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Chapter 29
“Aiden? Lucas?”
The moment the two ghost members suddenly appeared, all of us were left speechless.
So this was what Aiden meant when he said to just trust him?
Seeing Lucas—who clearly looked like he’d been dragged here against his will—I was completely flustered.
“Why exactly am I…?”
Lucas muttered under his breath, but Aiden briskly ignored him.
Then, as if dropping off luggage, he shoved Lucas onto one side of the sofa.
“What on earth is going on?”
“What do you mean? We’re just participating in club activities as proper club members.”
“Didn’t you say the outfit was tacky and that’s why you didn’t want to participate?”
So that was the reason Aiden became a ghost member?
When I shot him a look of accusation, he flustered and waved his hands.
“No, no. I’ve just been busy with student council duties, that’s all.”
“Then why are you here today?”
“A freshman joined our club. I couldn’t possibly not come say hello!”
“Didn’t you already meet at the freshman welcome party?”
“That was coincidence. Now it’s time we meet by fate, don’t you think?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Liam and Noah seemed to reach the same conclusion: Aiden was clearly talking nonsense.
“But what about Lucas? What’s he doing here?”
Noah looked at him as if he were some extremely rare object.
“Well, even if he’s a ghost member, Lucas is still a member. It’s only proper that he formally greet Olivia.”
“We already know each other well because of Introduction to Magic supplementary lessons.”
“You heard that? Aiden, please just let me go.”
Lucas pleaded earnestly.
As if that would ever work on Aiden.
Aiden shamelessly walked up to me and held out his hand.
“Let’s get along again, Olivia! I’m Ghost Member No.1 of ‘Wildflower Lovers,’ Aiden Carter!”
In the chaos, I instinctively took his hand.
Without anyone noticing, he gave me a small wink, then forcibly pulled Lucas up.
“And this is Ghost Member No.2, Lucas Benjamin!”
Aiden introduced him on his behalf and made him shake my hand by force.
My sister was staring at the scene with fire in her eyes.
Then she suddenly appeared between us and pried our hands apart.
“U-Um, Sister.”
She pointed two fingers at her own eyes in a gesture that said even if dirt got into them, she couldn’t bear to see me holding hands with Lucas.
If this was her reaction to just a handshake, I felt like I’d be cursed if anything more serious happened.
Like the others, Lucas looked utterly confused about why she was acting this way.
He glanced back and forth between us with a puzzled expression.
To break the frozen atmosphere, Aiden once again treated Lucas like a puppet, raising his arm dramatically into the air.
“Alright, alright! Let’s prepare to explore the unknown!”
“Why exactly am I doing this…?”
“If you’re a member of ‘Wildflower Lovers,’ then of course you should head to the back mountain to gather wildflowers.”
“When I joined, the principal said I could be a ghost member!”
“Don’t argue. As members of this club, we have an obligation to set an example for freshman Olivia.”
“I’m a freshman too.”
“You’re too worn out to count as one.”
While Lucas was still reeling from Aiden’s comment, Aiden hurried him into the changing room, helped him change clothes, and changed himself as well.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“That line is usually Noah’s.”
“It doesn’t matter who says it as long as we get moving.”
Aiden patted Noah’s sulking shoulder and led everyone toward the back mountain.
Even though Liam was technically the president of the Wildflower Lovers Club, Aiden naturally took charge.
Because Aiden kept talking the entire way, no one even had the chance to ask why he and Lucas had suddenly shown up.
Perhaps because there were more of us today, we drew even more attention as we headed toward the mountain.
“I really hate these stares.”
“Then don’t come.”
“I can’t do that. It’s rare for all the members to gather—let’s just enjoy it!”
With a bright smile, Aiden slapped Liam’s shoulder this time.
His grip was so strong that everyone he hit staggered slightly.
“Why exactly…?”
Lucas also seemed uncomfortable with the attention and even pulled out a book to cover his face.
And yet, he still diligently followed us.
