Chapter 8: Family Additions

Alain barely woke up with Asitha and Tiness snuggled up to him and felt tired, but not the bad kind of tired. It had a sense of accomplishment and he knew the reason very well. They had worked hard and managed to avoid a likely fatal end from the debris tearing the warships and their home apart. He stroked the girls’ backs softly. “No two ways about it, I am very lucky to have ended up here in the end.” he thought. “I wouldn’t trade living with these two for anything.”

He stopped stroking and wondered if they hadn’t yet cleared the debris because they were still sleeping together. He played back his memories and was sure they had done, then ate and drink until they had their fill, and then memories became hazy and with effort he realised they’d got up from the couch and with mutual support went to bed because they were too tired to get to their own by themselves. He chuckled silently. “No wonder.” The two snuggled up tight at his side and in his arms was still a pleasant surprise to him and he stroked their back softly again.

Asitha stirred at his side and snuggled up tighter. It might’ve been because of the last days but she felt more comfortable than she could imagine from a bed in an emergency pod, even if they’d made it as cosy as they had. She thought the gentle stroking of her back and the warm embrace was probably the reason and she was happy to be with Alain. “Alain!?” she thought and remembered sleeping once more in his bed because she was too tired to find her own. That wasn’t the only reason though when a little voice in her head reminded her of the last couple of times they slept together, and how she’d always imagined that’s how it was to live with a good mate. “He said we were cute and wanted to stay together but would he go as far as to become my mate? To actually be... ?” The image of the two of them in intimacy brought back the memory of her sitting in his neck and the sensation of someone other than herself touching her there.

Tiness dared not move when she woke up and instantly knew where she was. It made her both giddy and nervous and she didn’t want anything to end the situation she was in, even if this was all she would get from him. The time he pressed against her back and the sensation of his hips against her behind was something she told herself was a fluke, something that was unavoidable because of the circumstances, and that wishing he’d go all the way with her a futile dream. She wished his fingers stroking her back gently would stroke her underneath her tail as well.

Asitha’s leg on his, and her hips pressing against his thigh, and Tiness’s tail rubbing against his front brought back the memories of his close encounters with the girls and stirred his nether regions. He didn’t know what to think anymore as doubts about just how deep his attraction to these girls was and how far he was willing to go with Tiness, and if they could accept that he couldn’t choose between the two of them and if Asitha would be disgusted if he did choose to sleep with Tiness. He groaned in frustration.

‘Alain? Are you in pain?’ whispered Asitha.

He opened his eyes to see her and Tiness looking worried at him. His heart pounded at the sight of these two looking intense at him and he wanted to pull them tight and tell them he loved them. ‘I’m all right.’ he sighed. ‘Just the tiredness rearing it’s ugly head now that it’s over.’

The look in their eyes softened and he cursed himself for his cowardliness. Asitha stroked his forehead. ‘We have a good excuse to take it easy for a while. I don’t think either of our sides will expect us to continue our work right away after all we did to save the ships. How about we clean up and then laze around?’

He chuckled. ‘I like that idea.’ he said and they looked at Tiness. ‘I’m all for it.’ she said.

After a quick clean up they prepared snacks and drinks and sank down in the couch. ‘What now?’Alain asked.

‘Movie?’ said Tiness. ‘To ease into things.’

‘Good idea.’ Asitha said.’

‘All right, movie it is.’ said Alain and gave Tiness the remote. ‘Your choice.’

Tiness scrolled through the list while Alain poured drinks and selected a fantasy trilogy. Soon enough the girls cuddled up with Alain unconsciously while being engrossed into the movie. He himself only realised it when he already had his hands on their thighs and stroked the insides slowly with his thumbs, and he glanced sideways at them. If they showed any reaction it was them moving their legs against his and holding his arms even tighter against them in their embrace and he continued caressing their soft fur.

Halfway into the movie, the female knight knelt beside the wounded dragon that had helped her defeat the treacherous duke. ‘Grego... ‘ she said softly and caressed his cheek. ‘Why? I was sent to defeat you.’

He smiled softly at her. ‘A dragon’s weakness, pretty maidens who try their earnest best to protect others and make them happy. Our nature compels us to support them even if they hates us.’

A tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I don’t hate you.’ she whispered.

The girls gripped Alain’s arms tighter and he smiled softly. ‘I don’t want to see the rest if they can’t be together.’ said Tiness softly.

‘Don’t worry.’ whispered Alain and she relaxed her grip a little.

