CHAPTER 226: CHAPTER 226: BORED BODYGUARD

Victor was gone. For three blessed hours, Elias had the office, and his sanity, to himself. Or so he thought. Ashwin was still there.

Not the stoic, vigilant Ashwin who moved like a shadow behind Victor, but the bored one. The one who, stripped of immediate purpose and divine proximity, began experimenting with the concept of entertainment.

Elias had learned this version of Ashwin existed only after Victor’s third meeting of the day. And it was terrifying.

He sat at his side of the desk, the left, because apparently that was a territorial concession now, pretending to focus on the stack of data reports projected across his terminal. The desk’s surface glowed faintly under the ether light, dividing the workspace into two symmetrical halves. The right was pristine, untouched, sacred order. The left was... cluttered with notes, half-drunk coffee, and one unfortunate stylus that had died a noble death in his hand an hour ago.

Ashwin stood by the door, arms crossed, a picture of elegance and mischief. "You’ve been staring at the same line for ten minutes, Doctor."

"I’m thinking," Elias said, his eyes still on the screen.

"About what?"

"Whether throwing myself out that window would void my contract."

Ashwin raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "That would depend on whether you landed on a Numen-owned surface."

Elias gave him a flat look over his gold-rimmed glasses. "I hate that you probably know the answer."

"I read the employee manual," Ashwin said with solemn pride. "Twice."

"Of course you did," Elias muttered, turning back to his screen. He was trying to focus, he really was, but the office had an atmosphere that refused to let him. The faint hum of the ether conduits below, the constant subtle vibration of power running through every wall, and the undeniable presence of Victor even in absence.

The right side of the desk looked empty, but it wasn’t. It felt like Victor, restrained, infuriatingly present. Elias had tried not to look at it for the past hour and had failed at least twenty times.

His gaze drifted again. The neatly stacked files. The unused pen. The faint indentation on the chair cushion where Victor had last sat. It was like the man had left a gravitational field behind. Which, in fairness, he probably had.

"Staring again," Ashwin noted.

"I’m not," Elias lied.

Ashwin tilted his head slightly. "You miss him already."

Elias nearly choked. "I... no. Absolutely not. I’m enjoying the silence."

"Of course," Ashwin said smoothly. "That’s why you’ve sighed fourteen times since he left."

"I’m not being tracked," Elias said sharply.

"I’m a bodyguard," Ashwin replied. "It’s in the job description."

Elias rubbed his temple. "Ashwin, I’m a pregnant omega in his first trimester, clinginess is technically my middle name now."

Ashwin blinked once, slowly, as if processing that sentence required divine clearance.

"...Technically?"

Elias groaned, dropping his pen onto the desk. "Don’t start."

"I wasn’t going to," Ashwin said, though his tone suggested he absolutely was. "It’s just... enlightening to hear you acknowledge it."

Elias turned in his chair, glaring, his tie slightly askew. "You’ve been waiting all morning to make fun of me, haven’t you?"

"Only since your third sigh," Ashwin said with perfect sincerity. "I take my responsibilities seriously, Doctor. Emotional observation is part of your security profile."

Elias stared at him, asking himself if he really had to ask about it. "You’re telling me there’s an emotional security profile?"

"Page forty-two of the personnel manual." Ashwin said with mock serenity.

"Of course there is," Elias muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "Numen Corporation really said: privacy is optional, suffering is mandatory."

Ashwin smiled faintly. "Accurate."

For a moment, silence returned, soft and deceptively peaceful. The hum of the ether conduits filled the room again, sending a faint vibration through the floor. Elias tried to focus on the research projections floating before him, but his mind kept wandering to the right side of the desk, to the smell of Victor’s cologne that still lingered in the air, and to the quiet knowledge that he was being missed somewhere out there in those sterile boardrooms.

He hated that thought. It made him feel warm and fuzzy about a man that was anything but.

Ashwin, of course, noticed. "Thinking of him again?"

Elias looked up, deadpan. "Thinking of creative ways to kill boredom without getting arrested."

"I’d advise against anything that leaves marks on company property."

"I wasn’t planning on carving poetry into the desk, Ashwin."

"Good," Ashwin said, stepping closer, clearly too amused for his own good. "Mr. Numen would be devastated if you damaged his favorite surface."

Elias’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses while he leaned back in his ridiculously expensive chair. "I knew you were bored, but this level of self-destruction surprises even me."

Ashwin shrugged, leaning casually against the wall. "I’m not self-destructive, Doctor. I’m adaptive. You’re the only one here interesting enough to talk to."

"That’s both flattering and depressing."

"It’s mostly depressing," Ashwin agreed.

Elias pushed his chair back slightly, rubbing at his forehead. "Don’t you have anything else to guard? Doors? Secrets? Victor’s temper?"

Ashwin smiled, thin, sharp, and entertained. "All secure. You, however, are unpredictable. My orders were to keep an eye on you."

"Wonderful," Elias said. "An audience for my descent into workplace insanity."

Ashwin’s voice softened, amusement fading just enough to make the moment feel almost sincere. "You know... you’re not as terrible as he made you sound."

Elias blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I mean that as a compliment," Ashwin added quickly. "He warned me you’d be intolerant of authority, prone to deflection, and capable of weaponizing sarcasm. I find that accurate but... not unpleasant."

Elias raised an eyebrow. "Did he give you a field manual about me?"

Ashwin’s grin returned, just shy of mischievous. "Of course. It’s on my tablet. Right under ’In Case of Godly Emergencies.’"

Elias leaned back, crossing his arms. "You’re joking."

"Would you like me to quote it?"

"Absolutely not."

Ashwin chuckled, clearly satisfied. "Then I’ll summarize: he trusts you."