The girl was awakened from a deep sleep due to a dry throat. She forgot to drink milk before sleeping.
He rolled his eyes before getting up from the soft bed. She fixed her wavy hair before leaving the room. From the stairs, he could still see the men stretching their backs probably in exhaustion.
It's 3AM already and they're still sitting there, working.
"X-Xord?" the maiden whispered softly as she rolled her eyes.
The five men immediately turned to him. "Oh, princess. Why are you awake so soon?" Kyel asked.
She sat beside Xord who gestured her to come closer. "I f-forgot to drink my milk. You can go back to work. P-But do you need my help?" he said to Kyel.
Teodore shook his head while smiling widely. "No need, princess. We can do this, we can finish this this morning. Don't worry about us, we are lions."
She chuckled. "I'm just in the kitchen."
He felt the man next to him squeeze his hand so he immediately turned to it. The girl smiled sweetly before pulling her hand softly.
She stood up and walked towards the kitchen. He carefully took the milk from above to mix himself.
While stirring her drink, she felt two strong arms encircled around her waist. He immediately faced the man who was now busy kissing his shoulder.
"B-Boss. Are you okay?" she worriedly asked him.
"Yeah. Just a mild migraine, I haven't slept for 2 days because I need to handle other business outside our agency," he replied while caressing her waist.
Concern and pity immediately crossed the girl's face. He grabbed its two arms before untying it from his waist. She faced the man in front of him, the tired look on his face obvious.
"Why are you making yourself tired? You shouldn't abuse your body even if you're feeling okay, it's not because you can do it," he preached here.
Xord chuckled with that. "You look like a mad girlfriend right now, my Astreille."
She immediately zipped her mouth for a second. "I'm s-sorry. I just got carried away."
He held her cheeks gently before kissing her lips. "I love how you talk to me about these things, like you're so worried about me, baby. It's like I just want to abuse my body every day," he whispered.
"Xord--"
"Woah. Did you guys just kiss?"
The girl looked away in shock when she heard Ephraim's voice from the door jamb.
Xord just rolled his eyes in a manly way before facing the guy. Astreille stood frozen in her place while looking at Ephraim's shocked face.
"N-No. You just slipped," Astreille immediately answered.
The man let out a laugh. "Oh?"
"Yeah, we kissed. Why? You have a problem?" Xord asked sideways as his jaw tightened.
The girl's cheeks flushed at his answer. "I'll g-go ahead, and no. We d-didn't kiss." He forcefully refused before running out of the kitchen carrying the milk mixture.
Ephraim was left speechless in front of the man wearing an irritated expression.
"What have you done, Ephraim? You're really a nuisance," he said angrily.
"Boss, do you and Astreille really have a relationship? Woah," he added in amazement.
"Yeah, got a problem with that?"
"Calm down! I'm just asking. Besides, I just can't believe what I saw. I mean, you're not into girls, right? You told me before that girls are all hoes, well instead of your mom, ofcourse," long litany of Ephraim.
The man approached her in a daze. "Not my Astreille, and definitely not my brothers' women. Astreille is different, Ephraim. Way too different because she is my woman."
"Your woman."
"Yeah. Tell the three guys that Astreille is mine alone, send the good news to them."
Ephraim smiled at his answer. "You're damn smitten, Xord Knights. I can't believe it."
"Dramatic," irritated its reply.
Xord was about to walk out when Ephraim stopped him. "Boss, in a short time, you know how attached we are to Astreille. She's the only woman in our circle, so don't let her down. I just met her, but I'm very comfortable with her. I always wanted to have a little sister and I want to treat her like one, so please, don't hurt her. She suffered too much from her past, you can make her happy, I am aware of that. So take care of Astreille , "he uttered.
Xord nodded his head. "My brothers, and I. It's always our responsibility to take care of our women, Ephraim. Have you ever heard of my sisters who have lost women?"
"Yes, Trigger--"
"Be my guess, then," Xord said before smirking.
He walked straight out of the kitchen after saying that.
Maybe he got offended with that, Ephraim thought. It's true what he said, for him, Trigger really cheated on his wife. And that's on a different level because Knights won't do that.
"Is Trigger really Knights? I doubt that," Ephr said with a smile before following the boss into the living room.
Astreille bit her lower lip when she saw Ephraim and Xord walking towards their direction. He immediately confronted the three men.
"The two rooms downstairs, you guys can sleep there after working. Bye! I'll sleep again," she quickly said before standing up.
He was about to go up the stairs but Xord quickly pulled his arm. "Where are you going?"
"S-Sleep," she uttered.
"I'll sleep beside you later."
The girl nodded. "S-All right. You rest then. Goodnight!"
He ran quickly uphill so that Ephraim could not catch up with him. She was afraid to ask this and the three men would hear more.
She doesn't even know the answer to his questions. He may even die prematurely if he is caught in that situation.
But why did she run if she's not guilty?
"Oh shoot," she whispered before weakly punching herself.