The Ancients

17: Naivety

This time I rolled my eyes, not entirely certain if I was rolling them at the girls or at Holden.

"I don't care about that," he said, turning his attention back to me. 

Wow, how very kind of him!

"Well, Holden, I do. So if you don't want to do this my way, we don't do it at all."

When Holden didn't give me an answer, I figured my only option was to turn and leave. I took a few steps until I noticed a warm hand grip mine, pulling me back. The next thing I knew was what a hard, muscular chest felt like and my face planted in it. 

As if possessed by spirits, I couldn't stop myself from giggling. 

I hated it so much when I giggled.

"Fine. You win." He yielded, pulling me back and planting a soft kiss on my lips.

When he pulled back again, he placed his hands on my shoulders and looked at me. "You stubborn wolf." He smiled and kissed me again.

"Stop! People might see us and we have to go to class!"

Holden looked at me with those blue irises of his that glistened with mischief. I knew that look.

"Actually, I have a better idea."

☼

We strolled through the bustling life of the human neighbourhood. Shops and condominiums lined the narrow streets in all the colours that mankind had come up with. Some of the condominiums were painted in red, all made of stone, some painted green, blue or yellow. 

Shops were mostly in wooden-crafted, two-story buildings, old signs hanging a few meters into the streets, looming over our heads.

'Latisha's Bookstore' read one of the oak-signs, a small, rusty-red arrow pointing towards a green-coloured, wooden door. The front of the building had a large glass window, allowing direct sight into the interior.

"I bet Emmet would love a book from here", I said as I gazed into the window, reading some of the titles of the few books that were visible.

"It is an interesting store. Have you ever been here?" Holden asked.

"No, have you?"

Holden shook his head. "No, I haven't. First time too, come to think of it."

Turning back to the window, I saw a particular interesting book that caught my attention. 'Grimald's Four Seasons' was written on the cover in thick, golden, cursive letters. The cover was a dark blue, the edges adorned with ornate flowers. It caught my attention immediately because it was so simple but looked so valuable.

With Holden in tow, I opened the creaking door and was instantly greeted by the bookkeeper. 

"How can I help you two?" the elderly man asked kindly with a smile on his wrinkled face. 

He stood behind a small counter-piece, tiny, round glasses so far down his nose I imagined they would fall off once he moved. His snow-white beard nearly reached his chest. Similar to Holden's, he too had blue eyes, just much lighter. They held more wisdom than I'd ever seen before. 

I'd never been more intrigued about a human than I was in that moment.

"Grimald's Four Seasons." I paused. "What's it about?"

The man rose his hand to his beard and stroked it—a movement he did continually. Running his fingers from the bottom of his chin through the thick hair that grew thinner towards his chest, he smiled kindly.