My Bothersome Life 33 A Person from the Second District?

Ben sadly smiled toward me and asked, "Is there something that you want from me?"

"No, but I came to ask if I said anything wrong at that cafe because your face looks a bit depressed after I asked about your school life." I responded back with my boldness.

"Well, it's nothing that a kid like you has to worry about." Ben answered back kindly while patting my head.

He saw me as a kid. A kid. I did have the body of a ten year old child that was going to turn eleven soon in december, but still. Was it too much to ask? No wonder he treated me so kindly, thinking that I was a runaway child with Shelly or somewhere along those lines.

My first love. Sigh. I never really got to know his age anyways did I? Fine! I'll use that thinking as an advantage to get close to him!

"I want to listen though. I loove listening to new stories." I whined while stomping my feet to pretend that I looked upset.

Ben kindly replied while crouching down to meet my line of sigh and asked, "Do you want to go somewhere else then to talk about this?"

I fiercely nodded my head while we headed towards the fancy restaurant nearby the area while he held onto my hand.

I wondered if he was rich or had a family that was influential in the second district, as the restaurant looked like it was for elites.

The waiter quickly led us to a table for two and Ben pulled out a seat for me to sit in. What a gentleman!

After Ben ordered our meal, he started to tell his story, "I'm not actually from the second district. I'm actually from the first district like you and your friend and I came here undercover with my friend for a school assignment."

When I nodded my head to gesture him to continue on, Ben finally revealed his true identity, "I'm in my first year of Welms Collegiate Academy high school. It's three levels down from your school in the first district and I'm the partner of Alexis Marcell. However, my friend likes my partner and I like my friend's partner and it's mutual love."

So this was what Shelly was talking about. A love that was never to be bloomed due to the partner system.

"Then why can't you switch partners?" I asked if they and their partners were both consenting.

"It's because the partner system has a lot of politics involved within it. Part of it is based on the amount of mana a family possesses, but the other part is based on what connections your family may need in the future." Ben replied sadly.

"So you can't not get married to your original partner easily?" I asked again.

"That's almost never the case." Ben said with a downcast smile.

"Didn't your partner come today to find you as well?" (Ben)

"Yea, we're doing this partner switching thing as a assignment at school right now. But my original partner and my current partner somehow found as as soon as we snuck into the second district." I said while sighing.

Ben looked utterly surprised, "You snuck into the second district! Not that you got permission to come here?"

"Well it was the weekend and my friend and I was bored of staying at school all the time. My friend heard of a secret pathway to the second district so we decided to sneak out together to have some fun." I replied back while fidging.

"In normal circumstances, you get severely punished if you do so. Next time you should try getting permission instead of sneaking out," Ben warned me.

"No wonder your partners looked really mad," Ben mumbled.

"Well, it's because both of my partners are too controlling all the time I wanted a nice decent break that's far away from them." I said while pouting.

"My original partner is like, 'you have to behave properly as the future lady of the Roselia house Rika!' and my current partner is like, 'you have to study hard in order to not tarnish the Monette family name.' What's with all these pride with family names?" I said angrily.

"The Roselia and Monette family?" Ben almost yelled out in astonishment.

"Well, yes?" I answered back confused with Ben's reaction.

"As expected of the number one ranking school in the first district! The Roselia and the Monette family are the part of the top five most influential families in the first district other than the Locast family who are also growing in power lately." Ben explained.

"Actually my friend Shelly who was with me before in the cafe is from the Locast family." I added.

I knew that Luke, Shelly and Alex were from influential families to a certain extent, but I had a tough time believing that they were one of the most influential in this entire district. No wonder Luke and Alex were so stuck up about their family names! Sigh.

Ben looked surprised again with his jaw almost dropped to the floor. "Now I have a question to ask you," I said while smiling.

Chapter end