There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 729: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 12

With so many espers, guides, and high-profile people gathered, the party was bound to linger with reunions and impromptu business talk. The many conference rooms inside the resort were fully utilized, and refreshments continued until dawn.

Not for the parents, however. They had adapted to their children’s sleeping cycle and retreated to their respective rooms before midnight. At least, Zein did. He felt like he would be tempted to take a sip of alcohol during the merriment, so he left the venue early.

Some people looked at him suspiciously, but he managed to escape before anyone could ask about it. He noticed that couples did leave early--whether to rest or continue the party privately. Interestingly enough, he couldn’t find Rina and Cohen, and he wondered if they were still together or separated early.

That thought ended the moment he reached their villas, and he truly realized that he wasn’t as strong as before. To think he would get this tired just from an evening event...Zein sighed and let Bassena take care of him. Well, he did enjoy being pampered by his husband, who seemed to find joy in simply taking care of him.

What an adorable man.

Thanks to that, he woke up fresh in the morning--unlike Bassena, who threw up again. People would think he was partying too hard if they saw the esper, looking as if he had a hangover.

Fortunately, most of the guests seemed to have real hangovers, including the espers. And fortunately, there was no emergency call for a sudden dungeon appearance somewhere. Because of that, the resort was very calm and quiet in the morning.

At least until the children were awake.

"Dada, Kar wanna play with ice again!"

Zein raised his brow. The usually reserved Kar was this enthusiastic about something that he asked it first thing after breakfast? How intriguing. "Weren’t you satisfied with yesterday?"

"Yetstelday its yetstelday! Today its today!" Asa supported his older twin.

"Oh, you can start saying ’s’ now?" Bassena raised his brows.

"Tssss!"

Asa showed it off until his tongue came out, and Zein patted the little platinum head in praise. "Good job."

The twins tugged their father from both sides, pleading with sparkling eyes. "Can we, Dada?"

Zein glanced at the clan members who were in charge of guarding them on this vacation trip. "Did Cohen return last night?"

The bodyguards smiled cheekily. "No, Sir."

"Heh," Zein smirked, and Bassena arched his brow.

"Well, well..."

Asa tilted his head. "What? Why Uncle Co’en not letuln?"

"I don’t know yet," Zein replied with a light, amused chuckle.

Kar, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes in confusion. He did not understand why his Dada talked about Uncle Cohen. "But Kar want Auntie Rina."

Zein patted the impatient little boy. "Maybe Auntie Rina is with Uncle Cohen."

"Why?"

"They are...playing together," Zein said with a smile.

Aca tilted his head. "Play ayce?"

"...should we ask?" Bassena muttered in intrigue. The curiosity was enough to get rid of his nausea.

Did he get infected by Shin? Zein narrowed his eyes and flicked the esper’s forehead. "Don’t be naughty."

"How else can we know?" Bassena shrugged.

That being said...Zein did feel a bit curious, so he called Cohen through his commlink while the twins were whispering with each other in front of his stomach. The call went through, but even after half a minute passed, no one answered it. "Hmm...I don’t think he’ll pick it up."

The ’duty run through my vein’ Cohen? Bassena arched his brow. "Not picking up a call from you? That’s new--oh!"

Just then, the ringing stopped and a connecting sound could be heard. But nothing more.

"Cohen?" Zein called out curiously when there was no one speaking on the other side. He heard a bit of rustling, and then a soft giggle. "Rina?"

The giggle became laughter and a question was spoken with a slightly hoarse voice. [Is he on duty today?]

"No," Zein chuckled. "He’s on paid vacation until tomorrow."

[Great]

Just like that, the connection was cut. Zein stared at his commlink’s interface dumbfoundedly, before letting out a crisp, amused laugh. "She hung up."

"Huh..." Bassena blinked, equally amused. "That’s certainly fast. Never thought Cohen would be that type," Bassena smirked. From the look of shock and amazement on the bodyguards’ faces--who were technically Cohen’s younger cousins--it seemed like this event was indeed quite extraordinary.

"What type do you think he is?" Zein tilted his head.

"The type that would at least have three dates before going further?" Bassena shrugged, and the guards nodded in silent agreement.

Zein chuckled and patted the twins’ heads. "Well, there you have it, boys--Aunt Rina is playing with Aunt Cohen now, so she can’t make ice."

"Aww..." Kar sighed in disappointment while Asa pursed his lips. "Playing like Dada and Baba?"

"Pfft--" Bassena almost sprayed out the water he had just drunk.

"We don’t know yet," Zein laughed. He wondered what kind of ’play’ his twins were thinking of. "Why don’t you look for Aunt Senia? She can make ice too." freēwēbnovel.com

The disappointed boys perked up. "Really?"

