The rest of the ride, Gabriella and Quash just stayed quiet. Both lost in their own thoughts. Gabriella wondered what she did to get such a reaction? She couldn’t find any. The only thing she understood from their interaction is that Quash will ignore relevant matters for something trivial if that concerns him.

​She wanted to sigh. She felt tired already. But she guessed that after this misunderstanding clears, there probably won’t be any drama in the future. But if there is, she won’t hesitate to use force to get the annoyance out of the way.

​Before long, they arrived at the Duxford Academy Train station. They got off and started to walk towards the registration area in the Academy buildings. The campus was massive with many students walking around, doing their jobs. There were new students like Quash coming here to register.

​Many turned to look at them, well mostly his wife beside him who was a walking attention magnet. She walked elegantly. There was no hesitation or awkwardness in her steps.

​She didn’t care how people looked at her. The couple quickly came to the registration area. There was a small line of students at the counter. Quash told Gabriella to stand by and he went to the line. She nodded and stood by the wall near the gate. Her eyes never leaving Quash.

​Her expression unreadable. Quash waited in the line for his turn to come. And before long, his turn came. He filled in the application, gave it back and left with Gabriella. His work was done here.

​They went back to the station and waited for the train. They sat on the bench, talking about random stuff like nothing had ever happened, which made Gabriella want to strangle Quash for some reason.

​He was very good at annoying people. Maybe she should do something to get on his nerves as well?

​She wondered what this serious talk was that he wanted to have. If it was something stupid, she would make sure to give him a piece of her mind with her fists.

​As they waited, the train arrived once again after 15 minutes of waiting. They got into the train and left for the Plaza. For the next week, all the new students will be staying in the Plaza until the dorms are assigned a week later.

​They arrived at the Plaza half an hour later. They were out for about one and a half hours. Very efficient to be honest.

​Now that they were back, Gabriella led Quash to her private residence. They walked hand in hand. Gabriella cast invisibility on them once again. The activity range of the paparazzi had increased since they didn’t have to camp in front of just one battle hall. They were doing interviews, last-minute stuff for their shows or trying to find viral people to get more content.

​Like them.

​Since they had to depart before the night, they were even more frantic. The Plaza was full of people scrambling around.

​Quash looked up to the sky and found many ships leaving. The sky was filled with those. By tonight, the Academy City will be fully closed to outsiders.

​Quash and Gabriella made their way through the crowd and arrived at the mansion Gabriella was staying at. She undid her spell and they became visible again.

​They entered the mansion and a maid greeted them as if she was waiting. She looked a bit surprised seeing Quash but said nothing when she noticed her mistress was holding the boy’s hand.

​"Bring some cold drinks to my room. And make sure no one disturbs us."

​"Yes, Madam."

​After giving the order, they went to the second floor and entered Gabriella’s room.

​There was nothing much to say other than the fact it was luxurious. But there was no girly stuff. Which Quash thought fitted Gabriella’s character.

​They both sat down on chairs on the balcony. They sat facing each other. They could see the city lines of the Plaza from here. The clamor of the busy district was flowing even here.

​A few moments later, a knock sounded on the door and the maid entered with a tray in hand. With two glasses of lemonade on it. She placed the lemonades on the table in front of them, bowed and left.

​After the maid left, there was a brief silence as they both started to drink the lemonade.

​"Alright, there’s no disturbance now and this is private enough. So what did you want to talk about?"

​Gabriella broke the silence swiftly. Quash’s eyes lit up in recognition. Like he recalled he did want to talk to her. Gabriella wanted to facepalm in sheer disbelief. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

​She wanted her emotions back. He got her expecting something serious while he himself forgot that he wanted to have a serious talk.

​"Ahem! Yes. You see Gabby, there is this realisation I stumbled upon last night. A very, veerrryy... uh. What’s the word for it? Right! Concerning! Yes. A very concerning realisation."

​Quash said as he leaned on the table. His expression serious. He moved the glass aside for now.

​Gabriella raised an eyebrow. She didn’t say anything, prompting Quash to continue. She wondered what was so concerning.

​"Well, as you know, I’m weaker than you. And you’re hella stronger than me. And I don’t practically want to walk on the Knight Path meaning I will most probably never catch up to you in power. And I can’t stop you if you suddenly take a liking to someone else. I’m powerless to stop it. So I need to know if there’s even a sliver of a chance of that happening so that we can take measures in accordance."

​"... So... you’re worried that I might cheat on you?"

​"Precisely."

​Hearing his answer, Gabriella opened her mouth and closed it again. She was so flabbergasted that she was left speechless. She thought he was smart and knew a lot of things. Did he not know what holding the dominant position in their relationship meant? A Spiritual Bond with a Vampire was more than just a WiFi connection.

​"...Then make me fall in love with you."

​She said after a long while. She looked at Quash’s serious face and thought of teasing him but decided not to. Because this idiot might take that at face value and do something weird which she would not like.

​Humans are weirder than she had read in books.