Ace stared at Light for a while and the atmosphere became tense. Light still looked back with his trademark calmness.
After a moment, Ace looked away and sighed, dispelling the tense atmosphere as he replied, "Sure, but it's not a very interesting story."
Light nodded in acknowledgement, "Nevertheless, please."
"Ok." Ace began recounting, "Aida and I both joined the company at the same time. At that time, there was a huge virus infecting computers worldwide and companies were rapidly hiring as many engineers as they could to protect themselves. We were part of that large batch of people. I was in the design department, while she was in the production department."
"We didn't really interact back then. I saw her in passing a couple times, but never really spoke to her. Aida was very different back then. At work, she was quiet, shy and very withdrawn. She had no friends and everyone secretly made fun of her behind her back. Despite this, none of that ever seemed to bother her."
"I once overheard one of her coworkers asking her why she never went out with them, her response was 'Why would I?' From then on, her coworkers also actively chose to exclude her from everything."
"I also wondered what was going through her mind back then, but now I guess I understand. After all, who would bother with a bunch of ants right?" Ace laughed jokingly.
Light nodded in agreement, if he were in her position, he would not care very much for what others thought either.
"Anyway, I honestly did not pay much attention to her at all back then. We just went on about our independent lives until 2 years ago. I was having the worst time of my life for a number of reasons. At that time, she was unknowingly there for me and kept me from falling over the edge," Ace casually glossed over the details. Light didn't press him to explain, afterall everyone had their own secrets.
"Since then, I paid very close attention to her and tried many different ways to get to know her even just a little better. I was grateful to her but she always repelled everyone with her cold demeanor."
"In my efforts to get closer to her, I finally managed to be on the same project as her. That was when I discovered that not only was she a good person, but she was also smart and diligent. The project had great outcomes, but her teammates were absolutely awful. They tried to take credit for her work and belittled her contribution every step of the way." He recounted this with anger burning in his eyes.
"During the final report, I couldn't stand it anymore and called them out in front of our upper management. It turned into a whole debacle, thankfully in the end, she was given her due credit."
"That was probably the tipping point in our 'relationship'." Ace said as he smiled fondly, looking over at Aida.
"That was the point in time where she finally recognized me and was willing to greet me when we walked past each other in the hallway. It doesn't sound like much, but it was enough for me."
"From there, you more or less know the rest of the story from there," shrugged Ace. "We were attending a conference and got trapped in a hotel. Aida and I fought our way out and arrived at the airport. Then we met you all."
Light pondered for a moment before nodding, "I see, I appreciate you sharing the details of your meeting."
Looking out the window, he commented, "It's not early anymore. Go and get some rest. I will keep first watch, we need to conserve our energy to protect Aida and everyone else."
As though Xiao Ai heard, she snuggled a little closer towards Light's chest. Light smiled fondly at the small bun, patting her reassuringly.
Ace watched this scene and an odd light passed his eyes before he quickly turned on his side to get some rest. Yukio and Rin had already fallen asleep beside Aida.
The night passed without anything happening. Aida still showed no signs of awakening, but Xiao Ai was stirring gently.
The group made a unanimous decision to wait for Xiao Ai to wake up before feeding her more energy. They did not want to risk an actual bomb exploding in this store.
Xiao Ai woke up while they were eating breakfast. Light was still holding her carefully in his arms as she bounced up from the spot and unintentionally hit him in the face, causing him to spray the food in his mouth everywhere, hitting Yukio.
Light and Yukio reacted quickly and efficiently as though this was something that happened to them every day. Both Light and Yukio elegantly dabbed the edges of their mouths with napkins and acted as though nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ai had zoomed over to Aida who was still lying on the bed. "Mama, wake up! Why is Mama still sleeping?" Xiao Ai asked tearfully as she nudged Aida.
As she made this action, sparks flew between Aida and Xiao Ai. Xiao Ai didn't notice and continued nudging Aida. The sparks grew bigger, and after a moment, Xiao Ai dropped onto the sofa and also fell asleep.