They found an abandoned house still standing in the desert. The interior was filled with sand and dirt, but Lucian was able to clean it up in a second.
After covering the house with hardened sand for camouflage, they were finally able to rest.
"Canned food again?" deia groaned. "Why do I see these bad things all day long?! And why is it always canned beans?"
Seriously, were people on this planet obsessed with beans or what?
"You don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to." Tian said sarcastically, "Starving is also an option, you know?"
deia clicked her tongue. She opened the can while grumbling, but before she could open it, Lucian took it and gave her a jar of beef jerky instead. "I found it at the Warstock base before we left. I tasted it and I think you’ll like it."
deia looked at the beef jerky with sparkling eyes, her mood instantly improving. She opened the jar eagerly and let out a sigh of relief after taking the first bite. "Now this is real food!"
"Can I try it?" Ren wanted to take the jar, but Lucian slapped his hand. He spoke softly, but his words weren’t gentle at all. "Just eat your beans."
deia stuck her tongue out at the twins and chewed slowly to enjoy the taste.
Tian rolled his eyes and muttered, "Spoiled."
The villagers hadn’t said anything about their relationship, but all of them knew that Lucian had spoiled deia so much to the point of not letting her carry heavy things and gathering nice, beautiful clothes for her.
Everyone noticed, but it seed that deia herself didn’t.
She simply thought Lucian was kind, so he would do the sa to others. Hence, she didn’t see it as special treatnt for her alone.
After dinner, they explored the house to find places to sleep. Since the house wasn’t that big, there were only two bedrooms, and one of them was too damaged to be used.
"You can keep this room," Lucian told Ren and Tian.
Ren was still a bit weak from his injuries, so it was better for him to sleep on the bed with his brother. anwhile, Lucian and deia would sleep in the living room.
No one objected to this arrangent, so they began to split up for the night. deia looked at the lumpy couch in the living room and grimaced, "I don’t trust this couch not to collapse under ."
She continued, "Let’s just sleep on the floor."
The couch, in fact, was strong enough to support her weight. However, deia wanted to find an excuse to sleep next to Lucian without making a drama like last ti.
Lucian laid out their makeshift bedding with a mixture of old blankets and their jackets. He broke the wooden chairs and threw them into the fireplace.
As he said, the temperature dropped so quickly that every ti deia spoke, cool steam escaped her lips. The desert, once blazing under the sun, had turned into a giant icebox.
deia was rarely exposed to cold air because she had lived in hell for thousands of centuries. Therefore, her body wasn’t made for ice.
"Do you think the air will get colder at midnight?" deia rubbed her hands together.
"It will." Lucian said, "Many people died of hypothermia back then."
He poured boiled water into a bottle and wrapped it in a cloth. "Here, put this under your jacket."
deia did as he said and sighed in relief as the warmth spread over her body. "Did you get stuck in this city after the radiation?"
Lucian sat beside her. "I did. My family and I were able to get out of this city after two months because the military isolated us from other cities."
"You also got out through the twin tunnels?"
Lucian shook his head, his eyes fixed on the searing fire in the furnace. "We took the underground sewers. It was the only way out that wasn’t heavily guarded at the ti."
deia grimaced. She couldn’t imagine what kind of disgusting creatures and environnt they had to face in the sewers.
"But we can’t use the sewers anymore because they’re filled with mud and flooded now," he said.
"That’s good ... that’s a good thing," deia muttered.
They stopped talking for a while, letting the crackling sound of the fireplace fill the room. deia rested her head on her knees, then looked at Lucian from the side.
His side profile was illuminated by the flickering light of the fire, casting soft shadows across his face. deia bit her lower lip as she admired his sharp jawline, the furrow in his brow, and the way his lips were pressed together.
His lips. What do they taste like?
deia shook her head, trying to put the dirty thought out of her mind. But it was hard not to think about it when a hottie was sitting next to her.
All right, she needed a distraction before she pulled Lucian over and imdiately kissed him on the lips.
"Can I ask you sothing?" She hesitated for a mont before speaking, "When Orlon disabled your ability, why did you beco so weak? I’m not saying this to make fun of you, but ... I’m just worried."
She hadn’t had a chance to ask this because of Ren, but the question had lingered on her mind for a while.
"I suffered from cancer," Lucian admitted. He spoke casually, but deia could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Before I awakened as a mutant, I was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer. The doctor said I only had two years to live."
He chuckled. "But here I am, still alive after so many years."
The mutation didn’t just give him abilities, it stabilized his condition by fighting the cancer. However, when Orlon deactivated his powers, his body would deteriorate again, even worse than before.
"And I’m glad you’re alive." deia touched his cheek, then moved to a strand of his golden hair. "My life would be so dull without you."
Reviews
All reviews (0)