Derek's Backstory(3)

I quickly got up and tried to blend in with the crowd of walking people, while Andrew followed me as we were attracting attention due to our sudden fall.

After a couple of dozen of seconds blending in the crowd, I pulled Andrew and brought him into an alley and asked "Why did you suddenly stop? If the crowd found out that two of us are heirs of different clans, we would be surrounded by people trying to form a crowd just to see us!" As I didn't want to be disturbed by other people, especially a crowd of them.

He just shrugged and said, "Well, While walking I saw a beautiful girl, I couldn't stop myself from looking at her, so I just kept staring at her while not knowing that I had already stopped walking."

*Sigh*

"How about this, we first find the blacksmith, then we will come back later and try to see if we can find her..." I suggested as the blacksmith might decide to close early today, which we both don't like to happen as this is the only day we can go outside as we have duties in our respective houses.

He just nodded and didn't speak anything, seeing this I can't help but think 'There he goes again, not saying anything and just deciding to go with the flow as usual...' I just shrugged and started walking in a random direction.

Exactly 30 minutes later, we finally found the smith that we were looking for, We quickly placed our orders, My order was magical staff, while Andrew's order was a bastard sword.

'Now that I think about it, we both don't know what each other's profession is. Mine was hidden from everyone except for my parents, Which was also the same for Andrews.

While my occupation is called called 'Space Wizard; it's the same as a regular mage but focuses on anything related to space. I think Andrew either has the occupation named 'Magic Swordsman' or 'Magical Knight'.

After we finished ordering weapons, We went toward the marketplace to search for the girl that Andrew called beautiful earlier.

"I only know that the girl we are looking for is beautiful, Can you perhaps tell me her hair color? Or even what she was doing?"

"Well, I only saw her buying an apple while walking, she has brown hair, I think she's a commoner as I saw the way that she dressed." He said calmly while looking around the place.

'Hm? Apple? Brown hair? Why does that sound familiar? Wait! It isn't Abby right?'

After thinking about that possibility, I quickly discarded it as the chances of that happening are close to impossible. And also Andrew mentioned that she was a beauty, but what I remembered about Abby is that she is cute.

"Hey! You alright? You seem to be lost in thought..."

Snapping out of my thought, I quickly said "I was just wondering about when our weapons will be finished making." I lied as I didn't want to talk about Abby with him, and also for him to know about what I did in the past and also my promise to Abby.

"If you say so..." He just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care at all.

"Sigh, What a cold friend you are, Can't you at least show an act of caring to me?" I said sarcastically.

He looked at me while having a neutral expression on his face, Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly stopped and looked into the distance...

Seeing his absentminded look, I quickly glanced at the place he is currently looking. I was shocked at what I had seen, I saw a beautiful girl in her teens, she had brown hair that was tied in a bun, a smile on her face, she had an above-average figure, and she is wearing average-looking clothes.

Seeing this I muttered Unconsciously, "Abby..."

As I didn't expect to see her today, While also not expecting her beauty to reach such a level, though she is not as beautiful as my mother, she has a sweet girl charm on her.

She is currently holding a basket full of apples while walking on the side of the street, she looks to be humming a song while doing so.

Though I didn't see Abby for years, I am quite sure that she is Abby, 'Looks like she has grown this past year that I haven't seen her.' She looks both happy and healthy at the same time.

'I wonder if she still remembered the promise that we made each other...' I thought as I was reminiscing all of our memories together.

"I was right wasn't I? look how beautiful she is..." Andrew said, with awe visible in his tone.

Noticing this, I quickly tried to switch the subject...

"Well, should we go back now that we have completed our tasks? We still have things to study after all." I know that he will not give up on Abby as he had a prideful ego, the best I can do is make him forget about her.

As he heard this, he looked at me while having a neutral look on his face and said, "Sure, Why not?". I don't know why but something about the way he said it sounds a little odd to me.

At the age of 13, during this past year, I noticed that Andrew is a little different, and he also seems to be avoiding me most of the time.

He always has this neutral smile on his face, which I found a little creepy. He seems to be calmer, but I noticed that his eyes seem to have no life in them, and every time I tried to invite him, he just kept refusing and says "Sorry, I'm currently busy right now, maybe next time."

I just tried to ignore this as he might just be busy with his studies or something, but I just kept observing him every time he does so, as I keep having this strange feeling about him every time I see him.

I haven't seen Andrew this following month, I was getting a little worried about him so I decided to visit their family mansion.

As I was about to enter their gate, I was suddenly stopped by a guard, I was about to ask him why he is denying me entry but he was one step ahead of me, "You can't enter if you don't have an invitation..."

Hearing this I can't help but ask in an annoyed tone, "Huh? I'm friends with Andrew and decided to visit him, Is that perhaps a problem?"

As I thought that he was about to let me in, "Are you perhaps clan Santos's heir, Derek Santos?" he said while having no change in his expression.

"Yes I am, So Can I enter n-" But I was suddenly denied before I could even speak.

"You can't enter even if you are the young master's friend." As he said this, 3 more guards appeared out of nowhere while preparing to draw their swords out of their scabbards.

Seeing this, The 3 guards that were accompanying me also did the same as they suddenly went in front of me.

Seeing this and not wanting to cause any trouble with them, "Let's not cause any trouble and go back for now..." I said as I eyed the guard while leaving with my people.

A year has passed and I am now at the age of 14, I had already finished my studies and decided to finish some of the tasks that come along with being an heir.

During this past year, I haven't seen Andrew for a long time, I told my mother all about Andrew as I was feeling a little worried for my only friend and asked if he was okay, but my mother just said, "It's dangerous to have jealous people around you, They look at you as a competition, while you look at them as family and friends..."

She just stared at me as she said this, she had a neutral look on her face but was internally thinking, 'Sigh, Son you may be smart, and that's one of the good things that you have, but, If you can't even notice your friend's eyes that contained jealousy, how would you survive in the real world...'

My mother just left after staring at me for a minute or so.

While I was in my room thinking about what my mother had said, my brain was working at full speed and I thought, 'Andrew isn't jealous of me right? If it is so, then what is he jealous of?'

But no matter how I racked my brains out, I can't seem to think of anything that Andrew could be jealous of.

'It isn't about Abby...right?' Though it has a low chance, it's currently the only thing that I could think that he is jealous of.

'Is he perhaps on to me? Does he perhaps know something? He doesn't know...right?' I felt a little nervous if my prideful friend, Andrew, knowing something about me and Abby.

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