"Now that Gale's moving in, and the nursery is set up in the old guest room, the place is starting to feel fuller, isn't it?" Glacia said to her adoptive son, who was pouring her a glass of water in the kitchen. She was seated on the living room couch snacking on sunflower seeds.

  "At least he's keeping your room clean. That's a huge amount of space freed up," Gadalik teased his hoarder of a mother, who scoffed with mock offense.

  “I'll have you know I've been better about throwing my trash out lately, thank you very much.”

  “The shells surrounding your feet would beg to differ,” he laughed, setting the cup down on the coffee table in front of Glacia before plopping onto the cushion beside hers.

  The purple-haired woman chugged half of it, sighing with satisfaction. “If you knew how hard bending over is getting, you'd cut me some slack.”

  His striped blue eyes glanced at her favorite yellow dress that was still fit as usual around her abdomen. “You’re not showing at all, though. I don't see what's physically stopping you from moving like that?”

  “Not showing doesn't mean I'm not feeling,” she pointed out. “I’m lucky Guinevere can talk on the phone to tell me I'm not dying when I get these cramps and headaches. Why do you think I'm snacking and staying hydrated? That's what she advised me to do at nine weeks.”

  “Oh,” he replied. “I didn't know it was that bad. I still have some leftover potions she gave me when I was injured; I've been feeling a lot better recently, so you can have them.”

  “Eh, I'll live,” she said with a flick of her wrist. “That reminds me. You and Mira are going out weekly, right? How has that been working out for you?”

  Gadalik opened his mouth to answer, then narrowed his eyes guiltily.

  Glacia sat forward and turned her head to face the teen. “If she hurt you, so help me, I'll–”

  “N-N-No! Mira didn't do anything wrong. She's been nothing but caring and helpful toward me.”

  “Oh? Then what's the problem?”

  “I just told you what the problem was.”

  “The problem is her treating you well?”

  “The problem is that no matter how well she treats me, I just… can't reciprocate her feelings toward me.”

  “What? Sure you can!”

  “No, I can't… I'm not like you and Dad. Romance doesn't come naturally to me, or something.”

  “I'm not talking about you reciprocating her romantic feelings. I'm talking about showing her you care, too. You do care about her, right?”

  “Of course I do! I care about all of my friends.”

  “Then it wouldn't kill you to show Mira that. Even if it's not romantic, you can still do little things to be caring and helpful for her in return. Hold the doors, compliment her, pay for the whole of your shared meals–all of those gentlemanly things. Trust me: it's the small stuff that matters the most in any type of relationship.”

  “...Huh. Aren't those considered romantic? I don't want to lead her on…”

  “Romance? No–it's chivalry!”

  “...Like with knights?”

  “No, no… Go read up on it. You practically have a library in your room; you're bound to have something there that explains it.”

  He shook his head sheepishly. “Most of my books are for history and magic… Both, more recently, as I try to figure out what's reliable in terms of our past with witches.”

  “Then visit an actual library before you two go out tomorrow. Surprise her.”

  “Alright… I trust you.”

  Gadalik rode his dappled gray horse Punsiv into Mira's town the next day after he had obliged his mother at the library. According to the many books he'd skimmed there, courteous behaviors included helping others put on or remove their costs, offering your arm for them to hold as you walked, and gifting them small tokens of appreciation like flowers, on top of what Glacia had advised him to do.

  He stopped by a market on the way to her house, purchasing fresh lunch meats, produce, and bread, before taking the blanket he had brought with him out of his duffle bag to neatly fold it on top of the food in the basket and closing the flaps over it. On his way out, the flowers in the stand by the exit caught his eye. Gadalik debated with himself whether or not gifting Mira flowers would be mistaken as romantic. What else can I offer her as a token of appreciation right now, though? The teen stared indecisively until the florist manning the stand offered assistance.

  “Are you having trouble deciding which flower to pick?” the older woman asked with a friendly smile. “I can see you're getting ready for a picnic. If it's for a special someone, I can give you some recommendations.”

  “I'm not sure,” he admitted, nervously pushing his striped green bangs off of his forehead with his free hand despite them falling back into place afterward. “She's special to me, but maybe not in the way you're thinking. We're just good friends right now.”

  “Ah. But would you like to show her that you want to be more than friends?”

