Chapter 255: Getting To Know Her More
Chapter 255
[DESIRE METER]
• Lust: 6.9%
• Attraction: 15.7%
• Resistance: 44%
[+10 Desire Points Gained]
[+8 Desire Energy Gained]
There we go!’ Alex shouted inside his head. ’Now that’s more like it!’
[Whoa! Look at that leap!] the chibi cheered, clapping her tiny hands. [Now you just need to figure out how you’re going to maintain such close contact with her without her having to suspect anything]
Claire on the other hand froze entirely. Her fingers stayed on the jug, but her eyes went wide in shock and a faint pink color spread across her cheeks as she looked at their hands like they were two strange animals she had never seen before.
Her heart was starting to beat a little faster and she could quite literally feel her face getting warm. But she didn’t really understand why. It was only a simple and accidental touch, not that much of a big deal.... Then her face changed, or was she getting interested in this man of all people?! After all, she had not gotten a good fuck in a long, long time.
But Alex, on the other hand, played his part perfectly. Then right after he executed stage two of his plan by pulling his hand right away as if he had just touched the sun itself, and put on an embarrassed face.
"Oh, I’m so.... So sorry about that!" he said quickly, while raising both hands in the air. "I really didn’t mean to. I mean... I was just reaching for the water. Please, go ahead."
Claire stared at him while still holding the jug.
What the deal is wrong with this man? The way he had pulled away so fast while now giving her this look as if she might bite him, made a strange thought cross her mind that she didn’t like too well. ’Is he seriously afraid of me getting the wrong idea because of the slap earlier?
Shit! What the hell was wrong with her!! If this had happened before today she would have felt as ecstatic as a pigeon on coffee, but now she didn’t know why she seemed to hate that thought a little bit.
Alex watched Claire’s face for a moment. She was still holding the water jug, staring at nothing, with her cheeks looking a little pink. He leaned forward slightly and tilted his head.
"Hey, are you feeling okay? You kind of blanked out there for a second."
Claire blinked, like someone finally waking up from a long dream. She quickly set the jug down and straightened her back, putting her calm face back on.
"I’m fine," she said, a little too fast. "I just remembered something, that’s all."
"Oh. Okay." Alex gave her a small nod, as if he believed every word. "No problem."
He picked up the jug, poured water into her glass first, then into his own. Claire watched him do it and said a quiet thanks. Then they both went back to their seats and their food. Alex cut another piece of his wagyu steak and put it in his mouth. It was so tender that it almost melted. He had to admit, this was the best part of the whole deal.
[Mmm, look at you, living the rich life on someone else’s wallet,] the chibi said, floating by his ear.
’Shh. I’m working.’
They ate quietly for a while. After a while, Alex figured he couldn’t just let the silence sit there forever. After all, a relaxed woman was a lot easier to work with than a stiff one.
So he set his fork down and cleared his throat.
"Um, Claire? I don’t mean to be nosy or anything, but there’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while now."
Claire looked up from her salad. "What is it?"
"Why does your squad only have four Awakened? You, Phil, Carl, and Gab." He scratched the back of his neck, putting on his careful face. "From what I know, a normal squad has around eight members or so. So I kind of wondered why yours is only half of that."
The moment the question left his mouth, Claire’s hand stopped moving, and her fork stayed in the air. Then her eyes seemed to drop to the table, and the air between them changed.
Alex saw it right away and quickly raised his hands.
"But hey, it’s totally fine if you don’t want to talk about it. Just forget I even asked."
Claire didn’t answer right away. She put her fork down, picked up her glass of wine, and stared into it for a few seconds. Then she took a slow sip and let out a quiet breath.
"No, it’s okay," she said at last. "You’re part of the Bureau now, so you should know anyway." She paused. "We were eight, once. A long time ago. But then we fought this Ascendant level Awakened Beast. It was really powerful, with weird abilities none of us had ever seen. We thought we could handle it. But sadly we were wrong."
Alex stayed quiet and let her talk.
"Most of the others died in that fight. In the end, only three of us made it out alive. Me, Phil, and that idiot Carl. For a long time, it was just the three of us. Then that snotty kid Gab joined, and that’s where we are now."
"I’m sorry to hear about that," Alex said softly, and this time he really meant it. "That must have been rough."
To his surprise, Claire let out a small laugh.
"You don’t have to be sorry," she said. "The past is the past. We can’t change it. All we can do is keep going and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
"That’s a good way to look at it."
"It’s the only way to look at it, or you’d go crazy." She smiled a little. "Besides, Carl would say I’m getting too sentimental."
"Are you?"
"Say that again and I’ll burn you into an overdone Thanksgiving turkey."
Alex laughed, and Claire followed suit after him. It was the first real laugh of the evening, and the stiff mood between them finally started to loosen up.
From there, the conversation slowly got easier. They talked about small things at first. Claire told him about the time Carl accidentally locked himself in the Bureau’s training room for six hours because he forgot the door code. Alex even told her about the one time where he once defeated an undefeated gambling king.
Little by little, Claire’s shoulders came down and her back stopped being so straight. At one point she even leaned her elbow on the table while resting her chin on her hand as she listened to him talk. Talking with her was surprisingly good. As it turns out under all that fiery temper was a pretty cool woman.
And at the corner of Alex’s mind, the Desire Meter was moving, too.
[DESIRE METER]
• Lust: 9.2%
• Attraction: 21.4%
• Resistance: 41%
[+7 Desire Points Gained]
[+5 Desire Energy Gained]
Yes it was going up, but only barely, like a snail climbing a mountain while carrying weights. Alex frowned a little as he kept chewing. He had made some... you know? "accidental" contact a few times already.
Like the one time he reached for the salt at the same time as her. Or the other time he had passed her the bread basket and let their fingers brush. Each time the numbers jumped a little, but after a few seconds they slowed down again.
’Still too slow,’ he thought. ’If I keep going like this, we’ll be here until the restaurant closes.’
[Hey, you’re the one who chose the hard one,] the chibi said, chewing on her imaginary popcorn. [She’s not going to fall for you in a day.]
’I know, I know. But I want to speed it up. I’m so close to A Rank. I can taste it.’
He kept thinking while he sipped his wine. Then his eyes lit up. Why was he trying to fix this with just his hands and his charm when he had a whole system to help him?
’Wait. The shop!’
He sat up a little straighter in his chair. He had been so busy lately that he had almost forgotten about it. He had a big pile of Desire Points sitting there, doing nothing, besides there was still those free purchase chances the system had gifted him, which he had only used once.
’System. Show me the Desire Shop.’
[Ooh, shopping time! Coming right up!]
A bright blue panel popped open in front of his eyes.
[Desire Shop: Status Opened]
• Minor Luck Boost for twenty four hours — 50 Desire Points
• Body Recovery Water (Heals injuries/illness) — 50 Desire Points
• Charm Amplifier Lvl.1 (Temporarily increases attraction towards the opposite sex) — 80 Desire Points
• Sleeping Potion (within two hours) — 80 Desire Points
• Random Gacha Spin — 100 Desire Points
• Aura Of Seduction Lv.2 — 500 Desire Points
• X-ray Vision — 500 Desire Points
• Time Rewind (Only within one minute) — 700 Desire Points
[Total Desire Points: 8253 DP]
Alex scanned the list, and his eyes stopped on one line there...