There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 733: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 16

"What the hell?!"

That was Rina’s first reaction when the article came out. Her eyes were opened wide, and then narrowed down. The restaurant was supposed to be a place reporters and paparazzi couldn’t access, because many celebrities frequent that place. Just like the apartment where Bassena’s penthouse was located, it was considered a safe haven for high-profile people.

It was also weird that she had them following her. Yes, she was active in entertainment aside from her esper job. Yes, she was the PR face of Trinity. But she was not in her heyday, and Trinity was not in the middle of making a huge wave or something--unlike during the reclamation. There was no papz following her in forever, so it was weird that they found her at that exact moment when she was having dinner with this man for the first--and hopefully last--time.

Weird how none of this kind of photo appeared during the many dates she had with Cohen. If the papz had been on her tail, they should have known that she was involved with someone at that point.

Yeah, weird.

She narrowed her eyes at the man in those pictures. Was it this man’s work? She didn’t even know this man well. The parents of this man were the people whom she owed on the past. Thanks to them, her father could live for five years more, and spent those five years happily with her. When the doctor called her to have dinner, she agreed to it. Who knows that the one waiting for her was not the doctor but the doctor’s son?

She would have turned around out of annoyance, but she did owe the doctors, so she thought one dinner wouldn’t hurt. That was last night, and she didn’t even think about it anymore. The ’dinner’ felt like a talk show with a host that kept yapping by himself, and a meal as a bonus. She was glad when it was over, and immediately went to sleep out of annoyance.

To wake up to this.

"Damnit!" Rina gritted her teeth.

Her manager was also furious. She brought her own car last night, but it broke down somehow, so she hailed a city car. The man entered the car too, saying that it’d be more efficient. Rina knew she should have smelled something fishy at that time, but she was too mentally exhausted and annoyed to argue.

"He must have planned this," the manager clicked her tongue. "I’ll talk to the media and ask the articles to be clarified. This prick even acting like someone who got caught dating when the reporter asked him this morning."

"Why did he do that?" Rina frowned. "Did he think I would want to date him if he did that?"

"Maybe he just wants to have a scandal that made him go viral, who knows?" her manager sighed. "Don’t worry, people will lose interest in a few days."

"In a few days?!" Rina almost shrieked. "What should I do if he saw these articles?!"

The manager tilted her head. "He?" she blinked. "Are you talking about House Ishtera’s Chief of Staff?"

"Well...yes," Rina bit her lips shyly.

"Ah, it indeed wouldn’t be good to offend a household member of an Old House--"

"That’s not the problem!" Rina groaned.

"No?" the manager raised her brows. "Hmm? Could it be..." she paused, staring at Rina’s flustered face. "Are you really--"

Before the manager could finish, Rina’s commlink vibrated and this time, she really shrieked in panic.

"What?" the manager flinched.

"He calls me!" Rina said in panic. She walked around in panic. But in her panic, she accidentally pressed the accept button, and before she knew it, she had asked Cohen to come and see her all the way from the Far East.

"What the hell, Rina?!" she screamed into the cushion on her couch. "Are you crazy?!"

How could she ask Cohen to come to her? After causing this misunderstanding! Shouldn’t she be the one coming over and explaining everything?!

Rina smacked her face to the couch, nearly sobbing in frustration.

"Uhh...is he angry?" the manager asked.

"No?!" Rina snapped.

The manager raised her brows. "Then...what’s the problem?"

"I’m the problem!" Rina screamed. "Why did I do that? What if he doesn’t like me anymore?!"

"Whoa, whoa--calm down, girl!" the manager clapped her hands in front of the panicking esper. "Why would he agree to come here if he doesn’t like you anymore? Stop overthinking."

Rina paused as her muddled mind digested her manager’s words. "Oh, my Gods!" she lamented again, burying her red face in her palm. "I felt like a teenage girl! What is this?!"

The manager pressed her lips to stifle a laugh. Rina had always been unruly when she wasn’t in public, but she never looked this out of it. Perhaps it was true that true love could make people lose their minds.

"Anyway, I’ll take care of the media, so just wash up or something before your beau comes."

"He’s not--I mean, yet--that’s..." Rina parted her lips, mind blanking spectacularly. "Aaagh!"

