In one of the guest rooms of the Affea mansion, Gideon was sleeping on the bed for a while. It's past dinner time but she didn't even move from the spot, forget about eating.
Azzy was working with her at the Disciplinary Committee. He had also watched her close enough to understand her personality. She was stubborn to the core. Once she decided on something, she would stick with it no matter the consequences.
So, he didn't bother to ask her again after she refused to join the dinner until Gideon regains his consciousness.
As a result, Azzy returned to his room to sleep after giving her Gideon's spectacles and the contact lens that he removed from his friend as it isn't safe for the eyes to keep them on while he is resting.
Time passed away and midnight arrived. Gideon was still sleeping and Estella still didn't move from the spot like a rock; fortunately, not for long.
Roughly around 00:35 hours, Gideon slowly opened his eyes and he was hit by the bright lighting in the room.
His vision was all blurry. So, he couldn't help but become alerted and stretched his hands to the side to touch the things and feel them.
Estella hurriedly grabbed his hand, "Don't worry, you are safe. We are at Azrael's house."
"Ella? Is that you?" Gideon recognized her voice and he sighed in relief, "Thank goodness you are safe."
"First, take this." She handed him a bottle of water to quench his thirst and clear his throat. After that, she patiently handed him the glasses to restore his vision.
Once Gideon finally saw her and appeared to be in good spirits, Estella raised her hand and suddenly gave a tight slap to his cheek.
Because it is rather quiet until now, the sound of the slap was rather loud, enough to reach the other room.
With a fine handprint appearing on Gideon's cheek, he let out a groan, "Ugh…"
He didn't understand her sudden reaction. But, before he responded anything, Estella suddenly started crying and lightly punching him on the chest, "You reckless ba*t**d. Why did you have to risk your life for something like that? Do you think it's cool to throw away the life for a girl? If Azrael hadn't come on time, what would have happened?"
Gideon was stunned and stared at her. Once again, he saw another side of this prideful heiress of the Moon Clan.
In response, he let out a smile once again and proposed to her, "I like you. I would do the same even if it happens again."
Gideon might have told the same words to her a dozen times but she blushed for the first time. Out of embarrassment, she slapped his forehead this time, "stop spouting nonsense. This is only one time and you won't be doing that again. Let's just say I owe you one. If you have anything to request, you can say it. I don't want to feel indebted. Money, skill cards, weapons…"
Gideon doesn't know what took over him but he got into the mood to joke around even more and interrupted, "How about you reward me with a kiss?"
"Eh?" Estella was taken aback by surprise. "I told you to stop fooling around." As she raised her hand again to slap, Gideon hurriedly grabbed her hands, "I'm just kidding, alright. I don't dare to make such a request to a person I have never had a chance to be with, in my life. So, I'm wondering whether I should ask you for a date. Hmm, you might not agree to that too. So, how about…"
Before he finished his words, all of a sudden, Estella lowered her head and planted her lips against his, surprising the hell out of him.
She quickly got away and spoke while looking at the door, "Here, I gave you my first kiss as your reward. You should be satisfied with it." She was flushing red all the way to her neck in embarrassment and cannot look at a stunned Gideon. Her heartbeat was also at its peak.
"I… I… I'm going back to my room." As Estella attempted to escape, Gideon caught her once again. "Hey, this is my first too. You cannot take away my first kiss and say that it is my reward."
Maybe, it is because Estella is resisting or maybe, Gideon's strength had increased miraculously. He pulled with the remaining strength he has in his hand and Estella just fell on top of him with her face just a couple of inches away from his face.
Gideon felt her heartbeat and his heart started beating fast too. They stared at each other for a few seconds before closing their eyes involuntarily. Just as they were about to kiss again in the heat of the moment, a knock on the door disturbed their moment.
Followed by it, a third person's voice brought them to reality. "You know… I would say get a room but you are already in one. So…"
Estella opened her eyes and moved away as if she were a cat whose tail was stepped on. "I will be going…" She scurried off from the room without looking back.
Meanwhile, Gideon complained as he stared at his friend, "Azzy, can't you come a bit later. You interrupted such a beautiful moment."
Azzy walked to him with a bowl of chicken soup. "You have removed the limiter for a while, Gideon. Your body isn't a condition to waste energy on things like this. If she likes you, there will be opportunities in the future. But, now, focus on getting back to the peak."
"Eh?" Gideon closed his eyes. In an instant, he saw a crack on his soul orb. The soul energy is constantly leaking from his soul orb in tiny amounts in the form of electrical sparks, which are flowing all over his body.
His expression changed to that of panic, "my soul orb was damaged? And what's with these sparks?"
He couldn't dismiss them for some reason.
Placing the bowl in Gideon's hands, Azzy explained, "Don't worry about it. It is only slightly cracked and can be recovered quickly. The sparks were a side effect of you going over the limit. I have already contacted the organization to inform your master. I got a reply that he will be arriving here tomorrow morning and will take you away for special training. As for how long it takes, we can hope that you will get back to normal before the Quarterfinals. Maybe, who knows… you might even return stronger than ever."
Gideon fell silent after listening to Azzy's words. One on hand, he was grateful but on the other hand, he felt like he will lose a great opportunity to woo Estella who at the moment looked like she can accept his proposal if he tries hard enough in the upcoming days.
He knew that he should make the decision by the morning.
After Gideon drank the soup, Azzy then gave him the ownerless gold-grade storage card, which once belonged to Cedar Ravillon but was taken away by the Reaper to present it to Gideon as compensation.
Naturally, Gideon was visibly surprised by the gift for it contained so many things inside. He commented that he was really lucky to have Azzy as his friend.
Azzy patted his shoulder and left him alone.
Meanwhile, Estella started to roll on the bed left and right, not being to sleep because of the kiss. "Stupid… stupid… stupid…"
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