most of the places had closed down, and only few people were out. Light was scarce but luckily moonlight was plenty.

He was having a hard time walking around in that shirt of his. And that bulge was yet to die…

Amanda's place was warm and so comfortable.

Actually- 'Should I have done that…'

Till now- he did feel a sense of danger from that woman.

However-

Men and women do these kinds of things, right?

They have fun, right?

And he was at that age too-

So, was it wrong of him to turn her down?

And was it wrong of him to offer to revisit these emotions two months later?

Clouded with thoughts, Flint made it to the Magus guild-

The bell rang as he went in-

"Oh, look who decided to show up."

A familiar voice.

She was in her uniform- had a cup in her hand and quite the smile.

Erveine, had been waiting.

It was warm inside, and luckily Flint's little buddy had calmed down.

"Sorry I'm late. Got caught up-"

"Do you know what happens to adventurers who go out and don't come back in time?"

"What?"

"They die!"

"Umm… what?"

There wasn't many here. Just two, no, three students.

And some teachers.

They pretended to not see anything.

"I'm saying, you were supposed to come back at noon! You're coming before midnight! Don't you think anyone with a sane mind would think you to be dead?" Her voice slowly raised higher and higher.

Her reasoning was sound. The job of adventurers was dangerous.

And Flint, an injured boy was going hunting. Hunting trolls no less. So, assuming he was dead-

Was the right way to assess the situation.

But of course, human heart didn't work that way.

Just because something was reasonable or sometimes unreasonable didn't mean people just believed that outright.

They hope.

They hope for the best.

And when the best doesn't come to pass- they grieve-

They regret-

And they-

Despair.

Flint knew, the woman worried for him.

Yeah-

He did.

And perhaps-

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

A long sigh. "Just go wash up and- did you have dinner?"

"I did, yes."

"Then wash and go to sleep. We'll have a long chat tomorrow morning." Erveine had quite the puffy eyes.

However-

For someone so furious-

She was reasonable.

Perhaps a trait of her job.

"Thank you. I really appreciate you."

"Just go already…" Her eyes shimmered a bit but nothing happened.

With a smirk, Flint headed in. "Thanks…"

***

"You should also go and eat-" A student came over, standing next to Erveine. "You haven't eaten anything, right?"

A sigh. "Worry about yourself. I'm on a diet."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I forgot you keep on gaining weight no matter what."

"You little-"

And the student was gone…

Sigh…