When Aiden got to the car, he had to sit in the front seat since Lilith had taken the spot beside the merman. From the rare view mirror, he could see her being all chummy with him and he clenched his fist. He felt bad for Kai... the young boy thought of the other as such a close friend, but she only saw him as a means of breeding. The car drove off, and soon, they arrived at the penthouse where the substitute helper welcomed them.
"You can stay in the guest room, Lilith. There's a bathroom inside, too." Kai explained with a bright smile on his face showing how truly happy he was.
Hearing this, the reminder that he had just let some random person infiltrate his living space struck Aiden. He sighed and encouraged himself to be more enthusiastic and look at the bright side of things... At least Kai would remain with him.
"Upstairs is off limits." Aiden said flatly as he strode to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. Kai's smile faltered as he stared at Aidens retreating back. The other was obviously not happy about this decision, but what would he do to make him understand? It was just for the meantime. They needed to have a proper conversation to get things straight. The merman sighed and was about to head to the kitchen when Lilith jumped him from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her weight on his shoulder,
"Ehh! I'm so tired! Won't you show me around?" She whined with a playful smile.
"There's nothing to show." He replied. When she turned to look at him, she saw that he had a worried expression on his face and she sighed, "Hey, what is it?" She asked,
"Uhhm... Lilith, you know this is not permanent, right... it's just until I get a hold of my brothers and tell them I'm okay."
Lilith rolled her eyes when he said this, not wanting to hear any more,
"Yeah... I know, no need to spell it out for me." She let go of him and went to sit on the couch with a deep sigh,
"I guess you really are okay. It's a nice place. Spacious and much better than mine, too."
In the end, he'd still have to return to the sea.
Kai suddenly remembered what she had said by the beach earlier and hurried to ask,
"You said you had a job here?" He came to sit on the couch beside her.
"Yeah. I came on such short notice, so I needed to get my land life straight. Getting the job and house wasn't that hard, too..." she let out a cunning smile as she said the last sentence. "Anyway, I work at a bar... pay's good, too, and I also get some extra love from the boss. Today I'm on the night shift so I'll be leaving later."
"How did you get the job?" Kai asked with a small smile as he awaited the strategy, but when Lilith didn't reply and just smiled back at him, his smile fell.
"You used your powers?"
"Ohh, don't be like that, it's not like it'll last forever, just until I'm done with what I want to do, then I'll let them go."
Yeah, she was the one that had to break the charm.
Lilith was one of those seductress who had two abilities. The second one was that she could make a man fall in love with her by just looking into her blue eyes. Once they were in her trap, they'd literally kill themselves if it was what she asked for. Her powers worked really well, unlike Kai's.
"Please don't charm Aiden." Kai's voice fell,
"Oh please, like I'd want a maniac on my tail." Kai giggled,
"I want to get a job too." Lilith chuckled and turned to the boy with amusement. "Why? You've got everything you need here, so why stress yourself out with work?"
"You wanna work?" Aiden asked as he stepped out of the kitchen with a glass of orange juice in his hand...
"It was just something I was thinking about..."
"No." Came the others strict reply, when Kai glanced up at him from under his lids, he saw the frown on his face,
"Why not?" Kai asked, feeling his chest tighten. Aiden sighed and walked up to him, sliding the glass of juice into the boys hand,
"There's no need for that. If you need anything you can just ask me, working would just wear you out and besides, you need to focus on school." He said with a small voice as he gently caressed Kai's soft, smooth cheek,
"School's important."
"But... I feel like I'm being too much of a burden if you always have to take care of me."
Aiden placed a small kiss on the bridge of Kai's small nose with a calming smile.
"You don't see me complaining, do you?" He asked, and Kai shook his head.
"There's no need to feel like that. You can rely on me for anything, and as long as you want to, I'll be here, so just forget about work, okay?"
"Okay." Kai replied in barely a whisper and Aiden smiled, he pulled Kai's face closer using his index finger and was about to kiss him when Lilith came from behind and slapped him hard at the back of his head.
"Ahh! What the fuck is your problem?!" Aiden yelled and turned to the girl who just stared at him.
"What do you think you're doing to him?"
"None of your business." A vein popped on Aidens head,
"Of course it's my business, Kai's mine, I thought I made that clear."
"What do you mean he's yours? He never agreed to you!"
"Oh yeah? And he did to you?"
"Of course he did so back off."
He didn't know what they were going on about but having such an argument Infront of him made Kai feel awkward in the moment, he smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck,
"Uhhh... I want to take a shower so I'll head up stairs first." The two suddenly fell silent and stared back at him making him feel more awkward before they finally agreed.
"You're brain washing him." Lilith said when kai was now out of sight.
"Don't stick your nose in my business, it has nothing to do with you."
"Of course it has something to do with me. I told you to keep your hands off. And why won't you allow him work if he wants to, do you plan on keeping him locked up in here?"
