All To Himself

. . .

"Give me a hug."

While Zeirenne held her arms up, Andrei stared at her with a blank expression. He reached out his hand to touch her forehead, but they both jerked on their seats when a clanking sound echoed around the room.

"Earl. Grey. Tea." Jin said on gritted teeth.

Andrei pulled his hand back, and Zeirenne set her arms down while looking at Jin with a suspicious expression. "What's this guy up to now?" She thought to herself before shaking her head. "He's becoming more unstable that I am."

"Long time no see," Jin said, "I see you've been out of the country. I guess there were some things you had to attend to."

Andrei nodded his head in reluctance. He couldn't pinpoint Jin's tone—it sounded sarcastic but curious at the same time. "Oh, yeah. There were so many uhm... conflicts I had to fix."