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"Big sis Y/n, are you okay?" Izuru asked. The two of you sat on a bench which faced towards the direction of the sunrise. As it was still early in the morning, not many people were out. 

You cried for a while sitting beside Izuru and managed to keep yourself composed in front of the young boy later. 

"I'm fine, thank you for caring Izuru." You said as you patted the boy's hair. The boy looked at you slightly concerned as he had a frown on his face.

"What's the matter Izuru, why do you seem disappointed? " You asked as you noticed him looking away.

"Why were you crying sis Y/n? Did someone hurt you?" Izuru asked in a concerned tone. His voice came out really low. You couldn't help but laugh.

 A young boy was more concerned than he should be. It also made you wonder how lucky his family must be to have him, even if it's only him and his mother.

"Izuru, no one hurt me. I was a little sad so I wanted to cry." You said to him. You didn't want to mention anything about why you were really crying.

"But! How do you get sad without someone making you sad? Someone did hurt you! Did you and big bro Kaveh get into fight."  You sat there blinking and trying to process how did this little boy even end up having such a theory that Kaveh and I argued.

"What makes you think Kaveh can fight? No it wasn't him, he left for work today. He'll runaway if I challenged him to a fight." You scoffed and told back to him with full confidence.

Izuru gave you a stare with a slight smirk. "But big sis Y/n, he was really cool when that doctor refused to help."

 "Let's say he's probably used to arguing and throwing threats at his rational, annoying and too smart for his level roommate. It wasn't a natural talent for Kaveh to fight." You scoffed and replied, mentally cussing at Alhaitham.

Truth be told, you were heavily disappointed by Alhaitham. It felt so painful to know that he still looked down at you as a mere scholar who is yet to contribute anything worthy for the Akademiya, unlike him a successful scribe whose contributions would be greatly remembered throughout years.

To think that those rumors across the halls and classrooms of Akademiya were right after all. Alhaitham was someone who was known for his rational behavior. If anyone who could look into his eyes and ask him to stay silent would be a few. Not even the Grand Sage, Azar could do it.

That's what you thought. Even despite the fact he and you clashed multiple times at sessions with other sages, you knew he was right. Which is why you agreed to do this mission with him.Only then did you feel like he wasn't the person who was described to be rational.

 He seemed opposite to what you had ever heard. He blindly trusted you and saved you once. Not to forget, even stopped multiple times just to make sure you didn't fall sick due to the environmental changes, while he could have just let you be and complete the mission himself

....or was it because you picked up these in another meaning? is it why you felt more hurt now? All these years you worked like a mechanical device, studying all day around that you almost forgot, what emotions were.

.

.

"Alright big sis Y/n, I need to get going!" Izuru said as he interrupted your train of thoughts. He got off the bench, holding his fruit basket that he earlier dropped. You noticed that the fruits were spoiled as it was dropped earlier.

"Wait Izuru, lets go get you a bunch of new fruits. They seem spoiled and it was my fault that you dropped it." You said as you stopped the little boy.

The two of you—well you asked Izuru to accompany you to the market as you were pretty new to the area. Little did Izuru know what sort of a shopper you were.

First the fruit shop, you bought every SINGLE fruit there. All of them were fresh. Then followed by a Bakery, where you bought all sorts of breads and desserts! Since you were also going to visit Izuru's mother for the first time, you got her fresh flowers.

The little boy kept tugging onto your arm, desperately asking you to return back as you had already spent over thousand mora....and next destination was the merchant who sold handcrafted kites and dolls...

Perhaps...spending money was a way you made yourself happy. That wouldn't be the same after the wallet goes dry. You would soon dread upon realizing that but you were sure you had plenty.

.

.

.

"Ah, Izuru! Where were you gone?" His mother asked him as we entered the room. I stood at the door, watching the boy run up to his mother.

"I and Sister Y/n went for shopping but...um.." Izuru said as he pointed at the bags of goods I had purchased.  She stared at them in disbelief and looked at her son.

"Uhm wait up! Let me explain! I had uh...shopping urge." I soon began explaining her the entire deal that had happened. She laughed upon hearing it although it was soon followed by a little coughs.

 Izuru was sent out to play with his new kite while his mother and I stayed back to talk. She was a warm and kind-hearted lady. During the shopping spree, I purchase a lot of herbal tea that might be good for her.

I boiled some water and began brewing her the tea. We saw Izuru run around and play with his kite.

She held her tea cup in her weak bandaged hands, looking at her reflection. "Thank you..madam Y/n for everything you've done for me and Izuru. He has been talking about you nonstop since that day and admires you a lot.." She said in a soft voice.

"Please don't address me with 'madam'. I decided to help you because when I saw Izuru, I was greatly reminded of my past. And don't ever worry about your healthcare facilities! By law Sumeru should provide free healthcare and I've contacted the Akademiya regarding it." 

She smiled and it brought my heart to an ease. "How could I ever not stop thanking you?" she asked with a genuine smile until it was followed by a silence. 

At that moment you heard Izuru laugh and run around with his kite. His mother suddenly spoke.

"Izuru's father had left us two years ago when he found out I was suffering from Eleazar. Ever since it's been hard for us two to survive and eventually my little boy had to drop out from school.." his mother said with a heavy sigh and a look of regret.

I sat beside her keenly listening to her problems. It hurt me to see her in regret. 

"He was a fascinated boy who loved to learn and read but when he realized we were going short on money, he decided to dropout. Despite being so young he acted mature.... like many other children he too wanted to join the Akademiya once he grows up....but as a mother it hurts me..only because of my illness, he cannot pursue his dream..." She said as she looked at her bandaged hands. 

Seeing her so sad, reminded me of my mother. I held her hand, to give her the comfort she needed.

"It's not your fault...Izuru is smart enough so don't worry! I could make arrangements to home-school him too...and maybe if he's interested enroll him up in Akademiya...although that's completely up to him."  I said.

Izuru's mother's eyes completely turned watery. As tears rolled down her cheek, she pulled me into a warm embrace thanking me on and on as she sobbed.

After some discussions, it was already evening and I re-lived my childhood by playing around with kites along with Izuru. 

As I parted, I decided to head back to the lodge and book a new room, hopefully not having to talk to Alhaitham for awhile. but surprisingly, he stood before me now, with the very same expression on his face.

His grey irises looking at me, as if he wanted to talk. I did not want to argue with him after a good day. 

As I walked past him without even muttering a word, he suddenly grabbed my wrist gently. I stood there motionless.

"That's inappropriate of you, Sir Alhaitham, scribe of Akademiya." I muttered angrily.

"It is rude of you, to not speak a single word and walk away from a colleague who has been standing her for hours, waiting to clear a misunderstanding." he said in his usual tone, looking at me from his side.

"There's no misu—"

"You need to let me explain first. We need to talk." He emphasized the last sentence as you stood there deciding what to do. 

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END 

a/n : man this chapter took longer than I thought it would....but anyway I hope you guys are enjoying this!! I would love to have your thoughts about the story so far <3

Also so close to 50K reads, might drop a special chapter!! Love you guys/p