The Peculiar Alchemist

50 || Unknowingly Flirting

There was something Aubrey would hear often whenever anyone would mention Kellen, and it was something that kept bothering him. Everyone would tell him Kellen was bad, that he should be wary, but he didn't care much for that – still doesn't.

It was the secrets that bothered him.

People are allowed to keep their own secrets, it was fine, even Aubrey has secrets of his own, everyone does. However, the secrets he kept weren't actually that big – save for his unique magical ability – and they won't change anything if they were ever to be revealed. They're just innocent secrets, nothing more nothing less. However, Aubrey doubted that would be the case with Kellen.

The secrets he kept were undoubtedly big, they were something Sammy had mentioned, and just thinking about it kind of worried him a bit. How much would they affect how he saw Kellen?

And why were they even kept secrets?

These questions plagued his mind, but he couldn't figure anything out. From what he knew, Kellen's father was a necromancer who was killed by Agnes, and she took him away so he could help her around. Seems like he also became interested in rituals to the point where he actually went to study and specialize in runes, and his knowledge of questionable things such as necromancy rivaled Agnes' – which isn't that strange since he spent most of his time with her.

Somehow, he seemed okay with everything Agnes does. It was strange to Aubrey who wouldn't have been fine if someone killed his father and took him away, but his father wasn't a necromancer, and this was Kellen whose way of thinking cannot be understood by regular people.

It made Aubrey wonder what's going on in there because secrets were intriguing, and he really wanted to uncover them in hopes that they could explain all the strange things concerning Kellen. That was all there is to it, he was just intrigued. He wouldn't be interested at all if Kellen wasn't so weird, and if Sammy hadn't mentioned these secrets.

And if he isn't believed, well, that isn't his problem.

Truthfully, it was almost a curse how curious he was sometimes. It made him do stupid things, and it gave him enough courage to go and confront Kellen himself about it. Still, Aubrey wasn't entirely clueless. He knew he'd be getting lies and evasive answers, but he still hoped he'd get something to work with.

That's why he said what he said, he needed to be smart about it.

"Would you like to go on a real third date?"

The stunned way Kellen turned to him was comical, and Aubrey was trying to act as natural as he could after saying that. He might've regretted not thinking things through, a common thing that seemed to happen whenever Kellen is concerned, but he convinced himself that it was for a very justifiable reason. Uncovering secrets that might potentially convince Aubrey's feelings that Kellen was just bad, he was not it.

It was a bad idea to get closer to him. Very bad.

Apparently, him killing people wasn't a good enough reason to convince Aubrey of that, so he had to find better reasons. A secret that is so dark and unforgivable that it would force Aubrey to distance himself away, or maybe justify actually killing him.

Yes, that was his plan. There was nothing about it that would hint to him desperately trying to delude himself about wanting to just get to know Kellen more. There's always a good explanation for any interest he took in Kellen, and he might have ignored the fact that not knowing anything about someone was a very good reason to not get into a relationship with them.

Because if he didn't ignore that, he'd have to face the fact that he was trying to know more about Kellen.

"I think I misheard you." Kellen finally spoke looking a bit confused. Aubrey watched as he pondered something for a moment before he poked Aubrey. "Ah, you're real."