loping along through the cosmos

7: CERTAIN KIND OF FOOL

"When you asked me to get out of there with you, I thought you meant we'd go somewhere cool like an amusement park to unwind," the girl deadpanned, arms folded on her chest. "I didn't expect that you'd bring me to an ice cream shop."

"Yet you're on your second coffee crumble," Theodore said before throwing his own cup of chocolate ice cream. "You don't have to complain all the time, you know? Just say you're enjoying the food instead of acting like a brat."

Jade scowled at him, her small spoon now in between her lips. Clearly, she was enjoying the food but she'd never admit that to the boy beside her, especially when he saw her being all vulnerable. "Why were you there, anyway?" she said, putting down her spoon for a while. "Are you one of my stalkers?"

Theodore scoffed. "Me?" He pointed at his chest. "A stalker? Your stalker?" The girl nodded, eating her ice cream once again. "What would I get from stalking you?"

"You get to see a pretty face," Jade smiled at him, fluttering her eyes.

"That doesn't work on me, Valentine," he stood up from his seat. "Come on. Let's go back to Cerise now."

"And who said I'd go back with you?"

He looked back at her, eyebrows meeting each other. "It's getting dark now, Valentine. You should go back to where you're staying."

"Why do you care?" she asked, finally finishing her ice cream. "And you haven't answered my question yet."

"Didn't I already tell you that I visited someone buried in the same cemetery as your uncle's?"

"You didn't even stay for a while. You just arrived there and asked me to go with you!"

Theodore sighed. "Seeing his tomb, being there even just a short while was enough. We're not particularly close."

"Then why decide to go there this weekend when you could just stay in your dorm?"

"Because I want to," he said. "I'm actually visiting my mom." Another lie. He just had to wait for Kieran to arrive outside the ice cream shop then he can go home as well.

He wanted to visit Iris, though, but he decided not to, not when he was with Jade. Because if there were people stalking them right now, going to their house would mean that his mom could get involved.

However, hearing those made Jade stand up from her seat. "Can I come?"

Kieran, where the fuck are you?

When Jade was throwing their trash away, Theodore's phone vibrated.

A message from Kieran flashed on his screen.

We'll be a little late. Fino and I got followed while traveling to Hiraya. We'll take care of this first. I told other bodyguards to secure the area around the location you sent. Stay there and wait for us.

"Well?" Jade asked when she got back. "Let's start walking now!"

This was not part of Theodore's plan.

He racked his brain, trying to find a way to solve his problem. Because with anything that was about to happen, now that he met Jade Valentine, he wouldn't risk involving his mother.

"Let's just go to a mall," he said.

"No, that's too public," she refused, placing her mask back on her face.

"You're not meeting my mother either," Theodore insisted.

Jade sighed. "I'll let my bodyguards know where I am if you let me go with you. In fact, I'll text them now." She took her phone out and typed a message to whoever bodyguard she wanted to know her whereabouts.