OK guys, since I made an upload mistake last chapter, this is my attempt to make it up! So yeah, if you felt like you read the wrong chapter please go back because I have uploaded the right one. Really sorry for the mistake!

ben4kevin: Thanks! It was inspired by HG's dress from game to game, and Yuna's summoner dress in FFX

fantasyanimegirl283: Thanks for the compliments! I need to improve lot on my writing, still, but your compliment is very encouraging ^^

Raelyn had mixed feelings about the events during Fashion Feista; regretting her being Iris' model wouldn't change a thing now. (Un)fortunately, ever since Iris won the festival, people knew her. Consequently, it became much, much harder to pass unnoticed when she made her regular visits to the town.

"Why wouldn't you like that, dearie?" Eda asked worriedly. "At your age, you should socialize and meet new people a lot."

"My nose hurts, for one…" Raelyn murmured, rubbing her nostrils as she spoke. She had told Eda about her nose when the latter cooked her curry—needless to say, it took some time for her dizzy spell to subside. "Maybe I should wear my mask again…"

"And cover your pretty face?"

"I'd done that for… I don't know."

"Maybe you should talk to Klaus."

"Mr. Klaus?!"

"Why, yes, he is a perfumer, dearie," Eda reminded her. "If there is anyone who could understand your plight, that would be him."

Raelyn scratched her head. Eda had a point, after all, but… Klaus? She remembered how he escorted and helped her with her dress during the festival. Although she still walked two or three steps behind him, she had never been even that close to any man save for her father and brothers. Needless to say, she was… nervous.

It doesn't help that Klaus was quite handsome, too.

"Is there anything wrong with him?" the elderly woman asked softly.

"Er… I'd rather go to Dr. Marian," Raelyn said. "Maybe there are some drugs or something else…"

"Alright, if that's what you want," Eda said. "Why don't you go to the Clinic now before it closes?"

Raelyn looked at the time: it was near five. Tomorrow was Sunday, too.

"Right, I should go now…"

Raelyn looked at the doctor sitting in front of her pleadingly. "No, honey, I won't prescribe anything," he said insistently. "Consuming drugs for a lengthened period of time will bring nothing good for you! You are still young and beautiful—what if the drugs make your skin parched?"

"But…"

"For once I have to agree with Dr. Marian," Angela chimed in. "It is not practical, after all. Imagine the financial burden it will cost you."

An idea popped up in the doctor's mind. "I might be able to help in another way, though," he said.

Raelyn immediately turned her head towards Dr. Marian. "What is it?" she asked hopefully.

"Why don't you walk with me now, honey? The clinic is closing soon, anyway~"

"Okay…?"

Why, why, WHY?!

Raelyn stared in disbelief when Dr. Marian walked into Klaus' house with her in tow. She was supposed not to go here, which was why she chose to pay a visit to the clinic… but why?!

Dr. Marian made her sit down on one of the dark purple couches behind the small dining table while he fetched the perfumer. "Klaus Adler~"

Gosh… I shouldn't have come with him. I should have just worn my mask. I should have just—

She smelled the scent of mint and rose alongside the scent of mild antiseptic that belonged to Dr. Marian. "Good afternoon, Miss Raelyn," his voice followed soon after.

"Ah!" she sprung on her feet to turn and greet him properly. However, in her nervousness, she hit her knee to the edge of the table. She yelped in pain and the two men rushed towards her.

"My, my, are you alright, honey?" Dr. Marian asked.

"…will be…" she winced, rubbing her knee beneath her duds.

"Well, I'll be off then," Dr. Marian winked. "Please take good care of her, Klaus."

"Doctor!" Raelyn protested.

"I expect a report tomorrow, honey," he cut her off easily. "Ciao~"

The doctor closed the door behind him and Klaus walked towards his small kitchen. "Do you need some ice for your knee?" he offered kindly.

"No, it's okay, Mr. Klaus," she replied, cursing herself for being clumsy at this kind of time… what kind of time is this, exactly?

Wait, what? What the heck am I thinking?

