When Eva wrapped her arms around my neck, she leaned in so close that our bodies were pressed against each other.

In that instant, I felt a surge of electricity flash up and down my body as if I had been electrified.

She was so close that I could feel her warm breath on my neck as she breathed erratically. Her chest was moving up and down so fast that it felt as if her heart would pop right out of her chest, and the smell of her perfume was so intoxicating that I couldn’t get myself thinking right.

Without realizing it, my hands came up and wrapped themselves around her waist, pushing her even closer to me.

But just as I was going to kiss her neck, Eva separated from me, and a beautifully looking charm was hanging from my neck.

She picked it up and hung it from her fingers at eye view.

“I had my driver stop at the shopping center at the entrance of Mt. Ethos just before I got here,"

"As I remember, you said you had gotten this beautiful bracelet there,” she said, pointing at the bracelet hanging from her wrist.

“I went to the antiquities place on the second floor and bought this pendant for you,” she said, her eyes twinkling like stars in the night.

“It’s a Buddha Obsidian Chalcedony Pendant; it's supposed to help with meditation,” she said sweetly.

I looked at the pendant; it was a beautiful piece of work. The round stone was a golden orange, wrapped by half a wreath of what looked like dragon scales.

“It's beautiful,” I said, kissing her on the nose.

She shied away, but soon, our eyes were locked in a very comfortable but silent stare.

It seemed like time had stood still as we stared at each other for the longest time.

Suddenly, her CAD lit up like a fireworks light show interrupting our starring match, “Crap, it's my dad; he wants me back at the house already,” she said, getting up from the couch.

“I wanted to spend some alone time with you, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible today,” said Eva as she walked towards the door.

I got up and followed behind as we exited the apartment. On our way down the elevator, I took her hand.

“Eva, thank you for coming over, but let's not do this again. I don’t want you to risk getting caught or something worse since you are exposing yourself coming out here,” I said with a concerned face.

Eva looked at me with sadness, but she nodded in understanding.

“I know; I had hoped that today would have gone differently, but it didn’t. I know we can’t risk the exposure, but a few minutes with you was more than enough for now,” she finished saying as we reached the lobby of the building.

Right before the door opened, Eva leaned in and planted a small kiss on my lips before exiting the door.

Walking out of the elevator, Eva made a straight line for the exit while I went to sit in the lounge. I watched from the corner of my eye as Eva entered a black transport vehicle. The car sped away, disappearing into the night.

After a few seconds, I got up and started walking back to the elevator. Once inside, I pressed the sixth-floor button and returned to my apartment.

As I exited the office, I was surprised to find Paige knocking on the door to my apartment quite violently.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

“Is there a reason you are trying to knock down my front door?” I rudely asked Paige as I walked up.

Paige jumped up, startled after hearing me call her out from behind.

“God Dammit, don’t do that,” she said, breathing heavily.

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“Do what? Protect my home,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

Paige glared at me for a moment. “Where did you guys go, and where is Eva?” she asked, curiously, as she saw that Eva wasn’t with me.

I looked at her and shook my head in ridicule as I proceeded to walk up to my door. I punched my code in the display, as the door opened, I proceeded to go inside before Paige reached out and grabbed my arm.

“I’m talking to you, punk? Answer me,” she said, now visibly agitated.

“Could you please let go of my arm,” I said calmly but chillingly.

Paige took a step back as she felt as if her soul was been sucked out after hearing my voice. She looked on in utter bewilderment as I walked into my apartment, closing the door behind me.

“What the fuck was that,” she told herself, confused as she turned around and left.

Once inside, I could finally extradite myself from all this negative karma.

It also felt good to put that girl in her place finally.

“I don’t know where she gets off trying to tell me what to do. Who the fuck does she thinks she is?” I said as I sat down on the couch in the living room.

I quickly finished any homework that I had and went to bed.

The next day, I got up and proceeded to my regular morning schedule.

After leaving the apartment, I took the elevator to the lobby. As I got out, I saw a figure standing right outside the front doors of the building.

