Doug was certainly pissed at himself for his interference. Not only did he threaten a couple of weak Normals, but he also rescued one too. A girl, to be exact. He was sure that he was definitely out of his mind if he was suddenly protecting this girl out of his own free will. Not to mention being all nice and giving back her things like he was some kind of gentleman.

"Damn! What the hell is wrong with me!?" He whined.

Doug was no prince on a white horse. He was definitely not a knight in shining armor either. He could never, nor would he even dare, compare himself to those things. He was a Twilight when he was born, and he was going to die as one. Being heroes isn't what they were meant to be.

The door to his room opened with a loud creak, alerting him that someone was coming in. He could clearly hear the soft thumping of a prosthetic leg against the floor. It was already blatantly obvious who it was, so he didn't bother turning around to look.

"What's up?" Hausen asked. "You've been acting weird since you came back. Something happen?"

Honestly, his guildmate means well. Doug knew that deep down. But he wasn't exactly confident that Hausen was the right person to confide in. Sure, he was dependable but he was also pretty easygoing. Sometimes almost too easygoing. So he pretended that he didn't know what he was talking about and kept quiet.

Hausen hummed in amusement, "So... This has nothing to do with that girl I saw you were with earlier today?"

"W-WHAT?!"

Seeing the younger mercenary's reaction brought a grin to Hausen's lips. Doug sweatdropped. Heaving a heavy sigh, he leaned back against the wall and looked out the open window. He couldn't hide the truth now even if he wanted to. Hausen took a seat on the bed and waited eagerly for his explanation. He wasn't going to leave the room until he listened to every detail, and that would have only made the situation more uncomfortable for the 21 year old.

Without much of a choice, Doug told him about what happened. About how he met Cloie for the first time and how they talked outside her house the day after. Hausen noticed the hurt in Doug's expression when he told him how she reacted after finding out he was a Twilight.

"She looked at me like I was a monster," He muttered in disgust. "I honestly thought she was someone nice, for a change. Turns out she was just like all the others."

Then he told him about the incident in the back alleys where he rescued her from some rapists. Hausen gave him a meaningful smile. "Sounds to me like you have a crush on her," He teased playfully.

"I barely know her." He replied curtly. "Besides, romance isn't really my thing."

Hausen shrugged and got up, slowly making his way out the room. Doug listened to his footsteps heading towards the door, his eyes still focused outside the window. There was a short pause when Hausen closed the door midway. Doug looked over to see what he wanted, but Hausen just grinned before saying goodnight.

Now that he was alone again in the room, he began to regret telling Hausen what had been bothering him. Hausen wouldn't tell anyone else in the guild about it though, right?

He strongly hoped that he wouldn't.

The words Hausen told him echoed in his mind and Doug immediately frowned at the idea. There was no way he liked that girl. He was sure of it. She was clearly naive about the outside world and too nice for her own good. As if he wanted to prove it to himself, he grabbed his jacket and jumped out the window. The guild wouldn't mind him leaving this late at night anyway.

Doug traveled from the rooftops and headed for 04 street where Cloie's house was located. The house had no lights on, which meant that everyone was probably asleep. He jumped down the roof and quietly walked over to the fence. Her window was at the far right on the third floor, at least that was what he remembered.

He recalled when he first saw her through that window and was gazing at her like he was under a spell. It was like looking at an angel, and before he was even aware of it, he was motioning her to come down and meet him. Doug frowned again and shook his head to try shushing his thoughts.

A faint sound of sliding glass warned him that someone was awake. He looked up again and saw a figure at the now open window. Cloie looked confused as to why Doug was standing outside her house again. But there was also a smile on her lips as if she was delighted to see his face again so soon.

Doug flinched when he saw her wave at him. Then she disappeared into her room, only to come out through the back door to meet him. He wasn't sure what to say since he didn't think he would ever see her twice in a single day. The two of them just stood there outside with a fence separating them, neither one speaking to the other.

"Thank you for earlier," Cloie said, breaking the silence after a while.

He raised an eyebrow at her. Just how many times was she going to thank him for saving her? It was starting to make him feel embarrassed. A light blush dusted his cheeks and he scoffed.

"If you want to thank me then let me take you out."

Cloie's eyes widened and, after realizing that he had said that out loud, Doug's eyes widened too. He wasn't even sure why he thought of that. Wasn't the reason why he went to her house to prove that Hausen was wrong and that he didn't have some silly crush on her?

However, the words already came out of his mouth, and somehow he didn't exactly want to take them back either.