Host, Please Be Honest! What Exactly Are You?

Tick-Tock. Tock-Tock.

Only 10 seconds had gone by since he sat across this student of his.

But to him, it felt like an eternity, with the abnormal pressure and tension swimming across the scene.

'Should I say something?'

Angzen was honestly trying his best to contain his already bottled-up fury.

But seeing the state of silence they were in, for some reason, his mouth refused to utter his complaints.

It all began when he sat on the chair, and Dorian lit the 4 candles on the ends of the table.

Brrm!

The yellowish hue made their faces glow all the more thanks to the red canopy that seemed to elect and cause an even more dramatic visual within the room.

'What a pure smell.'

The candle smelt like nothing he had ever smelt before.

In fact, he didn't even know whether what he smelt was actually an aroma or not.

One could say the candle was unscented. But even unscented candles wouldn't make the air smell so purified and clean.

What was this?

The scent made his anger reside a bit more, holding in his impatient words.

Angzen rubbed his hands on his thighs, not knowing what he thought.

And then, very unexpectedly, he saw Dorian reach underneath the table, taking out what seemed like a deck of cards.

'_'

... Why did he feel that there was something wrong with this script?

Sure. Playing cards was fun.

But was this the time to do so?

.

Eh?

Angzen stared at the strange block of cards, watching Dorian slowly shuffle and move them around.

And as he worked, his hand speed increased like lightning.

Thap! Thap! Thap!~

The candle flames began to dance vigorously, and a strange gust of wind blew into the tent.

Ah-

Dizzy. Dizzy.

Angzen watched the cards sway back, forth, and around, already feeling too dizzy to keep up.

Blink.

He blinked and shook his head in an attempt to get rid of his dizziness.

Pap.

Dorian abruptly stopped. And the candle flames also stopped flickering.

"Before we begin, I'll need your full name, age, and place of birth."

"Why?" Angzen was perplexed, supporting his aching head with one hand.

"You'll know once it's over."

That's it?

Angzen thinned his lips, contemplating on whether to give it or not. In the end, he sighed, telling Dorian all he wanted to know.

"Hmmm."

Dorian took everything into account before closing his eyes once more.

Sometimes, the basic information and other aspects weren't enough to fully see into a matter.

And that's why he had no choice but to use this method.

Tarot cards!

He had long crafted them for times such as these.

And as thought, they came in handy faster than he expected.

Finally opening his eyes, Dorian stared at Angzen deeply.

"Let's begin."

.

Angxen suddenly felt anxious, watching Dorian lay the strange cards before him one by one.

And as he laid them out, he began talking with Angzen.

"Teacher Angzen, you have a younger sister who lives back in your hometown. Growing up, you... Blah, blah, blah, blah~."

"Yes! Yes,! Yes!"

Angzen almost stood and jumped in agreement when listening to Dorian summarize all the major happenings in his childhood.

Even more shocking was that Dorian had stated some secrets that only he knew.

But how was this even possible?

When he was 10 years old, Dorian wasn't even conceived yet, not to talk of being born.

So how could he have known this?

You say he did digging into his past?

Impossible!

Some secrets were known only to him, though they weren't bad.

Everyone had their little secrets be it good or bad.

"You!~"

The way Angzen looked at Dorian changed.

Words alone couldn't describe the shock in his heart.

One by one, Dorian would lay out various cards that gave out a few facts about himself.

With laser beam eyes, Angzen stared at the cards, wanting to dissent them for himself.

Wipe!

Could it be that there was some hidden information on them that only Dorian could see?

(0_0)

.

Like so, Dorian rounded up the facts about his past and began to look into his present.

Now, Dorian became even more intense.

"Teacher Angzen, your debt comes from your family matters, correct?"

Angzen nodded vigorously before thinning his lips into a bitter smile.

"Yes... Sigh... You wouldn't be wrong about this. For over 11 years now, I've been contributing large amounts to take care of my parents, who have been sickly over the years. My father developed cancer some time back. And maybe because of the distress and worrying, my mother never took care of her body either." He said, with a sigh of nostalgia in his voice.

Back in, he left bitterly because of his stubbornness, settling here with his newly married wife to become a teacher.

His parents favored his little sister more than he, which was very bizarre but true.

One day, he couldn't take the way they treated his newly wedded wife, choosing to move as far away from them as possible.

Still, he was a filial person who loved his parents, despite their overly exaggerated bias against him.

So over the years, he had been communicating with his sister, sending money to her every time he told him about their situation.

Surgery today, this tomorrow, he also knew that they were getting up there in age.

And recalling his father's situation before he left ages ago, he felt even more guilty towards them, sending all he could to support their health.

As for his current predicament, he was in debt because he took a massive loan from a loan shark because of his parent's situation.

What should he do? What should he do?

In 15 more days, they could come for a few limbs on his body to make up for what he owed!

More frighteningly, they might attack his wife and children as well.

.

Dorian narrowed his eyes, looking at the air above Angzen.

Something wasn't right.

There was more to this story than meets the eyes.