.We’re already a couple

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when Seui got up. Well, it should be 'woken up' since it was Ginn who shook him awake and almost got kicked in the shin by him. Seui had a very bad morning temper which applied whenever he woke up from sleep. So apparently in a bad mood, Seui went to briefly wash up and tidy his appearance.

" Yew called you when you were asleep. He's now waiting for your call" Ginn mentioned in passing, inwardly glancingly at his expressionless face that somehow conveyed super annoyance. Seui simply took his mobile and walked into the balcony before calling Yew. He didn't care much about the switched-off phone as he automatically attributed it to low battery.

His call was immediately answered on the second ring. Seui wondered if Yew was keeping watch by the phone this whole time! And that is what actually happened! Yew has been staring at the phone resolutely waiting for Seui's call from the moment he learned that Seui actually got on the enemy's bed. He totally had the right to be concerned about it! No matter what, it was originally HIS BODY! How could he look away when his body was being sacrificed over there!!!

So he instantly answered and roared into the mouthpiece " YOU! Tell me! Did you get on a man's bed or not!! Aren't you still a minor?! How dare you be this presumptuous!!" Seui on the other side rubbed his ear while hurriedly holding the phone about an inch away from there. " stop screaming like a choked chicken! and what's with the 'man's bed' part ah? when wasn't my bed a man's bed? Besides, didn't you tell me your ability was plant-based? how did it suddenly turn into long-distance-peeping?"

"Choked chicken?" Yew gasped with wide eyes. "Don't be so rude! Aren't I for your own good? Furthermore who needs abilities for these kinds of things? A pair of ears is definitely enough when your scummy husband is gossiping around! Hmph.." Yew snorted raising his nose towards the sky.

" hang on, did you mean to say that Ginn answered the phone ?" Seui almost gritted his teeth. ' no wonder Ginn was so confident when he said how Yew waited for his call! look at how this already this guy is already taking liberties with him! Doesn't he know that not touching each other's personal things is basic courtesy! He'll definitely deal with him later!' . Yew frowned when he heard this " Are you trying to change the subject? I won't be fooled!"

Seui hummed dismissively " Nah, forget it. I just took a nap and you're making such a fuss over that." He continued without giving Yew a chance to interrupt. "I know what you're worried about and I'll definitely be careful in the future" Seui assured him. He quickly glanced around and made sure there was no one before lowering his voice " There's something else I want to talk to you about, the symptoms of poisoning are getting more and more frequent. And every time the symptoms appear my powers are getting out of control. I think they're somehow connected "

Hearing this, Yew's eyebrows knitted together, his tone turning grave " the symptoms are getting frequent?.. this is not good.. didn't you say the amount of poison in the blood is gradually decreasing?"

Seui squinted " that's what the doctor said, but the side effects are intensifying. I keep feeling that there's something wrong"

"Wait, didn't you say there's probably a connection between your power and symptoms? Could it be that the power is suppressing the side effects? So once the power gets out of control, the symptoms start to worsen!" Yew suddenly suggested "although I wasn't an ability before, I've heard of that kind of situation. It's apparently a bluff that's there for abilities "

"That sounds reasonable " Seui agreed thoughtfully. "So according to that logic, I have to make sure that my power is in control so as not to choke 24/7...hmm.. but how can do that?"

"It's easy, all you need to do is to stabilize your power" Yew suddenly smiled brightly " about that, I have an idea. Because I keep having power outbursts these days, my family arranged tutors to help me stabilize my power, why don't you just join me? I've been feeling boring too. That's killing two birds with one stone! Aren't I particularly brilliant?!!" Yew asked with the obvious intention to be praised.

"Won't it be a problem if I joined you out of nowhere?" Seui asked with some uncertainty. He didn't like this method of using another's crisis for his benefit.

"D*mn ! what now? Don't spoil my rare brilliant idea. It's not every day that I spit out such genius plans. Everything's gonna be alright once I introduced you as my buddy. So it's a deal?" Yew was totally impatient.

"Deal then!" Seui finally gave up. " Right, do you think I should've got some meeting-for-the-first-time gifts for my in-laws?" he wondered since they were going to formally meet at dinner. He wasn't familiar with the customs here anyway.

"NO!" Yew resolutely denied. "First, 'Sol' has met them lots of times before, so this isn't really your 'first meeting'. Secondly, you've been sold off to them, so are you helping them count money? You simply being there without any trouble must be the greatest relief to them! So don't think about any useless things such as gifts" At least he must teach this kiddo the proper life values! Yew praised himself inwardly!

The so-called 'kiddo' who didn't need to be taught life values at all: ...."alright, I'm hanging up then"

Seui just went in when he was met in the face with Ginn. Seui's pupils instantly contracted as he considered the probability of Ginn overhearing his conversation ' no, I already checked before. Not to mention I lowered my voice so much. He probably won't hear me even if he stood right next to me! yeah..' Seui quickly consoled himself before facing Ginn in an upright manner.

Ginn simply gestured to him with a perfectly natural expression " Let's go down? Dinner's ready" Seui nodded and followed behind him feeling relieved since Ginn couldn't have such an expression if he was eavesdropping.

It was a pity that he missed one fine detail in his calculation. Compared to normal people, ability users had sharp senses. It wasn't to the point of hearing things miles ahead, but it was definitely enough for Ginn to hear Seui's conversation! He wasn't planning on eavesdropping, but it just happened so that after he returned to his room, he heard something interesting. Earlier, after Sol washed up, Ginn went downstairs to notify the kitchen to serve the dishes. When he returned he heard Sol's pleasant voice saying "...gifts for my in-laws?". Interested, he quietly walked over, only to have Sol hang up the call. He didn't have any time to turn back, so he swiftly plastered a natural look on his face and lead Sol downstairs! It was amusing to think that the stoic Sol would be troubled by trivial stuff like this!

