Julian's POV
In the end, I let him into Arcane's house because I didn't know how to refuse it. Because if I refused his request, wouldn't that make him suspicious of my relationship with Arcane?
But I hoped I didn't say anything stupid that would make him even more suspicious.
"Please sit down. What would you like to drink? Tea, coffee, or cold water?" I asked him.
"Tea would be fine."
I nodded and went to the kitchen, putting down my shopping bags before making tea. Luckily, I could still make something as simple as tea.
After the tea was ready, I returned to the living room and placed it on the table in front of him.
"Here you go. So what do you want to talk to me about?" I asked, trying to act normal in front of him.
He sipped the tea I made and then put it back on the table. "As I recall, you said that you have been married for almost a year. Is that true?"
I nodded my head to confirm that what he said was true, even though it was a scenario that Arcane and I had created.
"Yes, Arcane and I have been married for almost a year, but we've only just started living together."
He nodded in response to my words and looked back at me. "If I'm not mistaken, you seem much younger than Mr. Romano. How old are you now?"
I was a little surprised when he asked about my age. What did he want to do with that information?
I replied that I was currently 22 years old. I had just graduated from university four months ago. When he found out that I was younger than Arcane, his expression became much more serious, as if he had realized something.
"If your marriage has been going on for almost a year, does that mean you married Mr. Romano when you were 21?"
"Y-yes..." I nodded again, feeling strange that he was calculating it like that.
But his next question made me pause and feel confused about how to answer.
"Then how long did you date, and how old were you when you met?" he asked again.
"Isn't that too personal for you to ask? I mean, that's our private business." I tried to avoid the question, but it seemed like Mr. Banshi wanted me to answer.
I paused for a moment to think about how to answer him. If I got married at the age of 21, and I answered that we had been dating for 2 years before that, it meant I could say that I met him when I was 19, right?
But if I said we had been dating for 2 years, would he believe it?
"So how is it?" He looked at me sharply again as he sipped his tea. "If you want to tell me the truth, I'll listen. Plus, there aren't any photos of you two together in this house. Is there really nothing between you two?"
I swallowed hard, cold sweat breaking out on me, and I didn't know how to say it. It was true that there were no photos of me and Arcane displayed in this house, because we had only been living together for a week and it hadn't occurred to us that someone like him would come here.
"That's not true! Arcane and I didn't put our photos in the living room, but we have them in our room. He's not the type to show off his romantic side in front of many people," I replied, trying to cover up the lie.
In the end, I made up a story that Arcane and I met when I was 18 years old. I did everything I could to stop him from suspecting us. It's already legal to have boyfriend older than me, right?
"At that time, I was 18 and Arcane was 23. We..."
"Isn't the age difference between you two only 4 years? If you were 18, that means Mr. Romano was still 22." He corrected my mistake in calculating the age difference between me and Arcane.
I cursed myself for being so bad at math, for not thinking faster.
"I meant 22 years old. I was just a little nervous because you kept asking me about our private matters until I mistakenly mentioned his age at that time."
At that moment, I hoped Arcane would hurry home because I couldn't keep facing the vice principal who was interrogating us about our relationship.
I was worried that what I said would ruin all the plans that man had made. I glanced at the clock on the wall behind him, which showed that it was 3:32 p.m.
Please hurry home! I couldn't keep facing him like this because he looked suspicious of everything I said.
Did my face really look that unconvincing to him?
Luckily, my prayer was immediately answered and the front door opened with Arcane calling my name.
"Julian, I'm home," he called. "Today was really exhausting. Those students..."
I was a little surprised when Arcane started babbling about his students. I immediately shouted in response, indirectly saying that there was someone else in our house.
"Arcane, darling, don't shout like that. It's rude to the guests in our house," I said, and he seemed to understand immediately.
Actually, I felt a little amused with myself for calling him darling. I heard his footsteps heading towards the living room and he stood right in front of the door, looking at the principal who was currently sitting with me.
"Looks like we have a visitor. What are you doing at my house when I'm at school and you could have met me there?" asked Arcane as he walked in.
Mr. Banshi stood up from his seat and adjusted his glasses.
"I just happened to be passing by and ran into Mr. Thorne. We happened to chat for a while, and you happened to come home. So I think it's time for me to go," said Mr. Banshi, walking towards the door.
I breathed a sigh of relief when he intended to leave and Arcane escorted him to the front door. I really didn't know what to say if I said the wrong thing and Arcane didn't come home on time.
After a while, he came back to me and sat down in front of me. He asked me what the man had talked to me about. I told him everything, about how he kept asking me a lot of questions about our relationship.
He nodded, looking satisfied with every answer I gave him. But there was one thing he took issue with.
"Did you miscalculate my age when you told him? You just had to calculate 18 plus 4, which is the difference in our ages. But you got it wrong?" he asked sternly.
I felt like I was being scolded by my own math teacher just because I got that easy question wrong.
"Uhh, about that—"
He suddenly tapped my forehead, and I reflexively rubbed it gently.
"How embarrassing. Your husband is a math teacher, but you can't even do something as simple as that," he said with a sigh.
"I was just nervous at the time! Luckily, I didn't say anything else wrong or—"
Before I could finish speaking, he suddenly ruffled my hair and said he was just joking around.
"I was just joking. Good job, you handled this well on your own."
The smile on his face, and the way he ruffled my hair. It was enough to make me feel something I'd been feeling from him lately.
But I pushed that feeling aside and thought maybe it was just a fleeting feeling.
"Idiot."