Chapter 73：Princess?

After spending much of his days idle and bored, Dylan decided to have a change in pace for once. In the early morning, during his daily jogs, Dylan changed his route and headed towards the direction of Sherry's house.

Dylan traced back his memories from his car ride from Sherry's house to Janine's apartment and directly reversed it. Doing so, he began to jog at a steady pace. Well, it was jogging to Dylan and it looked like he was jogging, but in reality, he was moving at a speed that was faster than the running of slow people [Aka, me, the first-class slowpoke]. Even so, it still took Dylan about 15 minutes to reach Sherry's house.

Having finally arrived at the familiar house, Dylan felt at a lost for what to do. He could sense that the house was empty, not a soul was inside. Dylan didn't know why he had suddenly chosen to come to Sherry's house. The inhabitants weren't here so what was the point of visiting an empty house?

As he watched the house, a montage of memories played in the mind, like a short film. The scene of Sherry smiling at nothing in particular, laughing at lame jokes, crying at a sad scene and her fixated gaze at food on the TV, such mundane scenes flashed through his mind. The corner of Dylan's lips crept up but his eyes were filled with longing.

'What am I doing' Dylan reprimanded himself in his head, and after a brief moment, he tore his gaze away from the house and turned to walk away. As he slowly walked away, Fir rubbed his head against his cheek in comfort. Dylan smiled and pat Fir in response.

"Dylan!" A vigorous shout came from behind. Dylan recognised the voice and turned to find familiar faces smiling at him. Fiona was waving with all her body and jumping up and down. George gave a timid wave and Diana waved with both hands. Frank saluted playfully while Yasmin waved normally.

Yasmin glanced over at Sherry's house and back at Dylan again. "Sherry's not here, you know?"

"Mm, I know." Dylan hummed in response. "I just came here on a jog."

"Hey, what bird is that? It's so pretty." Diana pointed at Fir and asked with sparkly eyes.

Satisfied by her praise, Fir chirped and flew towards her. "Uwah!" Diana let out a small shout of surprise and jumped back, escaping from the encroaching Fir. Hurt by her actions, Fir looked at Dylan and let out a dispirited chirp.

Dylan chuckled and stretched out his arm for Fir to perch on. "Anyone would get frightened if a bird suddenly flew towards their face. Next time, just take it slow."

Fir chirped to signify he got it.

Watching the bird and man converse, Yasmin felt her eyes twitching while Fiona muttered to herself words of enlightenment. "Dylan really is a Disney Princess."

"Hey, I can hear you." Dylan said, pretending to be mad. After being baptised by TV and the internet, Dylan knew what Disney was and also who Disney princesses were. No matter how hard he thought over it, he couldn't see the obvious similarities between him and them at all.

Fiona giggled and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "So what, it's the truth."

Dylan abruptly crossed his arms in an exaggerated manner. At his sudden movement, Fir flew up and rested on his hair instead. "I'll have to disagree."

Frank laughed and clasped his stomach whilst pointing at Dylan. "You don't look convincing at all!"

The whole group could not help but to also join in on the laughing. Dylan had a faint blush on his cheeks and Fir was whistling, not really understanding but just wanted to join in. He knew that they were only teasing him out of good will and not that of malice so he decided to also have some fun.

"Ahaha, Lyn, they're laughing at you. What're you gonna do about it? Are you going to let them call you Princess for the rest of your life? Haha, Princess Lyn. Should I escort you to your castle?" He laughed.

Annoyed, Dylan decided to threaten Fir. "Would you like to skip out on mana or juice tonight? I'll let you choose, or maybe you want to skip out on both."

Fir immediately shut his beak and said no more.

"So, what makes you think I'm a fairy tale princess?" Dylan asked the kids after they calmed down.

He had expected them to have to think real long and hard but they unexpectedly started to list similarities instantly.

"You have an animal sidekick!" Diana answered.

"Yeah, all animals love you." Fiona echoed.

"And you look, well, attractive." Frank stated. He was a little embarrassed to compliment Dylan's appearance but it was the truth so he said it anyways.

There was a brief silence and the three turned to look at Yasmin and George who hadn't said anything yet.

Peer pressured, George added to the list. "You're kind and compassionate."

Then all turned to look at Yasmin. "…You're respectful and strong willed."

Dylan's face was still not convinced. "Isn't that just qualities of the average joe?"

Diana looked Dylan in the eye and said, "Yeah, nah. Normal people don't walk around with a bird on their head."

Dylan coughed in hide his embarrassment. "Other than the animal thing."

Diana didn't know what to say. She and everyone else knew that Dylan was a Disney Princess but she couldn't put on finger on exactly why those qualities made him one.

"These qualities are more distinct in you. Their stronger and are a fundamental part of your personality." Yasmin commented.

"Yeah! Normal people don't train kids they just met." Fiona rode the momentum and continued.

"Mhm, and normal people don't drop everything they're doing to help an old granny cross the road." Diana added.

"Isn't that just something nice that people do?" George could not help but to ask.

"Uh, yeah, but he's really nice and polite to everyone and he's like really sparkly!"

"So, in conclusion, because he looks handsome and is nice, he is a Disney princess." Yasmin very nicely summed it up into words.

"But wouldn't that be more like a prince?" George asked again.

"No, it's different. He's more princess-y, if you know what I mean." Diana stubbornly answered.

The children continued this debate and weren't even talking to Dylan anymore. They argued about whether or not he was more like a prince or a princess and bickered endlessly until Dylan couldn't stand it anymore.

"Enough! This is pointless." Dylan yelled to make them stop.

Yasmin nodded her head. She was getting pretty annoyed.

"It seems like you guys have a little too much energy. Why don't we go to park for a little while?" He smiled ominously. It seemed that his switch had been flipped.

"Fir, can you fly to Janine and tell her that I won't be making breakfast today?"

Fir knew when to be serious and when not to be. This Dylan was not to be crossed. With a chirp, Fir flew away and escaped.

"Well, then. Shall we?"

The children's faces paled. They actually went to the park to have a jog and play some games but seeing that smile on Dylan's face, shivers could not help but to run down their spines.