They descended the stairway and turned a few times before coming to the brightly lit and spacious dining room. The whole surface there looked glistening and crystalline in the beautiful golden glow of the glamorous chandelier. At the head of the table sat an unfamiliar, slightly old man with a vigorous spirit. He had sharp eyes and emitted the battlefield aura from head to toe.

'So this must be the previous marshal of the empire, the current patriarch of the Heilong family, Ginn's grandfather Ferred Heilong ... he seems like a hard nut.. it's better to be mindful...' Seui made a mental note carefully. Ginn's parents were sitting on the right side of him. Seui suddenly saw that there was another non-identified middle-aged person on the patriarch's left side. Judging from his position, he must be one of Ginn's uncles?

" Come and sit, we've been expecting you" the patriarch graciously invited them over. " Leos told me that you weren't in good health. Are you better now?"

Seui hurried to answer afraid that he'll be dragged in to the hospital if his reply was even a little bit delayed " I'm totally fine now. Thank you for your concern...sir" Seui hesitantly added the last part, thinking that no matter what he couldn't disrespect a great hero of the empire.

The patriarch waved his hand " That's a relief, I'll call the family doctor to check on you later. Moreover, you don't need to address me like that, you can just call me grandpa from now on. We're already a family "

"sure, I'll do that. sorry for causing trouble" Seui respectfully agreed. But in truth, he had absolutely no plans to call him grandpa. There's no way he could afford such a grandpa!

The old patriarch's eyes suddenly dimmed after hearing the reply. His hand that had been digging the pant pocket under the table for the red packet suddenly stiffened. yeah..he had somewhat expected such a scene to happen. After all, the young man had been dragged into this mess because of their selfishness. He slowly retracted his hand and made up his mind to wait for a better time to hand in his red packet.

Seui squinted unnoticeably seeing the patriarch 'what's with that wronged look? there's no way you want me to pity you, is there? But even so, it's still useless. So what if I pity you, who's gonna pity me after all? Every word I say might determine my life any second, everywhere are ones waiting to topple me, facing all those in a lonely world, it hasn't been easy for me..'

Feeling that Sol is gradually becoming dull, Genevieve quickly intervened " Let's start dining, Sol hon must be hungry, right dad?" she quickly served a bowl of fresh soup to Sol.

Seui accepted it helplessly and looked at the patriarch waiting for him to start. The old marshal readily took a sip and gestured others to feast on. The maids gradually served the main dishes with increasing aroma and color that made even the air surrounding them look delicious. These days a lot of households used high-tech products specially manufactured for cooking and serving, and maids were a formality that only the nobles used, for protecting their ancestral customs. Basically, the maids' job was to do superficial things on special occasions and appear formal and dandy.

As everybody went on having dinner the atmosphere became much more normal. Sol drank the soup slowly and gracefully, his manners fully expressing his noble upbringing. He observed the dishes others frequently consumed and gingerly served himself some of those. Since so many people tasted them, these food are likely the safest ones! He didn't forget that the root cause of all this was that non-identified poison that had been absorbed into the body who-knows-when! Glancing over he spread some peanut butter evenly on the toast. Just as he was about to take a bite, his phone rang loudly indicating a message.

When he was about to ignore it, the phone started to ring continuously with messages. "Why don't you see it, it seems like an emergency" Genevieve suggested. Sol reluctantly took the phone out and saw the screen filled with notifications. He clicked on the latest message on the screen. While he was halfway, a voice message came in and replaced it at the last moment. It was too late to stop and Seui's fingertip landed resolutely on it.

So, Heilong's dining room was filled with Yew's voice the next moment. "Remember not to eat peanut and soy! you're allergic to them, you know!" Everyone went silent and stared at the peanut butter toast in Sol's other hand. Following everyone's glance, Seui calmly placed the toast on the plate with a dignified and expressionless face. No one was capable of seeing his inner turmoil which kept cursing Yew for thousand rounds, 'so coincidental? he was just about to eat peanuts, and Yew rescued him? Nah... he was reasonably starting to suspect Yew was doing this on purpose! Otherwise, why didn't he mention that earlier?? And you still have to send a VOICE??? What happened to the good old text messages ah???! And what's wrong with his cursed finger that clicked on it ahhhh? Now the whole family thinks he's a weirdo who couldn't remember he's allergic! Not to mention that's the best possible outcome!!! So what about other possibilities!!!'

Seui tried to make a weak excuse in a broken voice " that.., he's my friend who's a busybody... yeah" and resolutely tucked the phone back.

Ginn glanced at him subtly. He was sure it was Yew's voice just now, are they that close to even knowing each other's private things? "So are you really allergic to peanuts?" He questioned. He was pretty sure that this guy was going to eat the peanut butter toast just a moment ago. How can someone be indifferent to something he's allergic to?

"Well, it's kinda true.." Seui muttered in a fluster wondering how to handle this.

Before Ginn could say anything, Genevieve suddenly interrupted them in a hurry and snatched Sol's plate "Hon, you should be more careful. I'll give you something else that's safe, let's discard this one here. Later you should give me a complete list of foods to avoid so that we can make other things. Here" she picked up some general dishes and handed back a new plate.

Seui silently breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, consider I owe you one this time! Turns out all-enthusiastic in-laws are not always bad!!