Chapter 176: More Sentimental Than He Let On


    Abby was intrigued by a country of people who were capable of creating things from her home without needing explicit instructions on how to do so. She wanted to hear more.


    "I would love to hear about them. And everything you''ve been up to the past year," she confessed.


    ise seemed pleasantly surprised. "Really? I thought the same thing about you. I have heard a little about your exploits here and was curious to know more. You have limated here very well. I''m d."


    Her traitorous heart flip-flopped in her chest. Did that mean he had worried about her? She wanted to ask but had yet to work up the nerve when another Warrior plopped down at their table unceremoniously with Mitzi in tow.


    "These sandwiches are so much better than the rations we normally get," he sighed in contentment. "I wish we could have them every day. Especially if such pretty girls bring them to us."


    Mitzi giggled and blushed at hisment. Ah, teenage infatuation. It could be fun to watch. Abby''s only hope was that the girl wouldn''t get her heart broken by someone who nned to go back home at the end of the mission.


    The Warrior raised an eyebrow after seeing ise lift his arms to take a bite of his sandwich. "What happened to your ribbon? I have never seen you without it on your wrist. Did the girl dump you or something?"


    His face turnedpletely red and he refused to say anything by shoveling the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth at once. Abby tried to meet his eyes but he wouldn''t so much as look her way.


    He had worn it all the way back in Shibatsu? Had he been wearing it the entire time? Then why did it look so nice? He must have washed it. Washing ribbons wasn''t the easiest thing to do either; you had to be very particr about it.


    Now it was her turn to have a red face. That was far more sentimental an act than she would have given him credit for. A man wouldn''t wear something so girly unless he truly cared about the woman who gave it to him; she had seen other young men in the vige do the same thing when their betrothed gave them a trinket of hers.


    "Kel, I think that was her ribbon," Mitzi whispered to the man next to her.


    rm filled his violet eyes and he was immediately penitent. "I did not mean to offend either of you! I was only teasing."


    Abby hadn''t wanted a hole to appear in the ground and swallow her up this badly since the day she identally said "love you, bye" signing off a phone call with her boss when she was in college out of habit.


    When shemented her fate to Katie, her unsupportive sister had howled withughter over video chat. Sheughed so hard that she fell over and off screen but Abby had still been able to hear her crack up from her ce on the floor.


    ise recovered his wits first to defend her and she nearly teared up at the gesture. "Miss Abby entrusted me with her ribbon while I was in Shibatsu as a token of luck for the diplomatic mission. There was no better way to protect it than if it was in my sight at all times. Now that I am back I have returned it to her. Simple as that."


    He made her seem like less of an idiot by making it a matter of his own honor rather than her ill-thought-out sentimental gesture. She could have hugged him for the save if she didn''t think that would make things worse.


    Kel cleared his throat. "And your mission seeded so the ribbon did its job. I take it this is the woman you escorted here on a protection missionst year?"


    "Yes."


    "I''m Abby. The n leader''s wife is my cousin," she introduced awkwardly.


    "We work together in the printing office," Mitzi contributed helpfully and Abby shot her a grateful look for changing the subject. "One of our primary exports is children''s literature and Abby is the best one ating up with new ideas. We all tend to follow her lead. My boss, Tahvo, absolutely raves over her work."


    "Ah yes, I know Tahvo. I do believe I have heard him mention her name before. It is a pity he did not mention yours as well," Kel said with a charming smile that disarmed the poor girl instantly.


    Those two continued flirting as he asked her more questions about her work and Abby was free to stew in her thoughts. ise had surprised her in more ways than one today. She hadn''t expected him to be so attached to the ribbon or bring her another present from his travels.


    If he brought her back a souvenir, that meant he had been thinking about her on the road. How often? To what extent?


    Friends in this world didn''t seem to be as close as ones back home. It was perfectly normal there to bring a friend back a keychain or a t-shirt but people took objects'' value more seriously here. They didn''t do cheap, meaningless things like that.


    ise said it got it because he thought she would enjoy it. And that he had figured she would be interested by the people who had sold it to him. Maybe, just maybe, he had thought of her as much as she had thought of him while they were apart.


    He was much more sentimental than he let on, which came as a shock. He had seemed so unppable before and unconcerned for anything beyond doing his duty and traveling. But this showed he cared about her to some extent.


    The real questions were how much did he care and what was she going to do about it, if anything?