Playing with fate.

"Ah-Ha!" Muriel attempted a side kick aiming at Ned's face, it's the third time the Lord of Time managed to dodge the blow, He has to since Muriel's strongest attacks came from his legs, and Ned knew better than to get caught in between them.

"PHEW! I'm getting lucky tonight, I might win over you this time!"

"I do not believe in luck within the battlefield...but you are improving quite well doctor, Although I still have won the majority of our matches!" Muriel replied surprising his slightly distracted opponent with a roundhouse kick.

Despite the unexpected attack, Ned managed to block it at the last second and hooked himself to Muriel, allowing for a chance to grab and throw the blonde onto the ground.

Feeling victorious that he managed to make Muriel hit the ground, Ned threw his hands in the air in celebration, "YEAH BABY! WHOA! I WON!" He cheered loudly, it wasn't The first time he managed to overpower Muriel, but it was one of few times and it was worth a celebration.

Still laying on the ground, "I have to admit, that was such a clever move my dear...May I have your Assistance Neddie?" Muriel said Smiling while extending his hand, whether he won or lost, sparring with Ned was his favorite thing to do with the other omega.

Ned walked-up to him extending his hand in return for Muriel to grab it, only this time The Blonde wanted to return the favor of being humbled onto the ground, to Ned.

Pulling the unassuming Lord Of Time down from his hand, Muriel pinned Ned in a split of a second on the ground where he himself laid previously, basically he tricked him," In a real fight between two enemies, never trust your opponent, until you make sure they are no longer posing a threat to you...Neddie."

"Good advice Young master however...you two have been fighting for... about two hours now, I suggest a break." Socorro spoke checking the watch on her phone, she handed the guys towels to dry themselves since both of them were sweating profusely.

"Thank you Coco...By the way, is there perhaps any News about the Orange Tree writer?" Muriel asked standing up, the name instantly caught Ned's attention.

"No...i can't seem to find a way to contact them." Socorro disappointed, replied.

Orange Tree was her favorite writer of the new generation, but the artist kept Their real life identity hidden, and they rarely interacted with anyone except for some social media presence, that was in the form of photography and poems posts on Sistagram and Chitter.

After writing one single story book that Socorro felt she could fall in love over and over with, Orange Tree never published anything again, nor made any known plans about future publishings.

"You never mentioned you were looking for this writer?" Ned spoke up picking himself for the ground, Muriel turned to face him " Oh my! I have completely forgotten to ask you for help! since you seem to know lots of people.

I was looking for Orange-tree because it is actually work related." Muriel explained.

"What idea you two are having? if you enlighten me up, I might be able to help you." Ned said.

"We want to turn Orange Tree's book into a movie, it's Mister Thorn Tang's idea of partnership between our companies actually. it appears that 'Junglaya' entertainment company was looking for a new movie idea, something that's gonna be a huge hit.

Preferably an idea depicting same-sex relationship, since it's a rare occurrence for the main characters of a story to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and for the that to be extremely popular at the same time.

That's why i sent a suggestion out of Goodwill to Mister Tang's new assistant, about Orange-Tree's book 'The early bird and the night owl', which is a book that is highly popular among the new generation, probably the most well-known LGBTQ+ story book that's out there.

And according to his assistant, Mister Tang immediately liked it and wanted to turn it into a movie." Socorro spoke explaining.

"Our main role would be to sponsor the movie, alongside some other things, however it seem that neither me nor Thorn are able to get a hold of The writer to ask for permission to use their book, we have been trying for two weeks now." Muriel added to his assistant's words.

"It's nice seeing you and Thorn finally getting along, and working together nonetheless! you know he's actually a good person, right?" Ned commented grinning from ear to ear, Muriel scoffed at him, "Bloody hell NO!...I know what you are hinting at, I will NOT! be trusting an alpha man ever in my life again!

In the end this remains strictly business between two corporations, and nothing more is ever going to happen between me and Thorn...Ever."

Because Thorn and Muriel's first impression here was even more disastrous than back in their previous world, the two were never able to maintain a peaceful relationship.

They're often seen bickering and fighting, and often the clueless Thorn would say or do something innocent but mostly completely unnecessary or stupid, that would cause Muriel to get even more angry at him.

Ned haven't heard much about Thorn himself lately, other than what Muriel have told him, and Muriel rarely ever speaks of Thorn.

And it's difficult for Ned to trust every word Muriel says about Thorn, because anything the blonde would say about white haired man, should be taken with a grain of salt, due to their rivalry.

Although Ned did lots of changes to Muriel's life, When he met Thorn several times, Ned figured that there isn't much work to be done on him, except for finding him an assistant, since Ned took Aroon who was supposed to be Thorn's assistant instead as his.

And Ned couldn't do much about it when he heard from none other than Thorn himself, that he wasn't satisfied with any of the personal assistants he have hired, The doctor saw how the ex-king kept on changing assistants like pairs of socks.

