Chapter 61: The ATTRACTIVE Chairman’s Guest

In Kai’s POV

I hated the Dome, I hated the walls, I hated the smell, I hated the fact that I was standing inside the headquarters of an organization that had kidnapped me, interrogated me, stripped away my disguise, and tied me to a chair.

Most of all, I hated the fact that I was currently being offered dinner by the man who ran the entire place, and unfortunately there was one other problem.

The Chairman was hot, really hot, annoyingly hot, the kind of hot that made my brain pause for half a second before reminding me that this man was, in fact, my captor, which was unacceptable.

He had taken me to his Private Sector randomly without saying much to me.

Aster Ludacris, Chairman of the Dome, Candidate 005, initial affinity twenty-three percent, I still hadn’t recovered from that revelation, the System had somehow decided that the terrifying middle-aged man running Ravenport’s most notorious underground assassin organization was my fifth husband candidate, wonderful, just absolutely wonderful.

The door opened behind me, I turned, Aster walked inside, he had changed nothing about his appearance since I had first seen him; yellow hair with those strange silver streaks running through it, sharp eyes, broad shoulders, lean muscles and those thick abs visible beneath his dark shirt, he looked like someone who had spent a lot of years fighting people and somehow gotten better-looking instead of older, I hated that too.

His eyes immediately settled on me.

"Are you hungry?"

I blinked, that wasn’t what I expected.

"Excuse me?"

Aster walked toward the table in the center of the room, there was food waiting there, actual food, not prison food, a proper meal; meat, vegetables, bread, fruit, soup and a glass of something that looked expensive enough to leave me gagging l, I stared at it then at him.

"Is this some kind of interrogation tactic?"

"No."

"Poison?"

"No."

"Drugged?"

"No."

"Then why the hell are you offering me food?"

Aster pulled out a chair.

"Because i know you haven’t eaten."

I narrowed my eyes, that answer was absolutely not normal and i didn’t know exactly how to react to it, I remained standing wearing the most confused look i have ever had. Aster looked at me.

"You can sit."

"I can?" I asked, genuinely still in shock.

"Yes, why do you think you can’t?"

"Because you’re the Chairman of an assassin organization that kidnapped me."

Aster considered this.

"That’s reasonable, i apologize for the inconveniences"

I stared, that was it? No threat? No intimidating speech? Nothing? He simply accepted the way i spoke to him, I reluctantly sat, not because I trusted him, because I was indeed hungry, and because my stomach had apparently decided that survival instincts included complaining loudly about missed meals.

Aster sat opposite me, for a few seconds neither of us spoke, I picked up a piece of bread, he watched, I stopped.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Nothing"

"Well stop staring,i am trying to eat"

He didn’t even look embarrassed, I took a bite, the bread was good, annoyingly good, I chewed slowly while studying him over the top of it, I had met plenty of handsome men since coming to this world; Elias, Rhydian, Nox, Dexter, and now this man, apparently the universe had decided that my biggest problem wasn’t monsters, it was attractive men.

Aster’s eyes remained on me, I swallowed.

"You know, staring isn’t very polite."

"You have an unusual face."

I nearly choked.

"What?"

"Your appearance."

I stared at him, he said it so casually.

"You are beautiful."

There it was, my old enemy, compliments, I had spent enough time dealing with reactions to my appearance that I knew exactly where this conversation was going, I sighed.

"Thanks."

Aster’s eyebrow rose slightly.

"You aren’t surprised."

"I’ve heard it before."

"Frequently?"

"Unfortunately."

He looked genuinely thoughtful.

"I can understand why."

I looked away, this is ridiculous, the System quietly appeared.

[Candidate 005 affinity: 24%.]

I nearly slammed my forehead into the table.

It’s increasing?

[Affirmative.]

Can you please stop the increase? He is already a lot now.

[The System does not control Candidate 005’s emotional response.]

I frowned , i had forgotten about that detail.

Aster watched me eat for another moment then he asked,

"Where are you from?"

I paused.

"Why?"

"I’m curious."

I looked at him carefully, he didn’t sound like he was interrogating me, at least not in the conventional sense, there was no pressure in his voice, no threat, just curiosity.

"I travel."

"With Elias?"

