Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

The next day, I could hear the heavy drops of rain by the window of the prince's chamber the moment I woke up. I immediately stood up and stayed there for a few minutes as I watch the rain with amusement in my eyes.

Way back when I was a kid, I liked being in the rain. Maybe because I have fun memories with it. Like there was this one time when my brother and I snuck up in the house in the middle of the night and went to the strawberry fields that he has been working on because I forced him to during my teenage years, and then it suddenly poured. Of course, my brother was scolded after we came back home, dripping wet and all. But at least we had a good time together.

There was also one time when my childhood friend Dexter and I have been playing in the rain in the middle of a football field after school and danced along with it until we got tired. I was then reprimanded by my mother when she picked me up that time, and Dexter was willing to take all the blame but I insisted that it was actually my fault for persuading him to go along with my foolishness.

Those were just the examples of good memories that I had with the rain, and I was hoping that while I am still here in Citadel, I would also have a good memory with it someday.

I almost jumped out of my bed when I saw Alex standing in front of me as soon as i turned my head.

"Gosh, you scared me!" I yelped.

"You are not answering when I was knocking on the door, so I had to barge in and see if you are still alive and breathing," he snickered.

"Alright, alright. I am on my way to prepare for school, so please go now."

"I will without you telling me, don't worry,"

"Good,"

And with that, he truly left the prince's chamber, making way for me to finally prepare for school.

---

I hate bringing umbrellas with me, but this time I had no choice. It was still raining so hard when I arrived at school and all the students are either wearing raincoats or also are bringing their own umbrellas with them and leave them on the rack outside our room.

"Good morning," my friends greeted me in the chorus as soon as I went towards my seat and settled down. 

With a bright smile on my face, I also greeted them back.

"What a shame. We have all been planning to go to this new boutique that just opened around Central Town and it suddenly rained," Ariella suddenly mentions this, her tone really disappointed and her eyes looking at the window.

"I was all excited for this and we need to postpone our visit," Maggie says in the same degree of tone as that of Ariella.

Cailin sees this and clapped her hands together, catching their attention immediately.

"Tomorrow is another day. We could all still see the boutique, as if it would really go away from here," she says. And for her positivity, I give her a thumbs up.

"But today is their grand opening. And that only means plenty of sales for first few customers to visit the store," 

"It will be alright. I'm pretty sure they will be extending it until tomorrow."

And our conversation had to end there because our class adviser Mr. Pumpkin had already entered the classroom and immediately started the discussion.

---

By the time the school bell rang to indicate that classes for today are all over, my classmates  are already starting to make their way towards the door, I was still gathering my things and stuffed them inside my bag as neatly as I could.

I stopped midway with what I was doing when I saw something placed inside my bag. Wrapped in a brown bag is where the mango tarts that we baked earlier during our culinary class were placed. If I remember it correctly, there are four that were left from the batch of tarts I baked earlier since I ate two of them to see if how was it. It turned out to be okay.

A smile then appeared on my lips. I was so proud of what I've done since I am not also a good baker either that I decided to pack the rest of them for my mentors to have a taste of it. I wonder how would they react to it.

"Someone's happy," Cailin pointed out. For a second, I almost forgot my friends are still here beside me, patiently waiting for me to finish what I am doing right now.

I pretended not to hear it and immediately stood up once I closed my backpack. And together, we went out of the classroom going towards the gates of Gilead Academy.

"Oh? It stopped raining already," 

Everyone looked up into the sky and saw the rain had indeed stopped pouring. All of my friends looked so excited about it.

"I guess we could still go to the grand opening of the boutique then?" Ariella brought the topic we had earlier to the classroom.

"Yes please! I would really love to see their beautiful products on sale," Maggie insisted as well.

"I guess I could come too," Cailin chimes in. Then they all looked at me like they were waiting for me to speak up even if they already have an idea that I can't come with them.

"No… I can't come guys. But take care, we'll never know when it would start raining once again," I finally said, closing my umbrella while speaking. I heard sighs and saw their forehead wrinkling because of what I said.

"Do you there's a chance that it would rain again?" asked Maggie. 

I pointed my right index finger to the skies and said, "Yes, there is. The skies are still gloomy, meaning anytime now it would still rain. So just be careful on your way to Central Town."

"Oh, okay. We will." they all said in a chorus before we parted ways. I turned to my left where the marketplace is located.

On my way to the castle, I was already aware that one of my mentors is currently following my every movement in an invisible mode because that is what we have agreed on ever since we found out there was someone trailing me from behind the other day. I am not sure yet if it is Alex or Lucas though.

"Lucas?" I whispered shouted while keeping a straight face like I am not trying to communicate with an invisible person here.

When no one answered, I called out another name. "Alex?"

Still no response.

Geez, maybe there is really no one who would pick me up from here in the marketplace. I sighed and kept going. I was practically roaming my gaze for any signs of stalkers and enemies around me when halfway towards the castle, it rained again all of a sudden. 

Panicking, I instinctively got my umbrella and opened it, but I think it got jammed in the inside. It won't open too soon, and my hair is starting to get wet around here.

But then I felt that the rain stopped pouring on me. Not because it stopped raining, but someone had his umbrella placed over my head while also trying to cover his head as well. When I lifted my head to know who it was, it's like time itself went at a slow pace… and all I could see was him and him alone.

"Alex…" Surprised, his name came out of my mouth like a whisper. 

He is not in an invisible mode right now, or else he would not be able to hold out tangible things like this umbrella he is currently holding. We are now in this dark alleyway leading to the secret route, so there are no other persons that might see us here. 

"I-I thought no one was here to pick me up…" 

"Looks like it's damaged," he says, ignoring what I just said.

Seeing that I didn't respond to what he said, his eyes shifted from me to the umbrella I was holding and added, "I mean your umbrella."

"R-right," I replied and immediately looked away. It took a little bit of energy for me to take off my eyes from his handsome face.

"Well, it's not really damaged, it's just jammed inside, which usually happens when I did not properly close it well," I added.

"Whatever. Hurry up and open that thing or I will be wet as well here."

For a second, I thought he was trying to be a gentleman earlier. But seeing that it would also cause him so much hassle for doing so, I forced my umbrella to open up as soon as possible, and finally worked.

I rolled my eyes at him and started walking ahead with my own umbrella in one hand. A few seconds later, I felt him following me behind.

Regardless of how he behaved earlier, I think another good memory will now be registered inside my head during the rainy season that I can keep forever.

That is… a visual picture of his handsome, masculine face under his umbrella.