Ned could only speculate, on who's going to be the new assistant by Thorn's side, the next time he see him.

"Oh absolutely young master! two single available, gay and abnormally rich business men, agreeing to work on a gay movie project together... definitely nothing is going to happen." Socorro said snickering.

Giggling, "Hehe the way coco just described it, this could be a better story idea for your movie then the book you mentioned." Ned said causing Muriel's face to turn fully red.

Scoffing, "Bunch of bullies!" the heterochromic eyes man mumbled, while secretly trying to hold back a smile.

"Anyways this bully, happens to know Orange-Tree... personally!" Ned spoke up proudly, "I'll make sure you have your deal."

"REALLY?!"

...Some time later...

Resting on the gigantic couch in his best friend's house, Ned was bored out of his mind while waiting, Matilda was taking a late-night shower when Ned came to talk to her.

"Sorry I took my time."

"It's okay, I picked an odd hour to visit Anyway." Ned said, "I found you a new deal for work, and I think you're finally ready to meet the girl I told you about."

"Is she cute though?"

"Your type exactly, and she's one of your fans Too...you have no idea how big of a fan she is." he said smiling.

Matilda was the very first person Ned met of all his friends, he found her as a teenager, still stuck in an orphanage.

Taking his old best friend under his wing, Ned returned the favors to her one bye one, and thanks to his help now, the two friends were hanging out in the living room of Matilda's luxurious apartment.

Also because of his actions, Matilda has never met Muriel nor Socorro personally, yet she knew who they were based on what Ned told her.

It was mostly because Ned believed that in order for something like that tragedy to not happen again, he needed to make changes within each of his friends lives, and he's doing so by mostly relying on his memories and intelligence, rather than his given abilities.

Now, this was the perfect chance for Ned, to get his best friend to meet her mate again at better circumstances, since the way Matilda found out she had a mate in her past life, was a painful one.

Matilda already knew about Ned and that he was the lord of Time, he had made a promise to her long before she died that he'll keep no secrets from her anymore, and he kept that promise.

Now resurrected, and Trusting Ned with her entire life, Matilda obliged to keeping everything she knows a secret while helping Ned with whatever she could.

She was eager to retrieve her past life memories, but she was even more eager to meet her destined mate.

"Aside from her, what's this deal that got my bestie showing up in my humble estate." Matilda spoke while taking a seat on the couch.

...Meanwhile...

"Garrick... really my guy?" Jade stood disappointed while facing Garrick with a sour expression, she finally managed to know what's under the bandaid Garrick wore.

"I panicked ok!...I never expected something like this to happen, these past few days were hell."

"No wonder you kept asking all those weird question when we got here, I don't blame you, this is confusing me too...a diamond, that's definitely mom."

"I just woke up that day, and found this on my face...idk why it's gotta be on my face... honestly... I feel sick."

"That's the separation effect, What else happened Rick?"

"I've been having this blurry nightmares...there were people although, I couldn't see them well throughout the smoke, I heard them screaming and crying...I swear i-" Garrick paused, he started to feel foggy a little as he tried to remember, something felt wrong.

Distressed a little, Jade sat down next to Garrick on the bench.

they were outside for a walk since it was the weekend, and somehow they ended up talking about the bandaid, untill Garrick finally revealed the truth, his mating mark.

"I've been trying to skip on sleep, I couldn't deal with these nightmares anymore!"

"Did you hear mom's voice?" Jade spoke, his head quickly turned in disbelief at her "How did you know?!"

Taking a deep breath, "Let me see" Jade placed her hand on Garrick's head.

As a sharp pain pierced through his head without a warning,"Please...stop." Garrick pleaded moving himself away from her.

She knew she wasn't the best mage, but not expecting this to happen, " ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Jade asked him, but Garrick didn't respond, already sleep deprived and drained, the pain was too much for him to handle and he ended up fainting in her arms.

Panicking, She immediately called for an ambulance, and Right after that, she dialed her brother's number, Jasper's instantly picked up.

Jasper: Ugh... I'm taking a nap! can't... you like...text!

Jade: shut up and listen, Garrick is knocked out in my fucking arms, I already called an ambulance!

Jasper: what the ACTUAL FUCK JADE! DID YOU PUNCH HIM AGAIN?!

Jade: NO THE FUCK I DIDN'T ! he just passed out on his own...well...after I tried to cast a memory spell on him.

Jasper: ARE YOU...UGH!!! nevermind listen, text me the details later, I have no choice but to ask Tacito for help now.

Jade: ok! whatever happens, don't tell mom please.

Jasper: Fine, but you owe me tons already! I'm fucking done covering up for you.

Jade: I'm spoiling you like a baby when I get back I swear!

Jasper: I'm hanging, take care of him.

Jade: Roger that!

(End of phone call)

Luckily, It took only few minutes, before the sound of ambulance siren was approaching Jade's Field of hearing.