Way of the Knights

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One week after that whole scene of Ellen and Paul.

Bored. 

A perfect term for what Anne's current mood. 

She was sitting on the edge of roof with her feet dangling. She has been sighing over and over again since there nothing for her to do. 

It was her day off as an Instructor so she didn't need to go there, not that she feel particularly inclined about doing so. The rest of her friends are busy doing something so she can't hang out with them. She thought about training but she's not on the mood, even picking up her bow makes her feel incredible boredom. 

Shopping? There no sense on going since she practically have everything that she wanted from the market. In fact, her closet is about to burst open with how many clothes she has in there. She even had someone build her a room just for her to place all of her foot wares. 

She could eat but she's no particularly hungry, she could go out and go to places but she had seen it all. She could go and visit some people but it's not the same if it's not her friends. 

So with nothing to do, Anne could only sigh repeatedly and watch as the time pass by. 

"Psst." 

Anne raised her brow and followed the sound. As she turned her head, she saw someone leaning on a tree not too far from where she is while looking at her. 

It was a guy who's about 5'9 in height. Short black hair, a strong jawline, fair skin, lean body and was wearing a sleeveless maroon shirt which accentuated his lean yet muscular arms, couple with a tight-fitting black colored pants.

Of course, this was none other than Mark. 

Anne smiled and jumped down from the roof, she hopped a few times after landing and stopped precisely in front of him. She then asked: "What's up?"

"Bored?" Mark asked while raising his brow. 

Anne nodded vigorously like a little child. Mark chuckled and said: "Come, I'll show you something interesting."

Mark then employed his movement technique, causing him to transform almost like a bolt of lightning, leaving Anne behind. 

The green haired girl smirked and said: "A contest of speed huh?"

Anne can recognize a challenge when she sees one, and Mark doing this is nothing different. With a gentle skip, Anne turned into a blur as she hurriedly caught up to Mark. 

One was like a lightning while the other is like the wind. Two silhouettes moved too fast for the naked eye to follow as they charged through the mini-forest all the way to the streets which are teeming with human activity. 

Anne came into a halt once he saw Mark did so as well. He looked back at her and smirked, before Anne could ask him what he's planning, he saw the dude turning into a flash of lightning towards the roofs. 

The young lady smirked and followed closely behind, she then asked: "Are we playing a game of tag now?"

Mark looked behind her and said: "Not really, but if you can catch me then I might give you a present."

"Present? You don't have to. I've got a lot of things at home." Anne said as she jumped over a steel bar elegantly.

"I can guarantee that you will like this one." Mark said, causing Anne to raise her brow.

"Oh? And how can you tell?" She asked since she could hear the confidence behind his voice. 

"Hmm…" Mark hummed as he calmly dodged the obstacles on his way even without looking. "Let's just say, what I have is a collector's item."

"Oh, color me surprised. You actually know about that term." Anne chuckled as she continued chasing after him. "Well, I'll take your word for it."

Anne suddenly picked up her speed. If before her speed was just as fast as the wind, now she's more like a fearsome gale. Mark smirked as he too kicked up his speed. 

The two then continued their chase through the Kingdom causing some slight panic to it's citizens. Nevertheless, no one complained too hard since they were used to it by now. Plus, it's not like there were some real damages that were inflicted to them. If anything, all they felt was a strong breeze and that's about it. 

The chase went on for a while. Anne's boredom had completely disappeared and was replaced by entertainment. At this point she didn't really care about the prize, or the fact that Mark might be lying to her. All that she knows is that what's happening is fun, and even though this is a bit of a work out, she didn't mind. 

And it's not like Anne had any hopes of catching Mark anyway. The close calls of her catching up to him were all staged by Mark just to make the chase more fun, of course Anne is aware of this. If Mark is really serious, then he could instantly widen the gap between them. 

Even so, Anne appreciated this. Just like how Paul knew Ellen so much, it was safe to say that none could understand her like Mark does. Though they don't talk a lot, actions were more than enough to make up for that. 

Eventually the ended up in cliff, and as soon as Mark arrived here he came into a screeching halt. Anne saw this and caught up to him, touching his shoulders to claim victory but was intercepted by Mark's rough and warm hands. 

Anne was little bit stunned, she looked at him and saw him staring into her eyes. It was as if he was staring at her soul. A faint blush appeared on her face but she masked by saying:

"I caught you." She then raised her other hand and asked: "Where's my prize?"

Unexpectedly, Mark smiled and walked while holding her hand. Anne tilted her head in confusion but went along since she has nothing better to do anyway. 

They went on the edge of the cliff. Mark sat down and patted the ground next to him, signaling Anne to sit beside him. Anne did, and suddenly a box wrapped in a gift wrapper was placed on her lap. 

Anne chuckled and asked: "What's with the wrapper?"

Mark raised his brow and asked: "Wait, don't tell me you still hadn't caught on?"

"Huh?" Anne also raised her brow, genuinely confused about his words. 

She saw him sigh, he then flicked her head and before she could ask why he did that, Mark said: "It's birthday today, you dummy."

"Oh." Anne reacted out of instinct, it wasn't until a couple seconds later that she finally digested what he just said: "Oh! It's my birthday! Wow, I can't believe I actually forgot about that."

Anne laughed merrily as she couldn't believe that she would actually forgot about her own birthday. She then give Mark a hug and said: "Thank you. Good thing you remembered."

"Are you that bored to even forget about your own birthday?" Mark asked in amusement. 

"Yeah, I must be." Anne agreed, "I don't know what's up today, but I was really bored. Thankfully you came."

As Anne busied herself on unwrapping Mark's gift neatly without tearing the wrapper, she didn't notice that Mark was behaving rather nervous. He kept glancing at her using the corners of his eyes, it was like he wanted to say or do something but couldn't for some reason. 

Anne suddenly heard Mark sighed, long and hard. She looked at him weirdly and asked: "What's up with you? You're acting like an old man, are you bored too? Want to race again?"

"Nope and nope." Mark shook his head, "I'm fine, just go ahead and look at your present. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Okay." Anne nodded and finished unwrapping the present. What she saw actually made her gasp and look at Mark in astonishment. 

"How did you even got a hold of this? I thought they stopped making these for years now?"

What Mark got for her is a pair of earrings that has a gem that is carved like a flower. These earrings couldn't be bought from the market anymore since the manufacturer had stopped making these for about a decade now.

Anne adored these earrings so much. She asked her parents to but this for her even back when she was a kid but they never did since it was too expensive. 

"Oh my god, it's so pretty." Anne eyes sparkled as she looked at them, "I'll wear them now!" 

And she did just that, but as she placed them on, she remembered Mark's words. 

"Wait, how did you know that I like these earrings?" Anne asked with a confused face, "I don't remember telling any of you about this, not even the girls. So how did you know?"

Mark was silent for a bit, eventually he sighed again and said: "It was you who told me."

"Huh?" Anne was even more confused, she then asked: "When?"

Out of nowhere, Mark pulled out something from his spatial ring and showed it to her. 

"It was when you sent me this letter."

And as Anne saw the letter, her eyes widened and she involuntarily covered her mouth.

"Y-you are...."