The Arcana: His Apprentice

Do You Like Someone? (Asra's POV)

Why is she with him? This can't be good, not one bit. He better not try anything with her or else I'll destroy him. Matthew and Y/N approach me while talking. They come to a stop in front of me and face their attention towards me.

"Hi Asra." Y/N says, smiling while holding a book up to her chest.

"Hey buddy." Matthew says slowly.

"Hey you two, what's going on? I've never seen you both speak to each other, are you friends now?" I ask, glaring at Matthew as he smirks.

"I wouldn't say friends exactly, Matthew was just telling me about some rumors going around about the forest. Apparently it's haunted." She says, looking at Matthew.

"And I confirm it, I've seen it with my own eyes." Matthew says, smiling confidently while crossing his arms.

"Great...well we should really get going, don't want your aunt getting mad at us. Right Y/N?" I say, trying not to sound rude as possible.

"Right, I'll see you around Matthew." Y/N says, shifting closer to me.

"Okay, thank you again for the book." Matthew says, as Y/N and I start walking away.

Thank goodness we got away from him. Me and Y/N continue walking back to the shop. Walking past the market area in silence until I finally speak up, clearing my throat and starting the conversation.

"S-so, how do you know Matthew...?" I ask, cautiously.

"I don't." Y/N replies sternly.

"O-oh, I just thought you two were friends. You both seemed kinda close." I answer, kicking a small pebble in the process.

"I just met him today for the first time. He came up to me and asked if he could borrow my book for class since he forgot his. Then he just decided to start talking to me." She says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"W-well...do you like him...?" I answer, looking down at the ground.

"I've heard about him in the past from my friends. That he likes to play around with girls' feelings and then throw them away like they're garbage." Y/N says.

I stay quiet, at least she knows of him and his actions. I know she's smart and is capable of taking responsibility for her own choices but I hope she's aware of what's going on for her own sake.

"But to answer your question, no I don't like him. Guys like that are scum of the earth." She says, focusing her attention ahead of her.

I pick my head up and look at her. I smile to myself briefly and muster up the courage I need to ask her my next question.

"W-well, do you like anyone?" I ask quickly, hoping she didn't hear me.

"Y-yeah, kinda." Y/N says, a blush creeping across her delicate face.

"R-really?" I respond, with shock in my voice.

She nods and giggles. My heart breaks a bit. Who could this mystery person be?

"Who is it?" I ask, eagerly.

Y/N stops walking and I stop along with her. She puts one of her delicate fingers up to her lips as to say to be quiet. Y/N winks and moves her finger from her lips. I blush slightly, thinking that the wink was meant for me, to let me know it was me but I doubt it.

"It's a secret." She says and continues walking to the shop.

I stand in utteral shock. What!? How could she just leave me hanging like this. It felt as if someone told me a story that had me on the edge of my seat and left it on a cliffhanger. I continue trudging after her quickly.

"W-wait, what did you mean 'secret'?" I say, following after her as she continues walking away while giggling.

We finally make it to the shop and we go inside, the bell at the top of the door rings. Auntie Aurora is at the counter putting away some crystals as she sees us walk in.

"Welcome back you two." Aurora says, placing the last crystal in the case before closing it.

"Good to be back." Y/N says, putting her book on the counter and leaning against it.

"Now that you're both here, it's time to get to work." Aurora says smiling and pulling out 2 brooms from underneath the counter.

Y/N and I groan simultaneously as Auntie Aurora chuckles and hands us the brooms.

After a while, Y/N and I continue cleaning. We sweep the floors, clean out the counter and dust the bookshelves. I continue sweeping as Y/N cleans the bookshelves. While she cleans, a book falls out from the shelf and she picks it up. She opens the book and looks at it as I continue sweeping. Auntie Aurora walks into the room and grabs her cloak from the coat rack.

"I'm going out you two, don't cause too much trouble." She says, wrapping her cloak around herself.

"We'll try." I respond, smiling devilishly as she lifts an eyebrow at me.

"You better, or else." Aurora says, heading over to the door.

"Bye, be safe." I say, waving at her while holding my broom.

Auntie Aurora waves and leaves the shop. The bell atop the door ringing as the door closes. I continue sweeping until I see Y/N, still looking through the book. I put my broom down and walked over to her. I look over her shoulder to look at the book, just seeing some scribbles and sketches. Probably a spell book. I walk around Y/N and stand directly in front of her as she continues to look at the book.

"Whatcha doing?" I ask, curiously.

"Reading." She answers bluntly.

"What about?" I question.

"Stuff." Y/N answers bluntly, again.

An idea suddenly appeared in my head. Let's mess with her for a bit and see how she reacts.

I snatch the book from her hands and held it above my head. She looks up at me in shock and starts reaching up towards it.