Feeling refreshed after a nice shower, Mateo lay on his bed and turned the TV on, looking for anything that would serve as a temporary distraction from the dreaded conversation he would have with his parents, not knowing that the cause, Amy was also suffering from the same dilemma.
The only things on TV were things related to the current state of the world, the rising death count, the people who were either being covered with the golden egg-like pod or breaking out of it, or the repeated videos of superhuman feats being achieved, the most played one being the OTAKU FACTION's leader walk while being fully on fire, a move that had been nicknamed 'the unstoppable' since tanks and buildings didn't seem to be able to slow his walk down.
Motivated once more, he threw the upcoming meeting to the back of his mind and opened his spellbook, hoping to get some tips on how to better it since the other pages seemed to be 'locked' until reached a satisfactory level on his current spell.
**Meanwhile on Amy's end**
Amy was busy scampering around the room thinking of what clothes to wear, whether to put on perfume or not, and filling her head with many scenarios gotten from years of reading romance, when her sister walked in, all sweaty and sandy from her archery practice.
Before Amy could even explain herself, Amber pointed to the bed, a signal for Amy to sit while she herself squatted to be on the same eye level. She then broke the ice with a question, one that Amy wasn't prepared for, "do you believe he loves you back".
The question itself was simple and had been asked many times before whenever Amy developed a crush for someone, something which happened a lot due to her ability to interpret any act of good done to her by a guy as an attempt of expressing love, something her romance novels made her believe in.
With a firmness in her gaze that wasn't there before Amy nodded a yes which was enough for Amber. "Wait, why are you going, I could be lying you know."
"I know, but the fact that you would even think of lying means that no matter what I say you won't change your mind. Plus I think you're grown enough to make your own choices, after all you didn't give me weird answers like 'it happened in a book I read' or 'third time's the charm' or any other nonsense"
"We kissed, this morning. Well more like I kissed first, but only because I thought the barrier was there, and he kinda, sort of returned the kiss back. -I think."
"Oh, I see. Being proactive for once eh. I hope it works out for you, otherwise he might wake up one day with broken bones. Well, I'll leave you to get dressed, I've gotta go shower myself. Later"
And with that Amber walked out, wondering to herself how her sweet and innocent little sister had shared a kiss before her.
With one of her hurdles passed, Amy was able to think better and soon found herself outside the Smith parents study, wearing a dark top with the words 'wake up and smile' on the chest area right on top of a smiling cartoonish sun. She chose a pair of light blue jeans trousers which like the top, showed her natural assets in a moderate fashion.
The sound of Mrs Smith's "come in" after she had knocked on the study door sent her pressure spiking, but with courage (and the desire of her blessing) she walked in to meet Maria who was snuggled on the couch directly under the air conditioning.
The welcoming smile on Maria's face worked its wonders and washed away all stress. With light taps of her sandals, Amy found herself sitting on a comfortable one seat recliner sofa.
Sitting up, she looked straight into Amy's nervous eyes and asked "do you like, love or adore him, and why?". The seriousness in her tone left no room for error, as despite the casual clothing both parties wore, the environment was as tense as a peace talk between two countries with immense hatred for each other.
Fumbling her words, Amy stammered out, "I -I -I think-kk I like him. I don't know about loving him since I haven't felt it yet, ma'am."
The cold stare on Mrs Maria's face vanished only to be replaced by the million- dollar smile which seemed to make the room warmer even though the air conditioning was working furiously.
"Mhmm. That's good enough. If you had said any of the other feelings I would have doubted you, after all the only way to know what love is is when you experience it for yourself, and it doesn't fade away, ever. Adoration on the other hand fades away easily. "I still have one problem though, you still haven't answered the why part of the question."
"Oh sorry, I forgot about that part. The why the why the why. To be honest, I don't know why. I don't know if it's his smile, his kind eyes or even his jovial personality which attracted me, and with your blessings I would like to find out."
"Mhmm mhmm mhmm. Do you by chance read any romance book or maybe books with a bit of smut in them?"
"Ha, what -what are you talking about."
"Oh so you do read them. Good for you. Maybe they would help you in winning over Mateo. Unfortunately for you, that boy has been obsessed about females from different races and what he calls MILFS, something that we ignored at first due to the absence of those races, but with everything we have seen now, we fear he may revert back to those childish fantasies, especially since the only girl he thought he loved was only interested in his wealth."
"Don't worry about his emotional state though, he had his sweet revenge on that gold digger, Cagney. All I'm saying is that for your own sake don't break his heart. If you feel like you might want to do so in the future, then don't enter the relationship, cos once you're in, there's no way out."
"That was just by the way. Hope it really works out and I hold my grandkids in less than a decade. Out you go then, goodbye."
Absorbing the hints given, Amy spent the journey to her room in the Smith house wondering why she was invested in Mateo's relationship backstory, and why the betrayal he felt hit her the hardest.
Reaching her door without a reason, she just chalked it up to stress and hopped on her bed, after all a good night's sleep was the best cure for stress.