Laid on the bed, after dressing back, he's mesmerized by her beauty as he carefully passes his fingers on her hair and face.
"We will go to the hills tomorrow?" She asks, enjoying his affection.
"It was what we were planning, right? But I'll rent a car, so you don't risk yourself with your shoulders. We will not force anything just going somewhere to relax together." He answers, then tenderly kisses her lips. "Promise me you won't force yourself."
She smiles mischievously.
"I don't know. I liked your punishment." She says, making him laugh softly.
"Little mynx… It was more of a punishment for me as I can see." He speaks, hugging her carefully so her arm in the sling stays untouched.
"I said I liked your punishment, not that it was easy."
They giggle together. This woman makes him feel like a teenager, but he loves it.
"Bones wants to come earlier to stay with you. I said I wanted to stay here with you at least for the first days. Will you let me stay?" He asks, expectantly.
"Well, if it won't trouble your duties. I can't actually forbid my boyfriend to stay with me."
"True. I would be too sad. I can make meetings online, and work remotely. But taking care of my girlfriend is better personally. It's good for me too. When I'm with you, things seem less boring, less stressful. Knowing I'll be with you later feels like a great prize." He says, lost in her eyes.
"It's true.. If it's what you want."
She knows that will be a challenge to hide who she is, but when he said his feelings for her made her happy.
"Will be like a little vacation period. 7 days working very little time, and then 3 days off to fade away some extra hours."
We should enjoy this." He affirms, playing with her hair.
He looks at her feeling all the love he has for her. The way he looks at her makes her feel great and feel safe. They talk a bit more and then he watches her falling asleep. He admires her face in front of him, only thinking about how great this love is.
He slept better than the last days away from her.
---
Not feeling her on his side anymore, he wakes up in the morning. He checks his phone and sighs angry at himself because he forgot to put the alarm. He wanted to prepare Aika's breakfast.
After doing his morning routine quickly, he finds Aika recording Ian and Aidan trying to prepare breakfast together.
"Good morning, beautiful." Odir says to her.
She turns to him, filming his face.
"Good morning, handsome. Ian is not helping Aidan at all. Can you help?" She asks, making them laugh.
"I'll try!" Odir answers after kissing her lips.
"What's so hard to pass butter on the bread? Goddamit!" Aidan asks Ian.
"Calm down, mister! It's my first time in the kitchen." Ian laughs.
"Oh my… It's my first time too, but passing butter, I think I can do it." Odir says.
"No. I need sausages. Cut some for me. Sis likes sausages." Aidan speaks while he's preparing pancakes.
Ian and Odir are helping Aidan do almost everything. He's very independent in the kitchen. Aika is happy watching that funny scene of them working together.
At the end, Odir and Ian were happy too, having this experience of cooking, especially for their Queen.
All of them were beaming happily when she tasted their breakfast, and she said it was delicious, even if Aidan was the one who did the most of things.
After breakfast, they're preparing to go to the hills when Aika's phone started to ring. When she sees who it is, she gets impressed.
"Hey, Greg!" She answers.
"Hey, my ascending star! How are you? I saw your e-mail and messages in the group with the other supers. How is your shoulder?" Gregory speaks.
"It's all right. Not moving the arm is helping to don't feel pain. I'll be fine. Thanks."
"Nice. Rest well. Another thing, I heard Odir arrived yesterday. Did you talk to him?"
Through his voice, Aika knew that was what he wanted to ask from the beginning. She smiles and puts on speaker, looking at Odir.
"Yeah. He arrived here yesterday, on my last flight. 4751." She answers.
"Did he tell you why he came?"
"Personal reasons."
"Really?" Gregory asks, curious. Odir and the others are smiling, trying to keep silent.
"Yeah. He came to see his girlfriend."
"Oh… It is personal. I'll call him just to check if he needs anything. All right. Thanks, Aika. Take care of that shoulder." He says, and they say good byes.
She presses the red button and puts down her phone.
"Do you think he will call me?" Odir asks, and his answer is his work cellphone ringing.
