Monster King

chapter 36 - Leaving you alone

-Casey's perspective-

Nova ran his fingers through his hair as his eyes stared at the racks of clothes around the store. The buttons that adorned his flowery button up were put together incorrectly, and his shoes were untied. He was a complete mess, but even so, it made my heart skip a beat. I walked over to him and began to unbutton his shirt. 

"What are you doing? Isn't this inappropriate for the market?" He asked, but I just giggled.

"Don't worry about it. They won't make a big deal of it. As long as a shirt is on your body."

I kneeled down and started tying up his shoes. 

"How can you all like having such restrictions on your feet?"

"Don't worry, once we leave the movies. We can come back here and get you some flip flops. Way more free." 

I stood up and held out my hand to him. His hand rose to mine,but he hesitated. Then he slowly wrapped his rough fingers around my hand. I gave his palm a gentle squeeze, and I whisked us away to the theater.He'd never heard of a 3D movie before, so I was excited to see how he'd react. 

As we reached the theater, I asked for the tickets to a recent horror flick. I went to pull out my wallet, but Nova stepped forward. 

"Boa mentioned a man is supposed to pay for these things." He said and went into his pocket, pulling out a small golden nugget. 

"Will this suffice?" Nova asked.

The cashier's eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open. "I-is that gold!?"

"What else does it look like? Wait, would you prefer jewels?"

I grabbed Nova's arm and spun him around. 

"Nova, do you not have cash?"

"Of course, but this theater thing sounded expensive. So I figured I'd bring something more valuable to humans."

I wanted to chastise him, but I couldn't help but laugh. He was so adorable.

"W-what? Did I not bring enough?" He asked.

"Holy crap it's real!" The cashier yelled. 

I took a breath and composed myself. 

"It's true most girls want a boy to pay for their date, but I'm not like most girls . I don't mind paying for you." I said and walked over to the man.

"Can I have that back? I have cash for our tickets."

The man's sapphire eyes went from me to the nugget. Then he slowly pulled it closer to him. 

"How about I give you life time passes and free snacks instead?" He offered.

"No, that's definitely not-"

Suddenly my body got goosebumps as I felt Nova's rough palms gracing my hand.

"Don't worry about it. That was only a grain of rice to all the treasure I have. If it'll pay for us having a good date, I don't mind. Besides, I wanted to pay you back anyway."

The heat rose to my cheeks and I chewed on my lip. Oh my gosh I could just melt! He's so perfect! 

"O-oh okay, if you say so. Have you ever had popcorn before?" 

…

I watched Nova shove his entire head into the popcorn bowl. Licking the sides clean like a desperate puppy. It was the most adorable thing I've seen in my entire life. I took my phone out and discretely took a picture. However, my flash came on and it made Nova jump. As he pulled his head out, popcorn kernels and butter was all over his face and in his hair. His innocent yellow eyes stared into mine, and he blinked in confusion.