"Ask her to do it in the pool," Zein said. "Go with Baba."

Bassena wiped his wet shirt while raising his head. "Me?"

"Who will make the fence, then?" Zein shrugged. There was no Cohen to create a soft barrier, so the darkness should make do. "You’re going to let your sons play alone?"

"Hmm...we should ask Radia to make an ice skating rink while at it," Bassena stroked his chin.

"He’s probably busy with Joon right now; don’t disturb them," Zein smiled.

Bassena pursed his lips and whispered lowly so the twins wouldn’t hear. "I want to get busy with you too..."

"Not for another three months," Zein flicked the esper’s forehead again, before sending the man away with the boys and the nannies.

Ah, peace and quiet. Finally.

Zein looked at his commlink again. He was rather intrigued by this fast development, which wasn’t like Cohen at all. But then...he recalled that Cohen was also the type to just accept a girl’s proposal ’just because.’

Hmm...perhaps they just clicked right away?

Eh--Zein shrugged and leaned back on his lazy chair again, continued with his sunbathing. It would be good if things worked out well, but if it wasn’t, then it just wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t like Cohen would tell him anything about it, so he better shoved it out of his mind.

And yes--Cohen said nothing when he returned to the villa where they stayed in the afternoon. In fact, he was kind of avoiding Zein’s gaze and took it upon himself to babysit the twins instead.

Unfortunately for him, Rina was not a reserved person like him.

"You look pleased," Zein curled his lips at the bright-looking esper. She came with Cohen--who was rather flustered--and invited herself for afternoon tea on the balcony.

"I am more than pleased," she smiled brightly before sipping on the champagne tea she ordered from room service. "I am satisfied."

"In what way?"

"Sexually?"

Once again, Bassena sprayed his tea--fortunately not toward his husband and colleague.

"Don’t be a prude, Commander," Rina rolled her eyes. "You made two--three kids already."

"My sons are next door," Bassena hissed.

"This resort has good soundproofing," Rina waved her hand.

"My unborn child is here!"

"She hasn’t even developed an ear yet!"

Ignoring the bickering espers, Zein crossed his arms and muttered curiously. "I thought he was supposed to be boring."

"For the youngsters, perhaps..." Rina stroked her chin like an appraiser. "I’m in a phase where I want stability instead of having fun. Also, we concluded that there’s nothing wrong with being boring and ordinary, unlike you guys with all your trouble."

"Hey!"

Rina laughed and smirked at Bassena. "Why? Thanks to your Chief of Staff, I realized that I don’t have to be so special all the time and live more slowly," she shrugged. "You know, being boring."

"You got all that from your first date?" Zein arched his brow. Was it a date or a therapy session?

Bassena scoffed. "It wasn’t even a proper date; he was just escorting."

"We’re no longer in the age where we have to dance around each other, aren’t we?" Rina sighed as if she was exhausted with life. But then, her eyes suddenly curled and she smiled like a fox. "Also, nothing is boring about his bed skills."

*cough*

"What’s wrong with you, father of three kids?" the defender rolled her eyes.

"I assume you’re not talking about making beds," Zein chuckled.

"Why would I talk about that? We’re in a resort."

"He’s that good?"

Rina winked. "Apparently, he could never give his all before because he was worried about hurting his partner," she said in a low, scandalous tone. "But I’m a defender, so I can ask him to go as hard as he can."

"Huh..." Bassena, who had recovered from his wheezing, blinked. "If it’s someone else, I’d say you’re getting duped--but since it’s Cohen..."

"Right?"

"Most of the women he saw before were civilians, so it makes sense," Zein nodded.

"What he said," Rina winked. "Haa...you should have introduced us long before."

Bassena scoffed. "Will you be interested in him five years ago?"

It was she who said she didn’t mind him being ’boring’ because she was in a different state of mind than her younger self. Besides...did she forget that she was still in love with someone else?

"...on second thought, I might not," Rina nodded.

"Right? This kind of thing has their own time," Bassena threw his hands. Just like how Zein would never accept him in that cave, Rina wouldn’t be interested in Cohen, and Cohen wouldn’t be interested in anything but his work. "Anyway, since you’re satisfied, are you going to continue seeing each other?"

Rina hummed and replied lightly. "We’ve decided to continue with a few dates, and we’ll see."

Zein smiled and raised his glass. "I pray for the best."

Rina laughed and clanked her glass with the guide’s. She leaned closer and asked cheekily. "Do I have to call you ’patriarch’ too if it works out?"

"Work it out first before thinking about useless stuff."

Rina laughed and downed her sparkling tea, just in time before the twins burst past the door and tacked her.

"Auntie!" they pulled on her sleeves and--thankfully--empty glass. "Can we get ayce?"

"Again?!"