[First Person POV: Emily]
He is strange.
That’s all that comes to my mind when I think about the boy named Eden Morton.
A boy—No, calling him a boy doesn’t feel right. The aura he has around him, the way he talks, and the way he behaves around me... He behaves like a... Father?
I don’t understand why, but I feel like he behaves like that with me. Like he is looking out for me. Even though I haven’t known him for a long while, he feels too familiar to me. Familiar like someone from my childhood.
"Emily?" Aeloria’s voice brought me out of my own thoughts.
"Yes?" I asked, looking at her as I shifted my torso on the chair for a better view.
"Aren’t you staring at him too much?" She asked, glancing at Eden.
I followed her gaze, looking at my bed where Eden was sleeping with his eyes closed... like a sleeping beauty waiting for a prince to wake him up.
Wait... Not a prince.
"Hello? Stop staring at him." Aeloria’s voice brought me back to her.
"No, I am just concerned about him," I replied, looking back at Eden.
"You don’t have to worry about it. I have gone through the same process when I awakened my spirit core," Aeloria assured me, but her words also piqued my interest.
"What is actually happening to him? He just fell unconscious all of a sudden," I asked, feeling concerned about him.
"His astral body is in the spirit realm," she replied, shrugging. "He needs to understand what spirit energy is, and that’s the best place to understand it."
"Astral body? Can he feel pain in that form?"
"Yeah, both his physical body and Astral body are connected. His real body will feel the same as what his Astral body is feeling in the spirit realm."
"So, in the spirit realm? Did you see something?" I asked, wondering what it looked like.
"Well, I did see different spirit races, and believe me, they were a pain in the ass to deal with. They attack the first thing they see," she replied, making an annoyed expression.
"And the goddess?" I asked, knowing there is also a goddess in that place. "Did you see her?"
"Do you think it’s that easy to see a goddess?" Aeloria scoffed in reply. "No one has ever seen the goddess because no one is worthy enough."
"Is that so?" I nodded at her words, feeling it’s believable. Why would a goddess even meet every mortal who comes into her domain?
"Hey, Emily." Aeloria called me again as I looked at her.
"Do you like him?" She asked, looking into my eyes.
"H-huh?" A startled voice left my mouth as my heart beat quickened.
My breath become shallow at her words, wasn’t it too much to ask this all of a sudden?
"I don’t think so," I whispered softly, unsure myself if I like him or not.
But then again.... it’s Eden, the person who, in their very first meeting, boldly questioned my mother about her intimate history with that person.
"..."
Yeah... I will definitely regret it later.
"Sigh..."
Letting out a sigh, I placed my hand under my chin and studied him intently.
I realized that this might be my only chance to observe him in such a vulnerable state.
But then, I noticed something out of the ordinary.
Slowly, I leaned back in my chair, my gaze fixated below his abdomen, where something seemed to be straining against his pants.
"Gulp."
Unknowingly, I swallowed hard as my eyes remained fixed on that area.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I extended my hand hesitantly, lightly touching it before quickly retracting my hand.
’It’s hot,’ I thought, feeling the heat emanating from it even through his pants.
Despite my efforts to resist, my mind kept wandering back to that spot.
Presenting something like this in front of a young woman and expecting her to maintain her composure was simply too much to ask for.
’He is asleep, and all I’m doing is for study purposes,’ I tried to reason with myself.
Yet, once again, my curiosity won as I extended my hand and gently touched it once more.
"Huh?" My hand froze in place as Eden suddenly woke up, causing me to quickly retract it but he still noticed it.
He too froze, his gaze locking onto mine.
"Eden..." I stammered, smiling awkwardly in at this easy too misunderstood situation.
"This isn’t what it looks like. You’re like a father figure to me."
"....."
"....."
That....might not have been the best choice of words.
"I can explain, Eden. I wasn’t trying to touch it. I was just... fixing your pants back into place," I blurted out, desperately trying to clarify.
"..."
"..."
No... that might have only made things worse.