Inviting them

Because of him meeting Arina he was nearly too late for the first class. When he entered the classroom there was less than one minute left until class would start and the teacher was already standing in the front.

He was the last one to enter and while Mrs. Mertinez didn't say anything, she shot him a disapproving look.

"Great, now that everyone is here, let's start.", she started the lesson as soon as Ivan had placed his behind on his chair. Coincidently it was exactly the time class was supposed to start.

When the lesson had ended, Greg and Serge came over.

"Hey, how come you were so later today?", Greg asked curiously. Usually, Ivan was one of those students who were always early, by at least a quarter of an hour. Behind him, Serge didn't say anything, but Ivan could see that he was curious as well.

"I met someone while on the way.", Ivan explained. He then told them about how he met Arina.

"Interesting. I have never heard of anything being able to evoke such a reaction from one's spiritual sense.", Serge said. From all of them, he was the one who had read the most. "Has there ever been anyone or anything else, who would evoke such a feeling in you?"

"No.", Ivan shook his head, before remembering something, "Wait, there was something, but it was a completely different feeling."

"Really? How so?"

Ivan told them about the maid, Susan, he had met at the palace.

"That should be something different. The fear you felt, seems like something that would be felt, because either she is much stronger than you. And I mean so much that she doesn't need more than a thought to erase your existence. Or someone who has a bloodline, which can dominate yours. And has trained it to a high degree as well."

Ivan looked at Serge in surprise. He hadn't expected him to be able to explain that feeling. He also hadn't expected him to know about bloodlines.

"Then wouldn't it be possible, that Arina's bloodline can somehow excite mine? Maybe something that is very compatible?", he speculated.

Serge shook his head. "It shouldn't be. From what you have told, the feeling doesn't come from your blood but from your spiritual sense, which is something entirely different. It is completely unheard of that the spiritual sense reacts to anything. In every book I have read, it was seen as just a form of sense, which would inherently be unable to have any reaction on its own."

"Well anyway, now that I have hired her as my assistant, I will have the time to find out more."

Serge nodded. He too was of the opinion that he should try to understand where this feeling came from.

"Anyway, there was something else I wanted to ask you guys.", Ivan changed the topic. "Would it be alright with you two if we go to a theme park this afternoon, instead of training in the dungeon?"

With his question, he really surprised the other two. Out of all of them, he was the one who was always the most focused on training. So for him to ask something like this made them wonder what was up. Something Greg instantly voiced out.

"How come? Are you ill?", he shot out these questions.

Ivan had to smile, was he really that focused on training? He thought that he was relaxing often enough. But thinking of it, the only times he relaxed were when he spend time with Jane.

"Nope. It was my daughter who has asked me to spend the afternoon with her. And I thought that it would be a great opportunity for all of us to go out and relax.", he explained.

"Oh, so that was the reason.", it sounded more probable like this. If he had said, that it was his own idea, they wouldn't have believed him.

"Then we will finally meet your wife and daughter?", Greg asked curiously.

"Lara is currently out of town, so it is only my daughter you can meet.", Ivan smiled. He wondered how Lara was currently doing. Was everything going well?

"So you will take her to a theme park then?"

"Yeah. She saw that new water-themed park, that opened this Monday and wanted to go. Since I thought it would be a good opportunity I agreed and told her I would ask if you want to come as well."

"I would love to, but I don't think I have the money.", Greg looked a bit dejected.

This was something Ivan had forgotten about. This was a school in the slums, so most of the students came from the slums as well and which of them would have the money to spend on something like a theme park? Luckily that wasn't a problem for Ivan. Because this was something for his daughter he would pay with Lara's money anyway. And for her paying for a few more tickets wouldn't make any difference.

"Since I invited you, I will pay for it of course.", he told them.

"How could we let you pay for it?", Greg tried to reject him. They knew that he didn't have much money either.

"Just let him pay. It won't be a problem for him.", suddenly a voice interjected. It was Irena who had come over and heard the end of their talk.

"So I'm invited as well?", she then asked Ivan, although she already knew the answer.

"Of course. Everyone from our group is invited.", Ivan told her while smiling. He was glad that she helped him convince Greg. If he would have said it, it wouldn't be as effective as with her saying it.

"How did you know that he has the money? Did you take the next step in your relationship?", Greg asked Irena jokingly.

In response, he got a hit to the back of his head, something Irena seemed to like doing lately. She did it to others as well, if she thought that they annoyed her.

"Did you forget that I went to meet his wife? You wouldn't believe, in what kind of house they live.", she didn't mention that she was a princess nor that they were distantly related.

"Really? What kind of house? It is a villa?", Greg asked, excited as so often.

"Wait and see for yourself.", Irena ruthlessly shot him down. Seeing his face, when he saw that villa would just be too amusing, to spoil it with telling him about it beforehand.

"Anyway, I think it is a great idea. So Greg, call your girlfriend and tell her about it.", she then ordered. Making the final decision, that all of them would go.

"Great.", Ivan was happy that everyone agreed. It would surely be fun to go out and play like this.

Greg too felt happy. Lately, he had been training so much, that he hadn't had time to go on a date with Pia. Sure, there would be others around, but that didn't change the fact that it would be like a date. And he wouldn't even need to pay while enjoying the theme-park.

"Right, do we need anything for the park? Like certain clothes?", Greg asked Ivan. "After all it is a water-themed park."

He was right. Ivan hadn't thought about it before, but what about swimsuits, would they need it?

Luckily it was easy to check it. The theme park had a website, where one could find the relevant information.

"Lucky, that you asked. It is indeed required to wear a swimsuit at the park.", Ivan told Greg. He wrote a message to Jane and the others, asking them if they had one prepared.

He didn't have to wait long for their answer, which was no, they didn't have any swimsuit prepared. As such he wrote them a message that they would go shopping for one, before going to the park.

"I'll have to take Jane and the others to shop for a swimsuit before going, so if anyone else needs one as well, you can just come with us."

"Will you pay for them as well?", Irena asked him. She didn't have any qualms about doing so, as she saw him as someone who should do such things. After all, they would get together in the future.

"Sure.", Ivan didn't have any problems with it. It wasn't his money and even if it was he would still be more than willing to pay for his friends.

"Yay, this is going to be great. First shopping and then playing. How could it get even better?", Irena exclaimed happily.

Her outburst surprised the others. They didn't expect her to be so happy about going shopping.

"Hey, don't look at me like this. Which woman doesn't love to go shopping?"

The others didn't know. None of them had gone shopping with a woman before. Ivan never had the opportunity and Greg didn't have the money.