‘If only real life were as simple as these movies.’ Asitha said. ‘We wouldn’t have to live with all these hostilities between our species.’

Alain chuckled. ‘If it was up to me I’d tell everyone Silth women are great.’

Asitha giggled. ‘On what basis?’

‘I admit, I only know the two of you but even if you were the only two nice ones, plenty of men would still want to be with a cute or sexy feline woman.’

She poked his cheek. ‘You’re full of it, as they say on your world.’

He grinned. ‘Sort of.’ he said. ‘Which is why I need to excuse myself now.’

She giggled as he stood up and looked at Tiness staring after him. She knew that look all too well. ‘You’re in love with him, right?’

Tiness gazed at her with big eyes. ‘I, I don’t... ‘

Asitha giggled. ‘I can see how your ears prick up when he’s around, and your tail keeps moving against him.’

Tiness looked down and blushed. ‘Don’t you feel like that about him too?’

Asitha sighed and poured herself another drink. ‘I’m afraid to find out he doesn’t feel the same way about me.’ she said and drank. ‘It’s not like he really said he was interested in me. Or you.’

Tiness gazed at the screen where the dragon embraced the sleeping knight. ‘He wouldn’t be interested in me that way. He only wants real women.’

Asitha hummed. ‘But he hasn’t treated you any different than me so you won’t have to worry about being hated. Your home is here with us.’

Tiness smiled a little at Asitha. ‘Thanks.’ she said, then looked at Alain coming back into the living.

He sat down between the two of them. ‘What did I miss?’

‘Lots.’ Asitha giggled and his puzzled look only made her and Tiness laugh. He figured it had to be some sort of girl talk and just let them be when they cuddled up to him again and continued watching the movie. He enjoyed the situation too much to waste time finding out what Asitha meant.

***

After the movies they were fired up enough to take on the next quest in their game and explored and fought until they were tired and hungry again. ‘I’ll fix something up quickly.’ Alain said but Asitha pulled him back into the couch when he stood up. ‘Just sit. You took most of the brunt in the last two attacks while we didn’t need to move a lot, so we’ll take care of it.’

He chuckled. ‘I’m not complaining.’

The girls went to the kitchen and he turned on the music, then chuckled when he looked at them.

Asitha looked back. ‘What’s so funny?’

He grinned. ‘You two swaying your tails to the rhythm.’

They looked back at their tails and giggled. ‘You enjoy that, eh?’ Asitha said and stuck out her tongue playfully.

‘Of course!’ he said and leaned on the back of the couch. ‘I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t like looking at a couple of sexy swaying rears.’

Asitha laughed and Tiness blushed and giggled. ‘We’ve been called predators by humans but I believe they are the worst ones.’ Asitha said and returned to the couch with Tiness and trays of finger foods. She sat down and stuffed a piece into his mouth. ‘Eat this before you attack us.’

He chewed and leaned back into the couch. ‘I guess this food will have to do than.’ he chuckled, swallowed, and opened his mouth. ‘Next.’

Asitha giggled. ‘Tiness, your turn.’

Tiness blushed and Alain gestured at his mouth. ‘Feeeed meee.’

She giggled and quickly placed another piece of food in his mouth. ‘Good girl.’ he said while he chewed and she giggled while blushing more.

The girls fed him while playing the next movie and afterwards were snuggled up together again, completely tipsy from the drinks and their full stomachs. ‘I want to sleep but I also feel too cosy to go to bed.’ Alain said.

Asitha giggled. ‘We could fix that by making you uncomfortable.’ she said and poked his chest.

‘Hey now, don’t ruin the one good thing I have.’ he said and chuckled.

She looked up at the ceiling. ‘Oh well, I feel sleepy too, might as well join you one more time.’ she said and looked at Tiness. ‘How about it? Help me out here?’

Tiness blushed. ‘Would that still be all right?’

Asitha grinned. ‘He likes cats sleeping in his bed, he has nothing to complain about.’

Alain chuckled. ‘Don’t I get a say in it?’

Asitha poked him again. ‘Not this time.’ she said and sat up. ‘We’ll go change.’ She took Tiness’s hand and pulled her along to their pods and Alain chuckled and sighed. ‘Yep, wilful cats.’

He went to his pod and changed into the shorts he used for sleeping, looked at his unmade bed, then sat down on the edge.