Was this my sister’s power?
Or just Aiden forcing things along?
I was curious, but I couldn’t exactly ask.
If Lucas jumped up again insisting it wasn’t because of my sister, like last time, the whole plan to bring them together might unravel.
“So how should we split into teams?”
Since we worked in pairs and there were six of us, the numbers fit.
The issue was how to pair up.
While we hesitated, Aiden stepped in again.
“Alright! Best friends Liam and Noah together. To guide the freshman, I’ll go with Olivia. And Emma can go with Lucas.”
“And you, a ghost member, are qualified to guide a freshman?” Liam questioned.
“Ahem. I’ve been in ‘Wildflower Lovers’ for three years. It’s only natural a veteran like me should take the lead.”
“Then why not go with Lucas?”
“What’s the fun in picking flowers with another guy?”
“What about me and Noah?”
“You’re friends, but you could stand to get closer.”
No matter how many ridiculous excuses he gave, Aiden clearly had no intention of backing down.
When Liam looked like he might argue further, Aiden struck first.
“Why? Do you want to go with Olivia or Emma?”
“That’s not it, but—”
“Oh? Which one then? Emma or Olivia?”
Under Aiden’s pressure, Liam fell silent and accepted it.
“Fine. I’ll go with Noah.”
“Huh? I was about to object—”
“Quiet. Just come.”
Resigned to reality, Liam dragged Noah into the forest without entertaining his protests.
My sister tried to resist a little as well.
“I want to go with Olivia…”
“Are you saying you don’t want to go with Lucas? Are you planning to wound that tiny bird heart of his?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then off you go.”
Without hesitation, Aiden pushed my sister and Lucas toward another part of the forest.
Though she kept glancing back, she eventually walked deeper into the woods with Lucas.
Once they were some distance away, Aiden placed his hands on his hips and turned to me.
“Well? How’s my handiwork?”
I spared no applause or admiration.
“You’re amazing, Student Council President.”
“Just call me Aiden. No one bothers with honorifics.”
“Maybe not others, but my sister doesn’t. I can’t do that. I’ll call you Senior Aiden.”
“You’re really something.”
Rather than teasing, it felt like he acknowledged my affection for my sister, and I proudly lifted my chin.
“Let’s go too.”
“That’s the direction my sister and Lucas went.”
Aiden placed his hand on my head.
“What do you think will happen just because we left Lucas and Emma alone? At best, they’ll spend the whole time staring at the ground looking for new flowers. So of course we need to follow and help things along.”
“I see! As expected of you, Senior Aiden!”
I clapped again, having learned a new lesson.
“But what about gathering wildflowers?”
“We’ll just say we couldn’t find any new ones. Who takes this activity seriously anyway?”
“Everyone seems pretty serious. If they find a new wildflower, they bring it back to debate what it is—and they gave me a stern warning not to step on any.”
“That’s…”
Aiden trailed off and looked down at me.
“That’s because Liam is a wildflower fanatic.”
“I thought his obsession seemed unusual.”
At last, his strangely intense devotion made sense.
“Alright, shall we go help them?”
“Help?”
“At least we’re not interfering.”
“That’s true.”
My trust in Aiden steadily increased.
Maybe it was actually fortunate that he was the one who caught me.
Keeping a reasonable distance, we followed the trail my sister and Lucas had taken.
As soon as we spotted them in the distance, we hid behind a thick tree and observed.
We had to work hard to inch closer into earshot without being noticed.
“Lucas, we just look at these wildflowers and see if there are any we haven’t discovered before, then dig them up.”
“Ah, yes.”
Perhaps from shyness, Lucas could barely say more than that.
His restless behavior revealed his feelings clearly.
What a frustrating guy.
How could anyone say that was the attitude of someone who didn’t like my sister?
After a long silence of just staring at flowers, it was my sister who finally broke it.
Right when I was about to stretch from boredom and Aiden stopped me—
“Lucas, what do you think about Olivia?”
