“Please make yourself comfortable” I showed them our living room.

“Pardon the intrusion” said both of them while entering.

“I'll go bring the game!” Emmi ran out to her room.

I’m a little nervous. It is my first time bringing a girl home. Well, in this case two. Even worse, it is my first time bringing someone of my age home.

Now that I think about it. I sounded kind of pathetic, didn’t I? Anyway, I am not sure what to do, or how I should interact with them. Well, for now I can leave the entertaining to Emmi.

“Want something to drink?” My first step to get on good terms with them will be to show them how attentive I can be.

“Anything is fine by me”.

“Yeah, I don’t have a preference”.

“Okay, I'll see what we have” I leave the living room towards the kitchen.

As I revised the fridge Emmi entered the kitchen and stood next to me.

“So, who are they and how do you know them?” she asked, whispering.

“None of your business” I don’t really feel like explaining what happened this morning.

“Hmm…” She looks at me in angriness. Then she pinches my shoulder.

“Auch!”.

“If you don’t answer me, I will tell Mom about you stalking the girls”.

“Ah! You heard that?!”.

“Oh? So, it was true?”.

“NO! NO! I wasn’t”.

“...” she looked at me, waiting for me to tell her about them.

“Yeah, well we… we just ran into each other this morning”.

“Okay” she pulled her phone out and started to press some numbers.

“Okay, okay I know them a little. We met on the day of the entrance exam”.

“Be more specific” she lowered her phone.

“You are too curious”.

“Oh yeah?” she lifted her phone again.

I am trying to avoid telling her everything that has happened. But she obviously wants to know and has a bribe on me.

“Okay” I sighed. “I'll give you the summary”.

She lowered the phone again and nodded in satisfaction.

“So basically, they are the smartest students at my school and Bernard wants them to tutor me”.

“That’s the lame’s summary I ever heard”.

“You asked for it!”.

“Whatever, there are other ways to get information” she looks back at the girls in the living room.

“Don't do anything stupid”.

“I don't want to hear that coming from you”.

“Hey…” Being bullied by a twelve-year-old. That is my daily life.

“More importantly. Isn't it great that the smartest students are going to tutor you?! Maybe with their help you would increase your grades” she exclaimed excitedly.

“It is not decided. I don't even think they want to do it”.

“Why do you think so?”.

“I should be obvious by the way they speak to me earlier outside. They don't have the best impression of me”.

“Well, maybe you did something”.

“Hmm, maybe…” I recall the day of the entrance exam. I did have a little encounter with them, but it was part of their fault too. I technically did nothing wrong but somehow, I feel like I should be the one making things right.

“You are very secretive today, huh?”.

“...” I ignored her and kept searching in the fridge. I don’t really want to tell her, I bet she is going to scold me and tell me everything is my fault. Which wouldn’t be a lie, but it's not fully true either.

“There is nothing to drink” she said, crossing her arms.

“You should have said that before I spent two minutes searching for nothing”.

“It’s not my fault that you were moving things around like something would just randomly appear inside the fridge”.

She was the one distracting me. I can’t do two things at the same time.

Emmi signed and pinched my cheek “Whatever you did. You better fix it and make them your friends”.

“Why?”.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Cuz, they are cute”.

That’s not a reason to… Anyway, in some form, she is right. If I want them to tutor me, I have to change the way they look at me. At least, make them look at me in a more positive way. There is no need to become friends, just need to be on good terms.

“Unfortunately, I don't have anything to offer you girls to drink right now. So, I'll head out to the store” I go back to the living room, there I see Emmi and the girls playing a dancing game, they push the sofas and the cafe table to the side. Well, I said playing a dancing game, but I only see Emmi dancing. Yuki and Lucy seem more like they are robots glitching. I can’t help myself but let out a small chuckle. A bad decision.

Instantly, Lucy and Yuki turned my way.

“What is it that you find so funny, huh?” They approached me. Before I realized I was in front of the TV.

“Let's see if you can do it better, Mr. chuckle”.

“I said I wasn’t laughing at you girls…” there is no way to turn this around. I guess I'll give it a shot. I saw Emmi play this before, so I think I will be able to handle it.

I look at the TV, trying to imitate the movements of the character, listening carefully to the song, trying to match the beats. I move my body left and right, sweat running down my face. After a minute, the song finishes, I hit the final pose, feeling my body hot from all the movement, catching my breath, I turn around to the girls. What kind of faces are they making after witnessing such a performance?

“Lame…” everyone looked at me in disappointment.

Lame!?

“Come on Chris. Even Bernard dances better than that”.