The girls came in a little later, both giggling and dressed in the plain shirts for sleeping because the rest were in the laundry. Alain looked at them, their eyes bright and shiny, Asitha’s with a hint of cheeky, Tiness’s with coy, and he knew he’d want more if they joined him in bed.

Tiness noticed his serious look and stopped giggling. ‘Alain?’

He sighed and leaned with his elbows on his knees, looking down. ‘I can’t keep going on like this.’

Tiness’s heart stopped at the first thing that came to mind. “He doesn’t want us, or just me...”

Asitha gripped her shirt. ‘Is it something we did?’ she asked softly.

Alain shook his head slowly. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ he said. ‘I’m very attracted to the both of you.’

Both girls felt their hearts skip a beat, then pound hard. ‘Really?’ asked Asitha.

He nodded once. ‘With just you might be the least weirdest since you’re fully female, but I feel the same for you, Tiness. I have no interest in men at all but you’re just too cute and I can only think of you as an adorable girl.’ Tiness clutched her tail and Asitha looked at her. ‘I wish I could set it aside because I really enjoy being with you and want to live out a fun life with both of you.’ he sighed again. ‘I’m sorry for the mess I created.’

Asitha stroked his head and he looked up at her. She leaned closer and kissed him softly on his lips. ‘There’s no reason to feel sorry.’

His eyes went wide. ‘It doesn’t bother you?’

‘What would?’

‘That I’m also attracted to Tiness?’

She smiled softly at Tiness, who bit her lip. ‘She is cute, yes.’ she said and caressed Alain’s cheek. ‘What’s wrong with feeling attracted to her?’ She looked at Tiness again. ‘It’s up to you now.’

Tiness looked at her, quickly at Alain, then down at her tail. ‘Do you mean it?’ she whispered.

Alain looked at her. ‘Honestly, I can’t return the favour so to speak, but I want to love you like the girl you are.’

She though her heart would explode while her whole body shivered, and could barely speak the words. ‘All I want is for you to treat me like one.’

He reached out his hand to her, and Asitha smiled and felt a tingle growing inside her abdomen when Tiness put her hand in his.

***

Asitha woke up first and purred with satisfaction, and stroked Alain’s chest when he woke up. He smiled softly at her. ‘Hey.’ he whispered.

‘Hey.’ she whispered and returned the smile.

‘No second thoughts?’

She shook her head lightly. ‘Unless you have any regrets.’

He stroked her back. ‘Absolutely none.’

She lifted up her head and kissed him. ‘Then we’re good.’ she giggled when she noticed Tiness’s ear twitch. ‘Aren’t you going to wake up?’

Tiness stroked Alain’s chest with one finger. ‘I’m afraid to wake up and discover this was just a dream or Alain regretting his confession.’ she whispered.

Alain kissed her head. ‘I might have one regret about that.’

She held still.

‘I wonder if I should have confessed my feelings sooner.’

Asitha chuckled. ‘If you tell us when you first knew what you felt, maybe we can compensate for all that time.’

‘How long has it been since we landed here to do our jobs?’ he asked and both girls giggled. ‘I take back thinking he’s just like a Silth male. He’s worse.’ said Asitha and pushed a pillow in his face.

***

‘Is it really okay to take things slowly?’ asked Tiness while she and Alain fixed their meal in the kitchen. ‘Don’t you human males want to mate as soon as you have a willing female?’

Alain blushed. ‘Yeah, usually we do,’ he said. ‘when things are straightforward.’

She gazed at the slices of bread in a container. ‘I complicated things, didn’t I?’

Alain put down his knife and turned her gently by her hips towards him. ‘Not more than I did. But it’s also the fact that we’re different species and I don’t want to make any mistakes and risk damaging my future with you two.’

She smiled a little at him. ‘I don’t think you can.’

He pulled her close and kissed her. ‘Maybe not, but I’m nervous about it all the same.’

She nodded while her heart beat fast and shivers ran along her spine again. ‘We both are.’

‘I’ll be the one to be the least nervous then.’ Asitha said and hugged Alain from behind.

Tiness giggled. ‘What could make you nervous?’

‘He could eventually choose you over me.’

‘No way.’ said Alain and turned to pull her in front of him next to Tiness and kiss her. ‘I can’t choose between you two. I’m also too greedy to let either of you go.’

She giggled. ‘Now I feel left out if I have nothing to worry about.’

Alain hummed. ‘You can worry about how fast I’ll want you at my side after work.’

‘I can do that.’ she said and kissed him.

