Chapter 41.3

Silvia nodded gratefully at Jason's reassurance and brushed a lock of curled hair away from her eyes. She then hesitated before speaking in a lower voice, "Would you be free for dinner?"

Jason looked at her in surprise and Silvia began blushing profusely; she also realized just how very ambiguous that invitation sounded and quickly shook her head.

"I - not - I did not mean it like that," Silvia stammered. "Just a regular dinner with our families, not a date . . .

"Just the four of us, I mean," Silvia quickly added for clarification as Jason watched her bumble with an awkward. "Me, Daria, you, and Alina. And I didn't mean dinner, I meant lunch. Would you like to have lunch sometime, with me?"

Silvia closed her eyes when she realized that her invitation still sounded flirtatious and Jason forced himself to stifle a laugh.

"Uh . . . sure, why not?" Jason replied with a smile. "Maybe during the weekends, when I'm free. But not this weekend, I promised to spend time with Alice."

"Right. Alice," Silvia became glum at the mention of Jason's daughter, whom she had almost forgotten. "You should bring her along too."

"That was the plan," Jason replied bemusedly.

As she fell silent, an air of awkwardness surrounded the two and Silvia broke it by examining her watch. "I should go. I have a meeting in twenty minutes."

"Yeah, I'd better go and . . . prepare my lessons too," Jason said.

Actually, I need to check up on Alice, he thought.

Silvia nodded and walked away while Jason stood in place and watched her leave with a complicated gaze. He wasn't looking forward to that get-together with her, it was awkward enough with the two of them but with Daria involved, he wasn't sure how well it would end up.

Silvia … Daria … Jason thought. The two had goodwill towards him but they were sisters and it was one of the many reasons why he maintained a distance from them.

'I don't see what the problem is,' a voice said in Jason's mind. 'Just marry both of them.'

'You do know that you can only marry one woman, right?' the pessimistic voice grumbled.

'What? That's blasphemy!' the frivolous voice raged in an indignant tone. 'In my time, it was completely normal to wed more than one woman. And that was on top of all my concubines!'

'Even your sister-in-law?' the pessimistic voice asked incredulously.

'Especially my sisters-in-law,' the frivolous voice said with a snigger.

Jesus, Jason thought. What kind of fucker was I in my past lives?

'The shitty kind?' the warlike voice suggested gleefully and the frivolous voice bristled with anger.

Jason shook his head to try and clear his thoughts and he walked away while the voices began bickering amongst themselves.

***

Alina walked out of the grade two classroom but didn't move an inch away from the door. After leaving Jason, Alina had brought Alice to the primary section and was able to get her into the grade two class, though this was due to Jason's influence. She leaned against the walls and concentrated on her hearing so she could sense what was happening in the classroom.

Alice, who was meeting and interacting with children her age for the first time, was silent. She sat on her seat and listened to the teacher carefully.

"Hey, psst," a voice nearby called Alice in a hushed whisper. Looking sideways, Alice saw a slightly older child with auburn hair smiling at her. Her green eyes shone with curiosity through her freckled face.

"I'm Maple! What's yours?" The girl whispered. Alice looked back at the teacher who didn't notice Maple talking and turned back to the latter.

"I'm Alice," she whispered back while checking the front once again.

"It's great to see you!" Maple mumbled excitedly. "You're so pretty Alice, can I be your best friend?"

Alice, who was happy at the compliment, nodded with joy.

"Great! Hey, just come to me if anyone causes you trouble and I'll beat 'em up!" Maple said while showing her fist.

"Maple, dear," the teacher called out, noticing their hushed conversation.

"Oops," Maple winked at Alice before sitting straight and listening to the teacher.

Outside, Alina smiled before walking off, happy to see Alice interacting with children her age. She realized by how mature Alice acted that she was lonely and thought that school was the perfect place for her to make friends.

"Hey," turning around a corner, she came across Jason who smiled when he saw her.

"Hey," Alina said back with a sigh; she was not looking forward to the chat the two needed to have.

"Alice . . . ?" Jason asked while looking behind Alina.