Aiden shrugged casually,
"If I could I would... I'd tie him and lock him up in a room so I'll be the only one who gets to see him. He'll be there when I leave and when I return, and I'll protect him and keep him away from people like you."
Liliths mouth fell open... she couldn't believe what he had just said and so nonchalantly too,
"You're deranged." She scoffed and sat back on the couch. "If you did that, Kai would never forgive you."
"That's why I'm holding back."
"You say that as if it's a good thing."
Ever since they got back from the beach side, Aiden couldn't stop thinking about what Lilith had said to him earlier about Kai. Now that they were alone once again, he decided to make good use of the opportunity.
"Hey, earlier you said something about males being the fertile ones as mermaids,"
"Ah, you're still curious about that, I see." She teased with a sly smile,
"How does that work?"
"Haaaa? You really wanna know, huh?" She laid down on the couch and stretched her legs out, making herself comfortable.
"We mermaids and sirens don't get married like humans but we do have our mates. We mark another when we want to bond with them. During mating which is also bonding, the female bites into the males neck which release some kind of weird stuff that triggers their fertility hormones... its the same as what mosquitoes do basically. I don't know the details since I've never done it. But they always complain that birthing the baby is painful so most times they lay the eggs when it's already fertilised."
"What about as a human? You said he was still fertile."
Lilith understood where he was going to and quickly shot him a glare. She stood up from the couch and walked up to him,
"What the hell do you think you're planning?"
Aiden rose a brow with a smirk of his own, "I'm just curious, that's all." The silent beef between them thickened the atmosphere, but at the end Lilith gave in,
"He's still fertile, but it's not the same –"
"If he's f*cked by another guy, he'd get pregnant right."
"I'm warning you again, keep your hands to yourself."
"I'm right, aren't I."
"Aide-"
"I'm sure you can just find another merman to mate with, but you see..." he had a devilish smile on his face as he leaned closer and towered over the girls figure, his glittering golden brown eyes staring daggers at her, "... this one is mine."
Lilith shuddered but still tried to keep her composure. She pushed him aside and headed toward the door to leave,
"Tell kai I went to work." She informed and slammed the door shut.
Aidens' smile was still intact as he made his way up the stairs.
"We'll have dinner upstairs." He informed the helper before entering the room.
When he walked in, he saw that Kai was done bathing and had already changed to his pyjamas.
"Your friend went to work." He said and hugged the merman from behind, burying his head in the crook of his neck.
"I'm sorry you had to let her stay here because of me."
"It's okay... you get to have a friend over, too, so it's a win-win." He pulled away and ruffled the boys' wet hair.
"But I know you still feel uncomfortable, I'll hurry and search for my brothers so we can send her off."
Aiden smiled. The boy had no idea what his so-called friend had in mind for him, but he wouldn't be the one to spoil the surprise... once he is betrayed, he'd come to him on his own.
"Yeah, let's do that."
"Go take a shower so we can have dinner." Kai said and pushed Aiden into the bathroom.
When the other was done with his shower. The two had dinner in the room, and once it got late, they slid under the blanket.
In the dark room where only the two of them laid together face to face. Aiden slid his arm around Kai's waist, and the boy giggled, "it tickles." He said with a smiled...
"What are your brothers like?"
"Why are you so curious all of a sudden?"
"If I have to prove myself worthy to my Brother-in-laws, I have to know what their like first."
"Brother-in-law?" He asked, and Aiden smiled,
"You didn't know? We're getting married." Kais eyes widened
"Really? When?"
"Hmmmm, probably like two years from now."
"Ugh." He smacked Aiden on the arm and the latter chuckled,
"What? You wanna get married now? We're not even done with college."
Kai shrugged.
"My brothers are... really loving..." he giggled, "but sometimes they can be a bit too over protective, they wouldn't approve of our wedding if I told them." Who wouldn't want to be overly protective of him? Aiden thought,
"Then let's get married first thing tomorrow before they find you so we can just break the news to them." Aiden said. Kais eyelids suddenly felt heavy and were now threatening to close,
"Don't be silly, we need to get to school first thing tomorrow."
"Yeah... then we'll wait till the weekend to get married."
"It would be nice, though." He said in a whisper, and before Aiden knew it, the boy had fallen asleep. For someone who was actively talking less than a minute ago, he sure slept off fast.
Two years from now? By that time, he'd have to go along with his father's deal, but that wasn't Aidens' concern. His concern was the boy in his arms now. He'd deal with that when the time came.
Aidens fingers slid under the boys' night shirt and caressed the smooth, fair skin of his stomach as a thought kept ringing in his head... He could bear a child. Even though he was male, he could still give birth. Aiden had never seen or even heard of it but right now, he was glad.
No matter what his father asked for, Aiden didn't plan on letting the boy go.
They'd live together, and one day, they could be a complete family and even have kids. The thought of this made Aiden smile.
He placed a soft on kais lips and shut his lids, ready to go to his dream land with this happy thought. He couldn't wait for that day... that beautiful future.