Chapter 99 - Source Of Strength

Fallon silently regards Weiss with a scrutinizing gaze.

Two weeks ago, he had asked him a hypothetical question about how he could deal with someone's unwanted attention if he'd ever face one. He had doubted it was hypothetical. It's only reasonable that someone like him would experience something like this, after all. He's a rare catch. Regardless, he just went with it and gave him some advice.

"Turn her off. If you'd rather act lame than hurt her feelings, make her change her thoughts about you. Act the exact opposite of what she liked about you. Show her you're not worth it. Make her think you're bad news. So, yeah, go wild. Piss her off," was what Fallon had told Weiss back then.   

Now, he regrets letting him go off like that. He should've asked for all the details first. To begin with, he didn't know he'd been spending time with someone who's probably more annoying than Lady. He immediately thought of her when he said that this someone was trying to play matchmaker. 

But of course, none of this would have happened in the first place if that mysterious admirer of his would just back off already. 

"What a pain in the ass…" Fallon muttered. 

"I would've just confronted her and turned her down at once if I were you. Don't care if she gets hurt or takes revenge or whatever. She needs to learn when to stop."

"Yeah, I know. I've been considering doing that too – for a while now, actually…" Weiss confessed.

"But it's not that easy. Since messing with her hasn't even worked, I don't think she'll just give up even if I tell her to stop at this point-" 

He abruptly trailed off, surprised at the loud noise that suddenly echoed across the library. 

The doors burst open, and Weiss swears he almost had a heart attack at that moment. Then comes Lady, running frantically up to them - eyes zeroed in on him. He and Fallon gave her a perplexed look, wondering what got her so agitated this time.

"Don't cause a mess," the cousin said.

"What's the matter?" the friend asked.

A great contrast. Perfectly shows their differing views of her. 

"This…!" she screeched, pulling up her cellphone to show them an e-mail. 

"I'm freaking out. What kind of question is this?"

Weiss takes the phone from her hand. Together with Fallon, he reads the letter. 

It's another question sent to their advice column. This time, it's about healing a broken heart.

"Oh," he blurted out.

"Oh…? Oh?!"

The librarian attempts to shush her. But she pays no heed. 

"Is that all you have to say? Oh?" 

She catches sight of Fallon as he tries to slink away. Before he can get out, though, Lady quickly grabs him by the arm then starts shaking him back and forth.

"What do you think, Fallon? How do you heal a broken heart?"

"Let go! Assault Weiss! Not me!"

Lady doesn't let go. Fallon groans.

"Oh, what am I supposed to say? How do the characters in your books deal with heartaches?" she asked dramatically. He shrugged and deadpanned, "I don't know. They move on?"

She tugs on his sleeve harder. Fallon whines, feeling like puking already.

"But how do you move on?" Lady prodded.

"Lady, calm down," Weiss cut in, tone authoritative.

"I'm completely calm!"

"You're not."

Weiss heaves out a sigh before offering his arm to her. With that, Fallon is finally freed, and Lady takes to twisting her hands in his sleeve. 

"You've been stressing yourself lately, Lady…" he chided. 

"Do you even still sleep on time? You should rest more."

The other boy grumbled, "That's what I've been telling her all week. She doesn't listen at all."

Lady pouts at them. Under the rays of the sunlight, the dark circles under her eyes stand out. Weiss sighs again. He then gently pats her shoulders.

"You're not thinking straight. Do you want to get some chocolate?" he offered.

"Chocolate? Yeah. Chocolate sounds good," she agreed and nodded.

Fallon thinks this is somehow planned – apparently, Weiss just happens to have a tiny bar of chocolate with him. Lady accepts the candy gratefully then starts nibbling on it.

Fallon purses his lips, "You coddle her too much."

Weiss shrugs, "You would do the same. Probably."

The librarian comes over to hand Fallon the books he requested. He immediately tucks them in his backpack before Lady can see the titles.

Her eyes narrow in suspicion. He tries to play dumb. 

