(Lisa's POV)
I'm off work today but Valin has been on his laptop since I woke up. I sat beside him and laid my head on his shoulder.
"What are you up to?" I asked,
"There was an error made by one of the new workers. I'm just trying to locate it. I might also add some new coding for the characters they haven't started on yet because Jey sent over the dialogue script for some of the NPCs." He replied, continuing to scroll through paragraphs of text.
"Oh, so you're working?" He kissed my forehead, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Duh, I just said that." I laughed.
"Don't get sassy with me." He smirked in response... it's been 2 days since we've done anything beyond kissing. I thought today would be the perfect day for me to admit defeat and try something but he's working... would it annoy him if I interrupt? I sat with him, silently, for close to 20 minutes when he broke the silence and said,
"Are you hungry? I can order breakfast." I sat up and shook my head.
"No, not yet... um... Valin?" He glanced at me before saying,
"Yeah, what is it?" I cleared my throat,
"I want to suck your ****. Is that okay?... You don't have to stop working." He blinked at me, and the fact he wasn't flustered at all made me get more embarrassed.
"Right, now?" He clarified. I nodded. He looked at his computer screen and then said, "I guess you've reached your limit." I blushed brighter and shoved his shoulder.
"I am trying to be considerate by asking! I was planning to jump you as soon as I woke up but you were busy!" I blurted out, then I realized what I just said and held a couch pillow up to my face, "Forget I asked."
"Nope." Valin replied curtly, "I have already recorded this as a core memory. I'll look back on it 50 years from now if I need a good laugh." I groaned, then peeked out at him. His laptop was on the coffee table and his pants were undone, see that made me hide my face again. "I can take a break for you..." Valin whispered, pulling the pillow away from me and throwing it on the floor. I was still shy about getting started but quickly moved my hair behind my ears and gave him the blow job. I feel like I improve each time we do this, which makes me happy. I like knowing I've satisfied him.
We eventually moved into the bedroom and only spent 45 minutes together being intimate before he kissed my forehead and left the room. Even though it was shorter than usual, it was somehow more than sufficient; I'm wiped out. I figured he was getting back to work but then he came back with the box he mentioned before. "We can open this now." I sat up and crawled over to the end of the bed, towards him, when suddenly his phone rang. He clicked his tongue and handed the box to me while leaving the room to answer it. Inside... were numerous sex toys, some had very obvious uses, and others flustered me to even think about what they could be for.
"Um... V-Valin." I mumbled out in a trembling voice. He returned to the room, the phone still in hand but clearly having ended the call. Then he bent down and leaned forward to kiss my lips, licking and sucking on my tongue in a way that made me forget my fatigue and apprehension towards the things he just gave me.
"I have to go." He mumbled, before pulling away from me. I wrapped my arms around his neck to stop him from moving and he laughed, moving in to kiss me again.
"Where are you going?" I asked, once our lips parted ways.
"There's a family emergency going on... they need me." I looked into his eyes and said,
"Can I come?" He ducked out of my arms and started getting dressed.
"Not this time... but maybe you can meet them another time... and I want to meet your family too." My heart started flipping around wildly.
"...Yeah... I would like that... Oh, and I'm going on a business retreat next week, I'll have to purchase your ticket, but I'd like you to come too. We're staying at a beachside resort." He pulled on his shirt then cocked his head to the side.
"How long is it?... I don't like your co-workers." I thought he was getting along with everyone at the party though.
"3 days and 2 nights. You seemed to be having fun at the dinner. You even got drunk and started putting on a very... seductive performance at Karaoke." He snorted from trying not to laugh,
"I wasn't drunk." He did all that sober?! "And that was for you, not them... It's fine, I'll go on the trip." I squealed from joy then Valin surprised me again with an assault of affection, tickling my neck with his lips.
"I... wonder what you'd be like if you did get drunk," I commented, mostly to myself. He kissed my cheek and then rolled his eyes.
"Then maybe one day I'll show you." That's when I remembered the box in my hands.
"Oh yeah... Valin, what are these for?" I asked,
"Oh... they're for you." I knew that much! "They're all new, don't worry."
"I would hope so! I mean that's not even what I'm worried about!" He chuckled and then replied,
"We'll talk about it more later, love you ♥" I sighed and looked away from him so my heart could settle a little bit.