It was Gregory, and that made them laugh.
"Hello? Hey, Greg!" Odir says putting on speaker.
"Hey, Odir! I heard you're in Cankyoto." Gregory says.
"Yeah. My girlfriend lives here."
"Oh really? That's great. Until when will you stay here? We could go on a double date or something."
"I'm not sure. She got injured yesterday and I'm taking care of her. Maybe when she's better, we go out."
"Really? What happened to her?"
"She injured her shoulders." Odir answers, smiling at Aika. She's holding her giggling. "She needs to stay down for 7 days." Odir completes the tips.
"Wow. Aika, our new super, injured her shoulders yesterday. What a coincidence." Gregory says, thoughtful, sounding like discovering something. "All right. If you need anything, let me know."
"Sure! Thank you, Greg. Bye." Odir says and then hangs off the phone.
"I think he's not entirely sure about you two, yet." Ian chuckles.
—
They call a cab to rent a car first, then they go to the hills. Odir misses Aika's warmth sitting in the front with Ian and her sitting with Aidan in the back seats.
She's talking to Bones through messages, and Aidan is watching.
"I told Bo you'll stay, but either way, he'll come tomorrow to enjoy this period I'll have away from work." Aika says.
"We can make the surprise for him then." Aidan gets happy.
"Yes. That would be great. He'll be super happy. I mean, more than that." Aika answers with a smile to Aidan, then kisses his head.
"What surprise?" Odir asks.
"We could officially turn Bo into my father in my registers." Aidan answers taking Odir by surprise.
"Oh my Gods! He will be so happy." He happily says.
Through Aidan's smile, Odir can see how much Aidan likes Bones.
"He will cry. I'm sure. Bo is sensitive." Aika says.
"We can bring him to that place we found to camp and at night we show him the papers." Aidan excitedly says.
"Nice idea. You can say: Hey, Bo. I've got these papers from school that sis can't sign. She said she didn't understand well. Can you help me?"
"Yes! I can't wait!"
Odir wonders if Aika is going to change her register too, but he decides to ask later.
They arrive at a trail, they walk watching nature. Ian and Odir could notice clearly how much Aika relaxed there. It's been so long that they don't do something like this that it feels like something completely new.
They spread a picnic blanket near a tree and a lake. Aika takes a snack and shove into her mouth, then she tosses her shoes to her side.
"Oh man… I was needing this." She says after taking a long deep breath.
"It's a nice place to relax." Odir wraps his arm around her waist.
"Let's take a pic. This place is so great." Ian says taking out his phone and preparing to take a selfie.
"I want this pic." Odir says.
"Me too." Aika confirms.
They chat a bit and then Aidan goes swimming in the lake. Ian goes to keep an eye on him, also giving some alone time for Odir and Aika.
"I noticed you relaxed so much here. I knew you liked natural things, but seeing how great you feel made me understand more. It's great to watch you this relaxed. I'm happy to see this side of yours." Odir says and kisses her head.
"I love this. There's no better place to quiet down your mind than nature. These days were a bit crazy, so it's good to relax." She answers.
"It's true… Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." She nods, then looks at him.
"Can I assume our relationship to the world? I want to just confirm if someone asks. Of course, we can be discreet online if you want, but I'm serious about us and I want to show everyone we are together." He explains, holding her hand on her good arm.
She smiles and takes her phone. She aims the camera so it can take the picture of their legs tangled together and the scenario.
Then she opens the Ingram app and posts the picture tagging him and saying:
'Had to slow down a little bit, but I'm lucky to have the best people around me…'
He gets happier than he imagined he would be. So he does more. He takes a selfie of them after saying something silly in her ear, so she giggles. Both are smiling in the picture and tag her on the post saying:
'True happiness and smiles'
She smiles, looking at the picture. She also posts in her stories the picture of all of them together. Of course, in no time, many messages from curious coworkers start to ring on her phone, but she ignores them, only laughing and showing it to Odir.
They kiss tenderly, not really fearing the future.