At first, no one answered the door. The house was cemetery-silent, the blinds closed, but Arnst knew in his nose that two people were inside. So he knocked again, more loudly this time.

He smelled the licorice-hesitant steps of a child and then the door was suddenly swung open. A little girl with flowing red hair and stained glass eyes stood there, her open smile revealing two missing front teeth.

“Hello-can-I-help-you!” she sang out, and before Arnst could answer her, the same mysterious scent came dancing towards him. A woman appeared behind the child, a protective arm wrapped around the girl.

Arnst’s stuttering, doe-brown eyes blinked in surprise to see the same flowing red hair and stained glass eyes. His eyes had never taken in such beauty before, let alone mirrored in two human beings.

But it was really her scent that he fell in love with in that moment.

“Yes?” the woman said cautiously, her stained glass eyes curious despite her clipped voice.

For once in the wunderkid’s life, he felt stupid.