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When Reine opened her eyes, she was already back on her bed. She rose up and folded her knees to her chest.

Was that… a dream?

"Reine? Are you awake?"

"Gwen…?"

Gwen came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed as Reine rose up. "What happened?"

"All I knew was Neil carried you down."

So… it's real?

"You should talk to him," Gwen told her. "He was pretty worried."

Reine nodded and Gwen left her. The pinkette tried to replay what happened the night before, but she couldn't remember anything beyond she kissed him.

Then the realization dawned on her.

I really kissed him, didn't I? This is shameful, and I thought I'm not gonna fall for his looks. Okay, he got more than looks but still… wolf-whisperer? This isn't going to be some sappy forbidden romance… oh goodness.

"AAAARGGHH!"

"What?! You kissed him?!"

"Not so loud!"

Rio and Reine hauled another batch of tomatoes into the shipping basket. Today, Reine's shop was closed, but she agreed to help the earth nymph with her harvest; it could get a bit out of hand even for an earth nymph, sometimes.

"I knew this is gonna happen!"

"What?"

"You, Neil, together," the nymph chortled. "Actually, it's Dunhill's prediction."

"Wha—?!" Reine almost choked on her saliva. "This is getting more and more ridiculous… and we're not together."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rio asked. "You guys kissed, right?"

"Right, and then I remember nothing else."

"Neil isn't the verbal type," the blond said as she cut another ripe tomato from its stalk. "He kissed you. He likes you."

"There's this thing called 'heat of the moment'."

"Well, do you think it's that way?"

Reine paused at that question. Rio had a point: was it a simple heat of the moment thing for her? Or was it… some kind of release after an unbearable build-up?

"I…"

"Speak of the devil."

Reine turned to see what Rio was looking at: Neil. The wolf whisperer walked towards the farm casually with both of his hands deep in his coat pocket… well, maybe not so casually when his face was slightly pink. He walked towards Reine. "I was told that you're here."

"By whom? My sister? Your wolf friends?"

"Both."

"Okay," Reine said, trying to sound as neutral as possible, although after having that conversation with Rio didn't help her heart to calm down at the sight of this certain man. Somehow, she could feel his nervousness, too… was it that obvious? "Anything I could help?"

"I thought you might wanna talk."

Reine frowned. How did he…?

"No matter," Neil said, as if reading her mind. "I was thinking we could talk now."

"I'm helping Rio—"

"Oh, take her!" Rio pushed Reine slightly towards Neil. "Thank you for your help, Reine. I'll deliver your share to Gwen!"

They walked in a comfortable pace towards the forest. For a moment, Reine thought Neil would use his superhuman speed with her in tow, but it seemed that he enjoyed just walking the way they were and she found that to be enjoyable, too. With both plaza stalls closed, it was less crowded there. Reine was afraid that Neil might find out how her heart had been beating faster against her chest and she felt ashamed to feel like a teenage fangirl around this person although she couldn't deny it by now. She kissed him.

"How's Rod?" she asked casually, trying not to bring their kiss back into her head.

"Back. Safe and sound," he replied. "The wolf pack helped."

"I thought they were… aggressive towards him?"

"They thought he was a rival to their territory," Neil explained. "Now that they know he doesn't, they're more willing to help."

"It sounds like they still need some persuasion."

Neil sighed. "More like magic," he said. "Dunhill put them under a light submission spell, I heard."

"Oh… he was also the one who put up the… barrier, right?"

Neil nodded. "He's Merlin."

Reine stopped on her track. "M-Merlin?! Like the one from Arthurian stories?"

Neil raised his right eyebrow. "What's there to be so surprised about?" he asked, but with no condescending attitude. "You've seen werewolf and vampire. At least Merlin is—technically—human."

"Well…"

Finally, they reached the Elder Tree, the largest tree in the forest. Its leaves were so thick that they could get almost a complete protection from the sun. Neil stopped when they reached the shade under the Elder Tree and Reine followed suit.

"I'm not good with words," he said. "I thought girls are supposed to be… good at picking up hints."

"That's over-generalization."

Neil shrugged. "I know there would be exceptions, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised if that's you."

"Pardon?"

Suddenly, his blush became apparent even under the shade towards a half-blind girl. Reine held her breath as she looked at him. He glanced sideways in embarrassment. "I… I never thought I'd fall for anyone."

"You're an exception, Miss Kreiss. You're my exception."

It took some moments for Reine to understand what he was saying—and he said he wasn't good with words —but when she did understand, she reached up and touched his cheek. "Look at me," she said while gently pressing her hand against his cheek so that their eyes met.

"You know… I couldn't see well, right?"

"Yeah."

"That I don't easily trust people?"

"Duh, isn't that subtle."

"That I'm not the sweetest girl around?"

"I hate sweets."

That got her to chuckle. "I guess I have nothing against you either," she said. "But what are we now, then?"

"Whatever you want us to be."

Reine smirked. "Are you sure? I can be pretty territorial, if you get what I mean."

"Try me," Neil replied. "I'm a wolf whisperer."

Neil finally took his right hand out from his pocket and showed Reine a ring, making the latter widened her eyes in surprise. Adding to the surprise, Neil took out his left hand and revealed that he had worn a ring around his ring finger—an identical one he offered to Reine. That got her to smile and she offered her right hand. "So that I can always see it," she reasoned. It was then she realized that Neil had put his ring around his left finger because it would always be within her vision field when they stood face to face like this. He was… surprisingly thoughtful.

Neil nodded and slid the ring to her ring finger. Reine raised her hand and looked at her new ring against the summer sun; it was a simple, silvery band engraved with the word: "Auld lang syne?"

"You ended the old me."

There weren't many words, but somehow she understood what he was trying to say. She felt it too: he ended the long time of her being alone and trying to fend off for her and Gwen all by herself. And every time she saw the words on that ring, she knew that those time would simply be auld lang syne—times gone by.

"And for something you don't really need to see."

He cupped her face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her. He could feel her giggling against his lips but she kissed him back.

It was funny, how he had no idea how he held it together before he held her just like this.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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