Page 74 of A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse

“Today isn’t my… How?” I stuttered as heartbreaking emotions took over and my eyes watered.

I’d completely forgotten today was my birthday. My real one, that is, not the one the Guild created for me.

“H-How do you know this?” I stuttered.

“You told me.”

“No, I didn’t.” I would remember. I kept everything from my previous life locked up in a secret safe so people couldn’t tarnish the memories or use them to hurt me.

Telling someone about my date of birth would be like stabbing myself with a ten-inch poker.

“Yes, you did, about a month ago, when you were screaming at me to leave you alone. You must have been too angry to remember.”

Right. We were having a fight because some girl was chasing him.

“Thank you,” I tell him as I take the beautiful red velvet cupcake with a single lit candle in the middle of the frosting.

“Make a wish.” I closed my eye and followed his instructions before blowing on the candle.

“You ready to go?”

“Go where?”

“To our date.”

“It’s not a date.”

“Right.”

“So, what are we doing again?”

“What is the number one thing you’ve always wanted to do?”

“Skydiving,” I declared immediately.

“Ah OK, no. something less dangerous.”

“Hike Everest?”

He looked at me with a scowl. “Does everything you want to do involve breaking your neck?”

Yes. “No.”

“Huh, Huh. Try again.”

“Seriously, I have no clue.”

“I’m going to show you how to cook.”

Say what, now?

“Cook?”

He blushed. “Yeah, you once told me you didn’t know how. So, I asked my mom to teach me, and I’m going to show it to you. That way, you won’t starve when they send you on your first mission.”

Seriously? That was so freaking sweet. I couldn’t believe he did that. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll set your kitchen on fire?”

“No, of course not. You wouldn’t do that, right?” he inquired nervously, making me chuckle.

---