He felt sick. For more than one reason. The first one being the stinging pain in every muscle of his body, the other being the lingering feeling in his hand of a sword, cutting through flesh, muscles, bones and organs. His stomach revolted, followed by the urge to throw up.

"Bao? Are you even listening?" Asked Ning annoyed.

"No. Sorry. My thoughts were somewhere else just now. What did you say?" Bao looked up from his trembling hand and took a big sip of the coffee in front of him to calm his stomach.

"Sigh... What happened to you? Even after your release from rehab, you looked better!"

"Don't you always know everything? Why bother asking?"

"Because I always said that I DON'T know everything. I only know as much as my information tells me and what goes on inside your head is definitely not one of those things." His friend paused for a moment to take a sip of his juice. "Could it be that you're diving too much? Maybe you should take a pause from your adventures."

"I'm just a bit tired, that's all. The past few days have been quite a hassle after all." He took another sip.

They both looked at each other without speaking, only the pouring water from the coffee machine could be heard.

"Either way let's return to what I wanted to say before you had your little brain absence; did you hear that the global temperature rose again by three whole degrees we..." Bao interrupted his monologue once again this time by holding up his hand. "What is it this time!" Ning, who tried to say the same thing for the second time lost his temper.

"I thought to have heard a familiar voice coming from behind the seat."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"A familiar voice? Who even comes to this godforsaken place beside the two of us?" Ning earned a fierce look from the barkeeper behind the counter. "Probably it's just someone who wants to enjoy a coffee in a quiet place so just let them be."

Despite Nathans words, Bao could not help himself but to try and satisfy his curiosity. The voice had a feminine tone but he didn't have any female acquaintances despite his sister, mother and aunt, who he only met once at a family gathering on Christmas. But she should lives in another town so he could exclude her too from the possible candidates, just like mother and sister, who were both still at home when he left. He stood up and sneaked around the big benches with red leather upholstery.

At first, he didn't recognize her, maybe because of the normal outfit she was wearing, but he noticed the mole under her lip when staring into her face.

"The maid of Boss Bing?!" Surprised but at the same time worried, Bao stayed still. "Just what... what are you doing here? Did I do something wrong and Boss wanted you to observe me?"

"Sigh... Like your friend on the other side of this bench said," -she placed one leg over the other- "I prefer quiet and calm places during my free time. Especially given the fact that my vacation days, or should I say hours, don't amount to much time. So, to answer your question, I'm definitely not here to observe you and we both know that that, is not necessary."

Baffled by her response Bao's mouth spread wide open.

"I... I'm speechless."

"In a positive way, I hope."

"Since when are you so good when talking to people that are not me Bao? Even when talking to your family you are always stuttering." Ning interrupted their conversation.

"Why do you think I was bad at talking if you never saw me talk to someone else in the first place?" Once again he was happy to have the skill system in real life, otherwise, Ning would have been right; he would have never been able to talk to someone he barely knew.

"Now I am the speechless one." Ning scratched his non-existent beard. " How about you introduce me to your cute friend at another round of coffee and maybe some cake?"

"I think for someone who wants to know his friends 'girlfriend', you are staring at me quite aggressively. But I have nothing against another good cup of coffee."

"Ning." He smiled over both cheeks, a cocky smile. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Aika. Definitely not a pleasure but as I said, I'll accept the harassment for a good cake."