On his way to Stacey’s house, Kane made sure to open and close his menu a few more times. The morning was cold and Kane could see his breath as he walked. When he arrived at the door, he realized he was quite early. He still had about fifteen minutes before he had to be here. He hesitated for a moment before finally raising his hand and knocking on the door.

The door opened to reveal a half-asleep Stacey, who had on a tank top and a pair of heart shorts. “Brother?” Stacey yawned and shivered before adding: “Come in.”

Kane looked at the girl who was really too defenseless around him and sighed. “You do realize you only have a short time before you have to leave, right?”

“Mmm…. I couldn’t sleep last night. I only just fell asleep not long ago….” Stacey yawned once more before leaning against Kane. “Maybe I should stay home too-owe!”

“You need to go to school.” Kane knocked her on her head, causing Stacey to pout and rub the imaginary bump. “Also, you need to be more careful. How can you answer the door in such an outfit!”

“I knew it was you!” Stacey pouted even more. Why was she being scolded first thing in the morning? But while she was being reprimanded, she did not mind. In fact, she felt warm. Kane really cared about her. 

“It doesn’t matter if you knew or not! You have only known me for a short time. What if I have intentions toward you? Such a getup can get a man going, you know!” Kane was not the type to take advantage of a girl, but he was trying to get this girl to stop being so careless.

Stacey pursed her lips and mumbled under her breath: “If it’s you, it would be fine….”

“What did you say?” Kane did not hear her at all, so he had no idea he had just gotten the okay.

Of course, Stacey would not repeat her words out loud, either. Her cheeks blushed as she said: “I said I will be more careful. Plus. If you really wanted to do something to me, you would have already done it! Am I not allowed to trust someone who is going out of their way to help me like this? Mama Claire trusts you, and so does my mother. If they can trust you, why can’t I?”

“I know. I am not saying you can’t; I am just saying. You seem to be too defenseless around guys.” This was the main thing Kane was worried about.

“Oh….” Now that she thought about it, it did seem to be the case. “I will be more careful from now on.”

“Thank you.” Kane let out a sigh of relief. “Now go clean up. I will help you with your hair.”

Stacey looked at Kane and smiled brightly. “You are good at taking care of people.” 

“I just do not want you to be late.” Kane made a promise, and he planned to keep it. If she was late on the first day, both Mama Claire and Stacey’s mother would kill him.

Ten minutes later…. “Is this what you meant by helping me with my hair? You can brush it well, but what is this monstrosity?”

Stacey looked at herself in the mirror to see the ponytail that Kane had tried to make fall lopsided off the side of her head. She was doing her best not to burst out laughing. But she did find his embarrassed reaction quite cute.

Kane rubbed his nose. “I have never done this before… I didn’t think it would be so hard….”

“Pffttt… Hahaha!” Stacey finally could not hold it in. She burst out laughing. 

“Alright. Alright. Enough laughing. Fix it, and let’s go.” Kane looked at the clock. If they did not leave now, they would really be late.

“No need to fix it. Since my brother did this for me, I will wear it like this. I am not trying to impress anyone anyways.” Stacey grinned and really did not fix it. She got up from her seat and headed over to gather her things. She had already laid them out on the table in the living room.

Kane was quite surprised that Stacey did not seem to be too bothered by her hair. Most girls cared more about their looks than their own life. But she seemed happy as she walked beside him all the way to the school gate. She did not care one bit bu the stares of others. “I will be here when school is out.”

“Okay, I will see you later, brother!” Stacey waved at him and went through the gates. Kane turned to leave only to see the young man from last time walking over to him. His eyes narrowed.

“You have a problem?” Kane asked. He did not plan to start a fight here, but he was not about to back down if he was attacked.

“Ah no… I wanted to apologize once more.” The young man lowered his head. He seemed like a puppy who had done something wrong.

“It’s fine. It’s in the past. But let me say this now, if something happens to my sister, the first person I will be looking for is you.” Kane said this for two reasons. The first reason was to scare the young man, and the second reason was to have a kind of guard for Stacey while she was at school.

“Do-Don’t worry, I will make sure no one dares to hit on her.” The young man replied nervously.  There was no way he would allow anything to happen to her. If something did happen, he would be suspect number one! He had already figured this out before even coming here. He would make sure no guys at school dared to even step on her shadow. Luckily he was someone who had that ability.

“Alright. Go in before you are late.” Kane motioned with his head before sticking his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and walking away.

Inside the school at her locker, Stacey was putting the books she did not need inside when another girl with blue dyed hair walked over. “Stacey, who was the guy you came to school with?”

Stacey looked at her friend and grinned widely as she said: “My husband.”

- - -

Kane had returned home and went to his room. He still had a few hours before he had to go to the pizzeria, so he decided to start practicing his guitar. But as soon as he pulled out the Guitar for Beginners book he had bought, a notification suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Learn How To Play The Guitar]
[Rewards: 3 Status Points, 2 skill Points]