"All right, then," he said, turning around again to face her. "Marian told me you needed my assistance."

"It's… it's not a big deal, actually."

"Then, since it's not a big deal, perhaps I could really be of help," he said.

"Er… so… actually, right…" she stuttered. As she tried to form a coherent sentence in her head to be delivered to her tongue, she realized that Klaus was frowning. Was he annoyed… or worried? "My nose hurts."

"Hm?"

"My nose has been quite—I mean, overly—sensitive," Raelyn finally admitted. "I asked Dr. Marian whether he could help me… and he brought me here."

It took some moments for Klaus to really register what she had told him. "Ah, of course," he replied. "Wait for a moment."

Klaus walked towards his work station at the adjacent room. She could smell a lot of scent mixed together in the air coming from that room, but since they were rather pleasant, it didn't give her a dizzy spell whatsoever.

Klaus came back with a jar of coffee beans in his hand and offered it to her. "Try sniffing this."

She did as he asked and found out that as she inhaled the scent of coffee beans, her nose seemed to be relaxed. No one in her house had been a big fan of coffee, so this was the first time she tried this trick. "It is common to use coffee to neutralize a nose," he explained. "Perhaps you could store your handkerchief with coffee beans and bring that around?"

She took another deep breath and returned the small jar back to Klaus. She smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Mr. Klaus," she said.

Klaus smiled back at her as he took the jar. "You're most welcome."

The perfumer was about to put the coffee beans jar back to its place when he remembered that he had once offered her to look around at his work station. "Miss Raelyn," he said. "Remember I once offered you to look around at my work station?"

She nodded.

"Since you are here, how about you let me offer that once again?"

She smiled again, this time giving him a peek to a row of neatly lined white teeth behind her lips. "I'll take you up on that," she agreed.

Klaus brought her to his work station. It was a long wooden simple desk with small shelves consisting of two rows. All rows were filled with small dark bottles, each of them labeled by the name of a certain scent. "Those are concentrates. I mix a certain proportion of some concentrates to create a new scent."

Raelyn leaned forward to get a better look at the concentrate bottles and felt that the scent mix got even stronger so she leaned back almost immediately. "Do you make them, too?"

"The concentrates? Some of them, yes," he said. "Those would be the cases when I didn't get a satisfactory sample from my supplier."

"Using what?"

"A distillation setup," he said. "But, since I don't use it so often, I stored them away until I need them again."

"Oh, I see…"

Raelyn hummed lightly as she took a good look at Klaus' workspace. It was a new sight to her, so she was determined to remember as much as she could. "Why the weighing scale?"

"That's to determine the proportion of each concentrate."

Raelyn then listened carefully as Klaus gave her a brief overview of his work. She had never thought that making a perfume could be quite a taxing process. Their conversation was interrupted when they realized that the sky was already dark outside.

"Oh! I have to get back now!" Raelyn exclaimed. "Thanks for the advice, Mr. Klaus!"

"Wait, Miss Raelyn," Klaus reached to one of the shelves and took out a small bag. "I have some coffee beans to spare, actually, you can have them."

"I can buy some when Asche is in town."

"She doesn't have coffee beans with her," Klaus pointed out. "I usually buy mine when I go out of town."

"Oh…" she gingerly took the bag and bowed slightly. "Thank you, I'll pay for this…"

"There's no need," Klaus assured her as they walked to the door. "This is nothing much, really."

Raelyn didn't notice that they had been walking together until she had gone down the steps to his house. "Thank you for everything, Mr. Klaus," she said nevertheless. "I'll be on my way…"

"I will go with you to the mountain," he told her.

"Huh?"

"It's unsafe for a young woman to walk alone in the forest at this house," he said. "I insist."

"But, that's…" Raelyn muttered. "I can't be a burden more than I already have."

Hearing her words, Klaus smiled. "Who ever said you're a burden, Miss Raelyn?"

That got her to stop arguing and their goodbye would be when Klaus stood at her doorway, with her safe and sound.

What would happen next?

Stay tuned to find out!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review ^^