"Romance? Again? I thought you're into fantasy?"

"I am into it. Romance is a fantasy."

She scoffs then shakes her head. Once she finished off her chocolate, she licked the melted bits off of her fingers before saying, "Thanks, Weiss."

Weiss smiles at her, glad to see she has regained her bearings – somewhat. Being in the same class with Lady for two consecutive years had taught him an important lesson – that is, to always make sure to carry sweets with him. 

"Go to bed early today, okay…?" Weiss gently said. 

"Stop sending me memes at three in the morning."

"Wait, she sends you memes, too…?" Fallon snorted. 

"Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one suffering. Most of them are not even funny-"

"Hey…!" Lady cut in, slightly offended. 

"Memes can cure depression! And school makes me depressed!"

"Just look at the memes, idiot. Stop sending the memes."

"Well, what am I supposed to do at three in the morning?"

"Oh, I don't know. Get some sleep?"

"But I'm working on all my homework-"

"Clearly not if you have the time to send stupid memes."

"Hmph! You're such a meme."

"And you're stupid."

As the cousins continue to bicker like there's no tomorrow, Weiss decides that he should probably lead them both outside. The librarian is already giving them a dirty look.

"Weiss…!" Lady then called out of nowhere, turning to face Weiss again.

"Carry me."

Weiss chokes on his spit. Fallon rolls his eyes. 

"And I'm out of here. See you, Weiss. Let's just talk later."

"How about me?! Don't I get a salute?!"

Fallon scoffs but salutes her anyway. Lady grins.

"Bye, Fallon! See 'ya later!" she said, waving her hand at her cousin as he walked away, then looked back at her friend and raised her arms before him.

"Lady, you know I can't-"

"You said you'd been working out! Let me see those muscles of yours!"

"That's not the point! Why do you even want me to carry you?"

"My legs are tired. I'd been running all around the place to look for you. And it'll be fun! So, please?"

Over the past year, Weiss has realized something – the more she becomes his source of strength, the more she becomes his weakness too. Quite ironic, he knows. Of course, Lady is none the wiser. She has no idea how much control she has over him.

He's like a puppet, and she's the master. She can pull the strings however she wants to, and he'll follow the beat of her drum without a word. 

"Fine."

Lady cheers. Weiss merely sighs.

He tries his best to hoist her on his back. She's a little heavy – or maybe, he's just not strong enough. But he manages. 

"Are you all right back there?" he inquired, glancing at her over his shoulder.

"Yep!" she affirmed then spontaneously pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

Weiss instantly combusted. Lady's really being unfair.

She keeps throwing him off guard with all these intimate yet innocent gestures. Worse, she doesn't even know what she's doing to him. She's completely clueless. And now, he's joyously suffering under this pleasant torture - time and again.

"Now, march!" Lady enthused with a huge grin, but Weiss did not move.

His heart feels like it's exploding in his chest, his cheeks in flames. With the lingering touch of her kiss still sending tingles across his face, it takes a lot of willpower for him to ignore the feeling of her soft, tender skin pressing against his – or of her chest that's flushed against his backside. 

Her lips are right there too, just at the nape of his neck, and his hands are curled beneath her thighs. He's quite sure then that they can do a lot more than just support her.

'Bad, Weiss.'

Lady started flailing about and wiggling her legs. It was then that Weiss realized he's still not moving.

"I said march!"

So, march he does – if only to distract his mind from all these impure thoughts that his teenage hormones are inserting in his brain. He coughs. While it's normal to feel this way, he can't let such emotions get to him.

"Hey, Weiss…" she called from his back, earning a hum from him in return.

"What were you discussing with Fallon back there in the library?"

"It's nothing…" he simply told her, still thinking of hiding the whole matter with Sarah from her until he recalled what Fallon had told him earlier – specifically, that one about getting a fake girlfriend. 

"Say, are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

"Hmm? I think so? Why?"

Weiss smirked, a plan in mind, while Lady lifted a brow, expression puzzled.