  The only reason we've been going out is because Mira already told me that she wants to be more than friends. I agreed because I value her and want to give us a chance to see if I'll ever fall for her too. “It's complicated,” he finally replied to the employee. “I appreciate her but I don't want to give her the wrong impression that I'm in love with her right now.”

  “I see, I see. Appreciation itself can also be expressed with flowers,” the woman explained.

  “Really?”

  “Of course! Especially with the color yellow. Tulips, sunflowers, and even roses–if they're yellow, they symbolize that you're offering them platonically instead of romantically. Some flowers that aren't all yellow–like violets, or daisies–can also show that. If you're looking for a bouquet, they'd be a great addition to add more color among the yellow flowers.”

  “A bouquet?” Would that be overboard?

  “Why not? You want her to know you care, right?”

  He paused. “Alright. I'll take it.”

  He dismounted and went to Mira's door, holding the flowers in the hand of his arm that the picnic basket’s handles were around, and knocking with the other.

  “Coming!” her voice sounded from inside. After a moment, she answered, wearing a black and belted midi dress and slightly heeled matching-colored boots. "Gadalik, right on time, as usual.” Then her violet eyes were drawn to the bouquet. “What's this?”

  The older teen smiled and held the flowers out to her. “Just something to show I care. You've been great to me, and I want to show you I appreciate that.”

  Mira blushed and accepted them. "So what are the plans for today?"

  "I was planning on taking us to the local park you mentioned for a picnic. We could leave our horses here and take our time walking together. Maybe feed the birds; I have a lot of sunflower seeds my mom’s stocked up on at the house that she let me bring, and birds like them too.”

  "You actually remember I liked the park?”

  He shrank. “Is that a bad thing?”

  “No! It’s just that I only mentioned that park one time, in passing, while we were chatting on the way to our first outing. I haven't mentioned it since. I'm just surprised you remembered, that's all.”

  “Are you okay with going there?”

  “Of course! And a picnic sounds lovely. Feeding the birds would be nice before that, too.”

  He was relieved to hear that. The two tied Punsiv up with her own horse River, and then headed for the park side-by-side. Gadalik looked down at her arm and remembered how offering her his own to ‘escort’ her would be chivalrous. Would it be too personal? He wondered. Wait… I'm getting too hung up on things again, aren't I…? I should just stop overthinking and just… do it. Relax; enjoy the moment.

  Gadalik held his elbow out slightly toward her in an offer to link it with hers, his striped blue eyes focused on his companion’s face.

  She glanced down at it, then up at him, raising an eyebrow. “First the flowers, and now you want to link arms? What's gotten into you today?”

  He quickly dropped his arm and looked away, slightly stung by the implication that she didn't like anything he'd done so far. “I just… wanted to show I care…”

  She eyed him skeptically for a moment, as if trying to determine if his words were genuine. Right when Gadalik was about to give up his attempts at chivalry, Mira hooked her elbow with his. He met her gaze to see a renewed confidence behind her smile.

  He sighed with relief. I'm doing this right, after all…!

  They arrived at the park and sat on a bench by the entrance. Doves instantly landed with the expectation of being fed.

  Gadalik withdrew a medium bag of sunflower seeds from under the blanket in the basket, placing it between them, and they both scattered handfuls on the ground, watching as more birds flocked down upon the sight.

  "You're left-handed?" Mira noticed.

  "Huh? Oh! Uh, partly… It's cross-dominance. I favor my left hand for most tasks, but I can use my right for others."

  "That's cool," she gushed. "Has anyone ever given you a hard time about it? I mean, they say it's the Devil's work, and you are a dev–I mean… witch."

  "Well… no, but I was never really around anyone who would treat me that way for it. I was pretty sheltered throughout my childhood.”

  "Sheltered? How so?"

  "I rarely got to leave my hometown, no matter how much I wanted to join my parents on their spooks’ missions. Speaking of my parents, my mother never revealed to me that she was a witch; I never found out until Vincent told me, back when you and I first met at the lake just over four and a half months ago. I was homeschooled, too. Maybe teachers would have an issue with my handedness had I gone to an actual school."

  “You're telling me you haven't had experiences in public facilities like schools?”

  “I guess. The only few 'real world' experiences I have are from traveling; even though I wasn't allowed on missions, my parents and I traveled and went camping often, just for fun. Whenever they did go in missions, though, I was left with family-friends–most often this restaurant owner who still hasn't forgiven me for how badly my job performance was under his care. Granted I was like seven years old at the time he started me ‘working.’”

