𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 ♡ 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐜 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

18

'Vanessa...? Who is that?'

Y/N didn't realize how hard she was clutching her journal in her hand as she stood outside his door. Diluc was obviously speaking to this...Vanessa in an endearing way so, could he be seeing another woman as well? When he literally just told her the other day that he wants to be more involved with her romantically?

"The audacity of this red headed piece of shit..." Y/N muttered to herself as she fights to hold back tears in her eyes. She felt like a fool for wanting to go out of her way to do something nice for him just for him to be a womanizer.

Oh, how badly she wanted to break that door down and storm into the office to deliver a blow to his face for leading her on just to see another woman.

"And you know what..." Y/N said as her hand move closer to the knob to open the door, "I'll do just that. I didn't waste a week here bonding with him and Leonard just for him to treat me like a side chick."

Y/N slammed the office door open, startling Diluc, "Woah, what's the problem? Do be gentle with the door, you could've cracked the wall."

Y/N clenched her jaw, "You care about a wall more than what you're doing right now? Who the hell is Vanessa?!"

Diluc raised an eyebrow at her and he turned his body around to reveal a falcon who was glaring at her in annoyance. Y/N felt her face flustered from embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head, "Oh uhm..."

Diluc shook his head, "Vanessa is my pet falcon. And Vanessa. That is the mother of Leonard, Y/N. She'll be staying with us for a while."

Vanessa squawked in response and she flew towards Y/N where she grabbed her H/C hair with her beak and yanked it. Y/N  yelped out in pain and Diluc rushed forwards to break them apart, "Vanessa! Stop it!"

Vanessa flew to the top of a bookshelf and nestled on top of it as she continues to glare at Y/N with her piercing yellow round eyes. Diluc rushed to Y/N side and he moved her hair aside before check her shoulder where the falcon landed on to make sure it wasn't scratched by her talons.

When he made sure Y/N wasn't injured, he lets out a sigh, "I'm really sorry about Vanessa. She can be a little hostile to new faces but she'll warm up to you soon when she gets to know you better."

Y/N huffed and she shoots a glare right back at the bird, "Since when did you have a pet bird?"

"For almost 4 years now." Diluc said as he watched Vanessa fly to another side of the room to nestle on top of a velvet pillow and start grooming her feathers, "She helps me by delivering and collecting letters. I let her out one day for her to fly around for a bit and she went missing for almost two weeks until she came back moments ago."

He turned around to her, "You were quite angry earlier. May I ask what's the matter?"

Y/N flinched and she turned away, "N-Nothing."

Diluc titled his head at her, "Is that so?"

Y/N nodded her head furiously, "Yes! Now I'm going to go! Goodbye!"

She huffed as she storms away and cursed herself out for making a fool of herself in front of Diluc. At least he's clueless enough to not know that she was actually upset because she assumed that his pet bird he was talking to was another woman.
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When dinner came around, Y/N eats her food in silent and Diluc didn't bothered to try and start a conversation with her for fear that he'll upset her even more somehow. Leonard, who sense the tension between the two adults, cleared his throat as he tries to start a conversation, "Papa! Did you know? Today, Aunt Y/N helped me with my homework assignment and let me help her with picking herbs in the winery. She even told me stories of the time when she was a student like me studying in a big, big land called Sumeru!"

"Really? I see that Aunt Y/N is helping you learn more about the world we live in," Diluc said as he smiled at Y/N, "Did he bother you too much?"

"Oh no never!" Y/N said, "In fact, he kept me company while I was collecting a few herbs near the winery. He's quite smart too because he remember everything I told him about. I think he could study in Sumeru as well if he's really passionate about the study of herbs."

"Really?" Leonard asked, "I can go to school in Sumeru???"

"Yes of course!" Y/N said, "You get to go to school with other students your age and learn about different plants in Teyvat. Plus there are also extracurricular they have for young students like you."

Diluc frowned slightly in concern, "I'm not so sure. As much as I would love to have Leonard go to Sumeru and learn more about what he loves, what if something happens to him? He's still very young."

"Papa!" Leonard whined, "But I'll be good in Sumeru! I'm sure even Aunt Y/N would take good care of me."

Diluc looked up at Y/N for her response and she nodded her head, signaling she's more than happy to help him.

Diluc sighed, "Alright then. I'll think about it."

"Yay!"
__________________________

It was late at night in the city of Sumeru when Alsatian had finished documenting a few books for the Academiya.

As he exit the building and made his way back home, he looked in his mailbox for any news, and hopefully something from Y/N.

Opening it, there was nothing in.

Alhaitham sighed and run his hand through his hair. He was starting ti get more and more concern about Y/N.

He knows she can be forgetful at times but he knows her enough that she wouldn't want to keep him or Kaveh worrying about her safety especially when she's halfway across Teyvat. It been almost a week and he couldn't help but feel like that bartender did something to her.

Unlocking his front door, he finds Kaveh lounging on the couch finishing up his late night snack.

"Hey," Kaveh said.

Alhaitham only walked over to Kaveh and sat beside him as he took his headphones off and set it aside on the table.

Kaveh stopped chewing and widen his eyes as he turned to look at Alhaitham nervously.

Alhaitham never once removed his headphones. Heck, he even wore it to bed just to cancel out the noise Kaveh makes in his office working on a new project. The fact that he took it off means he's in a really bad mood or there's something serious going on.

"Kaveh..." Alhaitham began as he cross his hand and lean forward to rest his elbow on his legs, "How many days has it been since Y/N stayed in Mondstadt?"

"Uhmm... like 5 days?" Kaveh said, "Why...?"

"And you didn't receive any mails from her?" He continued.

"No...."

Alhaitham got up and put his headphones back on, "I'm going to find Cyno right now. It'll take us approximately 2 days on boat to get there. We're gonna bring her back."