"I love you too, Valin... call me when you're done." He nodded, before leaving the house. 30 minutes later someone rang the doorbell, I was dumb to assume it was him. I mean why would he ring the bell when he has a key? It was a delivery driver, bringing me breakfast, it was actually several days later before I saw Valin again.
(Tana POV)
Valin was last to arrive, after Cera. He also had the biggest transformation out of the 4 Chosen who had left Afaria. His hair used to be so long it reached the center of his back, now his curls barely reached his neck, and he was bulkier, maybe in an attempt to hide his soft facial features. Cera hadn't changed much except growing a few inches taller. Zai just looked like an older and much taller version of the person I saw over a decade ago but with piercings and a more... upbeat disposition.
As soon as Raijian and Aluma met again they embraced and kissed, recounting major life events that they missed from the other's life.
"I'm sorry." Raijian muttered, "I ... thought you would have forgotten me so I... Tried to forget you. I never imagined you'd wait for me this whole time." There was pain in his voice when he confessed this to Aluma.
"I... wanted to move on, but there was no way I could love your father and I had no other options. So I was stuck thinking of you. I did think you forgot me as well, but I couldn't forget you, Rai... even though you tricked me, you were my first and I loved you." Raijian's eyes looked like they would cry at any moment,
"I understand... but does that mean you don't love me anymore?" She giggled then held his cheeks and pecked his lips several times.
"I... would care for you, even if you looked completely different, acted differently, even if you didn't love me anymore I still would. As long as you're you, I'd be happy. So I think my answer is no, I love you, Rai." They stared into each other's eyes then Cera sighed,
"Is this what you gathered us here for?" He asked, in a bored voice, turning to me,
"No..." I cleared my throat before continuing "Truthfully, the king has threatened me, with all of your lives." Aluma and Rai sat together on the couch, fingers intertwined and Zai placed his phone on the table, in a call with someone on speaker, as he stood in the corner. Valin sat in the armchair alone and gave me his full attention, while a disinterested Cera stared at the wall, but occasionally glanced in Zai's direction. "When you came into the castle he implanted you all with an explosive crystal that's set to go off as soon as you've been alive 20 years unless he deactivates it himself. He was only planning to do that if you prove your loyalty to him... and at this point, he considers you all failures. So there's no way he'd do that." Cera was finally paying attention now and Aluma held Raijian's hand tighter to calm him.
"He's going to kill them?!" A female voice rang through the phone.
"First, I'd like to apologize for how I treated you all when you were growing up. I was going through a lot mentally myself, but I still regret it. I care a lot about all of you." I then cleared my throat and added, "Vetro was going to warn you all and tell you to come back before detonation time but... it's my fault that the plan has changed... because I... I'm pregnant."
"So what? What's that got to do with us? Why would that change anything?" Cera remarked.
"Who's is it?" Valin asked, seeming to catch on more quickly to what I was implying. He probably already knew I was pregnant, because of his element. I opened my mouth to speak but then Zai spoke before I could and said,
"It's Insinz's, right?" I started blushing and somehow lost my voice at that moment due to nerves. That's when Insinz's clone manifested from my necklace, put his arm over my shoulder, and answered for me,
"Yeah, that's right." The whole room was in an uproar with Cera yelling "How are you here?" Over and over, and Insinz and Zai shouting at each other,
"I f**king knew it! You were always so sensitive about anything related to Tana!"
"That's because you were always commenting on sh*t you knew nothing about!" Insinz yelled back, they stood glaring each other down and I got up to de-escalate the issue. Raijian sat, watching the impressions, probably gleaning any information he wanted from the minds of the people in the room. Then Valin stood up and said,
"Stop fighting! She hasn't even gotten to the point yet!" The others quieted and I thanked him saying,
"Okay... It's up to you but... Insinz knows how to remove the devices in your necks... and we ask that you help us take down the King in exchange, I believe it's possible if we all work together." Silence filled the room.
"Why should we help you? Thanks for removing the kill switch but there's no way I'm going back to Afaria." Cera stated scornfully,
"I'll do it." Zai murmured, making Cera and the person on the phone scream,
"What?!" at the same time.
"I...I'll go too, then... You guys might need me. My support skills are God Tier." Cera stated, changing his tone completely,
"I'll go as well... Aluma should stay here but I need to support my best friend if he's leaving." Raijian inputted,
"I... would rather not kill anyone... but I'd love to fight the person who thought it was okay to kill me on a whim," Valin said, what a relief, they're all on board!