It was so hectic today at the sick house. During lunch, while Hikaru and Noon were eating together inside Noon's office, they were disturbed by a sudden commotion outside. A sudden knock on the door startled Hikaru who was drinking. He automatically chocked on his drink. Noon quickly get up from his seat and patted Hikaru's back.

“Yes?” Noon shouted back to the door.

The door opened wide and there was Zac. His panic face was so obvious that they know something bad had happened.

“Zac? What's wrong?” Noon asked.

The Fehu inhaled and wiped his trickling sweat with the back of his hand.

“There was a lot of injured people outside! Maybe around eight to nine people-"

“Got it.” A sense of urgency could be heard from Noon's voice. Without finishing his lunch, Noon quickly ran to the treatment room. Hikaru and Zac followed him close behind.

According to the town people, there were two animal attacks nearly at the same time. It happened when a the woodcutters were doing their job in the outer part of Lyllion Woods. Usually, there should be no wild animals that would attack humans around that area. But for some unknown reason, the rampaging animals started to come out from the inner part of the forest.

Hikaru thought there would be monsters in Avalleon, but surprisingly there was none. Although Avalleon had fantasy settings, but there was no such things as monsters, or adventurer's guild or something like that. Of course there was no job description like adventurer as well. That kind of disappointed Hikaru a little.

Because the incidents happened near Noon's sick house, they were rushed here and that made Noon and his three assistants, including Hikaru busy running around all day. There were not only the four woodcutters, but a few other people who was working near the woods who were also got attacked.

For injuries that weren't fatal, they could just disinfect them using medicines that were made from herbs, bandaged them or if needed, stitched them up. If the injuries were bad, Noon and his two assistants helped the patients to regulate their mana around the injured part to help the injury heals a little bit faster. Noon was the busiest man in the sick house as he was the only doctor who was qualified to diagnose the patients. Zac and Lyle who was still unqualified to handle big cases were only allowed to watch and learn from Dr. Noon as he explained to them about the diagnosis and the type of treatments needed.

Hikaru's job was to help those three when needed. If they needed him to bandage the injured, he would do it. If they needed him to pass the tools, he quickly gave it to them. Thanks to their team work, they finished quicker than usual.

Hikaru had heard that a few groups of guards and knights were sent into Lyllion Woods to exterminate the animals. They needed as many people as they can because the woods was vast and dense as they got closer to the middle. If they were too late in exterminating the animals, they afraid that the animals would attack the residential areas that were closer to the woods.

One of them was Reese. Hikaru hoped that there were no more people getting hurt, especially Reese.

•°•°•☆•°•°•

The night was serene and calm, unlike the chaotic day they had just now. A light breeze blew onto Hyde's face, exposing his bangs that had already grown longer than his usual haircut. Hyde’s fingers ran through his front hair and brushed it off to the top of his head.

At that point of the time, his eyes brightened up when he caught Hikaru's silhouette coming towards him. Behind his mate, his best friend Noon was there, looking more haphazardly than usual. Noon smiled at Hyde and greeted him with a simple “hey”.

“Going home today?” Hyde smirked at the groaning Noon.

“Yeah...”

Noon usually pretended to be busy with his research and avoided going home. He was still living with his parents and other siblings, because his parents refused to let him live alone. It was all because Noon was bad in managing his own lifestyle. Unless he quickly got married, there was no way Noon would escape the house. That was the way his parents taking care of him, Hyde guessed.

“The mother had already threatened on finding me my Jiwa himself. Thought that I needed a wife to take care of me.” Noon muttered in annoyance.

“You know that your mother was right...” said Hikaru while smiling at Noon's whiny tone.

“Although I've already found my Jiwa. Mother just need to stop worrying for a little. I'm an adult-"

“That can't take care of himself.” Hikaru cut Noon's word off. Noon narrowed his eyes, paused a few second and sighed.

“True...” he said, defeated.

Hyde laughed when he was listening to the two's arguments. Furrowing his forehead with annoyance, Noon chased them away from there jokingly. Hyde pulled Hikaru to his side and said good night to Noon before they walked away from there.

Without realizing they were walking hand in hand, both of them were lost in thought. Hikaru was thinking about Reese, whike Hyde thought about what happened yesterday.

“Um...” Hyde started.

Hikaru noticed that Hyde was glancing at him a few time, trying to tell him something. Hikaru waited until Hyde speak, but nothing more came out of the big guy's mouth. Hikaru tilted his head and asked,

“What wrong?”

Flustered, Hyde said, “It's nothing.”

Then, at that time, Hikaru finally noticed that he was holding Hyde's hand the entire time. Hikaru's heart was beating fast at the accidental interaction.

“Ah! The hand! Right!”

The black haired boy suddenly pulled his hand away from Hyde's grip. He was flustered and red. Hyde, too, was in panic. A lot of thoughts flashing in his mind. Maybe Hikaru hated holding hands. Maybe Hikaru didn't feel comfortable with him after the kiss. Maybe Hikaru realized that yesterday was a mistake.

