Alex didn't know how he should respond to such a suggestion from Melissa.
He had only just met her and with great difficulty accepted his relationship with her, going so far as to calling her wifey.
If he was well acquainted with her, he would've flirted back and did lewd things but for now, she was just like a stranger to him and it was difficult to respond to her moves.
Although he had only just met her, when looking into her eyes, Alex could feel that she had known him for an eternity. It wasn't even a joke, this indescribable feeling was too strong for him to ignore.
However, despite that, Alex didn't want to move too fast and wanted to take things slow.
He caressed Melissa's hair and giving her a kiss on her head, said, "I know you want to be intimate with me because you really love me, but, can we take things a little slow?"
How many days had it been since they met? Not even a full twenty four hours. Alex didn't want to risk anything and create problems for himself or Melissa herself.
He could avoid her advances by rejecting her, but Alex felt that it would be a dumb move and also a sign of cowardice.
Strong people, to maintain a healthy relationship, always communicated with their partners to know what they wanted and what they didn't.
No matter what, communication was key to a healthy relationship. This was something Alex had learnt in medical school in the few mandatory psychology classes that he was forced to take.
Melissa was surprised with Alex's sudden request. She turned her face up to look at him and couldn't help but smile and pinch his cheek.
"You look so cute talking so softly like that."
She then got up from his embrace and facing him, held his hands and said, "are you feeling things are going too fast?"
Melissa knew Alex for a long time. It wasn't difficult to guess what her husband may be concerned about.
Alex nodded. "We only just met. If we get too intimate and later if it doesn't work out—"
"Ssshhh." Melissa put a finger on Alex's lips as she heard that and stopped him from speaking further.
She then held his face and looking at him lovingly, said in a gentle and soft tone, "it has been working out since the beginning, it'll continue to work out till infinity. Don't say these unnecessary things, okay?"
Alex nodded lightly, agreeing with Melissa.
Melissa smiled. "You want to take it slow, we'll take it slow. I have waited for so many years to be with you, a few more won't hurt. Now can we at least have the movie date and cuddle and kiss?"
"Yes." Alex agreed with this.
"Great!" Melissa's mood turned cheerful again. She put herself back in Alex's embrace and browsed through the movies to find something good.
Alex got back to caressing Melissa's hair as many questions popped up in his mind from this little interaction.
A minute later, he asked, "Honey, how long have you known me?"
"Since the beginning." Melissa didn't even hesitate and replied almost instantly in reflex.
Alex had no idea what she meant and tried to guess it instead. 'Beginning? Beginning of what? My elementary school in previous life? College? Med school? Job? Why can't I remember meeting her in any of these places?'
Alex was really confused and wanted to question Melissa further. But he realized if she wanted to explain something, she would've done so already.
Melissa was really talkative and she wouldn't miss any opportunity to converse with Alex.
Sighing, Alex shook his head and wondered what these mysteries shrouding him were.
Soon, Melissa found a nice rom-com movie and excitedly showed it to Alex.
Alex reciprocated the feeling and the two started watching it.
Because Alex had mentioned he wanted to take things slow, they just cuddled and kissed during the movie.
It was a warm feeling despite being less intimate and since Alex felt too comfortable with Melissa in his embrace, his tiredness took the better of him and he slept.
Melissa watched his peaceful sleeping face with a smile and stared at it for a good few hours. She then decided to sleep as well and rested her head on Alex's chest, eventually going to sleep.
*
Next day.
Alex was sitting in the living room, having breakfast with Melissa, and catching up on some news.
Not even a few minutes into it…
"BREAKING NEWS: THE EL VIZAN TERRORISTS STRIKE AGAIN!"
The news anchor was too loud with the headline and Melissa felt a headache listening to it.
She was about to tone it down when she saw Alex watch it with a serious gaze.
"Husband?" Melissa called out.
"Hmm?" Despite being focused on the tv, he turned to face Melissa when called upon. It was obvious where his priority lay.
"Something's up?" Melissa asked, her context being the news.
Alex nodded. He pointed at the tv and said, "that… the El Vizan… they're bad news."
"Why?"
Alex took a deep breath and replied, "in my past life, they managed to cause a massive bio war, resulting in the death of more than a million people worldwide."
Melissa was surprised hearing that. "Such a thing happened?"
Alex asked back, "do you not know about this?"
Melissa shook her head. "All the time, my whole focus was on you, be it your past life or this."
"I see." Alex surprisingly felt warm hearing that but didn't express it. He instead cleared his throat and continued, "Well… the El Vizan are…"
El Vizan.
A feared underworld organization administered by the Dark Church of Vitali, was one of the leading terror groups of the world.
It would've been fine if there were normal humans in the group, but being managed by a Dark Church, they had several Blesseds within their ranks and that spelled trouble.
Blesseds were superhumans, possessing prowess mighty enough to topple even the Everest. They were the top mortals, standing at the peak of humanity.
They derived their powers from Gods themselves and were said to be the most faithful worshippers among all the other humans.
Since these things were related to worshipping and prayers, religion was spread far and wide to each and every corner of the world. There were a lot of temples, shrines, churches, and each person on the planet was affiliated to some or the other religion.
There wasn't one religion, but thousands of them. spread far and wide due to the presence of multiple Gods.
Each God had its own religion and the more believers there were for a particular God, the more was said to be his strength.
As there were good Gods who wanted the betterment of humanity, there were naturally the ones who wanted its demise as well.
Such Gods were the Evil Gods and their churches were called the Dark Churches.
The power the Blessed got from them was corrupt and filthy, but it was also really strong and thus there were many underworld organizations in the shadows, lurking to one day rain doomsday upon humanity.
El Vizan was one such organization and they had made multiple public appearances till now, but had always left scot-free.
It was evident that they had some deep connections and there was no one else but Alex in this world who could confirm this.
In his past life, in about a year from now, the El Vizan was successful in blowing up a major chunk of the White House.
Alex remembered the panic that had been caused due to this.
The whole world was at the edge of their seat, sweating buckets knowing that if even the world's most powerful nation couldn't save itself from the attacks of El Vizan, then what could they even do?
There was a major shift in political powers and many countries formed alliances to tackle this problem.
The US stock market crashed, recession arrived, many lost their jobs, became homeless, and even killed themselves.
Riots happened all across the country and the bad situation turned even worse.
Thankfully major metro cities were faring off better and Alex didn't face a lot of problems. He had called his parents to New York and they too were safe.
It took the country half a decade to recover from the attack of El Vizan, but it was still like a horse with a broken leg. It needed more time to heal.
Such major events that happened were the reason Alex was so serious when watching the news and Melissa realized this only now.
After listening to everything, she couldn't help but ask, "So… what are you planning to do?"