Date

Alex quickly woke up from his cultivation since he remembered today was the day he promised to go on a date with Alicia.

Before going out, Alex prepared himself as usual. He didn't try to dress up nicely for this special occasion.

On the contrary, Alicia was seen very busy in her room, the bed was filled with many clothes. Alicia was running back and forth in the room to try out her clothes.

"Firia, what should I wear for today? Is this good?" she asked Firia.

"You can wear anything, you will look beautiful with any clothes. You shouldn't worry this much," Firia answered with a forced smile.

"But...But I didn't bring any good clothes from home. I didn't know I would go on a date with Alex during times like this," Alicia blushed.

"Like I said..."

"I also didn't bring any makeup," Alicia cut in. She didn't seem to listen to what Firia was saying.

"You are already beau..."

"I... I...What will Alex think about me? What if he thinks I'm ugly because I don't dress up nicely and I don't put on any makeup?" she kept complaining and worrying nonstop that Firia started getting annoyed as well.

"As I said, you just have to dress casually. You are already beautiful, even without fancy clothes and thick makeup," Firia snapped.

"But...But..I"

"And you are in Maka Town, not Capital City, you might make Alex uncomfortable if you dress up too much in this town," Firia's logic made a lot of sense.

"Then, what should I wear today?"

"How about you wear this?" Firia pointed to one of the clothes that were laying on the bed.

***

Alex already waited for her at the inn's entrance at the promised time. After a while, the two girls came down from the stair, one of them wore a casual red shirt and a long skirt, her red hair gave an accent to her beautiful appearance. It was Firia who walked by Alicia's side. Her beauty didn't outshine Alicia's beauty but she still looked pretty.

Alicia with her purple hair down to her waist was wearing a white-colored shirt and a pale purple colored jacket. She perfected her looks with a black miniskirt with white-colored stripes. With this, she looked more and more beautiful. 

Some people who were on the first floor of the inn turned their heads to both Firia and Alicia. That might be the first time they ever saw such beautiful women in Maka Town.

However, Alex didn't give the reaction many men would give when they saw both of these girls. Alex was just secretly relieved when Firia was acting the same when she was with Alicia. At first, he was worried if Firia would distance herself because of their talk the other day. But, Firia was a lot more mature than Alex thought.

He then turned to Alicia and he was slightly stunned by her appearance, she was really beautiful.

"Alex!" the two girls walked to Alex, and Alicia called him.

Alex was still swimming deep in his thoughts. Alicia smiled and called him again, this time was louder, "Alex!"

"Ah...Alicia, good morning," Alex snapped from his daze.

"Ara...Alex, how does Alicia look? I'm the one who chose her clothes today, you know," Firia teased him. Although her heart was in pain, she tried her best to be a good friend and act casually.

"Yes... She is very beautiful," Alex said anxiously. He took a glance at Alicia before staring back at Firia.

Alicia was blushed to hear that and she couldn't come up with any words.

"Okay then, I won't bother both of you today, have a nice day!" she smiled and walked on her own to a destination she hadn't decided yet.

After Firia left, Alex was getting more anxious with today's date and he was blushing a little.

"Shall we go, Alicia?" Alex finally asked.

"Sure, where should we go first?" she smiled and asked about today's plan.

"Let's just stroll around for now and decide later," he answered shortly.

Firia was still figuring out what she wanted to do today and she stopped a while outside. That was when she watched the two get out of the inn to go on a date, she waved her hands excitedly and put a smile on her face. Her heart was bitter but she couldn't do anything but accept the reality.

***

"Alex, where should we go now?" Alicia asked again.

"We should...." Alex was thinking where they better go.

After a few hours, they had strolled around the town, eaten in a restaurant, and shopped around. But the two still didn't look exhausted. Contrary, they were still brimming with energy. They didn't feel like the days had passed so quickly. 

The sun was almost set. Alex already used up all his ideas.

"What are we going to do next?" Alicia asked with a smile spreading across her beautiful face, she was very happy today.

"Ugh...I ran out of ideas, we have done so many things today," Alex said ashamedly.

The situation became awkward, Alicia immediately thought of something, "How about we watch the sunset? We can see it from up there," she pointed at the top of the dungeon tower.

"How do we go there?" Alex asked while lifting his head to the direction Alicia just pointed to.

"We can go through the tower, there is a special passage to go there. That place is popular for tourists of this town. Actually, I want to abandon this idea since all of them are under hunter guild jurisdiction. Even nobles have to make a reservation before going there. But since you are a gold rank guild hunter, I think they will give special treatment and let us in, what do you think?" Alicia had thought of everything thoroughly.

"Sure, let's go."

When the two arrived at the bottom of the tower, Alicia guided him to the back of the dungeon's entrance, another entrance led up the way to the top of the tower.

"Stop there! Do you have a reservation?" asked the guard of the tower.

Alex smiled, he took out his golden badge and asked, "Is this okay?"

After seeing a golden badge from Alex, the guard immediately gave a way for them, "This way, Sir gold rank hunter."

Alex and Alicia went inside of the tower and its interior was only a stair that led to the top. The tower seemed to have 10 floors with a few rooms on each floor. Alex looked at them with great interest as they climbed up to the top.

"The door is something very mysterious, many people have tried to open it for the past few thousand years, but not a single person could unlock the door. Some people were so good at locking, but they weren't able to open it. Some even attempted to destroy the door but they got zero results. Even back then, there was a rank 8 warrior who wanted to blast this door with his power. But to no avail, it didn't even give a scratch on the door.

