Chapter 4: Meeting with a Shy Girl

It took a while for Renan to fully climb up the stairs and arrive on the first floor, but what he saw there wasn't exactly what he had expected. The pub was a lot calmer and carefree than what he imagined, unlike downstairs where every single person was busy with their own matters. Over here though, the people were all laid-back and civil.

'This atmosphere… doesn't it resembles more of a café than an actual adventurer pub?'

And from what he could see, there was even a girl sitting on a table all by her lonesome self. Periodically, she would raise the teacup in her hands to take long sips of it, but Renan keenly noticed that she would furtively dart her eyes around the room every so often. Because of that, Renan and the girl locked eyes with each other for a brief moment.

Caught by surprise, the girl quickly lowered her head when she spotted a pair of eyes intently staring at her.

'Hmm…? What a strange girl.'

He already formed an opinion of her that was purely based on her mannerisms. And thus, he decided to silently approach her without taking his eyes off the prey lest she escaped. Sensing that someone was coming over, she tried to stand up and leave the table as quickly as possible but Renan made it in time to cut her off.

"Yo, mind if I take this seat 'ere?"

"Uhh… umm… S-Sure, you can do what you want…" she replied in a quiet voice while preparing to take her leave.

"Oh? And what about, where are you going? This table has room for more than one, y'know?"

"I have something to take care of so you can just have this table for yourself. I won't be disturbing you."

The girl hurriedly got up but Renan reacted even quicker. Before she could run away and make her escape, she felt a hand grab unto her wrist not wanting to let her go. The unfamiliar touch made her uncomfortable and quite flustered, apparent by the colors of her ears and cheeks faintly reddening.

"Y-Y-You…! What do you think you're doing!?" she rattled on like a cat who got its tail stepped on.

But rather than giving her a straight answer, Renan instead asked her in a low, sanguine voice: "Hey, you're the shy type, aren't ya?"

"H-H-HUH?!"

The girl's face all the more reddened that it almost resembled a tomato, and white fumes were even coming out of her cute little head. The short exchange she had just now with this handsome youth was too much for her to handle, and the way his voice sounded so cool and magnetic to her ears caused her heart to stir and palpitate. She originally thought that top-class males like him only existed in Korean dramas and otome games.

Renan prudently smiled at her in order to lessen the uneasiness she felt towards him, and to also show that he was as harmless as doves and as gentle as a lamb.

"Why don't you keep me company for a bit, m'lady?" He playfully said while finally taking his hand off her dainty wrist. "Please, won't you?"

Looking into his eyes was like staring at the millions of stars in the beautiful night sky—she became so entranced by how brilliant they were that she even forgot how to operate on her own and in the end, could only comply to his demand with a shy nod of her head.

The girl quietly sat back down on the table with her head deeply lowered, the bangs of her white silvery hair covering her flushed face, albeit not entirely.

'Yep, it definitely pays to have good looks.' Renan closed his eyes as he thought of this while smiling to himself.

On the other side, the girl fidgeted around nervously in her seat and from time to time, she would sneakily steal upward glances at him. But what she saw every time she tried to look up was the same thing—the youth who made her face redden and caused her heart to skip a beat was now closing his eyes as if nothing happened. She felt somewhat vexed at this prolonged silence between them that she even started pouting. And thus, mustering up what little courage she had left in this situation, she took it upon herself to be the one to first speak out.

"…Hey, can I ask what you want from me?"

Because of that, Renan finally opened his eyes to take a look at her. But of course, that cute little head of hers was still lowered down to avoid any direct eye contact with him. What caught his eye instead, were the two droopy long ears on her head that was covered with fluffy fur from the inside and out.

"What I want? You make it sound so serious." Renan said with a repressed voice like he was consoling a scared child, "I don't particularly need anything… All I'm asking is for someone to accompany me for drinks."

While saying that, Renan promptly stopped a waiter who was on his way to deliver some food and alcohol to the table right across from them.

"Yes Sir, what is it that I can do for you?" The waiter politely asked while still holding onto his tray.

"I would like to order two coffee drinks please."

"Of course, what will we be having then?"

"Hmm… mocha sounds really good right about now~"

"Okay, one coffee mocha and what else?"

This time, Renan redirected his gaze toward the only other person on the table, and coincidentally she also happened to be looking at him.

"Would you like to order something, Miss? Oh, and don't worry about it because the drinks will be on me so feel free to order anything you want." Renan offered.

"Then… I'll have the frappe, please…"

"Alright, one mocha and frappe coming right up. Please wait a moment." The waiter smilingly said.

And with that, he took his leave so as to take care of the orders made by other customers in the pub. For a while, she silently watched on as the waiter did his duty methodically before pulling her gaze away and turning it back to her own table. What awaited her though, was that ever charming smile authored by the same handsome youth sitting in front of her.