CHAPTER 410: IT’S INDEED WORTH PROTECTING

At the end of the day, with the sun slowly setting, Alice decided to stroll down the wet sands of the beach, where the water moved with the tides and touched their legs.

"This was fun." Alice said as she held aside her hair that was softly flying with the wind.

"Yes, it was." Leo responded, and Alice smiled at him.

He wasn’t there for the first half because he said he needed to recharge, but she noticed he had been rather quiet. Was he enjoying himself? She couldn’t tell.

But when he said yes, just now, it did seem like he enjoyed himself.

"And nothing about what you worried about came to pass." Leo added, and she snapped, smiling in embarrassment.

"Yeah."

Since everyone was having so much fun, no one approached her with the intent of confessing their feelings.

"Hey, Leo," she called, suddenly having that low and worrisomely emotional tone.

(If that’s even a thing, lol)

"Do you think we can protect this peace?" She asked.

Leo took a moment, as if he was thinking, and said,

"It’s a peace worth protecting." That was all he said. He didn’t affirm whether or not they could protect it.

And since he said it like that...

Alice turned to the water, staring at the beautiful sunset, and said softly,

"Yeah, it’s indeed worth protecting."

They stayed there silently for a moment, and Leo thought maybe they would go home like that without anyone stealing Alice’s lips.

Maybe he had thought too much about it.

But he hadn’t thought too much about it. There was precisely one person who was ready to steal those pretty and lush lips.

"Alice," they heard Michael’s voice, and Alice turned her head while Leo closed his eyes. He had been relieved far too early.

Wait, relieved? Why?

He turned to Alice and Michael, who had begun talking, and sighed.

Something was going wrong with him lately.

"Alice, I’ll head in for a while." He said and disappeared before getting a word from Alice.

"Did he get exhausted?" Alice wondered and then turned to Michael. "So, you were saying?"

"I’ve been looking forward to my reward, Alice." He said, taking her hand. "I wondered if you would give me a chance to choose myself."

"Choose?" She didn’t really give the reward a thought yet. So maybe this was a good thing. "Then, what will it be?"

"I want the thing I love most about you." He said, staring right into her eyes. "Your eyes."

"You’re crazy." Alice answered, like he was joking, but he did not say anything and simply stared at her.

It made her eyebrows furrow a bit. Wait, that was a joke, right? She couldn’t even see his face to know what kind of expression he had on. It was blank.

"Wait, are you seriously --?"

Michael’s laugh interrupted her, and he gently pushed back the hair on her shoulders, his hand caressing her neck as he leaned in and said,

"I wished you would take it seriously so it would be more of a fun prank, but you took too long to react." He said. "Of course, it was a joke. If I take out the eyes when they look so good on you, what do I stand to gain?"

Alice went silent. Still, he was saying such weird things.

She knew he liked her eyes, but that joke was way too much.

"I’m sorry," he apologized and tilted his mask up, revealing his lips, and kissed her cheek. "Can I ask for my reward now?"

Alice sighed and brushed off the weird, moody air.

"No more such pranks." She said, and he smiled. She watched his lips curl. They were pretty.

"Alright."

"So, what is it?" She asked while he played with her hair. "What do you want from me, Michael?"

"Now, now. You make it sound like you’re in debt." Michael softly said. "I don’t want it to seem like I’m forcing a reward out of you."

"I don’t know. I can’t help it." She folded her arms. "You made the atmosphere seem weird."

"Then I guess it’s my fault," he said, chuckling deeply. "Does this make the air feel much lighter?" He suddenly roamed his hand over her neck gently, biding his time with her touch and then kissing her lips.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting this. In fact, she was looking forward to it.

When was the last time she locked lips with someone?

It had been quite a while.

She kissed back till they broke the kiss, and he said,

"Can I ask for my reward now?"

"Yeah," she answered with a rather heavy breath.

She could feel the veins circulating all over her and increasing her stats by twofold.

It made her blood rush quickly, and her body couldn’t keep up with the heat.

It was a good thing it doubled her stats, but what could she do when she had no way to offload that accumulated power?

"I want you all to myself, Alice." Michael boldly demanded, his eyes fixed daringly on the person behind them. They were a long way from them, so they probably couldn’t hear their conversation, but they had eyes to see what was going on.

So, if they didn’t want their little heart to get hurt, then it was best to turn back.

"Are you serious?" Alice asked, but was not pleased with that reward request.

"Just for one day." Michael quickly added, smiling as he watched them turn back and leave.

He smiled at Alice.

"It’s like having you all to myself for one day." He said to her, and she gave it a thought.

She would be busy in the coming days, and she was sure he would be too. So, for this request...

"Of course, it doesn’t have to be immediate." He said to her. "I wouldn’t want to inconvenience our little hero." He brushed her hair behind her ear. "When the time comes, I’ll let you know. You just have to promise me for now."

Alice didn’t give it too much thought and nodded.

"So long as it doesn’t interrupt me when I have something planned, then it’s fine." She said, causing him to pause.

"Ah, you’re quite thorough."

Of course, she was. She couldn’t promise to leave whatever she had in her hand and rush towards him right away.

As long as she wasn’t busy, she would spend the day with him.

She didn’t know what he had in mind, but if it didn’t inconvenience her, then it was fine.

"Can I get one more kiss before we part ways?" Michael asked, and she nibbled on her bottom lip softly.

"Why not?"

She gave him the go-ahead, and he kissed her again, more passionately this time, holding her in his arms and taking in the sweetness of her lips.

"Thank you," he said to her as he smiled, and she helped him pull down his mask.

She smiled at him and said,

"You’re welcome."