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"Oh, gosh! Is that what I think it is?"
Coco's eyes sparkled as she went and grabbed Agott's body, dragging her to places that Agott already found it to be monotonous.
They were supposed to be in the Healing Spire for their annual checkup, but coincidentally, a medical surge happened, caused by a landslide in a nearby mountain so it was put on hold for now.
Coco would've helped if it wasn't for the staff shooing them away. Agott moved on with her saying, "There's nothing we can do but to pray for them." Richeh and Tetia holed themselves away, trying to polish their own spells in the meantime.
That leaves Coco on her own since she figured Agott would've joined them, but instead she was pleasantly surprised that Agott would join her. She must be really low on her materials.
Coco fiddled with a contraption. "How do I…?" She felt Agott's fingers guiding her. "Pull it, once you see the lines circling, adjust to it—"
Instead of listening, she found herself looking at Agott. She really does have a lovely lashes. But before she could let herself admire Agott's frame longer, she saw someone familiar in her peripheral view, causing her to do a double take as her face paled.
It's Loroga!
Coco's silence caught Agott's attention as she looked up before following her line of view, her face soured immediately upon realizing.
"Well, well, if it wasn't the forsaken child and her minion."
Coco felt uneasy as she looks at Agott, who already wore an annoyed face as she sighs, "What do you want now?"
Loroga smirked as his eyes went to Coco, whose body goes rigid as she had a feeling of what he's about to do.
"Oh, I don't know. I was just wandering around until I saw you two, and I can't help but notice something."
Something dropped within Coco as she felt the urge to run away. But before he could continue, Jujy butts in as she yelled.
"Heyo! What's up?"
She looked at the scene before snearing at Loroga. "Ugh, Loroga. You bullying Agott again after all that?"
This aggravated Loroga, "Wh—I wasn't! That's not even what I'm here for." Jujy puts her hands over her head as she leans her head at the side, "Then what?"
Loroga's eyes went to Coco once again as a small smirk appeared on his face. "Well, I noticed Coco—"
Coco couldn't take it anymore, she grabbed Loroga by his shoulder as she flipped him to his back, earning a protest from him before pushing him away from them.
Once she knew they couldn't follow, she loosened her grip before Loroga swatted her hands away from him. "What the hell's your problem?"
Coco wasn't thinking this far, all she knew was to bury that feeling she had, and in her unluckiest day, Loroga found it.
Sensing Coco's silence, this connected the dots for Loroga as he scoffed. "You don't want her to find out, did you?"
Something heavy gripped Coco by her feet as she lowered her head. "You're afraid she might reject you, huh?" Then a laugh comes out from him as he leans on the bricked wall.
"An outsider having a crush on an Arklaum." She felt her blood run cold at this. "That would've been impossible, if it wasn't for her circumstance."
She then looked up, her eyes was dangerous as if one small misstep would earn a wrath from her. Loroga didn't seemed to take a hint as he hit the final nail on the head. "You're probably glad that she was kicked out from her hou—"
A hard slap all it took to shut Loroga up, his widened eyes now painted in fear. Both of Coco's hand stayed rooted on each side of the wall, locking Loroga's head.
If only Coco could see how petrifying her golden eyes looks from a dimmed angle. "I don't care if you insult me to the end of your wits, Loroga," she whispered.
"But dragging Agott's past just like that to hurt me." Her golden eyes glowed brighter as it hit a stray light. "You're the most pitiful person I've come across."
She can see Loroga gulped as he smirked—a false bravado if she ever saw one. "Y-you really like that girl, huh."
Once she was faced with that fact, she turns to mush as she realized what she was doing. She's surprised that she could even act out like that.
Quick! Act like you don't like her like that, please…
Coco looks away as she tries. "Wh-what do you mean? I don't know what you're talking 'bout…"
"…"
Loroga only stared at her poor attempt, her quivering lips now annoyed him more since it reminded him of ducks.
"We literally have a talk about it seconds ago!"
Coco winced at his voice. Loroga only sighed as he held his head. "To think I just scared myself from you earlier only to be faced with a pathetic maiden in love."
Coco blushed at this. "Take that back!"
Before they could continue their tussle, two footsteps unknowingly joined them as a voice made Coco go rigid.
"Coco…?"
She looks back, her eyes locked to Agott's. Not even realizing their position at the moment, to which Agott creased her eyes. "Are we interrupting or…?"
Loroga shoved Coco's face away as he moves away from her. "No! You didn't," he said as he crossed his arms.
This doesn't seemed to be comforting Agott one bit as she saw Coco's ears blushing. Then Jujy hit an another nail to now deeply embedded head.
"Really? That wasn't what we saw though~"
Then silence washed over them. Two people not trying to even explain as it would only deepen the misunderstanding. And the other two only took the silence as something to be mulled over as the implications ran wild on their minds.
"Okay, say ahh~"
Loroga only stared at the line, his mind now disassociating from what he went through earlier. Maybe this also the right time to get a checkup for his brain.
Once the line moved, he saw the four apprentices of Qifrey sauntering out.
He looked at Coco, whose face was brimming with joy as if she was administered a happy pill from the staff.
But before he could look away, he saw the back of Agott's hand caressing over Coco's scarred cheek, earning a smile from Coco as she held it with her own hand.
There he saw Agott's face softening at Coco's reciprocating hand.
Huh, she also like her.
Agott's soft eyes went to Loroga as it immediately turned to slits. She narrowed her eyes towards him as she locked Coco's arm to hers, now walking away.
And it's his turn.
"Heh, to think both of them are protective of each other!" He said to himself as he stepped on the weighing scale, his hands now on his sides as he puffed his chest out.
"Uh, kid. You don't need to do that. You'll confuse the scale."
…
"Sorry."
"Yeah, just stand up straight now."
Loroga now holds a fact that no one probably knows and he will forever keep it—until, of course, one of them proves him wrong in the next five years.