After a few rings, the call was answered. Although the voice on the other line tried to act nonchalant, Darren could have sworn he heard heavy breathing. Ignoring the weird situation, Darren moved to a quieter place and asked the question he wasn't ready to ask: "Sis, tell me the truth. Did we or our parents offend or steal from an organization? Is that why they've been eyeing us? I don't like being watched."
After a while, a feminine voice replied from the phone, "They are listening now. Let's talk in person." Hearing this, