Fire and sparks

Lili took a step back and looked at the smiling Lei. She decided to just enjoy everything and don't fight whatever the two of them have between them. So she smiled back at him.

"How did he do that?" she asked, looking at the screens.

"He did not do it alone. You helped him." She looked at him questioningly when he led them out of the stage room.

"The sword you made for him. It is really interesting. You can level it up separately. And while you level it up, you change its skills depending on which material you use. It's fascinating. The rarer material, the rarer skill." Lili's face was telling only one thing. Wow!

"So, he used the sword for what? Dealing damage to players in range?" she asked, surprised by how good the weapon was. And how detailed and amazing the game was.

"Smart girl. Yes. It deals with continuing damage to all players in his range. The damage is as high as the HP of the casting player. But it drains his HP because it deals damage to everything. Caster, enemy, allies, monsters. A bit of a double-edged sword. Because the range area is different every cast time. That's why it killed Shanshan, too. He thought he was out of the range but it was further than last time." Lili nodded. It sounded like an excellent weapon, but with demerits.

"And there is another thing. It has a cast time of ten seconds. That's why he needed cover. And the cooling time is a half-hour. So, we can use it only once in the game." Lei finished the explanation with a sigh.

There were a lot of demerits. The official game was only twenty minutes long at max.

Lili looked around. She had to say that Lei was quite smooth. While he was explaining to her the attack, he silently took her into their minibus with all the players.

"Huh, where are you kidnapping me?" she asked jokingly and looked out of the window as they started to move. Lei was a bit shocked by her joke, and he hurried to explain it to her.

"I'm not kidnapping you. I'm taking you to our house. Don't worry." Lili laughed at the horrified expression of all who heard their conversation.

"Sorry, that was just a little joke of mine." She calmed them down and bowed her head slightly because she felt sorry for scaring them like that. But Lei stopped her. He seized her chin and brought it up.

"I know. I'm a good actor, too," Lei said, looking into her eyes, and Lili had no doubt about his acting skills.

She saw little sparks in his eyes and smiled. Lili now got officially obsessed with his smile. So she decided to make him smile as much as she can while she was there.

She heard her phone vibrate in a backpack, and it tore her out of their staring contest. Lei let her chin go and took out his laptop.

She looked at Lucy's name and cursed. She had put the phone on silent before. Now she would be haunted.

"Sorry..." she uttered as soon as she took the call.

"You better be sorry. Or I will tear your assie. You were supposed to wake me up. I woke up alone, and you were nowhere. And then you had the nerves not to pick up my calls. You had better be glad I had not called the police." Lucy was ranting and screaming into her phone in their mother tongue.

"I'm sorry, but I had the date with HIM," Lili said the sentence in the Czech language too, and enjoyed the silence on the other side.

"Okay, you need a love life. I'm going to shut up. Just tell me later how big he is down there," Lucy said, hopefully only joking, but Lili had doubts about that. She couldn't help but laugh.

"You know I would never sleep with someone on a first date," she said, having firm beliefs, but when she remembered his muscles, well, they were firmer than her principles.

They continued in Czech because Lei was next to her. He looked immersed in work, but one never knows. They agreed, with Lucy picking her up at HQ because they had the concert tickets. Then they hang up.

"Lucy will pick me up soon after we arrive." Lili felt that she had to say it to him.

"Mmm, sure. No problem. Your language is interesting and your voice is beautiful when speaking it. But tell me one thing. What is 'rande'?" he asked, stunning Lili.

'Oh, so he was listening. But heck, why did he catch only this word? Should I answer him? Why not?' she panicked inside her head again. It was slightly embarrassing, because Lili wasn't sure he thought of this as a date like her. Well, now she would know.

"It means the date," she translated, and his face lit up.

They stopped, and she noticed Lucy's car was already there. Lili was a bit embarrassed, so she jumped off the minibus, but was caught by Lei.

He was holding her hand, led her to the side, and leaned her on the minibus. Her mind automatically knew what he was going to do. She watched too many dramas. Oh, such a cliché. But she loved it.

"Wanted to run again?" he whispered in her right ear. When she nodded, he laughed. And kissed her. With urgency and passion. Lili was out of breath when he released her.

"Now, hurry to your friend. I will call you later." He gave her a little peck on her mouth and walked away. Lili was dumbfounded. And out of mind as she walked over to Lucy's car.

"Hm, guess that you will not sleep with him on a first date. But with such a fire and sparks between you two, it will be on a second date," Lucy said, but Lili was silent as they took off. Because she had the feeling that maybe Lucy was right.