"I'm 24."
"So?"
"I am no baby boy."
"But my mom calls you her baby."
"...But I am not yours. Only aunty's and uncle's."
"Can't you be mine too?"
Natalia smirked again.
"O-of course I can't."
Arthur was lost as he stuttered saying that...
By the way,
What were they talking about again?
Arthur couldn't recall.
Trying to remember, he went into a daze, watching Natalia's beautiful grin.
But he was pulled out of that daze when he heard Natalia chuckle again, her eyes wandering around his face as if she was observing him.
That was also with that smirk on her face.
Arthur couldn't blush any more than this.
Seriously, he might explode if this goes on.
There was definitely something wrong with him.
He had never felt this helpless, miserable, and flustered before.
"Okay, okay, you're no baby boy."
Arthur didn't know what to say. He just stared at her, then at the floor, feeling quite displeased as he heard her chuckle after saying it.
But he just pouted and silently stood there, tired, his cheeks burning.
Since Natalia seemed to have focused back on her work without any words, Arthur slipped away to his room, his heart pounding.
After closing the door to his room, he let out a big sigh of relief.
"She is scary."
Arthur stomped around his room, thinking of ways to avoid embarrassing himself further.
Since this Natalia had been around, he had embarrassed himself so much.
Well, that is also on him because if he had controlled himself better-
'Am I perverted? I know it's her beauty that I look at. Is... this how perverts behave?'
Arthur was seriously concerned. He had seen and talked to many alphas before, both male and female. But he had never felt interested enough to observe them.
Natalia just seemed to attract his eyes whenever she was around him.
He felt pathetic and mostly defeated.
He might have actually started to have a crush on her.
Like those high schoolers.
'Seriously? Arthur, be more serious!'
Arthur walked around his room with all kinds of thoughts.
'Crushes are temporary, right? Alas, Auntie and Uncle will be disgusted with me. She is like a sister to me, right?'
Well, he didn't want a sister, but who knows what Auntie and Uncle think them to be? He cannot afford to disappoint them.
'Haa... Maybe I am taking things way too seriously.'
Arthur flopped onto his bed, and the confusion still followed, but he distracted himself with his phone.
"Arthur, sweetie. Are you there?"
Arthur heard Kelly's voice and ran to the door with a huge grin.
"Yes! Your sweetie is he-"
Arthur stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Natalia standing behind Aunt Kelly, her hands tied in front of her chest, her expression looking like she was holding back laughter.
'Aaah! So embarrassing...'
Arthur thought about how childish he had been just a second ago and how Natalia witnessing it made him want to bury himself.
He had talked about how he was older, and he had just proven himself so wrong...
Arthur pouted at Aunt Kelly as she chuckled, covering her mouth, then clearing her throat to make the situation a little serious.
"Talk to him and figure it out yourself."
Arthur switched glances between Aunt Kelly and Natalia, feeling confused as Aunt Kelly mumbled to Natalia.
What was there to figure out?
What was Aunt Kelly talking about?
'No, no, don't leave!'
Arthur panicked as he saw Aunt Kelly turning to leave and grabbed her arm, making her turn back and pat his arm.
"You two should get along a little. This is a chance."
Aunt Kelly whispered to him and winked, which confused Arthur even more.
'Okay... get along...'
Arthur didn't even realise that Aunt Kelly had slipped away until he felt a familiar pheromone wafting through the air.
'D-delicious pheromones.'
Arthur secretly glanced at Natalia, whose eyes were fixed on his face, a rather small smirk forming.
And Arthur turned red again, feeling his breathing become unstable.
'Aaaah! I have already embarrassed myself, haven't I?'
Arthur cleared his throat and gathered his courage to look at her and ask why she was there.
But before he could, she spoke, making Arthur a little annoyed as his convincing himself to be brave all went to waste.
"Can I borrow your laptop charger?"
Arthur, of course, wasn't going to say no.
But he did.
"N-no!"
Arthur was taken aback by his own words, but before he could take them back and make an excuse, she was the first to talk again.
"Why?"
Arthur could have just ended it there. But again, he didn't. He just had to drag that talk out without saying it all at once.
"B-because it's mine."
Arthur stuttered, and he didn't even notice it.
"Well, that's why I asked to borrow it."
"Y-yeah… I know. I just wanted to tell you it might not work for yours too."
"...It works. I know. Don't worry about that."
"Oh, okay then."
Arthur let out a sigh of relief before he rushed into his room and rummaged through the drawer to find the laptop charger she needed.
