Caught by a Hunter

Chapter 15

When Hassian stepped inside the inn, there were already lots of people there enjoying the evening. He could also see Sifuu who was laughing loudly, patting some poor girl's back and making her almost spill her drink. Oh well, everything seemed to be well since everyone was laughing together.

Sifuu noticed him watching and he waved his hand as a greeting, but he definitely wasn't planning on going over to join them and he was sure she noticed it. Not that she minded, she just waved back happily and way too loudly started to tell the humans around about him.

"That's my son there! Have you met him yet? If you're interested in hunting, he's the one you need to talk to!"

Hassian rolled his eyes and just quickly continued on his way, slightly embarrassed. He definitely didn't want to get stuck talking with anyone right now, he had other things in mind.

He went to the backdoor which was open since it was such a warm evening and stepped on the deck behind the inn. He smiled when seeing Tau who was playing with Auni and instantly the plumehound noticed him, barking and coming to greet him, his tail wagging.

"Finally you're here, Hassian!" Auni groaned when sitting on his big backpack. "Seriously, you were gone for so long I thought you got mad at me because I won last time."

"I'm not mad because of something like that", Hassian assured when coming closer and scratching Tau's neck. "It had nothing to do with that."

"Yeah, I heard that you were sick. I'm glad you are fine now", Auni smiled and he took out a deck of cards. "So do you wanna play?"

"Not today", Hassian said and Auni looked at him confused. They always played cards whenever Hassian came to visit the inn! "Sorry. We can play tomorrow but right now I'm trying to find Alderoth."

"Alderoth? Again?" Auni sighed and he put the cards away. "It feels like Alderoth is all you're thinking about nowadays!"

"That's not true", Hassian quickly said, but he did look a bit shocked because of what the boy said. He wasn't really that bad, right?

"Right. Is Alderoth here? Have you seen him? Why isn't he here today? Do you think something happened?"

"I haven't -"

"Yeah you've said that all!" Auni laughed. "Nai'o said it's because you like him so much you can't stop thinking about him."

"You've told Nai'o what I've been saying?" Hassian asked and he frowned a bit.

"You never said it was a secret. If it was, you yourself haven't done a really good job trying to keep it as a secret, trust me", Auni chuckled. "Everyone knows. But seriously, when are we ever gonna play again if all you want to do is run after Alderoth?" he sighed.

"I... I'll arrange some time for playing cards", Hassian said, clearing his throat and trying to act like he wasn't just totally busted about his feelings. "Tomorrow, I promise."

"What if Alderoth suggests you guys should do something tomorrow instead?"

Hassian looked at Auni who was looking back and he sighed after thinking about it for a while.

"I guess I might want to go with him", he confessed. "But I'm sure he would understand if I explained to him why I can't go."

"Woah, you really wouldn't go? Just so we could play cards?" Auni asked, his eyes widening.

"I promised."

"You don't need to be so serious. I get it, you want to spend time with him. Nai'o is like that with Kenyatta too. He has broken a ton of promises he made with me just so he could be with Kenyatta! But he has also kept a lot of them. I want him to be happy", Auni smiled. "So I guess that's fine. So if you want to go with Alderoth, I'm okay with that. Just promise me that we'll at least play sometime again?"