Ah.

Maybe he was just embarrassed.

Hyde secretly steal a glance at the blushing boy next to him. He scratched his nose anxiously.

“Um...”

Hikaru sheepishly shifted his eyes towards Hyde. “...Yeah?”

Hyde sucked in all the courage that he needed and bravely asked Hikaru, “have you ever kissed someone before? Well, before me?”

Hikaru's eyes became even rounder with shock. He turned away his face from Hyde to hide his embarrassment. Unbeknownst to him, that made Hyde thought that he was being rude for asking that question. When Hyde tried to stop Hikaru from answering, Hikaru opened his mouth.

“You're my first kiss...” Hikaru mumbled slowly, but the silence of the night helped Hyde caught those words. Hyde was ecstatic. He felt really accomplished, knowing that he was the one who was the first to claim the first kiss from Hikaru.

“You know that I was warded in the hospital, right? I was so sick and most of my time was not in school or outside, but the hospital room where I grew up. It was kind of hard to have a girlfriend or someone to kiss, you see?”

Hyde nodded. Hikaru had told him that before. At least about the part that he was hospitalised almost most of the time.

“Ah! ‘Girlfriend’ means female lover,” explained Hikaru shortly after realising that there was no such a word here.

“Like a... mate?” Hyde asked hesitantly.

Hikaru shook his head. “Nope. It's like, the one you attracted to- not necessarily a mate, just the girl or boy you like. You went out with them, date them, if you were okay with each other, you marry them. If not, you broke up. Cut the ties... or something. Don't you do it here?”

“Not really...”

Hikaru nodded awkwardly. “Fair enough.”

“So, you can kiss someone you date?” Hyde asked innocently.

Hikaru nodded. “Yeah! Only if they consent to it. If you like each other, a kiss is probably fine. If it was me, I'd only kiss the one I like!”

A playful smirk lingered on Hyde lips since a few seconds ago. Hikaru still didn't notice that and keep on talking.

“So, do you like me?”

Hyde's out of the blue question made Hikaru frozen in place. He slowly turned his head towards Hyde who was still smirking and in confusion and asked,

“Huh?”

“You said, you only kiss someone you like. So, you like me... right?” In the end of the sentence, Hyde sounded hesitant with his conclusion. Maybe, he was wrong?

However, Hikaru's blushing face shot down all of his insecurities and raised his confidence to the roof. Hikaru refused to look at him. Somehow, the boy's reaction made Hyde embarrassed too. They let the silence took over the situation until both of them calmed down a little. Hikaru stole a glance at his Jiwa and chuckled quietly. He now realized that he was not the only one who felt shy and embarrassed with this situation.

“Who do you think I am? My lips are exclusive, you see...” Hikaru put his hands behind him and pouted while stepping forward with wider steps than Hyde.

Hyde grinned widely and hurried his steps to catch up with Hikaru.

“Huuuuh... So, that's what happened... I was given the exclusive right... I see... I see...” An amused chuckle escaped Hyde's plump lips.

“What is this? Aren't you supposed to be the quiet and shy guy type? Why are you teasing me too much?” Hikaru pouted and pretended to be mad.

“I don't know. Maybe I can only be like this when I'm with you?” Hyde shrugged. He sneaked a look at Hikaru and saw the cutest smile that he had ever seen. Once again, Hyde was smitten by the young man next to him.

Little by little, Hyde sneaked his hand onto Hikaru's hand and gently held the small and soft hand into his. Hikaru was flinching slightly when Hyde's touch come into contact with his skin, but he just let Hyde do what he wanted without any refusal. The truth was, he didn't hate it. Not at all.

Hikaru carefully leaned his body against Hyde's arms, while his hand clasped tenderly onto his soulmate's bigger hand. A smile bloomed on his lips as Hyde's warmth seeping through his skin, into his heart.

“Thank you, for finding me at that time,” Hikaru uttered slowly, reminding of the first time they met. “Because of you, I'm not alone...”

Hyde laid his eyes on Hikaru's face, noticing the peaceful, yet sorrow in the teenager's dark eyes. He pulled Hikaru closer to him, and lovingly caressed his small shoulder.

“Back in my old world, I was alone, even though there were people around me. I felt left out, because I was different. I thought, if being left alone is hard, then I would rather pushed everyone away. But, that was hard too...”

Hyde's heart was hurting when he heard the sorrowful tone in Hikaru's gentle voice. He brought Hikaru's head closer and planted a warming kiss onto the obsidian hair. Hikaru giggled.

“Now, I had you... I had Noon... and I had Reese. There was also Zac and Lyle. I thought that being together is better than being alone.”

Hyde ruffled Hikaru's head affectionately. “I promise that I will never leave you alone.”