After finding it, he rushed back to where Natalia stood still.
"H-here."
Arthur looked at her in secret, thinking he was being smooth when he actually wasn't. He flinched and looked away when Natalia chuckled and looked at him.
"You really like stealing?"
Arthur looked at her, surprised, and felt quite offended.
"When did I steal? I am not a thief. You are the thief."
Arthur replied, and yes, he was talking about that chicken drumstick.
Yeah, yeah… Arthur is very, very pretty. All the time.
"Heh! I'm a thief? How do you know that? I just came here today."
Arthur stared at her, his mind blank as he didn't have anything to back it up with other than revealing why he thought she was a thief.
No… he couldn't say she stole his chicken drumstick. He couldn't be so petty and argue over food after all.
"How am I a thief?"
Arthur avoided looking at her and asked, trying not to answer her.
"Well, guess who always steals glances at me."
"T-that… I didn't."
Arthur stuttered.
"...Okay, you didn't."
Arthur was confused when she brought it up and then let it go so easily, but when he looked at her confused, she smirked again, making Arthur feel like she was messing with him.
"I... didn't... really."
Arthur mumbled in a faint voice even though he knew he was lying and had been caught.
He seriously needed to control himself.
Arthur, with his usual pout, stared at the floor as Natalia looked at him, blank-faced, using the chance she got to take a closer look at him.
Arthur's face was still slightly red, and they were quite chubby.
'I could possibly bite them too.'
Natalia suddenly realised what she had just thought and cringed, taking a step back.
Since she saw him today, she thought Arthur was cute. But now that she saw him this close, she had to say he was good-looking too.
He definitely had a bright personality, and he was definitely fun to be around it seemed like.
'...He isn't marked.'
Natalia didn't really think about that before, but now she could see and feel that he was an unmarked omega.
Maybe he has an alpha who hasn't marked him yet?
Natalia had never been so nosy before, and she was annoyed with herself, but her mouth had already betrayed her.
"Do you have an alpha?"
Natalia winced but played it cool and waited for Arthur, whose mouth was half-open, as if he was just about to answer.
But he didn't.
He seemed so shocked.
'Shit... did I just ask that? He must think I am trying to take advantage of him.'
Natalia grunted and was going to say just forget it, but Arthur's faint voice answered her before that.
"No."
Natalia didn't know what to say and just muttered an "oh" that was followed by a silence, making her scold herself again for making things awkward.
"W-what about you?"
Natalia looked at Arthur with a surprised expression, and Arthur quickly looked down, his eyes flashing a sense of regret.
Of course, Arthur was crying inside.
'Why did I ask that?! It's none of my business. Aaaah!'
"Well, I don't have an alpha either."
Natalia said with a chuckle, forgetting the awkwardness as she couldn't help but feel enthusiastic as he showed interest in their conversation.
"Y-you like alphas?"
Natalia stared wide-eyed at Arthur, who looked shocked and rather… somewhat horrified?
'Wait...'
It took a whole minute for Natalia to realise that he hadn't picked up on the joke.
Or maybe it was her bad jokes?
Natalia couldn't help but chuckle at how ridiculous and hilarious this all was.
First, she tried joking.
Second, it failed.
Third, this poor guy looked like he was about to cry.
Fourth, he was being really cute right now, looking at her with wide eyes.
'Aren't you so cute?'
Natalia thought as she watched him closely, her eyes betraying her command to look away.
But then, her eyes also widened as she watched the omega in front of her suddenly looking very flustered and getting redder by the second.
To the point where it seemed like he was about to faint or something.
And she just had to ask herself, 'Maybe... did I say that out loud?'
Spoiler alert… she did.
At first, Arthur thought he had heard it wrong because no one ever said he was cute. Obviously other than his sweet aunty and uncle...
Alas, out of everyone, Natalia wouldn't say that, right? He wasn't even that cute, and someone as great as Natalia, who would never and had never put effort into pleasing people, wouldn't say such a thing to him, right?
But it seemed like she did.
Arthur definitely heard it correctly.
And Arthur couldn't believe it.
But... he was really excited too, and he felt his whole body twitch with excitement, and he got goosebumps.
He was seriously going crazy over that simple compliment.
Even though he knew it might not mean much to her...
'God... I finally understand why the omega students in my classroom giggle and smile like idiots just because their crush smiled at them...'
So yeah.
It's official.
Arthur has a crush on Natalia.
And, he has fallen, hard...