"At her class," Alina said before she began explaining when she saw his reaction. "She's old enough to go to school and after testing her, they placed her in grade two. She really is a bright one."

"Huh," Jason said. He knew it was important for Alice to study and play with kids her age, but that would cut into the short time he had with her. Not to mention, he wasn't able to apologize to her right now.

"She'll be free during lunchtime," Alina knew what Jason was thinking and reassured him. "And since you're a teacher you'll be able to visit her. Say sorry at that time."

"Yeaah. About last night and this morning . . ." Jason began trying to explain himself but Alina cut him off.

"Jason, I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Alina said with a shake of her head and a raised hand. "I . . . I don't have much hope in you keeping your promises anymore. I'm used to you coming home late, or not at all while smelling like sex and alcohol. But Alice?"

Jason looked away, unable to look at Alina in the eye who sent him a sharp glare.

"Did you know she made breakfast for you? She knew you'd be exhausted because I told her you were out working all night. And she wanted to make you happy so she made - Where were you?" Alina asked, her cracking voice full of disappointment but void of anger, all of which stabbed into Jason like a knife. "You know you did the same for me? You'd disappear or forget showing up when I needed you the most. But don't - please - just don't do this to Alice. Please. She needs her dad, now more than ever."

"Alle I -" Jason raised a hand but without waiting for Jason's reply, Alina walked away, leaving Jason standing alone in the hallway.

'She's grown to be a fine warrior,' a voice said gruffly. With a glance, the voice of the warrior was able to deduce the strength she was concealing. 'Worthy of being our apprentice, you've done well with her.'

"I don't need your approval," Jason muttered before walking away, his voice cracking with hidden emotions that were aimed at himself. He realized that Alina was right, but given the chance, he would still repeat the same action. Hunting those mercenaries and battling Yu . . . he would do it again if it meant getting closer to the secret organization and Katelyn.

Checking the time on his holo-watch, Jason realized that he had an hour or two before his combat class starts. He made his way to his office and sat down after closing the door. Sitting in a lotus position, he closed his eyes and mediated.

Since last night, after releasing a fraction of his limited powers, Jason didn't have the time or patience to concentrate and check his body's strength. Quickly, he managed to deduce his current strength and Practitioner level; he was a nascent soul Elite Practitioner that was a step away from being a Master.

Not bad, He thought. I was able to push Yu back despite being two stages weaker.

However, Jason knew that luck was the biggest part to play in his success during the fight with Yu. First was his cultivation, the Formulae he practiced was stronger than Yu's, a fact made evident from how pure Jason's Qi was compared to the latter. Also, during the fight, Yu had lowered his guard, allowing Jason to strike at the perfect moment.

I won't be so lucky next time, Jason thought. Sage Yu will have his guard up … but then again, it would be difficult to know who would win if I use my Esper powers along with my Practitioner abilities.

This was the part that made Jason so frightening; most Practitioners were unable to become Espers and vice versa as Qi and Aether were incompatible. This was also why his enemies were surprised when they discovered that he was a Practitioner. He had, quite literally, broken common sense.

I should consolidate my strength, Jason closed his eyes and began meditating, using his Esper powers which had recovered to absorb energy all around him and convert it to Qi.

***

Alina entered her classroom and sat down on her chair after greeting Michelle and Asami.

"Morning," she said to them.

"Morning!" Asami said brightly. Looking at her, it was impossible for Alina to tell that Asami was not a morning person.

Michelle nodded at Alina's greeting but looked distracted. She was wearing a green military cap, with her blonde hair tied in a ponytail and sticking out through the gap at the back of the cap. Alina sent her a confused glance when she noticed Michelle constantly looking at Markus's back.

"So, what's up with Jason? He looked like he screwed up royally," Asami asked and Michelle finally turned to look at Alina with interest.

"Well, he was away since last night and Alice didn't see him," Alina explained with a sigh. "Then she made breakfast for him but he didn't show up. So, now she's angry at him."

"Ouch," Asami said. "Maybe he had a good reason to be late?"