I looked back at the TV and saw an F- in the score.

“Did I dance that bad?!”.

“It was horrible”.

“Horrendous”.

“Disastrous”.

“Well, it's not like you girls did better either”.

“Well, certainly our performance wasn’t good either, but I got a F+ which is still better than yours” Yuki looked very proud of her score.

“I got a D+ so I am leagues above you” Lucy also looked very proud.

“That is still pretty trash…”.

“Who are you calling trash?!” Lucy grabbed me by the collar while Yuki kicked me in the leg.

“Look, you all did your best, why don’t we rest a little bit?” Emmi intervenes and saves me from getting beat.

“After all that work out, I think we are all very thirsty, so why don't you go and buy something?” Emmi pushed me out of the house.

“I'll take care of the guests” she closed the door with a grim on her face.

Without any other option, I walked to the nearest store thinking about what happened.

We just fought again. Is there any way I can get along with those two? I have to come up with an idea before I get back.

Once I bought something to drink, I started heading back to the apartment, then someone called my name.

“Bernard?” I turn around.

“What a coincidence. I was just about to go to your apartment”.

“Oh, yeah I remember you talking with Jane about coming later today”.

“Yeah, I wanted to visit you”.

“You mean visit Jane, don’t you?”.

“Wha- Jane? No- I mean yeah, she too, of course. I want to see all of you. Emmi too”. He frantically tried to deny his real intentions.

Despite all my efforts to help him out, Bernard hasn’t asked Jane out yet. Well, I don’t have any clue about being in love and confessions, so I can't know Bernard's reasons for not saying what he feels to Jane. Anyway, he is a good man that can support Jane, so I have no complaints if he goes out with her. But his slow progression really concerns me.

“Come on now Bernard. We all know why you visit us all the time”.

“Am… am I that obvious?” he asked shyly.

“Just for me... and Emmi... and the rest of the world”.

“...”.

“The only one that seems to haven't noticed yet is Jane”.

“It seems...” he tilted his head down in sadness.

Well, I don't think Jane dislikes Bernard, but she is very unaware of Bernard’s feelings. She is to focus on her job, Emmi and me at the moment. He just needs to break that focus or squeeze himself into it.

“Come on old man” I gave him a little push in his back “Your love will be corresponded”.

“Do you think so?” he asked me, I could see his eyes spark with hope.

“Of course, I do”.

He smiled like a little kid.

“Oh, but she is not home yet, so you may have to wait”.

“Ohh…” his smile faded.

“So, are you and Emmi alone?”.

“No, Yuki and Lucy are in...” I instantly stop talking. The words just came out of my mouth, although there was nothing wrong in what I was about to say. The girls are at my home because they forgot their keys and no one is at their apartment, that’s why, yeah, there is nothing bad about that, why am I nervous? There is no need to be nervous, it's just Bernard, he will understand.

“Huh.... So, you took the girls to your apartment while Jane wasn’t home” he said grinning.

“I think you are misunderstanding something here”.

“I'm so proud of you...” he said while wiping fake tears from his eyes.

“Stop it!” I yelled at him.

“Don't worry I'll go and take Emmi for an Ice cream while you do what you have to do”.

“I'm not going to do anything!”.

“But remember Chris, I am still too young to be an uncle”.

I'm done with this guy.

I turned around and started to walk home but Bernard stopped me. He was by the store to buy a cake to celebrate my admission to the school.

After he finished the shopping, we both got in his car and went home. I used the time on the way home to explain the situation and why the girls were at my apartment.

“Oh man, I thought you were going to choose the harem route”.

“I was trying to tell you, but you didn’t let me talk and stop talking about harem”.

When we entered the apartment, no one was in the living room.

“I'm home!” I said, waiting for someone to answer me.

“Chris, you're late. Oh, hi Bernard” Emmi came out from the hallway.

“Did the girls leave already?” I asked her.

“Nope, they are with Mom”.

“Huh? Jane is home?”.

“She just arrived”.

“What are they doing?”.

“You have to go and find it yourself”.

“What is that supposed to mean?”.

“I don’t know…”.

“Bernard brought cake so, I'll prepare the table. Can you ask Jane and the girls to come?”.

“Why don’t you go and do that? I'll prepare the table”.

“It's okay, I’ll do it. By the way, where are they?”.

“In your room”.

“I leave everything in your hands”.

I ran to my room the fastest I could. My room is supposed to be my sanctuary, my safe place, the holy land. Why are they in my room? Did Jane take them there? For what reason? There is stuff that no one can see.