She screamed in frustration and ran to her bathroom as the manager laughed and left the apartment. She came out an hour later, and spent even more time choosing her outfit. No--she should not look like she was preparing for a date, but using her loungewear would be too casual, right? Ugh--

What about her face? What should she do about her face? Rina smacked her face as she stared at herself in the mirror. Ugh--wearing full makeup would be a bad idea. Should she just use none so she would look distressed about it? But she was distressed! Even so, the bare face was a no! No! There was a difference between after-sex ’bare face’ and distressed bare face, and--

Rina paused and screamed inwardly. What the hell?! What the hell was this? She had never been this nervous during their dates. Or with any other dates, even. Ever. Not even with Ashur.

Haa...she should stop panicking like this. Rina took a deep breath and patted her cheeks. While thinking about her makeup and outfit, she managed her breath so she wouldn’t look like she had just been screaming around the house.

And then the doorbell rang, and she let out a shriek again. "Kyaah--Ugh!" she clasped her mouth and widened her eyes.

A deep voice came from the intercom. [Rina?]

She flinched and scrambled to the foyer, almost stumbling on the carpet. "Damn it, girl! Get a hold of yourself!" she grumbled. Oh--it was too late to put anything on her face or fix her loungewear, but she didn’t want to make Cohen wait after getting the man all the way across the Federation.

"Phew...okay, calm down. Just calm down," Rina whispered to herself before taking a deep breath and opening the door--and immediately lost her breath again.

She had planned to look just slightly worried and explain what happened in a calm and mature way. But the moment he saw Cohen, she just wanted to cry and whine and...

"Oh, I don’t know anymore!" she pulled Cohen inside and threw herself into the man’s arms, pressing her face on the warm, steady chest, and just sobbed.

Cohen widened his eyes slightly in surprise. She knew already that Rina behaved differently in private settings, but he had never seen her like this before. Crying and whining. He held her and stroked her hair. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I’m not!" the shout was muffled by Cohen’s shirt, but he could still hear it clearly. She hugged him tightly before raising her head, looking at the man sheepishly. "Is it true?"

Cohen tilted his head. "What is?"

Rina bit her lips. It wasn’t what she wanted to say--she wanted to clarify the articles first before anything, but...she couldn’t help it. Her reply came out in a nervous whisper. "That you don’t want it to be true?"

"Yes," the answer came without any hesitation. With a straight face and unshaken gaze, enough to make Rina tremble slightly. The stroke on the back of Rina’s head had moved to the fringe covering her forehead. "I’d like it if you only have something special with me, even while doing something boring."

"You are the only one I have something special with," Rina said quickly.

"I’m glad," a smile finally formed on the stiff lips; gentle but firm like the man himself. "I’m boring and too old for you, but...would that be alright?"

"Mm, I’d like that too," she nodded. "I want to be boring together with you."

This so-called ’scandal’ made her realize even more that she was tired of living as a celebrity and being the center of attention. The moment she opened that door earlier, she knew the only attention she wanted was the one given by this ’boring’ man.

"And what do you mean old? It’s just eight years of difference!" she pursed her lips and smacked Cohen’s arm. The little smile on his lips stretched wider, and the warmth in those usually rigid eyes made her feel like she could act as childish as she wanted. "Hug me."

With a soft, rare chuckle, Cohen held Rina tighter, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. For the first time, without asking for permission. Rina giggled like a teenage girl as if she hadn’t been sobbing and whining just a minute ago.

But the giggle only lasted for a few seconds, before Rina looked up with a blush spreading across her face. "Can’t you...stay?"

Cohen took a sharp breath. He narrowed his eyes in contemplation. This should be included in the ’sort it out’ part, right?

"Yeah, I’ll sta--"

Beep! Beep!

Before Cohen could finish his reply, a sharp alarm came out of his commlink, making both of them flinch. The screen even turned red like an emergency notification.

Well, it was an emergency notification.

"W-what’s that?" Rina asked with widened eyes, staring at Cohen’s commlink.

"Ah, I’m sorry," Cohen smiled regretfully as he shut down the notification. "I don’t think I can stay tonight."

"What’s wrong?"

Cohen exhaled slowly. "The Patriarch is about to give birth."