Laurel looked at Alexander for a long mont after he spoke, her calm expression giving very little away even though the tension between them had already thickened enough that even the farrs working in the nearby fields could feel sothing was wrong and began quietly minding their own business.
"Is that so?" she asked at last, her tone light but carrying a faint tiredness.
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
"Is that so, is that all you have to say?" he replied, his voice low but sharp around the edges. "You speak to him like you are very close, yet when you speak to it’s ’Mr. Wayne’ as if I’m nothing more than a stranger in your life."
Laurel rubbed the back of her neck slowly, as if trying to ease the headache she could already feel forming. "You were the one who asked to address you as Mr. Wayne. Did you forget?"
"That was a long ti ago, didn’t I tell you several tis to call by my first na?"
"Yes you did, but I don’t feel like calling you by your first na. Mr. Wayne sounds a lot better to ."
Alexander laughed under his breath, though there was no humor in it.
"Really? Good." He nodded his head, trying to hide the pain in his eyes. "You ask him for help, you share plans with him, and you laugh with him like that in the middle of the road. You don’t even do that with your own husband... and when I talk you act as if I’m imagining things."
Laurel folded her arms across her chest and regarded him quietly.
"If you ca here to apologize, then you should do that and go," she said calmly. "If you ca here to argue, then you should save your energy."
Alexander stared at her.
For a brief mont, he almost looked like he might say sothing else entirely, sothing closer to what he had originally intended when he carried the flowers across the fortress earlier that morning. But the words never ca.
Instead, sothing else slipped out. "You said you’re leaving tomorrow."
"Yes."
"To search for sothing outside the valley."
"Yes."
"And you asked Chris to send soldiers with you."
Laurel nodded once.
"That’s correct."
Alexander inhaled slowly. "Then I’m coming with you."
The words ca out so suddenly that Laurel blinked once in surprise before imdiately shaking her head. "No."
Alexander frowned. "No?"
"You should stay here," Laurel said, her tone still calm though the firmness in it had sharpened slightly. "The fortress needs soone who can make decisions if sothing happens while I’m gone."
"Grandpa can handle that."
"That’s not the sa."
"It’s good enough."
Laurel looked at him with realization. "You’re not asking for permission."
"No." He t her gaze without hesitation. "I’m telling you."
The two of them stood there silently for several seconds, neither willing to back down first.
Finally, Laurel exhaled slowly.
"Do whatever you want," she said. "I’m tired of repeating myself. But just know it is dangerous out there."
Then she turned and walked away toward the residential district without waiting for his reply.
Alexander remained standing in the road long after she left, the crushed bouquet still hanging loosely in his hand. ’Is that so? I’ll see if you won’t co back to after he is taken out of the picture.’
His eyes darkened as his gaze lingered on her disappearing figure.
..
By the ti Laurel returned to her apartnt, it was already late afternoon.
She closed the door behind her and stood quietly in the center of the room for a mont. The silence felt comforting after the argunt.
She placed her hand on her chest, her heart drumd erratically under her hand. She hated the fact that she had lingering feelings for Alexander. And now that he was no longer cold to her, it made it even harder to erase him from her heart.
She pushed down the feeling, and after a few seconds, she stepped forward and slipped into the system’s space.
Inside the space house, Ling Xuan sat near the middle of the hall examining the armor they had traded for earlier. The tal plates lay disassembled beside her as she studied them one by one, occasionally running her fingers across the surface as if feeling for sothing hidden beneath the rusted exterior.
Ling Xuan didn’t bother to look up when she felt Laurel’s presence.
Laurel dropped onto the couch nearby. "The harvest went well," she said. "and Mission ten is completed."
"Hmm." Ling Xuan replied without taking her eyes off the armor.
Laurel sighed, briefly explaining the updated statistics before leaning back against the couch.
"The mist is almost gone," she added after a mont. "Tomorrow will be the best day to leave the fortress, it is going exactly as I had predicted, perhaps so things are still the sa."
"Hmm." Ling Xuan said again without looking at her.
Laurel almost rolled her eyes inwardly at her behaviour. Ever since she got the armor, she does nothing else except running her fingers on it and staring blankly at it.
"I asked Chris to recomnd a few soldiers to accompany us." She said in a bored tone.
Ling Xuan imdiately shook her head. "No."
Laurel looked at her. "No?"
"We’re not using them," Ling Xuan said calmly, finally peeling her eyes away from the armor. "I’ll bring Enzo and a few of my n."
Laurel thought about it for a mont. "Why?"
"But there is nothing wrong with using military force." She added.
Ling Xuan set the armor piece down beside her. "The fewer people who know our real objective, the safer it will be."
Laurel nodded slowly. "Fine." To her, she saw nothing wrong in taking the soldiers or the mafia. In fact, she believed the soldiers were more loyal to the mafia, they could snitch anyti on them considering how Ling Xuan had tad them under her control.
The two of them then began discussing supplies, routes, and travel preparations, quietly planning how they would leave the fortress the next morning without drawing too much attention.
Neither of them realized that events elsewhere in the fortress were already beginning to unfold.
Reviews
All reviews (0)