No one knew what so special about this door that not a single person was able to open it. But ever since the top was opened slightly, this spot became a popular tourist destination," Alicia tried to explain after looking at the confusion in Alex's face.

"I see, this is very mysterious indeed," he responded.

After a while, they reached the top. There weren't many people and only a couple of tourists who lurked there. From a distance, it was clear that many visitors that day were a couple. Alex just wanted to enjoy the sunset with Alicia so he didn't bother with the surrounding.

Alex and Alicia reached this floor at a perfect time, the sun was almost set and the scene was really beautiful. The sky was decorated with golden-yellowish color and it gave a warm feeling to everyone who was watching it.

Alicia immediately went to the fence joyfully, she was looking at the mesmerizing sunset. Then, she turned back to Alex.

"Alex...Alex, look!" she cheerfully said.

Alex smiled, he walked and stood beside her to watch the sunset together.

Both of them felt that this was the best day ever. Especially for Alex, he could tell that the difference between Alicia and Sandra was like Heaven and Earth.

"Alex, this was the happiest day in my life," Alicia was still staring at the sky.

Alex turned his head to her, the wind blowing her hair meekly, coupled with the orange light from the sun. Alex was captivated by the scene in front of him.

'This is my girlfriend...That's right, she is my girlfriend...Alicia is my girlfriend now,' he said to himself.

Alex recalled his time with Sandra back on Earth. She used to act normally to him, but she never got this close to him. They didn't even hold each other's hands back then. Alex realized that all the time he spent with Sandra was only puppy love. She never loved him, he wasn't even sure if she sincerely liked him.

Alex closed his eyes, every scene with Sandra was running wildly in his mind. When Sandra betrayed him, he thought the world had ended. But this time, he got a lover that couldn't be compared to Sandar. Not even slightly. Now, he seemed to not have any hatred toward Sandra. If he hated her until now, that meant he still held a bit of feeling for her. But now he didn't care, he didn't hate her and there were not any feelings left for her inside his heart. He could only recall her as a stranger. If he ran into her once again in this path of life, he would get rid of her. When he closed his eyes, his heart and mind felt lighter and more refreshed.

"Alex?" Alicia called Alex confusedly. She couldn't figure out why Alex seemed to look at her but with closed eyes.

Alex slowly opened his eyes and he could see Alicia was right in front of him. She looked even prettier when the wind blew her smooth silky hair, 'Yes...She is my lover. I will protect her with my life,' Alex swore in his heart.

"Alex, what happened?" Alicia tilted her head.

Alex shook his head, "Nothing, I was just captivated by the view."

"I see," Alicia was relieved.

"I haven't said this to you," Alex slowly said, "Alicia...I love you."

Alicia was surprised, but soon her face filled with a big smile and the world seemed brighter. She was brimming with happiness and joy. The wind coupled with the light from the sunset made the atmosphere a lot more beautiful. She appeared beautiful, just like a fairy.

"I love you too," she answered.

***

When the night came, they decided to go back to the inn after dinner. Firia was already waiting for them. It looked like she was waiting a bit longer.

"Hehe...I'm glad that this couple still remembers to go back," Firia teased.

Alicia was blushed and Alex scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Have you eaten, Firia?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I already have my dinner," Firia smiled.

After chatting a bit and catching up on things, they went to their respective rooms right away.

***

At night,

Knock 

Knock

"Alicia, it's me," a familiar voice was heard outside of Alicia's room.

Alicia opened the door and she found Firia was standing in front of the door.

"Can I come inside?"

"Firia! Of course, please come in," Alicia said hurriedly.

Firia sat on the chair and Alicia chose to sit on the bed. The situation became awkward between them. Alicia wasn't so sure why Firia came to her room around this hour.

After a while, Firia sighed and said, "Alicia...I really envy you."

"What do you mean?" Alicia was surprised by this.

"When I saw you with Alex, my heart was in pain. Back then in the academy, I was just curious about the new student of my idol, Dean Marco. That was why I tried to approach him. Later on, I found out that he is a caring person, he is also very strong and smart. I thought that he might be the helper that I had been waiting for all this time.

The fate of the noble family's daughter is to get married and expand the house's connection. Unlike your special royal family who can get married to any one of your own choices. I am really envious. So I tried to get closer to him every single day. He is not only powerful but he is also an alchemist. On top of that, he is a kind and polite person. I didn't know when exactly this happened, the closer I got to him the more I started to fall in love with him. I want to trust my life to him rather than some stranger from a noble's son.

But after seeing you two have become a lover, my heart is really in pain. It hurts me so much to see how he cares about you, he..." she bit her lips. She tried to hold her tears because she didn't want to look weak in front of Alicia.

"Firia..." Alicia was shocked by what Firia had confessed. It was also tormenting her to see Firia like this. Firia had already become her best friend after they spent time together for the past few months in the academy. But today, everything had changed.

"I already talked about this to Alex, I told him that I won't give him up," she talked with a great determination in her eyes.

Alicia was shocked again, but she couldn't say anything.

"I...I..." Alicia bit her lips.

'Is my determination to get Alex weaker than hers?' Alicia secretly thought.

'No! I will give up my life for Alex. I won't lose him to her,' Alicia swore in her heart with determination.

"I already talked to Alex about this, and do you know what he said?" Firia asked