"Mom, Caspian is my boyfriend," Abby said with a slightly flushed face, rendering Ava speechless.
But her speechlessness slowly disappeared as excitement overwhelmed her. With a broad smile, Ava exclaimed, "Really!? Oh my god! How cute~~! Honey! Come down! Abby, why haven't you told me? We could've celebrated!"
Abby couldn't help but sigh in exasperation as she stated, "It's because of this mom… You get too excited, and it feels embarrassing."
"Oh, come on now, we've known Caspian and his family since before you were born! You don't have to worry about embarrassment!"
Abby sighed after hearing that statement. She then glanced at Caspian as she sat down, beckoning him to sit beside her. Caspian naturally didn't hesitate and sat beside Abby, causing a wide smile filled with warmth to rouse Ava's face.
After a moment, Abby's dad, Mike, came running down. "Is there something wrong—Abby! My daughter, it's really good to see you. Caspian! You're here as well? It's been so long; how are you doing nowadays, kid?"
While Mike hugged Abby, Caspian replied, "It's been fine. I've just been trying to get used to being a supernatural being. Everything feels surreal… it's like I'm in an acid dream."
"We all get there. I remember my first time in the human world, haha. I didn't know what to do, and I was shocked at everything," Mike smiled with a sympathetic expression as he sat down beside Ava.
He then gazed at Abby and smirked widely, "Have you confessed yet?"
"Dad…" Abby couldn't help but say exasperatedly as she slumped down. Seeing this made everyone chuckle. He glimpsed lightly at Caspian and added, "I mean, I would have no retorts if he becomes my in-law."
Abby groaned in embarrassment as she banged the table with her fist. 'They're so embarrassing!'
Suddenly, Ava said in a very excited voice, "Honey, I know something interesting. Do you want to hear it?"
"Hmm?"
Ava proceeded to lean closely to Mike's ear as she whispered, "Caspian and Abby are a couple now."
Mike suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on the table, "Since when?"
Caspian couldn't help but wryly smile as he answered, "About a month or two ago?"
Suddenly, he let out a large breath as he grabbed Caspian's hand, surprising him. As if a fire burned from within him, he exhaled loudly and said, "Caspian… take care of my daughter and give us many grandchildren!"
"DAD!" Abby hadn't been embarrassed to this point before, and clearly, this was too much, even for her. Her face was red due to embarrassment, and Caspian could only smile bitterly, causing her face to turn even redder.
Caspian then thought, 'To think that the best teaser I know would be teased this much. I guess her ability came from her bloodline.'
"My bad, my bad, haha," Mike roared with laughter as he grabbed his spoon and shoved a mouthful of food in his mouth. Ava couldn't help but frown as she said, "You really have no courtesy, huh."
"I mean, I am a beast-man. What did you expect?" Mike laughed again, and pieces of food dropped from his mouth.
Ava could only shake her head as she smiled at Abby and Caspian. "Let's eat."
They naturally obliged and started eating happily. Of course, they enjoyed a pleasant conversation, including Abby's parents embarrassing her even more and some other stuff where they asked Caspian when he would marry Abby. Abby was gritting her teeth and almost bent her utensils during the entire time.
"Do you have any questions about how things work in the supernatural world, Caspian?" Ava said, slightly intriguing Caspian. Caspian then said, "I don't think I have more stuff I need to learn…."
"Hmm… oh, how about how marriage works in the supernatural world?"
Caspian had a bitter expression as he couldn't really refute it since he was indeed slightly interested in how it works. "Did you know that we actually accept polygamy here? We even encourage it."
"Really?" Caspian was surprised as he was always used to monogamy.
"Yeah, it's true. No one is really against it, even me. Well, as long as they actually love each other. I'm used to seeing many people having many partners. Hell, I'm surprised that dad only married mom since he used to have about three women with him, including mom," Abby stated as she ate.
Caspian was boggled, well… somewhat. He knew that supernaturals probably wouldn't be against it, but he didn't know that Abby wasn't against it either. Mike then said, "Well, I didn't really love the other two as much… they also have husbands now."