My fork stopped halfway to my mouth, so he knew, of course he knew, he was the Chairman, nothing happened inside this city without information eventually reaching him, that’s why he kidnapped me in the first place. My proximity with Elias, that’s what got me here.

"Sometimes."

Aster nodded.

"How long have you known him?"

"A while."

"How long?"

I sighed.

"About three months."

Something shifted in his expression, three months, that was probably not what he’d expected, I didn’t blame him, three months wasn’t a long time, yet somehow Elias had become part of my daily life so completely that imagining it without him felt strange, I looked down at my food.

"He’s going to come for me."

Aster didn’t answer, my eyes lifted.

"Oh, he already came, he is here already"

I froze.

"What?"

"I said he is here."

My chair scraped against the floor as I stood.

"Where is he?"

Aster looked at me.

"Sit down."

"No."

"I said sit" he said calmly with a tone of finality that almost made me sit, but i wanted to stand my ground.

"No. You don’t get to tell me to sit down after telling me Elias is here."

His expression changed slightly, he was not pleased...but i didn’t care.

"You care about him."

The statement irritated me.

"Of course I care about him." the words fell out of my mouth randomly.

"Why?"

I stared, what kind of question was that?

"Because he’s Elias."

That answer seemed to surprise him, I didn’t understand why, maybe because there wasn’t really a complicated answer, I cared about Elias because he was Elias, because he’d been beside me, because he’d saved me, because he’d annoyed me, because he’d made me laugh, because somewhere along the way he had become important.

Aster looked away, for the first time he seemed slightly troubled, again, didn’t care.

"Where is he?" i asked.

"He’s alive."

That was the first thing I needed to hear, my shoulders loosened slightly, then Aster continued.

"But he’s being held."

My relief vanished.

"Why?"

"Because he infiltrated the Dome."

"You know why he did it?"

Aster looked at me.

"Because of you."

I said nothing, that sentence landed harder than I expected, Elias had actually come here, into this place, into the Dome, knowing exactly what it was, knowing exactly what would happen if he were caught, he had still come, I swallowed.

"Let me see him."

"Not yet."

My irritation returned instantly.

"Why?"

"Because I need to understand the situation."

"You’ve had him captured. What else do you need to understand?"

Aster leaned back.

"You."

I blinked.

"Me?"

"Yes."

I stared at him, Aster’s eyes traveled over my face again, there was that look, that strange, quiet fascination, I shifted uncomfortably.

"Why?"

"I don’t know yet."

That answer was somehow more unsettling than if he’d given me a reason, he stood.

"Come with me."

"Where?"

"Dinner."

I looked at the food then at him.

"We’re already eating."

"This is a meal."

"And?"

"I meant dinner."

I stared.

"You kidnapped me and now you’re asking me out?"

Aster’s mouth twitched.

"I’m asking you to have dinner."

"That sounds suspiciously like asking me out."

He didn’t deny it, my brain betrayed me again, because standing there under the warm lights Aster looked ridiculously good, the silver in his yellow hair caught the light, his sleeves were rolled up, his forearms were defined, his posture was relaxed despite the fact that I knew this man could probably break me in half if he wanted to, I hated noticing, I hated that my eyes lingered, I hated that the System noticed too.

[Candidate 005 affinity: 25%.]

I didn’t do anything!

[No accusation was made.]

You sounded like you were accusing me.

[The System does not possess a tone.]

You absolutely do.

Aster looked at me, perhaps noticing that i was digging him.

"Are you coming?"

I sighed.

"Fine."

I followed him out, the corridor was quiet, guards stood along the walls but none approached, Aster walked beside me, for several minutes we said nothing, then I remembered something.

"Elias."

Aster glanced at me.

"If you’ve hurt him..."

I stopped walking, Aster stopped too, I looked directly into his eyes.

"I don’t care who you are."

His expression became serious and i knew to drop it immediately. What did i think? I couldn’t touch him in a mock fight if i tried, this man is stronger than all my affiliations and on par with the entity. How did someone get so strong? I would never know.

Aster continued walking, I followed, I still didn’t trust him, I still wanted nothing to do with him, I still wanted to get out of the Dome with Elias as quickly as possible, but there was something else I couldn’t deny once more.

Aster Ludacris was attractive, extremely attractive.