  “Let me get this straight: he employed a literal child, and expected things to go well?” Mira laughed.

  “I don't think it would have gone as badly as it did if it weren't for the fact that being around a lot of people at once disorients me. That, and mild face-blindness. I admit I'm still not good with crowds; I'm not able to visually differentiate ghosts from the living unless I have my staff on hand.”

  "How are you feeling right now? We're in a public park with a decent amount of people," she pointed out.

  "I can handle it right now because you're with me."

  She blushed, surprised.

  "That is, you're someone I can direct my focus on away from the crowd. And now that my ghost sense is under control, there're less distractions."

  Mira gave a hum as she spread more seeds, watching the birds peck and squabble over it. "What would happen if you used your ghost sense right now?"

  He tensed. "You want me to?"

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  "Yeah. Can you control how far it reaches?"

  "Y-yes, but… I thought you wanted me to relax?"

  "Getting used to your powers will help you relax. Confront your fears, or else you'll be controlled by them," she said. "I brought my pendant with me just in case."

  The older spook closed his eyes and let his sense explore the area. As expected, there was a ghost, and instantly he felt its sorrow overtake him. He could tell it was there but he couldn't make it out from the crowd. Searching for it meant honing his sense on everyone in its general direction to find out which person it was. As he tried to do that, hearing all of their voices talk over one another began to overwhelm him. He felt a nervous bead of sweat roll down his temple.

  "You weren't kidding, huh?" she remarked, his discomfort plain to see. "Tell me what you're feeling."

  "There's too much going on at once for me to keep track of… It's making me feel…closed in. Trapped." Before his companion could reply, he shook his head and pointed at a woman sitting on the edge of the water fountain in the center of the park. "There. A ghost."

  Mira put her enchanted necklace on and followed his gaze. "I see her! Come on, let's talk to her." She pulled him up by his hand, continuing to hold it as she guided him over to the spirit.

  The woman’s green eyes watched them curiously as they approached her, then she covered her mouth. "You can see me?"

  The spooks nodded. "I'm Mira, and this is Gadalik," the younger teen introduced them. “Who are you?”

  "I'm… Melonie," the ghost replied.

  "So, Melonie, do you have any plans here?"

  "W-Well… you could say that. Every day at two in the afternoon, my best friend Chase stops by the park."

  "Oh, it's one-forty-five right now. You don't have much longer to wait." She turned to the other spook. "She might be a determined ghost. If so, she won't need our help."

  "Hang on," Gadalik said. "Every day? Just how many days have you been here?"

  Melonie froze, then shrank. "Three days."

  "What?" Mira exclaimed. "Why haven't you talked to him?"

  "W-Well, I'm…scared."

  "Scared? Of your best friend?"

  "You wouldn't understand… It's complicated.”

  Gadalik couldn't help sympathizing with the ghost. He remembered telling the florist those exact words earlier. “We might understand more than you'd expect,” he murmured.

  Seeing the sincerity in his striped blue eyes, Melonie relaxed some.

  “Chase and I have been friends for a long time, but… we've never met in person; we were pen pals. We planned to meet up for the first time, here at this park, but… I died on the way."

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Gadalik sympathized. "I imagine you'd be reluctant to meet him as a ghost, huh…?"

  "Actually… it's not just because I'm a ghost. It's because… I fear he won't like me once he sees how I am in person," she admitted.

  “Nonsense,” Mira scoffed. “If he liked you just from reading your letters, why would being together face-to-face be any different?”

  She hugged herself and looked away, not answering.

  He stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on the spirit’s shoulder; his spook's magic allowed him to make contact despite her being intangible. "I know it can be scary to meet someone in person. But if you don't confront your fears, you'll be controlled by them."

  Mira looked at him warmly as he repeated the advice she had given him just minutes ago. "That's right," she agreed. “If he's really your friend, then he already likes you! So what's the worry about? Just go out there and be yourself."

  Melonie gave it some thought, though she still seemed uncertain. That's when her eyes widened as she caught sight of a man with burgundy hair heading their way. He carried a binder in his hands that had a few page corners poking out of it.

  “Is that Chase? This is your chance! Go get ‘em!"

