Ana is desperate because it's after 8pm, and she knows that soon her cell phone will ring if she doesn't get home on time, she throws her backpack on the bench, crosses her arms, and sits down irritably on the bench, she looks at Luke out of the corner of her eye, and notices that he doesn't seem the least bit upset about missing the bus, Luke's cell phone rings, and he doesn't seem to want to answer it either, because it's an older cell phone even though it's on vibrate, Ana has her bottle of water in her hands to drink, then Ana's cell phone rings, and it's her father, she answers and gives an excuse that she went to the market before going home, Luke decides not to miss the chance about his request to keep the secret of Ana missing the training, he takes out his notebook and writes something, he gets up for Ana to read, there are two options and he speaks out loud:
Keeping the secret vs. telling the secret
"Ana, since we're at the market, which one are you going to choose?"
Ana's father hears a boy's voice and asks who is with her, Ana takes a sip from her water bottle, but chokes after reading what is written and starts coughing immediately afterwards, increasing her despair:
"Couf, Couf, oh it's Luke...couf...he had to come to the market...too."
When her father hears this, he seems to calm down. The poor man hardly knows what Luke is up to with his daughter. He then asks Ana to go home soon because they need to talk, together with her mother. Ana has already put it in her head that it would be better not to say anything, because the more she talks, the more the subject will be prolonged, knowing her mother, the more she justifies herself, the worse it will be, so she intends to apologize, and end the subject soon, she turns off her cell phone and looks seriously at Luke, with a face that wants to kill him right then and says:
"Luke Becker, you're going to have to come to my funeral tomorrow!"
Luke has a good laugh, and tries to calm Ana down, saying that he'll accompany her home, and that he'll probably be around to avoid a possible argument, thus reducing his mother's anger and probably his father's too (he remembers an argument earlier, and a gate slamming so he deduces that it would have come from the direction of Ana's house) He just doesn't warn her that this will come at a price, thus increasing her debt to him, Ana would have no other way of escaping, yes Luke is very perceptive, when he wants to be.
Finally the bus arrives, Ana clings to her backpack and won't let go, she's really tense, so she doesn't say much on the way home, Luke thinks it's best to leave her alone, as she's already done too much for today, or not, as he still has another trick up his sleeve. They pass a nearby market very quickly and buy some snacks and drinks in a market bag, just so they don't arrive empty-handed, and be discovered, Ana arrives home accompanied by Luke, her mother gets up irritated, but when she sees Luke entering together with Ana, she restrains herself, Luke greets them and apologizes for Ana arriving a little late, they invite him to dinner, and while they're at the table having dinner, the subject of cake comes up, he takes the opportunity and talks about having bought the cake in question but omits the part that he's pretty sure it was this cake that caused an argument:
"Mrs. Bianchi, I hope you liked the cake, I'm sorry I ended up buying it and not telling you about it."
Mrs. Bianchi looks at Ana, and disguises it by saying that she loved the cake, and that it really was very good, but she doesn't like Ana to eat too many sweets, and end up putting on too much weight, especially now that she's training, she needs to maintain her good health and fitness, as she herself has always had problems maintaining her weight in the past, and she doesn't want her daughter to have the same problems, But she thanks Luke for his attention, then goes to get another cake she bought, Ana ends up being surprised, because she didn't expect it, but she still feels bad that she can't even tell her mother the real reason for her fight, she cuts a few pieces and serves them, apparently everything seems to be going well, while Ana gets up and goes to help her mother with the dishes, Luke sits down with Mr. Bianchi on the sofa, to talk. Bianchi on the sofa to talk some more, during which time Luke puts his other plan into action and asks Mr. Bianchi:
"Thanks for dinner Mr. Bianchi, I'm sorry if I'm being a bit invasive, if Ana suddenly has a boyfriend, she might misunderstand..."
Then he pauses, waiting for Mr. Bianchi to add something and confirm his question about "boyfriend", quickly Mr. Bianchi fixes his glasses and speaks:
"No, no, you will never be invasive Luke Becker, Ana doesn't have a boyfriend, at least not that I know of."
Luke throws the bait on the hook to catch the fish, he's really committed to finding out the truth, he'd better be sure, he's not doing anything that isn't inappropriate, he's never been so interested in someone, as much as he has been since he met Ana, but a doubt creeps in:
"Well, she doesn't usually have that many friends, but she's had a friend since childhood, he's coming to Rivercity in a few days, he's the son of a long-time friend of mine, but I think it's just friendship."
Mr. Bianchi and Mrs. Bianchi want their daughter to follow their family's tradition of getting engaged and married and increasing their family's power, so that in the future they can win the future positions of Support, Hunter, Elemental Hunter, and aim for the most difficult of all, the position of Time Conjuring Magician, which can take 50 to 100 years before another magician is born, and through these mergers between families, the chance will increase.
At first they were unsure whether to go with Luke, Justin Becker, or even Scoot, regardless of their rivalry. Scoot's father even sent the Bianchi's an invitation, inviting Ana to be Scoot's teammate in the Awakening Test, but Mr. Bianchi has his own preference. Mr. Bianchi has his own preference, since he was Mr. Han Becker's partner in the Test many years ago, coming out the winner and Mr. Han being designated as the Time Conjuring Magician, thus being the most powerful magician of all, and being responsible for controlling the Hell Gate for 45 years, thus being today his main and most valuable client.
PS: Mages and those descended from Demons usually age very slowly, so they can live longer, but that doesn't stop them from being killed if they are attacked by either a Mage or a Demon, which is why it is essential to cast Protection Spells, as the family will always be the target and weak point, regardless of their race.
...continued.... posted June 27