!NOTE : MENTIONS OF ALCOHOL.
"MR.DOMINIK, I NEED TIME." Aaron said as he was seen enjoying a cup of liquor along with a senior Fatui agent. Aaron wasn't keen on drinking much as he feared the man before him. His hands trembled slightly and he kept tapping his shoe against the floor.
"Time? Might I remind you that you have nearly Fifty million mora in debt to us?" Dominik remarked aggressively as he placed the cup down harshly on the table.
Aaron only gulped in nervousness as he had no idea how to deal about the situation. Dominik took the bottle of strong liquor and poured it into his glass.
"You told me that you would find all the faults of Jade Chamber. Only if the Fatui could destroy such a possession once more, we will be feared by the citizens of Liyue." He remarked as he drank the burning liquor down.
Aaron mustered his courage up to speak. "I am afraid it's impossible in the given moment. I'm not a professional architect. I need time to get this special architect on my side. She has been the one to support my business all these years but she left me."
The other man who sat across the table had a hysterical laugh as he raised his glass up in the air.
"Oh my boy, you have no idea how to win a woman's heart? I thought Mondstadt was known for its ballads and songs related to love."
Aaron only sat back, slightly irked. He was irritated by whatever was happening and only wondered why you haven't returned to him yet. He was sure that you were in denial about being in love with Kaveh that night.
He knew his words were enough poison to bring you back to him, yet he found himself in an unsettled feeling that you changed.
You changed in a bad way to him.
A dangerous change that he needs to be careful around. Because one mistake would burn his soul out.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"WHAT? YOU KNEW ABOUT ME BEFORE I MET YOU?" Kaveh asked as he held a glass of water, slightly trembling. The two of you ran into each other at the usual spot near the bridge and was frustrated from work.
What else better way was there to relieve these frustrations than going out together and doing something for hours together that would lead to a fruitless outcome in the end.
So, on the spot it was declared that you two take lunch together and spend some time talking to each other. It indeed has been a week since you were busy with official work and he was busy with his personal work.
"I apologize Kaveh but I had to do that. I work for the Qixing's intelligence team and I had access to knowing who you were." You said casually as you put your chopsticks down. He was in shock.
"I-Is there any more titles that you are hiding behind your name now." Kaveh asked with a dead serious tone to himself. You chuckled.
"Of course not, just an architect and an intelligence officer."
Kaveh then recollected that one moment during Lantern Rite when the Liyue Millileth all bowed to you in respect. From his observations, they don't do it much to mere civil department workers but he assumed you were just different.
But guess not, you provided reports and information that were important to the whole of Liyue. Which made sense of how high your authority was. Greatly reminded him of Alhaitham....
"..And with what belief did you just blindly let me know such an information? I don't think that's how it's supposed to go."
You glanced at him with a grin. "I trust you can keep a secret or Yelan might find dozens of ways to discard your body as well. In the end, I won't have any play in this either." You said as you brought your chopsticks towards his mouth, holding out a Lotus Crisp Fry for him to eat.
The man was too stunned to even respond back to you. He rather held a horrified look on his face almost as if he had an immediate paralysis. You laughed for a while till he convinced himself that you were surely joking.
After the two of you were done eating, Kaveh noticed a glint of worry in your eyes. He felt so because you never kept a proper eye contact when you're worried. He did not hesitate to ask anything this time.
"What are you worried about this time? You know you are so terrible in hiding you problems, Y/n." Kaveh said as he looked at you, sighing.
"Am I that readable? I wouldn't deny that I'm not worried." You replied back instantly.
"You really are very readable. I have noticed how you don't maintain proper eye contact when you are worried. A trouble always follows up the next moment to prove my thesis about it." Kaveh said back a little bit more like an aggressive scholar.
You only scoffed a bit. "Alright then, no point in bickering with a graduate from Akademiya. That useless individual who is a waste of oxygen on this planet, has four cases to himself." You said with a tint of disgust to your tone.
Kaveh was piqued by that. From what Alhaitham wrote to Kaveh, Aaron was expelled from Akademiya for using fraud methods to pass the test but somehow managed to bribe the sage of Kshahrewar and Grand Sage Azar to get a merit certificate from Kshahrewar.
That itself was a crime. Such fraud methods were considered a severe crime and could be charged for a long time in prison as per the rules followed by Akademiya. The moment the General Mahamatra had opened the case book, Aaron had already fled back to Mondstadt, rendering it impossible to arrest him.
"Four cases? What sort of cases?" Kaveh asked back instantly. His mind lit up knowing he had a chance to expose this fraud.
"Worst sort of cases. A fifth case is a possibility because he is more richer than his family. I found it rather strange. You know, how he just suddenly earned so much money despite the fact I only presented blueprints to a few clients." You said as you held your chin and counting the amount of clients you had indirectly worked for.
Kaveh raised his eyebrows in confusion. "You do commissions for clients? I never knew."
That's when you realized.
You never told Kaveh the real reason why you were no longer with Aaron. You trusted Kaveh with all your heart now and wished to speak things out with him.
Ever since day one you wanted to let him know but you were afraid. You were afraid of dragging him into your mess. Moreover, he was from another nation and you feared that you would be repeating a mistake once more if you were to blindly trust him.
Now that the two of you had reached somewhere with this new found feelings for each other, you knew he would stand up for you, no matter what. Because he convinced you.
That night he held your hands and let you cry on his shoulders. He never questioned a single thing and only told you everything will go fine because he knew you were strong. You got the comfort you so desperately wanted.
He wouldn't leave you in the dark unlike Aaron did. So you wanted to finally let him know the things you never wanted to tell him initially.
END — CHAPTER 22.
a/n : It's 2 am and I haven't checked whatever I have written but I'm sorry if there are mistakes in this chapter hsah I just wanted to update this book soon. Anyway, thoughts on chapter are highly appreciated :)
Thank you for all the exam wishes in the previous chapter <3 I'm really moved by it!! It's almost been a year since I've started writing and there are a lot of you guys who has been supporting me non-stop since day 1 <3
+ we are close to 30k reads on this book!! Anyway go join my discord server we are funny and I'll post better stuff there if I'm offline here.