Adam turned to see Lorelie approaching with a smile.

“Sorry for exploring without permission, I just needed to stretch my legs after being cooped up on the ship for a week.” Adam apologised.

“Don’t worry about it, I already said that you can use my home's facilities as you wish, think of my house as your house,” Lorelie replied.

“Thank you,” Adam responded.

“So are you curious about this pool of water?” Lorelie asked again.

“Yes, I was, I was wondering why there were six rings in a perfectly circular body of water,” Adam replied.

“It’s a pitch for a sport called Water Sphere,” Lorelie replied with a smile before explaining. “When a game is played, a force field designed to keep water in is formed and creates a perfect sphere. The water increases until the sphere is full, while the rings rise until they are level with the widest part of the sphere.

Two teams then enter the water sphere and compete to score points by throwing a ball through the rings. As you can see, there are three rings at each end, with the middle one being slightly smaller than the outer two. The outer two rings are worth one point, while the inner is worth three.”

“Really?” Adam asked with interest as he studied the pitch closer.

“It’s a sport that is only really popular in worlds where aquatic life like my Merinmian race thrives because we are adept at moving in water.”

“That would explain why I never saw anything like this back on Palaxia or Tillion.” Adam commented before asking, “Since you have a pitch, I take it you play?”

“Not competitively, but I have known to play occasionally with friends. I mainly had it built because I’m a fan of the sport.” Lorelie replied before thinking of something, and after a moment of gathering her courage, asked nervously.

“If… If you want, we can go watch a game while we are here…. Just you and me.”

Adam was surprised by her question and turned to look at her, only to see that she was blushing heavily and avoiding eye contact. He could guess why this was after talking with Stacey in the past, and figured it took Lorelie a lot of courage for her to ask him out.

“I don’t mind, but what about the others? I know for a fact that Tephe will want to come.” Adam replied.

“Oh, right,” Lorelie replied, slightly downcast.

“You could always try telling us that you're both going out on a date.” Another familiar voice suddenly said, causing them both to turn and see Stacey walking over.

“I.. I.. I…” Lorelie said as she started to babble incoherently as if she had just been caught doing something wrong.

“How would Xer-verse react if they saw Diva Lorelie reacting this way over a guy?” Stacey teased with a smirk, causing Lorelie to blush even more.

Stacey turned to Adam before saying, “Adam, we need some time alone for some girl talk. Do you mind going off on your own for a while?”

“Um, sure,” Adam replied in a slightly confused tone before he turned and left.

When he saw that Stacey was there and had obviously heard their conversation, he was expecting her to be angry, however, her attitude confused him, so he decided to just do as she asked and wander off to explore elsewhere.

“Stacey, I...” Lorelie began, but was cut off by Stacey, asking with narrowed eyes.

“I only have one question. Are you trying to steal him away from me?”

“What?” Lorelie replied in shock before stammering, “I…. I….”

“Fine,” Stacey said, interrupting her again before turning and walking away. As she did so, she said, allowed. “I wont interfere, but I also wont help you.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Lorelie stared in shock, with her mouth slightly open as she watched Stacey walk away. Like Adam, she had expected Stacey to be angry and that she was about to lecture her about staying away from her man. However, she never expected this outcome.

“That was awfully unexpected and understanding of you, granddaughter.” Rowena suddenly said as Stacey passed the large bush she had been standing behind.

“Hmph.” Stacey pouted before responding. “I’m very aware that she is attracted to him and has been for some time.”

“I see, so why didn’t you interfere and prevent it while you had the chance?”

“I am very aware that Adam has the ability to attract women even though he doesn’t go out of his way to do so. I could very well keep him to myself if I so wished, as we have spoken about this topic before, however, that wouldn’t stop women in the future from pursuing him.

It would be very tiring if I had to deal with all these women myself, even if Adam makes it known to them that he is not interested. At least this way, I at least have an ally to help me keep those unworthy of him away.”

“How scheming,” Rowena replied while wearing a proud smile.

“However, what I told her is true, whether she can win his heart is all down to her, and I wont help her, and if she does manage to enter into a relationship with him, the two of us will have to discuss some things,” Stacey said before she continued to walk away towards the house as Rowena watched her go with a warm smile.

A moment later, Rowena turned to look back towards Lorelie, who was still standing in the same place before smiling at her friend and saying, “Good luck.” After which she to headed back towards the house.

💫💫💫

Several hours later, the group of five walked out of the forest and onto the beach, heading in the direction of a pier where some sort of small ship was waiting to transport them.

The ship was silver-white in colour with large glass windows and an open deck.

Adam was dressed in a dark blue suit that Morven had acquired for him. It was made out of a material he had never seen before, but it was nevertheless very comfy.

The women were all dressed in beautiful dresses of different designs and colours.

Lorelie wore a green dress to match her eyes.

While Rorwena wore a red one that matched her hair.

Stash wore a black one that had the occasional red trim.

Tephe was the odd one out, however, Lorelie had picked out a green dress for the young dragon, but she had insisted on wearing a white dress for some reason.

As the group boarded the ship, they were greeted by the captain before the ship set off. It didn’t so much sail through the water but rather skimmed across the surface of it in a way that seemed to minimise the wake it created.

“Yay.” Tephe cheered happily as she stood at the bow of the ship with her arms held high, letting the wind whip her hair and dress behind her.

As the ship skimmed across the water heading in the direction of the capital city, it passed several other ships whose passengers quickly took notice of who they had just seen.

It didn’t take very long for a new article to appear on Xer-verse discussing the fact that Diva Lorelie had returned home to Oceana Seven.

As the ship approached the water city, Lorelie came up beside Adam and pointed at a large coliseum-type structure that lay at the edge of the city atop the water before saying.

“That’s the capital's Water Sphere arena. The team I support is playing there in a couple of days, we can go watch if you want?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Adam replied, making Lorelie beam happily.

Soon, the ship slowed as it approached one of the city's piers, where a long, impressive limo-looking hovercar was waiting.

As the ship came to a halt, they all disembarked and walked the short distance towards the hovercar, however, their presence had once again attracted the attention of those along the pier.

“Look, it's Diva Lorelie.”

“Oh my god.”

“Look, that’s Diva Rowena.”

“They all look so beautiful.”

“They must be going out somewhere.”

“Who is that guy with them?”

“I don’t know, but I’m jealous, one guy surrounded by four beauties.”

The group climbed into the back of the large hovercar as the driver held open the door.

Once the hovercar started to move off, Rowena looked at Adam with her signature smirk before asking.

“Look at you making all the men jealous, does it feel good?”

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Adam replied, making Rowena chuckle.

The hovercar travelled along the city edge for a few minutes, keeping the ocean visible out of the hovercar's windows to its left.

Soon, the hovercar came to a stop next to a restaurant that had the name Metgar’s elegantly written above the door.

Occasionally, expensive and high-class-looking hovercars arrived or departed from in front of the restaurant along with their owners.

The large limo-like hovercar didn’t immediately attract much attention because of the number of high-class hovercars that visited the restaurant, however, as passerbys noticed who alighted, they couldn’t help but focus their attention on them.