"I see. Did they get discouraged at how bad you were, dad?" Abby hit Mike with a low blow, causing him to spit his food.
Ava and Caspian laughed loudly as Mike coughed out the food that choked him. "That was uncalled for, Abby."
"It was just some payback, dad."
"So, Abby, that would… by chance if I—" Before Caspian could finish his sentence, Abby cut him off. "Yeah, it would be fine, cuz I love you…."
Her face blushed lightly as she continued, "And I know that you'll still love me too."
"So cute~!" Ava muttered as she looked at the two.
Caspian smiled warmly as he held Abby's hand tightly, causing him to gaze at him. Ava looked at them as if she was watching a romance movie, her hands clasped together and covering her mouth in excitement.
Mike decided to calm the situation down with a fake cough, causing the two to scratch their heads.
"Alright, so what else did we talk about?" As Ava thought about what to add to the conversation, Abby's phone suddenly rang.
She glanced at it lightly and saw that it was her captain and immediately answered. Before she could say anything, Grace spoke first.
[Abby, bring Caspian with you back to my office ASAP. I have an urgent need for the both of you.]
The call abruptly ended without giving Abby a chance to reply. A concerned look appeared on Ava's face as she asked, "What happened?"
Abby simply smiled and replied, "It's not something to worry about, mom. Besides, you two were also unit captains in the past, don't act like you're new! Captain just called for us."
"I see; she probably has a mission for the both of you. Stay safe and tell Grace that her old friend said hello and ask if she plans to retire! She's been a captain longer than us and still hasn't retired!"
As Caspian heard that, he said, "And she probably never will until we find that killer."
"I see. Well, stay safe!" Ava said, and Mike simply waved his hand.
Caspian and Abby didn't waste any further time as they immediately rushed back to Grace's office.
As they arrived, Grace greeted them with a solemn face, along with Naida, Natalie, Irene, and even Lucia standing right in front of her. Caspian then asked, "Oh, you're already back?"
"Yeah, some juniors already started looking after that grumpy bastard," Lucia replied.
With a fake cough, Grace silenced the entire room as she said, "I need all of you to ready yourselves. I have a mission for all of you: to find and capture two fugitive supernaturals that somehow managed to escape the chamber."
She then grabbed a case under her table and added, "They still have their tracking device implanted in them, so you're gonna need this tracking device. They are quite strong and tricky since they're the previous spies sent by 'Fallen' to observe us; that's why I requested for all of you, including you, Caspian."
Natalie had a concerned look on her face as she said, "How did they even manage to escape?"
"We don't know… Our suspicion is another spy had managed to enter the premises, but we haven't even gotten any new fugitives or residents in…. We might have to purge those criminals again."
"Aw~, I feel somewhat bad for those who aren't involved," Irene said as she frowned.
"Yeah, they're gonna be in more pain because of those fuckers. If we bring them back, they will probably be beaten to death. Honestly, that would be the best scenario, but we need to extract information from them. Don't kill them; just get them and bring them to me; make sure they don't commit suicide. Now go, don't waste any further time!" Grace commanded.
"Yes, Captain!" Everyone saluted as they headed to the armory without hesitation as they were in a rush of time.
"Grab all the equipment that you need. Remember that the guns are off limits for now, the saint in charge of weaponry still hasn't given approval for it," Abby stated as everyone started picking out what they needed.
After a few minutes of preparations, they headed to where the vehicles were located and immediately headed out and tracked the fugitives by using the device given to them.
"Thankfully, they haven't gotten out of the city," Natalie said as she glanced at the tracking device. "Go right; they're definitely running toward the Rosewell district."
"Isn't that the district where the killer is supposed to be staying?" Caspian asked as he turned his head.
"Yeah, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone on this one. We just have to make sure we can call for backup immediately," Abby said as she drifted into the car.
After about an hour of chasing, the fugitives finally stopped moving and stayed within a specific spot in the district. They then wasted no time and headed to the location immediately at a quick pace.
As they arrived, Caspian couldn't help but knit his brows.
"This is the suspected place…!"