New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After eating a budget lunch, consisting of a five-dollar ramen, pimped up with a few fresh veggies and two soft-boiled eggs, Alexander felt reinvigorated. This large intake of calories after his intense workout made him a bit sluggish, but at least his stomach stopped rumbling like a category-five earthquake.

Kary, in the meantime, made herself two grilled-cheese sandwiches, being less hungry than him. But that didn’t stop her from stealing a few bites from his bowl, like the little food ninja she was.

Alexander almost forgot he had a displeasing appointment at the start of the afternoon, his mouth reaching palate-heaven during lunch. But not an hour after eating, while he was lounging on the sofa, watching the news, a text message grabbed his attention.

Unfolding his smartphone, he looked at the sender, and his face darkened.

Kary looked at his old phone from the side and snickered at him.

“You still hold on to that old model Z-flip? I’m surprised it hasn’t been destroyed with how you get thrown around so often. Why don’t you buy yourself a new phone?”

Alex pulled his tongue at her.

“I like this one. It works fine, and it is quite resilient. Not like the new mind-phones everyone has. I’ll be damned if I change phones for those while this one still works.”

Alexander’s older model phone was one of the last decade. Although it was still functional and did almost everything the new ones did, it lacked many aspects of the new technology.

The new mind-phones no longer came with screens, and were silent to everyone around, making having private conversations easier, even in crowded places.

The phones were now simply small earpieces you could slip over your ear, which hitched a ride on your brainwaves, making no sound at all, even when ringing.

Instead, it rang inside the mind, and it directly held the conversation in thoughts. It voiced text messages over, and texting was practically voice messaging, given how every message was delivered with voice on both ends.

Having to read messages was a thing of the past, and it saved everyone’s time. But it also came with the much higher ease of access to certain content in public places, making for some uncomfortable situations in public transportation sometimes.

Alex much preferred the sanctity of his older model. He liked having to read his texts, and it almost gave him the feeling of old books, another thing that had practically disappeared.

But right now, the text he read wasn’t making him happy. Alfred was waiting for him in the lobby.

Getting up from the sofa, Alex went to put on some more appropriate clothes, since he would have to meet Violette’s posh father.

The last time he went there, he had been wearing casual attire. He could guess it hadn’t helped the impression the man had made of him.

Picking out a nice pair of pants and a buttoned shirt, Alex thought of putting on a tie as well, but then decided against it, lest he give something for Alfred to grab on if Richard ever gave him the attack order.

Coming back downstairs, Kary whistled at his slick figure. His tapered-cut pants accentuated his ass, and his tight buttoned shirt left little place to the imagination regarding his muscle mass.

She got up and walked over to him, as he was leaning to put on his nice pair of shoes.

Alex felt a crisp slap to his rear end as he leaned forward and grinned.

“Don’t make me want to force Alfred to wait, vixen. That’ll only make my situation worse.”

Kary giggled, covering her mouth with her left hand.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you look like a snack. I might have a taste of this snack when you come back if you aren’t too roughed up.”

Alexander chuckled, putting on his second shoe, as Kary stared at his ass.

When he rose back, she grabbed him by the collar, careful not to crumple it, and smacked a teasing kiss on his lips before giving him a small push toward the elevator doors.

“Go. And make sure you don’t let him beat you too hard. But stay respectful of her father. It would be best if we want her to keep on playing with us.”

“I know. I know,” Alex replied with a loud sigh.

“I just hope he has calmed down since. I don’t want to have to deal with his drunken rage again. Let’s just hope his week or so without Violette gave him time to recenter himself, and he’s gone back to the father she worshipped.”

Kary nodded her head, her smile becoming tainted with a tinge of sadness. But she shook away the negative thoughts.

“Have a pleasant conversation. And don’t take too long. We still have much to do inside New Eden, and we can’t get on too late.”

Alex walked into the elevator, turning to face her as the doors closed.

“I’ll do my best. See you later, love.”

Kary responded with a wink, making a heart with her hands as the doors closed in between them. The smile it brought to Alex’s lips lasted until he reached the lobby and saw Alfred’s stern and serious face.

Walking over to him, the man looked at his watch.

“You made me wait. Mr. Bellemare won’t be happy that we kept him waiting.”

Alex scoffed.

“You’re at least fifteen minutes early. I could have made you wait that entire time and still be on time. I respect you, Alfred, but don’t kid yourself. You don’t scare me much.”

Alfred smirked. .

“Ah. Not much. But I still scare you, so that’s a plus. Now let us get going.”

*Tch*

Alex clicked his tongue, realizing he admitted the butler scared him. It was the truth, even though it wasn’t to a high degree.

Even if Alex was powerful beyond compare to his peers in New Eden, the amount of power he could transfer on this side wasn’t nearly enough to make him unbeatable.

Alfred had already proven once that he could still inflict serious pain on him, even melded with White.

Alfred led the way back to the black sedan parked in the guest zone, in front of the building, before opening the door for Alex. After boarding the car, they made the trip in complete silence, Alfred keeping a sharkish grin all along, while Alex started growing nervous.

‘He looks too happy for someone that is just driving me to a discussion. I feel like he expects to have some fun later. God dammit…’