  Malonie seemed more anxious with every passing second that brought her pen pal closer to her. Gadalik's ghost sense flared as he felt the intensity of her emotions, and he tried to disable it, but couldn't relax enough to. There has to be some reason she’s so scared…!

  The man finally took a seat on one of the benches surrounding the fountain holding the binder close to his chest as he stared distantly at the ground. Mira looked between him and the spirit. “Well, Melonie? What are you waiting for?”

  Gadalik glanced at the other spook’s pendant. It was a type of magic substitution that allowed humans–like Mira–or witches to gain the abilities of spooks, but those gained abilities were far duller than those who naturally had them. If she could sense how distressed Melonie is, she'd cut the ghost some slack. “I don't think she's ready yet, Mira…”

  “Are you kidding? She's been here three days! If she hasn't spent that time getting ready, what has she been doing?”

  The ghost bit her lip and hugged herself tighter, almost as if ashamed that she wasn't ready after all this time. Her long brown hair fell over her shoulder from the motion, yet remained untouched by the breeze.

  “I don't get why you'd travel to see him in person if you weren't ready to meet him,” Mira went on. “You said it's not because you're a ghost, so what's the real problem?”

  “I… I just… I mean, he…” Malonie was too stressed to put her thoughts into words.

  “I know you're just trying to encourage her, but it’s coming across more like pressuring her right now,” Gadalik said quietly to his companion. “I think she'll be okay on her own if she has enough time.”

  The younger teen paused. “I didn't mean it to be pressuring…” Her violet eyes met the spirit’s green ones. “I'm sorry. I was just trying to help. If you're okay on your own, I guess we'll leave you alone…”

  "Wait," the spirit stopped them the second they turned their backs. "Maybe you can help me…? Just… talk to him first. Ask him what he thinks of me."

  The spooks exchanged a glance. "Alright," Gadalik said, “if that's what you want.” He approached the man. "Excuse me, sir… Are you Chase?"

  "Who wants to know?" the older male responded, his dark blue eyes not leaving the binder that he now had rested in his lap.

  "My name is Gadalik, and this is Mira. We're… acquaintances with Melonie."

  Chase immediately became attentive at that, looking up at them.

  "We only met her recently, but I was hoping you could tell us more about her."

  "She was your best friend, wasn't she?" Mira joined in.

  "Yes… We've written to each other since we were kids," Chase answered. "We promised to meet up here the other day, but… she died.” His eyes watered slightly. “I know this might sound senseless… But I still come here every day, hoping maybe it was just a bad dream–that maybe this time she'll be here waiting for me."

  You have no idea, Gadalik silently replied. The spooks both looked back at the spirit.

  "It sounds like you have a strong bond," Mira said a bit too loudly, making sure Melonie would hear. "One that won't break so easily."

  Chase seemed confused by her volume. "She never mentioned you two before. How did you know her?"

  "Again, we only met her recently," Gadalik answered honestly. "She seemed nice."

  "She was. And she was witty and confident and willing to try new things."

  "Uh…. Are we talking about the same person?" Mira muttered to her companion.

  Gadalik gave her a warning glare.

  Melonie suddenly came forward, turning visible. "Chase, I… I'm here."

  The man nearly fell down in shock. "Mel? Is it really you?"

  "The one and only," she laughed, although Gadalik could tell she was faking it.

  "How long have you been here?!”

  "That's… not important. But since we're both here, let's enjoy ourselves."

  "Oh–of course!"

  The two left into a different section of the park together and the spooks watched her, dumbfounded. "Is it me, or did she just pull a one-eighty in terms of personality?" Mira remarked.

  "Yeah…" Something tells me this isn't going to end well for them, the older teen thought.

  "Come on, let's enjoy the rest of our day, too."

  They set up a picnic and chatted about spook's work for a little while as they made sandwiches and ate. Then they lied down and watched the clouds pass overhead.

  "This is nice," Mira said. "If I could pause life at this moment and take a picture, I'd treasure it forever."

  Gadalik felt truly relaxed, and happy to hear that. "Thanks for earlier… Making me face the crowd. It’s still a kind of fear, but I think I should try more to get used to it."

  "It doesn't sound as much like a fear as it does a sensory overload," Mira said.

  "Sensory overload?" He couldn't help recalling the time when he'd gone to the mall with Gretel, and had gotten completely overwhelmed by the crowd and his ghost sense after she had left him to go in the fitting room. Was that what it was?

