Arion asked not only because he was feeling possessive but because he wondered if a beauty like her already had someone else in her mind. He didn't want to get disappointed later and wanted to know beforehand.
After all, he had never come upon a woman like Mei and already fell for her before he knew it. Her beauty and personality were only some of the factors that made him feel like this. The rest stemmed from his own heart and memories.
He didn't care even if his feelings were influenced by his memories since he didn't mind them.
Although he was a playboy in his previous life, he felt that he wouldn't go after any other girl if he had someone like Mei as his girlfriend.
So, even if Mei was seeing him as a kid, he felt that he had ample time and chances to turn around her perspective.
It sure took him some guts to ask her, but he felt that Mei would only treat his question coming out from his curiosity.
Mei squinted her eyes with an inner glow and replied, "Of course, I have a boyfriend."
Arion felt as if his heart fell off from its place and asked in a flat voice, "Who?"
Mei clamped her lips together and said, "You really don't know? I am sure you know that person very well. In fact, you know him the best."
'Which bastard is that…' Arion searched through his memories like a hungry wolf rummaging through scraps for food. But no matter what, he didn't find any man who was even remotely close to Mei, nor was he close with any other man.
"It's you, silly," Mei giggled, seeing that Arion was trying hard to answer her question. "You are the only boyfriend in my life. But why the sudden question?"
Arion almost let out a loud sigh of relief, and his face became red, thinking how he got teased so badly.
Rarely did he ever get teased since he was the one who did the teasing most of the time. But at the same time, he felt very happy even if she meant that as a joke.
At least, he confirmed that she is still single since he didn't feel as if she was lying. However, hearing her question, he casually replied, "I was curious if a beautiful and talented woman like you would still be single."
"Do you really want me gone that badly?" Mei feigned an upset tone.
Arion played along, "Of course, not. That's why I don't want you to forget what you said before and always be with me only."
"Haha, where else I could go? I will be right beside you always. Now let's sleep since tomorrow you might be having a long day. The Prana Binding stage can leave you tired during the initial process."
Arion hummed in reply as he gladly let his nose get squished by her two soft and milky white peaks.
Soon enough, he dozed off, basking in her fragrance, and before he knew it, the night passed.
It was morning the next day when Arion woke up after not feeling Mei's presence beside him. He looked up to see Mei ferreting around the cupboard for something.
"Oh, did I wake you? Anyway, time to get ready. I hope Uncle Kisho won't leave early since it's a busy day today. Otherwise, it would be hard to get to the Central Ward."
"Ah, the Golden Monolith. It should be fine. I have gone alone there many times. Oops…"
"What?! You really went alone all the way to the Central Ward?" Mei asked with a voice of disbelief.
Seeing her trembling eyes, Arion felt guilty, and he himself thought it stupid to go alone all the way to the Central Ward. But he couldn't blame himself since his previous self was desperate to help Mei.
"I...I just didn't want you to do all the work yourself. You have been running around here and there for my sake, so I wanted to be useful so that you could have some rest from all this," Arion said in a low voice while taking subtle glances at her to see her reaction.
Mei's lips parted, wanting to say how dangerous it was to travel alone in his state. But hearing that he was doing it all for her, she couldn't help but swallow her words as her expression softened.
She sighed and said, "Ari, I really appreciate you wanting to help me. But if anything happens to you while I am not there, that's when things become terrible for me. Those injuries that I saw before...they were not simply from falling, right?" She asked in a skeptic tone.
Arion knew that she was asking about the times when he came home with injuries here and there, and he always lied that it was from falling off from the wheelchair.
Seeing how silent she was, Mei knew that she was right, and her tone became cold as she asked, "Who did it?"
Arion was surprised by the change in her usually gentle tone but replied, "It's just a bunch of stupid kids. You don't have to bother with them."
"Kids or not, they have no right to bully you. Hmph, let's see today, who dares to lay a hand on you. I will break their hands if they dare to," She said with a stern voice.
'Wew, that went from zero to hundred real quick,' Arion gulped, wondering if this was really Mei since he never saw this scary side of hers. He had assumed her to have a kind disposition no matter what.
Thinking about it, maybe he never had to see this side since he never told the truth before.
But he felt good that she was standing up for him even if it meant offending the kids of powerful people since those who stayed in the Central Ward were usually influential people.
He also didn't care if the kids got what they deserved if they tried to bully him again. And soon enough, he was sure he would be able to stand on his own legs and take care of them himself.
"Those cunning people in the Central Ward never told me such things, and even here, no one told me about you were going out on your own," Mei said with a puzzled expression.
Arion wryly smiled as he said, "That's because I begged the ones who caught me leaving not to give me away. I just had to plead to their conscience, and they bought it."
Mei let out a heavy sigh as she pulled his cheeks, "Haa...you are not as innocent as you look, you sly boy. But jokes aside, you should never go anywhere without me. If you want to go somewhere, just tell me. I will be happy only to come with you. So, don't think too much. Okay?"
"Okay, okay. Let's go eat," Arion tried to divert her attention as he tried to get on his wheelchair.
Mei helped him up and was about to leave the room with him when he pointed out her sexy-looking nightie and said, "Are you really going to eat in that dress?"
"Why not?" She asked with a blank look and then looked at her nightie, "Is there any problem with it?"
"We have someone else in the house. You can't dress like that before strangers," Arion remembered about Shun, and he didn't want that cocky boy to see Mei like this.
Mei chuckled, "But he's just a kid. You are really thoughtful, hmm. Well, since you insist, I will change."
Arion let out a sigh of relief seeing Mei going back to put on another dress atop her nightie.