***

Asitha floated through the corridors of the Amaroth on her way to the next recovery job and hummed softly. ‘You’re in a good mood.’ said Tiness over the communication channel. ‘I haven’t heard you hum a melody before.’

Asitha pushed herself once more forward with a relaxed jump and stretched out her arms. ‘How could I not? It’s the same reason for you.’ she chuckled.

Tiness pulled out a power distributor and smiled as she looked it over. ‘Yeah, it’s all his fault.’

‘I’ll gladly take the blame.’ said Alain while he checked up on the growth of the vegetables in one of the artificial greenhouses on the Walkurea. ‘Now I can say I achieved something worthwhile out here.’

‘It’s a good thing neither of our sides knows about this, otherwise we’d be known for another achievement.’ chuckled Asitha and stopped at a junction to check directions. ‘Except some people up high wouldn’t appreciate it.’

Alain adjusted the air mix in one plant tube. ‘I hope that our sides are at peace by the time they pull the plug on this project, so we can live somewhere peacefully together.’

‘If we’re still at war we’ll just have to elope to a far off world, just like in that movie.’

‘Or wander through space like that one family.’ said Tiness. ‘Our own ship in which we can sustain ourselves, going where we want to go or even get lost into uncharted territory.’

Asitha pushed herself into one of the dim corridors. ‘That would suit a bunch of loners like u-YOW!’

‘Asitha!’ Alain called out.

Asitha’s heart pounded wild while she stared with large eyes into the darkness of the corridor. ‘Something rushed past me.’ she panted.

‘What?’ Are you all right!?’

‘Was it some loose object?’ asked Tiness.

Asitha took a deep breath. ‘I couldn’t see it clearly. I think it was something grey and a bit long in shape. It certainly wasn’t something that drifted casually like the rest.’

Alain hurried to his suit. ‘I’m coming over.’

Tiness put down her tools. ‘So am I.’

She arrived first at the wider area where Asitha had retreated to. ‘Could it be a leftover drone from that gang?’ she asked.

‘Those should’ve all returned automatically to their ship.’ said Alain as he entered the Amaroth at the front side. ‘I haven’t found any on the Walkurea later. Could it be a Silth drone?’

‘I’d expect we’d have met it earlier if it was.’ said Asitha. ‘Or we would have been told to expect any.’

‘You have been through that area before, right?’

‘Yes. There was nothing here before.’

Tiness stared into one passageway when she thought she saw something moving in the shadows. ‘What if the debris triggered it or hit something?’

‘All drones should have been removed from the ship.’ said Asitha. ‘I think it’s best we assume it’s something from outside.’

Alain arrived and the girls caught him when he floated in their direction. ‘The bigger question is if it’s hostile or not.’

‘It didn’t seem to really attack me, so maybe not.’

A grey spot in the passageway’s shadows caught Tiness’s attention. ‘There!’ she said and pointed. ‘I think I see it.’

Asitha and Alain turned to look at the passageway but the spot disappeared. ‘I can’t see that well in the dark.’ said Alain.

‘I think I did see something move.’ said Asitha. ‘If that was a drone it’s quite smart if it hides.’

‘Could it be an alien!?’ said Tiness and clung to Alain.

‘I highly doubt that.’ said Alain. ‘How could it survive in this environment?’

‘Whatever it is, we’d better catch it.’ said Asitha. ‘Who knows what it’ll do.’

‘I agree.’ said Alain. ‘Our safety isn’t guaranteed if we don’t know what it is.’

‘So, how’re we going to catch it?’

***

The three looked over the blueprint of the Amaroth projected onto the table in the living. ‘This is where it surprised me.’ Asitha said and pointed out the corridor. ‘This is the rest area we were in.’

‘Plenty of places to go around in.’ Alain said. ‘If we assume it’s holing up somewhere around there, it can go into any direction along the corridors and the stairs.’

‘Maybe we can track it on the sensor net and surveillance systems.’ said Tiness. ‘When I was on the bridge I saw most of it was still in working condition.’

‘Nice.’ said Alain. ‘Maybe we can find out what it is and get a clue on how to catch it.’

Asitha looked at the time. ‘We still have time for a light meal before our suits are charged and the tanks are full. Let’s eat before we take a look.’

‘I’ll go check our weapons.’ said Alain and stood up. ‘We’d better take them with us just in case.’

Asitha looked up at him. ‘Then we’ll fix the meal.’

‘Thanks.’ he said and caressed hers and Tiness’s ears. ‘I’ll be right back.’