  "Yeah. There isn't much you can do about that, aside from what you've already figured out: finding something to focus on.”

  “Oh…”

  “You know, I feel like we're opposites. I can't handle silence, or being alone, for long periods of time. I need the stimulation, or I get listless,” she went on. “I can't just sit there. I have to train with my sickle, or start another conversation, or something to stay occupied.”

  I noticed her discomfort with silence on our first outing. "How come?”

  “I don't know. The silence just has too many variables, I guess. Like I want to be aware of what's around me. If I can't hear something, then it can sneak up on me when I least expect it, y'know? Metaphorically speaking. I want to be prepared for whenever it might sneak up, so I can slash it down with my sickle.” She grinned at him as she mimed the motion with her bare hand above their heads.

  He smiled, amused. “I think I understand. As hard as crowds are for me to handle, being alone is just as bad. For the longest time, I had the compulsion to clean or organize things to distract myself from thinking about…” His sentence trailed off.

  "About what?" She faced him curiously.

  He cursed to himself. She won't let it go unless I tell her, huh…? "Just… bad things. It was a long time ago… My dad–I mean, Gale–pointed out the connection between my cleaning and how I was using it to cope with my lack of control over the bad things I've been through. And he was right, even if I was in denial for a time. I've managed to stop since then, but…”

  “But?”

  “Cleaning wasn't the only problem. If I don't clean or help someone, I feel like I'm not doing enough in life... I feel like I have to do these things to earn my keep, to… justify my existence,” he admitted hesitantly. “Otherwise I just sit there feeling useless.”

  There was silence for a moment. "You've got some serious issues," Mira stated as a matter of fact. He winced from the sting of her words… then felt her hand over his as she rolled onto her side to face him. He stayed on his back but turned his head to respectfully meet her gaze. "Nobody exists on purpose, so life doesn't really need a purpose to justify existing. People love you, Gadalik. I do. If anything, that alone should be a reason to keep going."

  He felt his eyes water slightly, not at all expecting such a kind response. Then confusion replaced his feelings of assurance when she slowly moved closer to him, and when he caught on that she was moving in for a kiss, he felt his heart skip a beat with panic. His mind raced with the pros and cons of letting her. I've never kissed anyone before–but that's because I've never been in a relationship… But I'm not really in a relationship with Mira because I don't feel that spark between us yet. If I let this happen before that spark, is that leading her on? But then, if we do kiss, would that create the spark for me to actually love her too? And if I don't feel a spark after the kiss, would that mean I never will? He didn't know what scared him more: leading her on, or losing her.

  Just then they heard a familiar woman's voice shouting from a distance, and they both sat up to see what was happening, much to Gadalik’s relief.

  "I wasn't lying!" Melonie cried.

  "Then why are you acting so afraid of me?" Chase responded with frustration.

  The teens got up and headed for the noise. "What's going on?" Mira intervened.

  "She isn't happy being with me," Chase explained.

  "That isn't true!" Melonie argued.

  "What other explanation could there be?" he asked the ghost directly. She opened her mouth to answer, but her voice failed her.

  "Chase, what makes you think she's unhappy?" Gadalik asked.

  "She's a nervous wreck under that confident facade she put on. If I'd known she wasn't comfortable around me, then I wouldn't have agreed to meet up with her in the first place. I loved her, and I thought she loved me. But if she's been this scared of me the entire time, I'm not going to stick around and make her feel worse."

  "It's not you," Melonie said. "It's me… I've always been a mess in social situations… At least when we write, I have the time to think of witty comebacks, or gather the courage to write things I'd be too afraid to say out loud.”

  “So, basically, everything you've written in these letters was a lie?” he accused her, gesturing to the binder that was revealed to be full of hundreds of letters she'd sent him.

  “No! I meant everything I wrote in them! But in person, it's not so easy to be myself…"

  "I would've understood if you had just told me that in the first place… But instead, you decided to lie to me–and that's not the worst part. You lying about being comfortable caused me to make you even more uncomfortable, and that's a line I'm not okay with crossing. I won't want to hurt you, and I especially don't want you to let me hurt you."

  "Lie…?” Melonie covered her mouth. “Chase, I'm sorry… I didn't think of it as lying… And I know you're not trying to hurt me–you didn't do anything wrong!"

