Possibly a Confession Scene

Aslant escorted Poltas home under the pretext of the world being a dangerous place for a lady alone. On any other occasion this connotation would have irked him, but his happiness at evading Winzton tonight could not be hampered by these things.

The cottage lights were still fully on when they arrived. Poltas bid Aslant farewell and unlocked the door. The laughter from inside could be heard from the entrance.

'Did he stay to chat with me…'

Poltas wanted to leave again, pretending he never came back. But the sound of the lock had definitely been heard inside. Gathering all his energy, Poltas put on a lethargic posture and slowly walked into the living room.

Brandial had seen Poltas after the previous insect encounter and she had been fine, but today she was looking unusually haggard.

"You finally came back, we were just talking about you."

"The cleaning took longer than expected and they offered to let me eat at the bakery afterwards."

"That sounds rough, Miss Poltas. If you want I can reschedule your lessons tomorrow."

Why was the snake playing a different tune now? Poltas gauged the expressions of the people in front of her, but nothing was amiss.

"No need, I think a night's rest will be enough for me."

"That's good, its kind of late to change plans anyways,"

"Speaking of late, I'm afraid I have overstayed my welcome here. I should be heading off now."

"Overstayed? Pssh. There is nothing like that. You are always welcome to stay here."

"Hahaha, I was just joking. But it's very kind of you, Brandial."

"I would even offer for you to spend the night here but Poltas already lives in the guest bedroom and I have no other comfortable mattresses available."

"Maybe some other time then. I didn't come prepared for a sleepover anyways."

The two seemed much more familiar with each other after a simple dinner.

'Am I being pranked or did they really become good friends all of a sudden.'

Unfortunately, the social experiment did not end even after Winzton left. As they cleaned up the dishes, Brandial went on about Winzton and his accomplishments. Even the little anecdotes that came to being due to his clumsy personality were not missed.

Poltas was not pleased to hear any of this. Instead, he hoped that it would be the end of this quest. Or at the minimum, Winzton will stop approaching him all the time.

Yet his hopes were crushed the very next morning, when Winzton not only attended his lesson but also dragged him to lunch.

"Miss Poltas, I am so sorry about my rude behaviour before. I hope we can put those things behind us now."

"Uh…sure."

"Actually since we first met I have always thought you are extremely cool, so maybe I came off as a bit forward and bothered you a lot."

"..."

The apology was not pleasing to hear at all. It was a bad omen almost. As if this was a major scene in the show. A confession scene even.

'I hope he isn't about to confess. Why does he even like me when I literally blew him off at dinner yesterday.'

"So can we be friends from now on, without worrying about silly things?"

"Friends?!"

"Yes, I may have misunderstood you before, but now I know you are a kind person. I would like to be friends with you."

"Oh. That's okay with me. We can be friends."

"Really?! That's great."

'Was that really it? Did he become my friend so I can let my guard down?'

Poltas was in deep thought behind Winzton's motivations and sudden behaviour change.

'Did he get tips from somewhere on how to pursue someone you like?'

He sipped his drink in contemplation.

The rest of the lunch passed without a hitch. Winzton didn't bring up any questions about life outside Pamsteria either.

The episode was behind him, but Poltas didn't stop being vigilant. Winzton really had changed since the dinner. He would invite Poltas for lunch but never tried to make any moves.

He came for dinner several times again, but the meal was meant for him and Brandial. No one coerced Poltas to entertain him.

These events troubled Poltas even more.

'What is he planning?'

'Am I overthinking everything.'

Somehow the quest had progressed to 50% without Poltas noticing. He suffered from insomnia the day he spotted it.

'How can it progress if nothing happened?! Should I stop being friends with Winzton?'

Poltas was stressed. The next time he was invited for lunch by Winzton, the other man also seemed nervous.

'Is this the confession scene?!'

Poltas physically ran away from lunch that day. At that moment, it was the right choice. Later he was confronted by Winzton who looked confused and a bit dispirited.

"I know we agreed to be friends, but do I still make you uncomfortable, Miss Poltas?"

"Uhhhh…"

"If you feel that way, I will do my best to keep my distance from you. You have helped me a lot lately, and if this is the one thing I can do for my benefactor then I will."

"Winzton it's not like that."

"?"

F*ck.

Making excuses was easy, but what excuse would even work in this situation?

"Actually I was worried you weren't satisfied by my performance at work and called me to talk about that."

"Work? What? No, not at all. Your performance is very good, I don't think anyone could replace you Miss Poltas."

"That's a relief. What did you want to talk about?"

"Uh...It's not something I can say here, can you come see me at the office when you have time?"

Diversion worked. Poltas gave himself a mental pat on the back. Still the real problem was not resolved, and he followed Winzton back to the office.