Asitha looked at Tiness smiling happily and chuckled. ‘You really lit up ever since he confessed.’

Tiness blushed. ‘I could only dream of experiencing true romance while reading or watching the few stories back home. I didn’t even dare to dream of a mate.’

Asitha smiled. ‘Yeah, I know.’ she said softly.

Tiness pulled up her knees and embraced them. ‘Even if he doesn’t take me like a mate in the end, I’ll still feel as happy as I can be.’

Asitha reached out and stroked Tiness’s ear. ‘As passionate as he kisses and holds us both, I’m sure he will.’ she said and tingles spread through her body at the memories. ‘But I can understand that final hesitation.’

Tiness nodded and sighed. ‘I’m keeping you two back, aren’t I?’

Asitha sat up on her knees and gave Tiness a kiss on her forehead. ‘Don’t worry about that, I don’t think he’d be comfortable doing it with me without making his decision about you.’ She took Tiness’s hand and pulled her up as she stood up. ‘Come on, we have a mighty male to feed before the hunt.’

Tiness giggled and followed Asitha to the kitchen.

***

Alain looked around the bridge of the Amaroth when he and the girls stepped onto it. ‘Military intelligence would definitely like a word with me if they knew I spent time on a Silth military vessel and its bridge.’

Tiness chuckled. ‘I think ours would like a word with us in that case as well.’

‘It’s a bit more Spartan than the Walkurea.’ he said as he looked over the dreary grey surfaces and sturdy switches, buttons, and levers, and the broad captain’s chair in the middle. ‘We use more touch surfaces for non-essential systems.’

Asitha took a look at the engineering console to check if everything was still the way she left it. ‘Our military doesn’t take any chance of system failures because of controls shorting out on the bridge or accidental swipes across such surfaces.’

‘Makes sense.’ said Alain and watched Tiness activate multiple screens with views in and around the ship. Some showed block artefacts.

‘Several network circuits or cameras have been damaged by the debris.’ said Tiness and switched views to the area around where the unknown entity had been seen. She looked over the screens laid out in a grid and the sensor list. ‘There are a couple of dead areas.’

Asitha joined them and studied the screens and the dark images. ‘That’s the corridor, right?’ she said with a nod at the screen in the centre of the grid.

‘Yes.’ said Tiness and displayed the floor plan on another screen. ‘I centred the other camera views around that one for reference.’

‘Can you record this?’ Alain asked.

‘Hang on.’ Tiness said and typed on the console. ‘I get a warning that storage is damaged. We might only be able to save bits and pieces.’

‘That might be enough if we’re lucky.’ he said and studied the views.

‘There!’ said Asitha and pointed at one screen.

Tiness and Alain stared at the screen and the dark interior of a compartment with crates scattered about. Tiness adjusted the view to make it more clear. ‘Is there no night mode?’ asked Alain.

‘There is.’ said Tiness. ‘It’s just never used because we can see better in the dark compared to you humans, and the sensor light is almost as bright as regular light to us. It might alert that thing.’

‘Right.’ said Alain. ‘Good thinking.’

Artefacts in the feed didn’t provide Asitha and Tiness more of an advantage and they peered closely at the screen. ‘Does that look like a bug?’ asked Asitha. ‘It looks like it has legs.’

‘Yeah.’ said Tiness and pointed at a nearly round grey shape at one end of two smaller round shapes. ‘That could be an abdomen like a spider.’

Alain’s eyes adjusted enough to the darkness to see its shape. ‘Insects are often the base for drones.’ he said. ‘A spider wouldn’t surprise me. The only thing I wonder is how it propels itself in zero gravity.’

They observed it as it crawled through the crates and pawed at some of the contents that had spilled out, then went outside. They followed it on the other views and watched it crawl along walls and ceilings for a while before returning to the compartment and crawling around the crates again. ‘Is it looking for something?’ asked Alain.

The spider left the compartment again and crawled around the corridors again, only in a different direction. ‘Exploration?’ Asitha said. ‘Mapping the area maybe.’

It returned to the compartment once more and pawed around the spilled contents. Alain looked at Tiness. ‘Can you play back what’s been recorded?’

Tiness typed on the console and a broken video played on one screen. ‘Stop.’ said Alain after a few moments. ‘Go back a second.’ Tiness rewound and Alain pointed at the image. ‘Can you zoom in there?’ Tiness zoomed in on the spider like entity. Alain peered closer, then stood straight. ‘It’s damaged. At least one of its legs is missing and it looks like the things scattered there are robotic parts.’

