I went back to my room feeling good about almost pushing the duke past his limits, testing people's patience can be fun. I sat in front of the mirror and burst out in laughter, that was so fun. Poppy transformed and sat on the bed staring at me, I looked at him through the mirror as he got dressed in the spare cloth Millie brought.
"Are you a pervert?" He asked, looking at me. I laughed and said,
"I'm sorry, but I am not interested in little kids," obviously trying to annoy him.
"I see, too bad for you," he said not falling for it. Would it be possible to become immune to my teasing in less than a day?
"Yes," I heard Poppy's voice in my head. I turned and looked at him with a questioning look.
"What?" He asked innocently. This brat. "Don't call me a brat," he said in my head again.
"Hey, stop doing that," I shouted as I stood up.
"Doing what?" He asked, feigning innocence.
"Y… Y… You…," I stammered trying hard not to curse, it was really hard not to. "Stop what you're doing," I warned.
"What am I doing?" He asked with false innocence. This kid is annoying. "I am not annoying," he said in my head again.
"Get out of my head," I said, irritated. He must have noticed because he said,"Sorry." Lucky brat, I was about to go villainess mode on him. "What happened?" He asked suddenly when I had calmed down enough.
"..." I don't know what he's talking about.
"I was reading your thoughts to see if I can tell what happened," he explained, but I was still confused. What happened is you irritated me and I reacted how any annoyed person would react; that was the only answer I could give.
"But nothing happened," I replied.
"This morning…," he started, and I stopped breathing without realizing, and just like that, the suffocation returned. "You woke up panting like you had a nightmare."
"I guess I did," I said with a fake smile, who would have thought I'd have to show Poppy a fake smile. Poppy is a new member of my list of favorite people and I actually thought he'd never see my fake smile because there's a cute face attached to that foul-mouth of his. My list of favorite people is a very important list that consists of me, Millie, Poppy, Carmel, and Avery because he's rich, only five people made the list. I feel like a betrayal, but I've only known the kid for a few hours so no need to.
"Silver," he called me out of my thoughts. It was the first time he called my name since I agreed to let him call me that, but I felt really hard to get used to. He scanned my blank expression like he could tell what I was thinking, well, I guess he could. "I am not reading your mind again," he said. Yeah, I can see that.
"Then…," I was about to express my disbelief when he continued with,
"I don't like lies, at least I won't lie to you." I felt bad, really bad. Hearing those words made me feel like a shitty person, but hearing those words from a person who looked like a five-year-old... Switch off. He smiled and said,
"I told you not to think too much, or you'd have a nightmare."
The tension that had settled in the room was gone, it was replaced with a calm that was new to me, new and absurd, and difficult to get used to.
"Let's go shopping," I said, changing the subject.
"Sure," he said. Same response.
I was about to call Millie when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw Raphael standing there with Lily standing behind him, she must still feel guilty. I already forgotten about what happened and my depression, okay the depression part is a lie, but I'm not concerned with what happened anymore. To make it better, Raphael learned how to knock.
"What brings you here?" I asked moving aside for them to walk in.
"I thought that I'd invite you out for a bite… At my favorite restaurant," he said, looking less tense than the last time we spoke. They both looked like they expected me to have changed my mind, I did, but I'm all about surprising people today.
"Sure," I said, using Poppy's words.
"I know this is impromptu but… Wait, did you just say 'okay'? He asked and I nodded. This old man must have rehearsed every single thing he said now. Pfft!
"But I have to do something first, I'll meet you in two hours," I said and walked them out.
Lily glanced at me and walked off, she looked as if she had something to say.
I turned to look at Poppy, he had already transformed to his dragon form. Such a good puppy.
"Poppy, let's go see mom," I said and walked out as he flew on my shoulder. You can trust her, I thought in my head just to confirm. No reaction. "My mother is a very trustworthy person, you only surpassed her in the list because of your cuteness. And she gave me the ring too," I said. I was pleased that Poppy stopped when I told him to. Poppy is such a nice dragon, but I can't tell him that.
I was about to knock on the door to Carmel's room when I heard,
"...and you thought giving her the ring was best? You should have given it to Sylphie. Why do you favor that child so much? Just stop doing this, okay? If you had given it to Sylphie it could boost her magic," the duke was yelling at mother. "She can't even use magic so you just wasted an asset," he rambled. Poppy is not a property, even if he were he's mine.
"You know that the reason she can't use magic is your fault and that…," I heard mother's voice. I couldn't listen to it any more, so I knocked.