The little Mainecoon could still feel the phantom of Anteros's thin lips on his plump ones.
Boom! Elion exploded red, smoke blew out of his ears. He covered his with his palms pushing away his friend.
"Heavens! Did you just visualize you both kissing? This naughty little kitten-... wait, I forgot about it. Weren't you both kissing in the parking lot?"
Evander remembered the scene. After Elion went out they all sensed the aura of the apex predator and came running to the parking lot only to bitterly eat dog food.
"Geez, that was an accident. He was trying to avoid the poison ball then he stumbled and we fell to the floor and... um, and..."
Elion couldn't continue remembering the kiss again, "Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" He screamed covering his face again.
"Good gracious! Why the hell are you screaming near my precious ears?" Evander closed his ears shaking his head seeing his friend all giddy.
"Evanie, I think... I have a crush! What should I do?"
"What do you mean what should you do? He is going to be your husband in a week, do everything in your bedroom," Evander giggled and got punched in his face by a pillow.
"Shut up, Evanie!"
They both started the pillow fight and without them realizing the night soon came.
Evius came back from the meeting and was waiting along with Elion and Evander in the hall for Anteros's arrival.
Mr. and Mrs.Grimalkin went out of the city for their university reunion and informed them that they would be coming home late at night.
Evius thought it was for the best as he didn't want to unnecessarily worry them when he could deal with it alone.
Anteros arrived there with his secretary in his forties, Zephyr Cewalskii from the Pegasus clan who was very loyal to him and a conscientious person.
Elion became all shy seeing the Ice dragon. His feelings were all written over his face. Evander nudged him in a teasing manner.
They all sat down in the hall when Zephyr, Anteros's secretary handed over a file to Evius, he asked while flipping through them.
"So, what's the result?"
"I tracked them out, there were five bear clan people and one of the snake clan. They are working for..." Anteros paused for a second and looked at Elion and Evander.
Evius looked up and understood why he stopped, "Elie, Evanie you both go inside."
"What, but why? We also want to know who they are. I am not gonna leave those bastards who tried to harm my bestie," Evander was the first one to refuse.
"Brother... can't we stay. I want to know," Elion spoke hesitantly gazing at Anteros.
"No, go inside," Anteros's voice was stern.
Elion was a little taken aback by the Ice-dragon's cold voice. He bit his lower lips, took his friend's hand, and climbed the stairs going to his room.
"Don't try to control my brother in front of me," Evius glared at the Ice-dragon.
"He is my husband-"
"Soon-to-be not yet. Even after the marriage, you are not allowed to command him, he isn't your knight. He will be your better half got it, Your Highness, Prince Anteros?" Evius cut him off sharply.
Anteros exhaled deeply, "Do you have a bone to pick with me, Mr. Rhincodark?"
"Didn't we have it all the time? We are rivals, to begin with, if not for this business merging and the marriage, Prince Anteros."
The room suddenly started becoming chilly. Anteros stared at Evius in a challenging manner and the whale shark didn't back down.
"Sir, please calm down. We are here to talk about 'Them'. The auras of you both will affect both the cats even though they're upstairs."
Zephyr intervened immediately knowing very well if a fight broke out between these two apex predators then all hell would break loose.
Anteros repelled the whale shark's aura and took back his aura, "Let's talk first, Mr. Rhincodark as you saw this matter is serious."
"Um," Evius agreed and they both started discussing with Zephyr giving the information in between.
After fifteen minutes, Anteros shook hands with Evius and left the Grimalkin's mansion.
Meanwhile inside Elion's room, the little Mainecoon was still sulking.
"Evanie, does he not like me?" Elion questioned out of nowhere.
"Who has the guts to not like you in this world? I will wage a war against them even if they are my favorite dragons, Elie."
Elion shook his head listening to the over-exaggerating reply of his best friend.
"He did say he is not into men, Evanie."
"Woah, that's a pretty serious problem there but I don't think he will stay straight for long though Elie, so don't worry," Evander assured.
"What do you mean by that, Evanie?"
"For heaven's sake, do you know how sensual you look? Every man out there drool over you literally. Anteros is a man after all, do you think he can keep being straight even after seeing your plumpy ass?"
Evander gave a smug look.
"Ugh, you! Why don't you ever give me some good answers, Evanie." Elion threw the pillow beside him.
"What good answers? I am stating the facts. Let me tell you a secret to make your husband swoon over you. Come here."
Elion went near Evander lending his ear, curious to know.
"On your first night, wear that red thong we got for fun back then. I bet he will fuck you the whole night-"
Evander was cut off by a red-faced Elion who covered his best friend's mouth stopping him from spouting further.
"Mmhmp...mmmgh!" Evander still mumbled while laughing.
"Evanie, I am being serious here. What should I do if he doesn't like me back after our marriage?" Elion was concerned.
"My little kitten soulmate, who will not like you? Please be more confident, you are the prettiest kitten in the whole Aeonia empire after me cause the first place is mine, okay?"
Elion became fed up with his best friend's senseless answers and pushed him away pouting more.
Seeing that Evander side hugged him, "Alright, I will be serious. You both just kissed in the parking lot if he didn't like you he would have been disgusted by it but did he look like that? Tell me, Elie."
