Chapter 12: The Rose II

The week passed by in a blur.

Yin and Raxith agreed on the short sword, with designs taken from the sketch that she stole from Xiao's notebook. Uncle David promised them that he'd get it back to them once it's done.

The two students also grabbed a few items while they were in town, and then they're neck deep in studying for their finals.

Finals week has always been torturously slow, but at the same time, it's the fastest and most anxious time of the year. Yin is planning to get into her fourth year with flying colors, thank you very much.

At the end of the week, the cousins gathered in the twins' dorm. Everyone is there except for Xiao, who hasn't returned from her exams yet.

It's almost 11pm on a Friday night, and her cousin hasn't come to the twins' humble adobe like she promised. Well, Yin just told her last night that they're meeting up in her brothers' place after they're done with their last exams on Friday.

Since it's finals week, the dorm masters are willing to overlook curfew for a day. The female's dorm is empty while the male's dorm is wild.

In between their beds, Jacob and Jin Qiu are sitting crossed legs on the floor, cards in hand. In front of them sat Raxithak and Alexander, who decided to tag along with his roommate.

All of them are still in their uniforms, in various states of unhinged. Raxith still has his tie on and his shirt is still neatly tucked into his trousers, like the good student he is. Next to him, Prince Alexander looks like anything but a prince, with his shirt sleeves rolled up and the first three buttons open and his tie is loosely there, but it's tossed over his shoulders. The twins didn't bother wearing their ties anymore, and Jacob even had his shirt unbuttoned while Jin Qiu kept his shirt all buttoned up, but his trousers are rolled up to his knees. All four boys have something in common, which is their hair gave up on being nice.

Yin sat on Jacob's bed next to the window, and she wondered where Xiao is right now. The boys are playing poker, and she doesn't really understand how to play it, but from their interactions, she can tell her brothers are pissed because Raxith is winning his third round. It's good that they're not betting anything.

If Xiao was here, they would pick another card game that Yin actually understands how to play.

The witch was about to grab her shoes and go look for her younger cousin when the door slammed open, revealing Xiao with her bangs covering half her eyes and her wavy chest length hair a mess, like she just spent an hour flying. Well, maybe she did fly here very fast from wherever she went.

"Hello!" She greeted everyone with a small smile. "Sorry, I'm late. I was angry because I didn't know a few things in the spell crafting exam, so I spent some time debating with Ms. Oyekan."

"The librarian?" Jacob raised his eyebrow. "Why her? She's an easy target?"

"She's easy to talk to." Xiao kicked the door closed behind her, and she melted to the floor.

Yin absolutely doesn't agree that Ms. Oyekan is easy to talk to. That lady gave Yin several warnings per year, just because the witch breathed in the wrong direction.

"Did you get your answer?" Yin asked her cousin, and Xiao nodded before she began taking off her boots.

"We're glad you're finally joining us, Xiao Lan." Jin Qiu grinned at her, and his hands threw the cards at Raxith.

The teen boy just shrugged and gathered the cards up again since the round was done when he won.

"Happy birthday to you!" Alexander suddenly shouted at Xiao.

The young witch blinked at the prince, her face blanked in confusion.

Yin moved at the same time as Raxith, but her cousin managed to smack Alexander's head before she did since he's closer to the prince. Hitting a prince is punishable by death, but sometimes the prince needs to be taught a lesson.

"Xan, you idiot..." Raxith sighed, and the prince only gave them a sheepish smirk.

"My bad. Did I ruin the surprise?"

He did now. Yin shook her head and jumped off the bed, almost stepping on her brothers in the process.

"What surprise?" Xiao asked innocently.

All the room's inhabitants looked at her, and then at each other. Yin blinked at Raxith, and the teen shrugged back.

Jacob is the first to break. "Happy early birthday, Xiao Lan."

"Yeah! Happy early birthday to you!" His twin brother grinned. "We know it's a week away, but we got you gifts!"

"Oooh." The younger cousin nodded her head. "Thanks, I guess?"

Yin sighed, but she couldn't help but smile in amusement. This is way off from what they planned, but at least Xiao knows now. The witch reached for a bundle of metal covered in white fabric that she tossed on her brother's bed after she retrieved it from Uncle David.

Meanwhile, Xiao crawled from the door to join their circle on the floor between the beds. The younger witch yelped when Yin dropped the bundle of metal in front of her.

"Happy birthday, Xiao." Yin giggled as she sat down next to the birthday girl.

"Aah, thank you?" The young witch poked at the fabric, her beady black eyes sparkled.

"Come on, open it up!" Alexander seemed to be more excited than the birthday girl, and Raxith is smiling softly at the youngest girl in the room.

Chubby fingers gently pulled the fabric out layer by layer, and those black eyes sparkled even more when they recognized the designs on the short sword. Xiao picked up the weapon to inspect it, running her fingers on the handle made of gold to the tip of the silver blade.

"Thank you." She said, barely a whisper.

"Hey, don't thank me." Ever the comedian, Alexander flashed a grin. "Thank Raxy here and Yin!"

"We'll give you something on your actual birthday." Jin Qiu patted Xiao's shoulder. "For now, make Yin and Raxith proud in the ranking competition."

The ranking competition is next week Monday, which is not far away. Yin just hopes that Xiao is prepared for the wolves that are coming after her.