Tiness pulled up the recordings from the other cameras and zoomed in on a few clearer images. ‘Indeed. It looks like two of its six legs are damaged and part of its abdomen is torn.’

‘How was it able to move so fast in that condition then?’ asked Asitha. ‘It doesn’t look like it could do that by jumping.’

‘Miniature thrusters?’ asked Alain.

‘There was no light from exhausts when it passed me.’ said Asitha.

‘Maybe we can find out if we try to catch it.’ said Alain. ‘Keep recording the feeds and if it escapes, maybe we captured something on video.’

Asitha nodded. ‘We’ll have to start somewhere.’

The three donned their suits and jumped through the corridors towards the entity. Close to the compartment, they moved slowly towards the entrance while keeping their weapons ready.

it appeared in the doorway when they were near and they froze. It looked at them for a moment, then crawled quickly away along the ceiling of the corridor.

‘It’s afraid?’ said Tiness.

‘Maybe it’s retreating because it’s damaged.’ said Asitha. ‘Let’s go after it.’

The three jumped through the corridor at once. The spider crawled from ceiling to wall and turned into another corridor. ‘I’ll try to cut it off!’ said Alain and turned into another one. ‘I think this one comes out at that rest area in the end!’

‘All right!’ said Asitha and continued on with Tiness.

At another Junction Tiness split off while Asitha kept in pursuit of the spider. ‘It’s still headed for the rest area.’ she said.

‘Keep a distance if we corner it there!’ said Alain. ‘It might turn hostile in that case.’

The spider crawled into the area and Alain arrived first at his end. He shut the entrance behind him. ‘This way is blocked!’

Asitha and Tiness arrived and the spider crawled towards the far wall. They closed their entrances and kept still while staring at the spider. ‘what do we do now?’

‘I’ll try to approach it.’ said Alain.

‘Be careful!’ said Tiness and gripped her gun.

‘I’ll back off at the first sign of a threat.’ he said and pushed himself gently towards a pillar in front of him. ‘I’ll move step by step.’ The spider stayed motionless on the wall while he paused for a minute at the pillar and observed the spider. He did the same at the bench he paused at next, and another pillar after that, close enough to see it had two black lenses at the front of its head and a smaller set behind them on the side. Its abdomen had a crab shell contour and was somewhat flat. ‘This thing’s pretty big now that I see it up close. The body’s about the size of my torso. I’m going to move to the bench in front of it.’

Tiness felt her heartbeat in her throat. ‘Please be careful, darling.’

Alain blushed and nearly slipped as he pushed himself away from the pillar but the spider moved and darted across the open space towards an open air vent. ‘Alain!’ said Asitha.

‘Nothing happened!’ he said and turned to see where the spider went, just in time to see it slip into the duct. ‘Crap! It just shot away from nothing!’

‘Did you see how?’ Asitha asked while she jumped into his direction, following Tiness.

‘I didn’t see anything like a jet thrust but I thought I saw something shooting through the air before it jumped.’

Tiness pulled close to Alain and looked at the air vent. ‘We’re not going to find it in there.’

‘Maybe we caught something on the feeds.’ said Alain. ‘Let’s go check them out.’

They returned to the bridge and Tiness pulled up all the feeds with footage of the spider, and they watched them closely for any clue on the spider. When they were watching the feed from the rest area Asitha chuckled suddenly. ‘What’s up?’ asked Alain bemused.

She grinned a little at Tiness. ‘Darling.’

Tiness blushed at once. ‘I just blurted it out because I was worried!’

Asitha giggled. ‘Nothing wrong with that. It was just so sudden for the first time.’

Tiness glanced at Alain, who blushed as well. ‘If you don’t like it... ?’

He leaned closer to her and kissed her. ‘I do like it.’ he said and chuckled. ‘I just don’t know what to call you two yet.’

Asitha pouted. ‘I don’t know either but does that mean I don’t get a kiss?’

Alain laughed once and pulled her closer for a kiss. ‘I have kisses for you two any time you want one.’

She grinned. ‘All right then.’

‘Ah!’ said Tiness.

The two others looked startled at her. She pointed at the screen. ‘Sorry, it was just that the spider escaped just now.’ she said and rewound the video.

Alain chuckled. ‘Right, we were busy with that before we got distracted.’ he said. ‘Although in a very nice way.’