Elion tried to recollect, "...uh, I am not sure..."
"He even consoled you when you were crying ugly in his arms rubbing all your snot on his shirt, if he was disgusted then he would have thrown you to the floor right at that moment, you foolish Elie."
Elion's face turned fearful hearing it, "Did I look that ugly while crying? Did I really rub my snot on his shirt? Is that why he was looking so angry down there?"
Evander was surprised for a second and gave a little smack on his best friend's head.
"Idiot, that's not what I meant. Didn't he console you and care for you? He even brought you choco milkshake to calm you down, he was looking at you the whole time and was worried for you."
"He was worried for me..." Elion shyly mumbled looking down.
Evander snorted seeing his reaction and dramatically looked up, "Gone. My friend you are totally gone. Oh, heaven, I lost my precious friend!"
"Shut up, Evanie! Don't be overdramatic. I don't know what this feeling is... I am confused. He protected me first in the resort from Vulwin then-"
"Wait, what? I didn't know about this...wait, wait! That dragon who helped you actually was your soon-to-be husband, Prince Anteros? You both met each other even before the talk of marriage and then he saved you again today and you both even kissed-" Evander was cut off.
"Shut up, Evanie. We didn't kiss, it was an accident, didn't you hear him say that?" Elion puffed his cheeks.
"Accident, yeah right. A beautiful accident, written by fate itself to bring you both together closer. If it is not then what? He saved you the first time you both met and the next day your parents announced that you are getting married to him in a week and today it's a kiss, and damn it's your first kiss, Elie."
"Ugh, stop saying that word kiss so many times, Evanie. We didn't-"
"But we say a kiss, a kiss! How can I replace it with another word, Elie?"
"Aaah! You stop fucking teasing me. I saw it, you crushing over Anteros's friend that sea dragon, was his name Drys- something-"
"Drystan," Evander finished.
"Right, Drystan. You were totally swooning over him and he seemed interested in you too. By the looks of it I think you will get married even before me," Elion teased back and then, "But I don't think Anteros will ever like me..."
The little Mainecoon suddenly became sad remembering that Anteros wanted to end the marriage after stabilizing the companies and the prenuptial contract they talked about, if he signed that then their marriage would only be on paper as the other wanted.
"No, Elie. He will like you. My little brother is so cute and hot at the same time that every straight man will turn gay for you, I can bet my gills on that," Evius who entered the room spoke after hearing his baby brother's sad voice.
"Brother Evius..."
"...and if he doesn't like you and hurts you in any way I will make sure to teach him a good lesson, don't you worry," Evius sat beside his younger brother and patted his back.
"But brother... I am the weakest even among our clan. I am not cute... I am chubby and ug-"
"Stop right there don't finish that word. Elie, never say that. How many times did I tell you to not feel insecure about yourself? You aren't weak, you are the rarest. You aren't chubby, you are so fluffy like cotton candy and that damn word you are going to say you are just the opposite of it. If I ever listen to you say those words again about yourself, I am gonna get real mad at you."
"Alright, alright I won't. So, please don't get mad at me, brother Evius," Elion showed his puppy eyes.
"Okay, now all the discussions are closed. Damn, you are going to get married next week, Elie. You have to enjoy all these remaining single days you have, let's go have a blast!" Evander chirped lightening up the mood.
"But I don't want to go outside. I am tired," Elion whined.
"Yeah, me too," Evius sighed.
"Brother Evius, tell me one thing, when are you not tired? You are like a grandpa in his eighties," Evander pulled his leg.
"You brat, wanna die? Come here," Evius fake glared.
"No, before dying let's enjoy ourselves to the brink of death. How about we party in the mansion? Uncle and Aunt won't be coming home soon, right?" Evander suggested hiding behind his bestfriend.
"Oh yes! Let's get wasted today," Elion jumped cheerfully.
"Alright, let's go down and get some good wine from the cellar," Evius stood up smiling.
The three of them drank and drank until they passed out in the hall on the couches.
Elion got up feeling thirsty. He was all tipsy instead of going to the kitchen he went out to the front yard of the mansion.
"Oh, *hiccup* there is the water!" Elion pointed at the fountain and walked towards it.
However, he was bumped into something strong and was about to fall back but two strong arms held him tightly.
Elion looked up blinking his eyes continuously then his irises brightened seeing the person in front of him.
"Ah, you know I told Evanie *hiccup* we didn't kiss but he was still *hiccup* insisting that we did. I told him it was a *hiccup* accident~"
The person didn't say anything and tried to make Elion stand straight but the little Mainecoon clutched onto his shirt and looked into his eyes directly,
"... um... but why are you here, *hiccup* do you also want to drink to enjoy your single *hiccup* days before marrige huh~?"
"No, I forgot my Mavto-"
He was cut off when Elion pulled him down by his collar and placed his plump lips against the thin ones. He smooched making an ummah sound at the end.
"See, hehe~ this is a kiss, the one we did in the afternoon was *hiccup* an accident, right?"
Elion laughed like a fool not realizing what he did.
The person's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he stared at the little Mainecoon in his arms all giggly in his drunken state.
***