Chapter 145: Love Makes You Do Stupid Things

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Love Makes You Do Stupid Things

Rei stepped through the doorway of Gianna’s cadet apartment and felt the familiar layout settle around her like an old coat that no longer quite fit.

She had been here before, plenty of times, back when the public hall two levels down still meant shared drills and late-night talks instead of fractured ranks and calculations.

Gianna had chosen the place for proximity to the training floors.

That choice predated everything that went to shit.

Gianna’s hand closed around her wrist and pulled her fully inside before Rei could linger on the threshold.

"You want a special invitation?"

Rei scoffed, the sound automatic.

"You still bad at cooking? I’m not willing to hurt my appetite before the exam."

Revien’s voice came from behind them as he shut the door.

"Gia’s bad at cooking? Because last time she cooked for me, it was the best food I ever had."

Rei’s head turned.

"She cooked for you?"

"Well, of course. Who wouldn’t cook for their hubby?"

"Stop with those fuckass nicknames!"

Gianna’s aura flickered, just a warning shimmer of pressure around her shoulders.

She looked ready to activate something real.

Revien raised both hands, grinning.

"Okay, okay. How about the daddy who stepped up?"

"You’re fucking dead."

Gianna lunged.

Revien spun away from the low table with practiced ease, laughing as she chased him in a tight circle around the compact living space.

Rei stood near the entry, watching the two of them move like the argument was half ritual and half genuine threat.

A laugh slipped out of her before she could stop it.

What am I doing here?

That was all she could think standing in the place.

They were clearly in love.

The kind that showed in the way Gianna’s eyes narrowed with real heat and still never aimed for injury, the way Revien trusted her enough to turn his back mid-flight.

Moments like this made something ache in Rei that she had never been able to name properly.

In the power-channeling sessions, she had sometimes wished Revien’s output lined up with hers instead.

But this ordinary, stupid, warm feeling was different.

It pressed against the hollow places left by dinner tables where silence did most of the talking.

Revien cut too close to her on his next circuit.

Without thinking, Rei stuck her foot out.

"OUC-!"

He went down in a controlled sprawl, catching himself on one hand.

"Hey! No fair."

Gianna took the opening immediately, dropping onto his back with enough weight to pin but not enough to bruise.

Revien twisted, half laughing, half protesting, while Rei remained standing a step away.

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before she could flatten it.

Second is not the worst.

She had said those words to her mother.

The slap that followed had been clean and practiced.

Rei had never seen her mother smile at Cillan the way Gianna was smiling now, open, unguarded, almost soft around the edges of the threat.

At home, the dinners were meetings with other wives or long stretches of quiet, followed by careful, efficient intimacy before he moved on to the next house.

Warmth like this had never been on the menu.

Can I expect this too?

This warmth?

From a guy who already loves someone else?

The thought had barely formed when Revien’s hand snaked out.

A spatial chain looped around Rei’s wrist with surprising accuracy.

He tugged.

She stumbled forward a step, off-balance, and suddenly she was close enough to feel the heat of both of them.

"You’re the one who made me fall," Revien said, still pinned under Gianna but somehow managing to keep the chain taut.

He played at both of them now, one arm hooked loosely around Gianna’s waist while the chain kept Rei from retreating.

Rei’s voice came out smaller than she intended, cracking on the first syllable.

For the first time, her voice was quiet.

"Is... this okay?"

Both of them stopped.

Gianna’s weight shifted off Revien’s back.

Revien released the chain but didn’t immediately let the moment dissolve.

They looked at her, really looked, with the playful edge gone.

"Which part?" Revien asked.

Rei’s throat felt tight.

"This."

She gestured vaguely at the three of them, at the apartment, at the fact that she was still standing inside it instead of already halfway back to the Lawless lifts.

"Amidst everything..."

Gianna’s expression changed.

The competitive sharpness eased into something quieter.

Her eyes, usually so ready to measure and challenge, softened at the edges.

"Amidst everything...," Gianna said, voice lower, "this is the only part where I don’t mind you."

The words landed heavier than any of the earlier banter.

Rei felt heat climb the back of her neck.

She looked away first, toward the small open kitchen that took up one wall of the apartment.

The counters were clean.

A few ingredients already sat out: root vegetables, a sealed protein pack, a small cluster of green herbs that still smelled faintly of the hydroponic levels.

Revien pushed himself upright and rolled one shoulder.

"Good. Because I’m starving, and if we keep standing here having feelings, I’m going to start eating the decorative fruit."

Gianna shot him a look, but the heat behind it had changed temperature.

"You touch that fruit, and I will put you through the wall."

"See? Domestic abuse decorated as bliss."

Rei exhaled, some of the tightness in her chest loosening by degrees.

"Are we actually cooking, or is this another excuse for the two of you to argue until the food becomes theoretical?"

Gianna moved toward the kitchen without answering immediately.

She pulled a cutting board from a narrow slot and set it down with a decisive click.

"We’re cooking. You’re helping. Revien is on wash duty because he can’t be trusted with a knife when he’s performing."

"I am an excellent knife," Revien protested, already drifting toward the sink.

"Historically speaking."

"Historically, you nearly removed a fingertip trying to impress me with a flash cut that dinner."

"That was one time. And the fingertip stayed attached. Mostly."

Rei found herself stepping into the small kitchen triangle between them.

The space was tight enough that shoulders brushed if anyone turned too quickly.

Gianna handed her a second board and a clean knife without ceremony.

"Roots," Gianna said.

"Uniform pieces. If they’re uneven, they cook uneven, and then someone—" a pointed glance at Revien "—complains that the texture is ’philosophically inconsistent.’"

Revien turned the water on.

"I stand by that review."

Rei set the first pale root on the board and began cutting.

"You really cooked for him?"

Gianna’s hands kept moving.

"Love... makes you do stupid things."