  "Forget it... I don't want a fight. I just need some space." He walked off, leaving the binder behind.

  Melonie stared after him, unable to leave the park to follow. When he was out of sight, her watered green eyes shifted to the binder carelessly left in the grass and tears fell. Gadalik felt a pang of sympathy and stepped forward to offer comfort, them froze when she turned on the spooks. “This is your fault,” she blamed them quietly.

  “W-What…?” Gadalik stammered.

  “I'd rather leave things how they were than face his rejection like this… But you two kept telling me how much I should just ‘go for it!’ Now look what happened…! I might never see him again…"

  Mira would have had a sharp retort, but this time, she seemed tense and said nothing.

  If there's one thing Mira knows about, it's rejection, Gadalik remembered pityingly. He gently took hold of the black-haired girl’s arm in an attempt to reassure her. Then he addressed the ghost. “It's not Mira’s fault. And we both agreed to leave you alone; you're the one who asked us to talk to Chase for you,” he said calmly. “You can't blame us for how this turned out.”

  “But you knew how scared I was and you encouraged me anyway!” the ghost cried.

  “And I don't regret it,” Mira finally spoke, uncharacteristically serious despite keeping her volume down too. “I'd rather be rejected for who I truly am, than accepted for being someone I'm not. If you've hid this part of yourself from him, that's on you and you alone.”

  Melonie gave the spooks a sorrowful look before picking up the binder and turning invisible, floating back to the water fountain.

  Mira watched her go with a dissatisfied sigh. "If you have to lie to make your partner happy, things are bound to fail,” she muttered.

  Gadalik fell silent. Is that what I've been doing with Mira…? And the whole chivalry thing?

  She noticed, concerned. "Something wrong?"

  He drew in a breath.

  "Gadalik?"

  “Mira… I think we should talk. About how I've been acting today… and the amost-kiss.”

  “W-What are you saying? Don't tell me you're dumping–”

  “N-No! But the fact that you seem to think we're a couple right now capable of dumping one another is something I need to clarify.”

  “I don't get it. You show up to our date with flowers, offer to hold arms, open up to me about your struggles, and now you're saying we're not a couple?!”

  “I told you right away that I just did those things to show I care about you,” he reminded her.

  “What is ‘care about’ supposed to mean if not ‘love,’ given how you've been going out with me every week!”

  “It's only been three weeks, and you knew I was demi long before we started going out; I need more time before I can ever return your love. But I do care about you, and I am open to an actual relationship if you can just be patient enough. I wasn't trying to lead you on with the flowers and arm linking, either; I was told the yellow flowers symbolized platonic appreciation.”

  Mira gestured to her black attire, save for her enchanted gold necklace. “Do I look like the type of girl who knows what the color of flowers symbolizes?”

  He shrank. “Sorry. I should have explained it better. Again, I was trying to show I cared–platonically. Same with the arm holding. In both cases, I was trying my hand at chivalry.”

  She blinked. “Chivalry? Like with knights?

  Gadalik couldn't stifle a laugh. “That's exactly what I said to my mom when she told me about it!”

  “Glacia?”

  “Yeah. I felt guilty for not reciprocating your romantic love, and she told me to reciprocate your platonic care with chivalry instead.”

  Now it was Mira's turn to laugh–a genuine, almost relieved sound. “You don't have to worry about doing things like that for me.”

  “...You're not mad?” He was shocked, expecting her to have reacted more like Chase.

  “Why would I be? Like you said, I knew you were demi before we agreed to go out, and we haven't been going out long. It's just that the whole ‘chivalry’ thing was so out of character that I really thought you were making moves on me. I never would have tried to kiss you if I knew that wasn't what you were doing. And even then, you were up front about doing it out of ‘care.’ The misinterpretation of ‘care’ was my own fault, really.”

  Woah. So we've both just been on the wrong page today…

  “You've never hidden anything from me. I respect that. And I also respect you more for correcting today's misunderstandings. You could have easily acted like Melonie by letting me make you uncomfortable, but unlike her, you actually said something. That's good. For both of us.”

  “Wait. Are you breaking things off–”

  “Not at all! On the contrary. I'd love to keep going out with you, but only if you're still okay with it.”

  He was taken aback by this. Then he smiled. “Yeah. I'm okay with us… dating.”