Romantic debts

'Well that could've gone better.' Raul walked down the street while ruffling his own hair in irritation. He spent a couple hours hanging out with Rebecca and her brother, but when things took a turn for the more intimate, he came clean.

Rebecca was in the middle of undressing when he blurted out he was married loud enough for the whole house to hear.

To be fair, it could've gone a worse. Rebecca was angry that he didn't tell her sooner, but she still took it well. Her brother, less so. The punch didn't do any damage, to him at least, but it hurt to have little John taking a swing at him.

Rebecca's congratulations also burned his heart. He could tell she meant it, even though he could also see she was angry and sad.

A sigh escaped his lips. He wasn't in the wrong, he'd always been honest with the women he slept with that he wasn't looking for an exclusive relationship. His teacher advised him to be transparent to avoid getting shanked and he abided by it. But even still, he felt scummy.

While some of the girls he saw regularly also had multiple partners and wouldn't mind much, there were a few who were only with him and had hopes the casual relationship could grow into something more. He had to see them before he left.

Many of them treated him with care and affection and he didn't know if he'd ever see them again. While he couldn't reciprocate their feelings, he felt they deserved an explanation.

'Looks like I don't need to worry about how to spend the next few days. What a pain' He sighed again while rubbing his neck. But it had to be done.

Truthfully, there was another reason he wanted to level with them. When he was with Rebecca, images of Marina kept appearing in his mind and made him uncomfortable.

He wasn't in love with her, but he definitely felt something towards her different from any of his previous relationships. A subtle sense of obligation or duty.

He didn't know where this messed up relationship would go, but as complicated as it was, he wanted the peace of mind to develop it as he wished. Marina might not mind what he did, but he did, and he felt that he'd regret it if he didn't tie up his loose ends.

"Yuan?" Raul tensed as he heard a voice calling him from behind.

'Damn it, isn't this too soon?' He cursed while turning around woodenly. He sighed in relief as he saw a beautiful girl with a slim figure and frizzy black hair.

"Hey Tami, long time no see." Raul greeted one of Tai's girls with unburdened ease.

"Yeah, a really long time." She nodded while a lonely look came across her face. They made small talk for a few minutes afterwards, but Raul could tell her heart wasn't in it.

A playful smile crossed his face. He could guess what she was dancing around, but it was more fun to see if she'd work up the courage to ask.

"Um, Yuan. Have you seen Yuri recently?" She finally got to the heart after a few more minutes of talking.

"Yeah, I still meet up with him at times, why?" He applauded her courage in his mind and asked the follow up question. Yuri was Tai's alias in the city.

Tami's face went through a variety of subtle emotions, but Raul caught all of them. From relief, to sadness, then grief, and finally hesitation.

"Is something wrong? If you need help, I'll help however I can." He gave her another push, happy to take this detour away from his own looming mess. Temporarily of course.

His words seemed to firm her resolve. "Yuan, can you ask him to come and meet Celica and I at her place? Tell him we don't expect him to keep his promises, we just want to talk to him." She pleaded.

The playfulness on Raul's face vanished immediately. 'Shit! What did that idiot do?' a spike of panic shot through Raul as he remembered his teacher's warnings.

Tai was different from him. Before he and Ellen started dating, he pretty much only had relations with Tami and Celica. Even so, Raul strictly passed down his teacher's lessons for dealing with girls without suffering, including rule five, don't make promises unless you can't keep.

'? Wait, haven't I been making a lot of promises to Marina lately? No, no. It's different, I'm gonna keep them.' Raul shook his head while convincing himself he was still in the clear, causing a crestfallen expression on Tami's face.

"So it's really not possible…"

"No, no! Don't mind me, we'll be there. I mean, we'll meet you and Celica's in a bit."

"Really!?" A hopeful but trepid look came over Tami's cute features.

"Of course, I'll drag him there if I have to." Raul said seriously.

He hoped Tai didn't promise them anything stupid. He had no illusion that he'd be able to escape Old George's wrath if this blew up just because it was Tai that did the deed.

He trembled imperceptibly as the memories of the beating Old George gave him when he'd almost got involved with a drug ring resurfaced.

'I don't mind if you have some fun, but I'll kill you myself before I let you become trash.' His cold words were forever ingrained in Raul's psyche.

That was the first and only time he'd seen Old George mad, and he had no intention of seeing it again.

"Ok, we'll be waiting there then." Tami nodded gratefully.

Raul slipped down a side street and hastily traveled back to the household, careful to avoid bumping into anyone else he knew.

He'd never try going up the mountain at night if he were still mortal, but now the dark was hardly an inconvenience.

Though his vision was only marginally better, the increase to all his senses and physical abilities still made it an easy trip. What used to take him two hours in the day now only took him forty minutes in the night.

It was still early into the night with a few hours left before midnight, but even still, Tai was unamused when Raul started banging on his office door.

"Where have you been!?" Tai questioned angrily while rushing Raul into the room. As he did so, he inspected the state of Raul's clothes closely, hoping he didn't find any signs of women on them. They already weren't in the Norn Family's good books, and Raul cheating would be a huge slap in the face.

"No need to give me the one over, I didn't do anything. Is Ellen here?"

"Forgive me if the last six years have left me doubtful over your ability to keep it in your pants. And no, she isn't. She's doing some tasks at the Pill Stocks, so you're going to have to wait a while." Tai continued to carefully inspect him until he could sigh in relief.

"Great. What the hell did you promise Tami and Celica?" The question came out harsher than he intended due to his own frustration and guilt from Tai's judging gaze.

Tai's relieved expression immediately crumbled as he looked away like a guilty child. "… You saw them?"

"I saw Tami. She looked really sad man."

Tai flinched at those words.

Raul sighed. "Look man, you need to go see them. I told them you'd meet them and Celica's house."

"I can't." Tai immediately shook his head with a forlorn expression.

"Oh yes you can. I don't know what you promised them, but they don't expect you to fulfil it, they just want to see you. You owe them that much." He told him sternly.

Tai became more crestfallen upon hearing that, but he still hesitated to agree.

"Look man, we both know I can't force you. But remember, we're leaving in a few days, for who knows how long. Do you really want to part with them like this?"

Tai groaned. "You're a real pain in the ass."

"If you'd listened to this pain in the ass, you wouldn't be in this situation." Raul responded smugly.

"Give me a moment to change." He finally sighed in resignation.

"Hurry it up, they're already waiting on you." Raul reminded.

"Quite rushing me. Just, eat this till I'm ready." Tai grumbled and brought out the dinner Marina gave him to pass on.

A loud gurgle sounded as Raul's stomach demanded satisfaction. "Take the time you need bro, they probably won't notice if we're a little late." Raul wiped the drool from his mouth and took the plate.