Charlie stumbled out of the Wizard’s Tower, still dizzy.
He could barely tell which way led home.
The sky was full of color, the ground was lush and green, and the whole world swayed around him.
“The ground is still moving…”
“Trees… so many trees are dancing in front of me.”
He felt like he kept walking and walking along the road home.
Then everything went numb.
He collapsed to the ground.
…
2:00 p.m.
Inside Harvey’s Clinic.
“Ladies, please calm down.
Calm down!”
“Don’t worry.
He only has a mild cold.”
“A little cold medicine should take care of it.”
Charlie slowly opened his eyes to the noisy voices around him.
“Cough, cough… Where… where am I?”
He looked around and found himself lying on a clean white clinic bed.
Penny was sitting beside him.
On the other side, Abigail was talking to Harvey about something.
“Charlie, you’re awake?”
“Does anything feel wrong?” Penny asked anxiously when she saw him open his eyes.
At the sound of her voice, Abigail stopped talking to Harvey.
She hurried over and spoke in a tone that was half haughty, half worried.
“Charlie, where did you go today?
How did you end up passed out in front of my house?”
“Hmph.
If Penny hadn’t found you, who knows what would’ve happened?”
After saying that, she turned her back to him and refused to look his way.
Beside him, Penny held his hand tightly and asked too.
“That’s right.
Where did you go today?”
“I had just finished shopping at Abigail’s place and walked out when I saw you lying on the ground.”
“Thank goodness I was the one doing the shopping today.
If it had been my mom, she would’ve gone straight to JojaMart.”
“If no one had found you, you could’ve been in serious danger.”
With both girls questioning him, Charlie didn’t know what to do with his hands.
He didn’t even know where he had wandered off to himself.
But once he calmed down, he decided to tell the truth.
“Sorry.
I made you both worry.”
“I went to the Wizard’s Tower southwest of town.”
“The Wizard’s Tower?” Abigail immediately looked unhappy.
“Then why didn’t you ask me to come with you?
Didn’t we agree that we were adventure partners?”
She glared at him, clearly upset.
“Sorry.
I just thought, who takes a girl wandering around in the rain?”
“And I went to the beach to see Willy first.
When I passed Marnie’s house, I stopped by the Wizard’s Tower on the way.”
“Marnie can prove it.
I even stayed at her place for a while to hide from the rain!” he explained with complete sincerity.
After hearing that, Abigail reluctantly believed him.
But there was still one thing bothering her.
She secretly glanced at Penny.
It made Abigail wonder what kind of relationship the two of them had.
As for Penny, she also wanted to know what kind of relationship he had with Abigail.
When she was shopping, Caroline had complained to her that Charlie and Abigail had stayed out until very late yesterday, and that he had carried Abigail home on his back.
Thinking about it, Penny started to feel confused herself.
Penny… Penny… what’s wrong with you?
We’re only friends.
Why do you care so much about him?
She didn’t understand what was happening to her.
Then she looked at Charlie, unsure what they even were now.
He wasn’t feeling any better.
Penny and Abigail were both looking at him.
And from the way they looked, it seemed like both of them were trying to get an answer out of him.
Huh… what’s going on?
Why does the mood feel so strange?
The tension pressed down on him so hard he barely dared to breathe.
Just then, Dr.
Harvey walked in.
He leaned against the doorway and knocked lightly.
“Everyone, it’s three o’clock.”
“The clinic is closing.”
“The patient may stay.
You two ladies should head home.”
Dr.
Harvey seemed to be well respected in town, because Penny and Abigail both left without arguing.
Once they were gone, Charlie finally felt like he could breathe again.
“Thanks, Dr.
Harvey,” he said.
Harvey closed the door, then leaned back against it with his head slightly tilted.
In Charlie’s eyes, his figure looked incredibly noble at that moment.
“You’re quite popular with the ladies, aren’t you?”
“You’ve only been here a few days, and two girls are already this worried about you.”
Harvey said it with a teasing smile.
Charlie opened the interface.
He was confused too.
Penny: 3 hearts
Abigail: 3 hearts
Seeing that both of them had gone up by one heart, he became even more confused.
He clearly hadn’t done anything.
But the feeling of being watched by several women at once was really uncomfortable.
He did not want to go through that again.
When Charlie didn’t answer, Harvey walked over.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Then he tossed him a bottle of medicine.
“Take this.
Two pills a day.
Your cold should be gone in a few days.”
Charlie quickly apologized.
“Sorry, Dr.
Harvey.
I was thinking.”
“I don’t understand it either.
I don’t think I’ve done anything that suggestive with them.”
He explained the situation to Harvey.
He suddenly seemed like an old hand who had seen countless romances, and he began giving advice.
“It isn’t about what you think.
Maybe you did something that seemed small to you, but meant a lot to them.”
“How could we ever fully understand what girls are thinking?
Maybe even they don’t know themselves.”
“Don’t you think?”
Charlie thought that made a lot of sense.
But a few minutes later, he looked at Harvey with a sly grin.
“Dr.
Harvey, you’ve got a story, don’t you?”
Harvey smiled.
“What story could I have?”
“In a few more years, I’ll practically be a little old man.
What kind of story could there be?”
Charlie didn’t answer.
Since Harvey didn’t want to talk about the past, he didn’t push.
He picked up the medicine bottle Harvey had tossed onto the bedsheet.
“Dr.
Harvey, how much is this?”
Harvey shook his head.
“No charge.
You’re new here, so consider it a welcome gift.”
…
After leaving the clinic, Charlie went straight back to the farm.
Before he left, Harvey gave him an umbrella and reminded him of quite a few things.
“Don’t step in puddles on the way home.
If your clothes get wet, you’ll catch cold again.”
“It’s raining today, so don’t do any farm work.
Go home, lie down, and rest.”
[…]
On the way home, Charlie walked under the umbrella and felt a little thoughtful.
“Dr.
Harvey really is a kind person.”
“But why is someone that good still single?”
“Could he be secretly in love with someone and never married because of it?”
After getting home, he opened the interface.
His affection with Harvey had gone up too.
The top five were:
Penny: 3 hearts
Abigail: 3 hearts
Shane: 2 hearts
Wizard: 1 heart
Harvey: 1 heart
Charlie took Harvey’s advice and stayed home.
While he was at it, he checked the people he had met.
27/28.
He had basically met everyone.
Seeing that one person was still missing, Charlie thought back through the people and houses he remembered.
Who had he missed?
Then it came to him.
“Oh, right.
Emily’s younger sister.”
He remembered Emily saying she had a younger sister.
Immediately made up his mind.
Tomorrow, he would finish the Introductions quest.