After eating breakfast and cleaning the dirty dishes, Calista looked at Orson who had now made himself feel at home, considering how he was no longer acting as nervous and warily as he was the previous night.
"I will be going down the hill in a moment. Like I said yesterday, I will be meeting with the village chief to discuss the marriage," Calista said, as she looked at Orson with a smile.
Orson stopped what he was doing and looked at Calista inquisitively. "You are going today?"
"Yes. Do you have any problem with that?" Calista mischievously asked as her lip curled upward.
Upon hearing her mischievous tone, warning bells suddenly rang in his head, making him hurriedly wave his hands in denial. "No, no, no. I thought maybe you would be going in the evening."
Calista smiled knowingly as she looked at Orson playfully.
"The earlier I do this, the better. Just relax and let me deal with everything," she assured him like an elder.
Seeing the young woman acting mighty, like an elder, Orson wanted to open her head and see what she was thinking about the whole day. However, slowly peeling the layers off her and seeing what she was hiding would be more interesting than having everything bared out in the open.
"I will do as you say," he agreed after pondering about it.
Calista grinned after hearing him acquiescing easily.
"Good, then!" she happily clapped her hands. "You can roam around and do as you wish. Just remember to return home when you are tired of exploring. There is food in the kitchen, in case you are hungry and I am not back. Just make yourself at home!"
Calista told Orson with a smile, giving him complete freedom before leaving the courtyard wearing a dashing brown and yellow dress.
Seeing her leaving like that, he couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't afraid of him escaping.
However, as he thought of that, watching her skipping her way down the hill like a child, a meow sound brought him back to reality.
"Kitty!" he was a bit taken aback when he looked down, only to see the white kitten cutely licking its paws.
"To think that such a shameless woman has such a high-maintenance kitten as a pet? Things are getting better with each passing second!"
Down the hill, Calista stopped for a second as she looked at the hill. She had completely removed all safety restrictions.
'I hope you won't let me down!' she thought before continuing walking towards the village.
The hill where she lived was a distance away from the village. It could be said that she lived out of the village or on the outskirts of it.
After walking for a while, she was at the village entrance and upon seeing several children playing and running around looking like ghosts with how they were full of dust, she couldn't help but smile.
'One day is one day. Just wait and see!' she vowed solemnly with a smile on her face as if she wasn't thinking about deep things.
"It's the teacher!" suddenly a child happily shouted while pointing at Calista who had just entered the village.
"Teacher!"
"Teacher!"
The kids started running towards the incoming Calista with sheepish smiles on their faces.
The dirty kids didn't bump into her but stood a distance away from her. After knowing Calista for five years, they all knew that the teacher loved being clean the most.
As long as you don't intentionally dirty her, she will be good to you always.
"Hello, kids! Are you obedient today?" Calista asked smilingly as she looked at the group of kids with affection oozing from her.
The kids grinned upon hearing the familiar greeting.
"We are all doing fine, teacher. Thank you for asking!"
"How was your night, teacher?"
The kids eloquently responded and asked in return.
Hearing them like this, she nodded her head with satisfaction. Her efforts weren't wasted and seeing the kids gaining more knowledge with each passing lesson she does with them, she felt very proud.
"Teacher slept very well, kids. And you?" she asked patiently, knowing the barrage that was about to come.
And surely, once they started, the kids didn't stop. And listening to some funny dreams, Calista found herself having the time of her life as she listened to them and laughed heartily.
If it wasn't for Susan who came to rescue her from the kids, she would have spent hours just being entertained.
"Aren't you afraid of delaying official matters by listening to those little ruffians?" Susan chided her friend as soon as they were away from the sulking group of kids.
Calista had a smile on her face, not even a shred of annoyance when thinking about the kids.
"Hehe, they are a ray of sunshine. What more is important than them?" she retorted smilingly.
Susan branded her claws playfully at Calista upon hearing the same answer she had been hearing for years.
"It's not like their parents will be grateful to you!" Susan scoffed as she recalled how ungrateful the kids' parents were.
"Who cares? I do it for me and not for them. Besides, aren't the parents very cute?" Calista's eyes lit up as she thought of how these parents who dislike her at times usually send their children some goodies whenever the kids come for lessons.
"That's true!" Susan couldn't help but smile as well.
The two friends chatted merrily as they made their way to Susan's house.
It was not by coincidence that Susan came to rescue Calista. After hearing the commotion, she had a feeling that Calista was in the village again.
Calista only enters the village for one purpose, that was to visit her house, or should she say the village chief's house.
And like always, she didn't ask Calista's purpose of visiting. When she feels like it, Calista would always tell her.
When the two arrived at the chief's house, Susan wasn't surprised at all when she spotted her mother waiting already outside.
"Mother!" she greeted her mother, whose eyes were fixated on Calista, who looked as beautiful and fancy as ever.
"Calista, you are here!" Susan's mother outrightly ignored her daughter as she welcomed Calista with a warm smile.
Calista flashed a smile at the older lady who was always welcoming and treated her very well like a mother she never had.