WREN MINDLESSLY stared at the unfamiliar lady that was standing in front of him with her white and dainty hand extended before him. He didn't want her to misunderstand his timidity and indifference but he really couldn't quickly react the moment he laid his eyes on her.
Imagine his shock and surprise when he was just busying himself with celebrating and studying his newly acquired summons when he heard Hunin's throat clearing. Of course, it became his natural response now to glare at him so he did just that when he looked up to him.
But how shocked he was when the person he was expecting to receive his glare became a beautiful woman that he never expected.
He was quick to change his face back to his mastered, resting, indifferent face as he subconsciously stood up from his seat. The excitement he has while studying the skills of the Amarok wolf dissipates as if he were a molting coal who was poured out with cold and icy water.
He didn't feel like smoke coming out of his face because of so much embarrassment but he knew that he was like frozen coal. He just wishes that he didn't look so embarrassed that he could no longer face the person.
"Hello, my name is Luciel. But you can call me Lucy, like Luca calls me. Nice to meet you, Wren!" Lucy introduced herself first.
She even kindly extended her hands and yet Wren was still dazzled. Who wouldn't get starstruck when this angelic beauty was standing in front of him?
Look at those beautiful laid-back curls with the rare, vibrant red auburn color that would naturally bounce and shine for every head movement and light reflection. Not only does she have a rare hair color, but she also has rare sparkling emerald green eyes with a golden ring.
Then put it all together with small heart-shaped lips, a small straight nose, and prominent cheeks that emphasize her perfectly sculptured cheek bones—all tailored in a small heart-shaped head—which highlighted what a rare beauty she is.
Both Wren and the original have no experience dealing with beauty. Especially Wren, who was honestly too innocent for being inexperienced in that forte. With his thirty years of living in his original body, Wren has sadly had no experience talking to a single beauty.
This is not him having prejudice or anything, but with the type of expertise he had, most of the female colleagues he had were either married or too ordinary-looking, so it could not trigger any attraction from Wren.
To put it in other words, it didn't help that Wren was not a hopeless romantic type of guy or he just didn't have any romantic blood in him, so even if there were a few female single colleagues who would show some attraction towards him, he never had an eye for that.
It was his male friends who would feel regret every time he missed the chance to erase that 'inexperience-ness' of his but who made him too ignorant in this demand?
And now he was the one feeling regretful. Now he couldn't even answer the question of the other. Just how could he be a fool and embarrass himself in front of the beauty?
The other was really too pretty for his liking, so there was no doubt it could trigger this form of attraction in him. Wren wasn't even sure if she was his type to begin with but as of now, he couldn't quickly leave his eyes on her figure.
He keeps on staring at the beauty before him. Unknown to him, his stare didn't look as kind as he had expected or as perverted as he had dreaded. Instead, it was a look full of disinterest and indifference, which was making the lovely lady feel awkward.
"Hey! Earth to Wren? Hello?"
Wren almost yelled in shock when Hunin's face zoomed in before him. He's not getting biased or whatever, but despite the undeniable androgynous beauty that Hunin has, it became a natural reaction for Wren to get startled awake from seeing the other's face.
Well, at least that was good enough to bring him back from reverie, like always.
Wren, being as savage as he is when it comes to Hunin, used his hand to rudely push the latter's face away from his perspective as he calmly looked at Lucy once again.
"Nice to meet you as well," he timidly answered. However for Lucy and Hunin, it was very perfunctory.
"Ack! You really are a cold and indifferent guy. Although that just added a unique, mysterious beauty to you," Hunin exaggeratedly commented with his hand on his chest.
Wren was about to rebuke the other again when he heard Lucy's angelic laugh. So he naturally kept his mouth shut and took a secret glance at her.
"Well, calling him a beauty doesn't suit Wren at all. That term was obviously more suitable for you, Luca. As for what suits Wren, it is definitely heroically handsome."
Wren, who received a compliment from a beauty like Lucy, felt his face getting hot so he quickly tried to hide it by going back to his seat and turning his face away from them. Unknown to him, his ears were the ones getting the obvious flush and it was clearly seen by the other two.
Lucy and Hunin looked at each other and then took a silent laugh. They find this version of Wren cute. If Wren had heard them, he would have loved to jump from the flying car out of embarrassment.
"Wait!" Wren exclaimed when he remembered something and turned towards the two, who quickly hid their laughter. "I just noticed it now but why do you keep calling him Luca? And what's your relationship?"
"Oh, you didn't tell him?" Lucy asked, looking at Hunin, who scoffed back at Wren.
"I did! It was just that he seemed so uninterested when I told him that I didn't think he was actually zoning out; he hadn't heard me."
This time, Lucy laughs at him, and then he smiles back at Wren. "Well, Luca is his real name. Let's say Hunin was his self-given name. According to him, it was his stage name or codename as a holy priest so we just let him have his way. As for our relationship, we are close cousins. My father and her mother are siblings."
"Oh," was his only reaction and he didn't keep on asking.
Because, honestly speaking, Wren didn't know how he could keep the conversation going without making it awkward.
He was actually very good at conversing with his female colleagues, and he could also see that the original was a good conversationalist. But maybe their only boon was when it had something to do with their impression of the other person.
Just used this pair of cousins as an example. Wren is not a blunt and rude type; even if he got to know the person turned out to be bad when it came to Hunin, it became a natural reaction for him to be rude towards the other.
This reaction didn't mean he hated the other. It was just because it made him feel that showing a kind of dislike towards the other was his natural treatment for Hunin, despite the fact that the other wasn't that unlikable.
While it became a different case for Lucy, what probably made her different was the fact that he was kind of attracted to her. So he tried to look a little better before her but because of his ignorance of this demand, it turned into an indifference that he himself wasn't aware of.
This was probably the case and Wren agreed to it positively. In that way, Wren could make an excuse for himself. On the other hand, the pair of cousins had busied themselves with questions that only they could comprehend.
They possibly think that Wren didn't want to have a conversation with them so they could only talk with each other to prevent the inside of the car from ending in an awkward silence.
"So what's your reason again to come to this country? If it wasn't because Auntie had called me to inform me about letting you stay with me, I wouldn't have any idea you were here. Where are you going to sleep if that wasn't the case?" he heard Lucy ask Hunin like an elder sister interrogating her naughty younger brother.
"It was just that I had to finish my task as soon as I came here and forgot about it but it was really my idea to live with you for my whole week's stay here," Hunin quickly rebuked. "And why are you overreacting? Don't forget that I'm still three years older than you!"
"Not my fault. You didn't act like one either. You only acted like a real twenty-four-year-old when you were in action as a holy priest," Lucy debunked.
"At least I'm younger. Unlike you, what an old woman!"
"You're the old one! An old man acting childish. Yuck!"
In all actuality, Wren clearly wanted to ask and converse with them but his boon was doing so much magic on him that he couldn't think of anything that could let him enter their conversation.
And the more he secretly listened to the contents of their talk, the more Wren felt left out. And he was slowly disliking that feeling, but he was also starting to dislike himself for having no courage to break it.
Eventually, the unrest that he might just ruin the mood if he forced himself had won the battle and fit himself to his own world. Fortunately for Wren, his misery didn't last long, as they had finally reached the hunter association.