“Fuck,” I said as I shook my head and headed outside.

I had already called for a ride service before I left the apartment, so it should be waiting for me outside.

As I walked outside, the figure became very clear. “Hi, Perv. Are you ready to go?” said Paige, smiling at me.

I pretended not to hear her as I scanned the area and found that my ride service was indeed waiting for me. I walked over to the transport vehicle, completely ignoring Paige.

Paige's face instantly changed to one of hurt and anger. Her smile turned into a frown, and her eyes became watery and red.

As she watched me enter the ride service and drive away, she couldn’t help but shake her head in frustration.

“Nobody treats me this way,” she said, grinding her teeth.

“You’re the first Khyrum,” she mumbled as she looked at the fleeing vehicle. "I don't know why, but I like this feeling,” she continued, and a wicked smile appeared on her face.

Cleburne Park.

Three individuals had just entered the alliance command center inside the Park to talk to Commander Shelong.

“Good morning, Commander,” said Selin as she nodded at Commander Shillong, who was sitting behind a huge office desk.

The commander nodded in return, acknowledging her greeting, and then quickly scanned the other two individuals before a smile appeared on his face.

“Is this not the famous Damian,” he said in an unnerving voice.

Damian instantly felt like a huge load was put on him, as if someone was pressing him down to the ground, making it hard to move.

Seeing that the commander was putting pressure on Damian, Oliver quickly came to his rescue.

“Commander, Damian is here as he has a response from Prime over your request,” he said.

“Can you please let him speak,” he continued to say as he looked at Damian with pity.

The commander turned to look at Oliver before smiling again,” He can speak; I’m not stopping him.”

Damian finally felt the pressure disappear as he could finally move again.

“Man, this fucking old man,” he thought as he looked at the commander with troubled eyes.

“Damian, didn’t you say you had an answer from Prime?” said Oliver, queuing Damian to talk.

Damian turned around to look at Oliver before nodding yes.

“Yeah, I talked to Prime yesterday, and he said that although he cannot join the military, he is willing to help out with the beast problem.”

Commander Shelong’s smile disappeared after hearing Damian.

“Who the hell does this Prime think he is,” he said, enraged, as he got up from his desk and threw his coffee cup against the wall, shattering it into pieces.

“Haven't we taken care of him for the past whatever years he has been living in alliance soil? Should he not show a little patriotism and willingly commit to military service for his country,” he said in a very indignant voice.

Selin, Oliver, and Damian just looked at him weirdly.

“This old guy, trying to guilt trip Prime into military service,” thought Oliver as he looked at the commander with a pitiful look.

Selin just stared at the commander, but no emotion was present on her face.

On the other hand, Damian thought the commander was playing tricks.

“Excuse me, sir,” said Damian, “but no amount of coercion or intimidation will change Prime’s answer. He is very strong-headed individually; one can say he’s a pig-headed individual, or as they say, he can be as stubborn as a mule, and when he says something, it’s set in concrete,” said Damian.

Hearing what Damian said, Commander Shelong smiled and sat back down at his desk.

“So, at least we have two things in common. I think I can work with an individual like that,” he said as he took another cup out of his desk drawers.

“This guy,” thought Selin as she saw how the commander was behaving.

“Continue,” said the commander as he looked at Damian.

Damian began to explain the rest of Prime’s answer. He explained that he would help out on occasion only when it was truly needed and that he could not leave the area. He made up some excuse about how Prime was scared of long-distance travel, as he thought he would fall off the face of the planet.

Oliver, Selin, and the commander looked at Damian as if he had just said something stupid.

“Well, that’s surprising said the commander,” as he grabbed his chin with his right hand.

“No matter what, the fact that he can help here is already a huge gain,” he said.

“I agree,” said Selin.

“Yeah, he said that if you needed to get ahold of him, just to let me know. I can relay the message to him. He will then take care of the issue as quickly as possible,” said Damian a little smugly.

“Hmm…so you’re the middle man, huh?” the commander said, looking at him with a questioning look. "I wonder if you can live with the consequences of being in the middle.”