"Ellen, sorry, I'm a bit late."
The moment Ellen heard Wise's voice, she slipped her phone into her pocket and replied, "It's fine, I just arrived too."
She wasn't bothered since she really had arrived moments ago, and they still had a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time.
"So, where should we go first?" he asked, walking to her side.
"Well..."
Ellen paused, her eyes wandering across the street until they settled on a particular storefront.
Seeing her staring intently in that direction, Wise followed her gaze as well.
"Hmm? Ellen, are you interested in that place?"
Due to the angle, he couldn't see very well what was written on the store's signboard. He could only assume it was a normal store.
"No, that's where we're going last... Ugh! Never mind that place, let's head this way."
Ellen subconsciously started to answer Wise's question, but then, as if something crossed her mind, her face flushed slightly as she took his hand and led him toward the other side.
Shortly after they left, three girls came out from behind a stall where they'd been hiding.
"See! I knew it! So that's why our Nom Nom Shark turned us down. She'd already arranged to meet up with her boyfriend!"
Ruby declared with complete confidence as she stared after the pair. Beside her, Lynn gave an approving nod.
"Exactly. And it's that good-looking store manager, Wise. The moment I discovered they were acquainted, I suspected there was something between them. Looks like my intuition was right."
While she said this, Monna still appeared a bit hesitant.
"Ruby, he might not be her boyfriend, you know? They could just be normal friends."
"Huh? Monna, you can't be serious!" Ruby exclaimed dramatically, first pointing at the pair holding hands in the distance, then toward the place Ellen had been staring at earlier. "Do normal friends walk around holding hands like that and casually talk about visiting a place like that later?"
Following where Ruby pointed, the establishment's full name came clearly into view: 'Couple's Hotel'.
"Well, you have a point, but now that we know about their relationship, is it really okay to keep tailing them?" Monna asked, sounding unsure since this felt kind of wrong.
"We're not following them, Monna. We're just happening to go the same way while we hang out."
As Ruby spoke, she had already stepped forward, but her pace was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and she kept looking for cover along the way, afraid of being discovered.
No matter how you looked at it, she appeared incredibly suspicious.
"Honestly, Ruby never changes. Come on, Lynn, let's keep an eye on her... wait, what are you doing?"
Just then, Monna realized Lynn was focused on her phone, seemingly typing something.
When Lynn noticed her watching, she casually angled the screen so Monna could see.
"Nothing, just celebrating that our good friend found a partner, so I'm posting about it to celebrate," Lynn said, editing the post containing a photo of Ellen and Wise's backs.
The caption of the post read: 'My bestie found a boyfriend first, and he's so handsome, what should I do?'
"Uh, that's..." Monna trailed off, unsure how to respond.
"Too late, already posted. Come on, let's catch up."
Lynn tucked her phone away and grabbed Monna's arm, pulling her along.
Meanwhile, Ellen seemed to have a bad feeling. She suddenly stopped along the way, turned her head in confusion, only to catch sight of three familiar heads that hadn't managed to hide fast enough.
"What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing," Ellen replied with a shake of her head.
Although she didn't know why her three best friends were following them, since it was a date with Wise, it was better not to call them out and spoil the atmosphere.
Next, the two visited a place that would interest both of them, one she had seen on the internet.
Afterward, Wise suggested checking out a candy shop in the area. Ellen seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea.
Yet after browsing for only a short time, Wise ended up buying an armful of snacks for Ellen before making an excuse and slipping away.
The trio of best friends who'd been tailing them quickly devised a plan. One would follow Wise while the other two remained behind to keep an eye on Ellen.
They watched as she pulled out her phone once Wise had left, munching on snacks while staring at the screen.
Moments later, Monna, who'd been assigned to tail Wise, came rushing back.
"What happened? Didn't I tell you to follow him?"
Ruby and Lynn exchanged bewildered glances as Monna threw up her hands in defeat.
"I did everything I could, but the second I got close, he just vanished."
Monna was telling the truth, and her two best friends didn't doubt her, only finding it very strange.
"This doesn't make any sense. What kind of date involves abandoning your girlfriend and vanishing like that?"
Ruby frowned a bit as she tried to figure it out, while Lynn just went ahead and said what she was thinking.
"What if he's juggling two dates at once? Maybe he's got another girl waiting somewhere, and he's bouncing between them."
"Come on, Lynn, you can't be serious. There's no way that's happening."
Indeed, meeting two girls at the same time might not be possible, but meeting six girls at the same time was entirely possible.
On the other side, Wise had already returned to Koleda and brought her a model toy of construction machinery.
She appeared delighted with the gift, though her joy was tinged with worry. After all, he'd been away for quite some time.
Wise was about to reassure Koleda when Fairy suddenly sent a warning.
[|Warning. Nekomata is about to finish touring the Aquarium.|]
The alert left him with no choice. He cut his time with Koleda short, took a quick walk with her, and then made his way toward Nekomata.
But his problems weren't over. Right after he picked her up from the Aquarium, something else came up. Rain's gaming competition was entering the final stage.
Missing it would be a disaster, so his only option was to temporarily leave Nekomata at a cat café nearby.
Although bringing Nekomata to a cat café felt out of place, it was a necessary measure.
After rushing to Rain's side and watching the finals, he immediately celebrated with her. Since she had been fully focused on the game, she hadn't noticed his absence.
But obviously, Wise couldn't stop now. If he wanted to give every girl a date today, he had to keep going.
The path ahead might be dangerous, but he pressed on anyway.
Once he'd spent enough time with Rain, Wise made his way to Anby, who was dominating the eating contest.
The other contestants were already nauseous and struggling, yet she continued eating with pure joy written across her face.
- - - -
To gain access to more than 30+ chapters and more exclusive novels, go to:
[-p -a -t -r -e -o -n . com/DysFiction.]
To make a don@tion go to [ ko - fi .com /dysfiction ]
- - - -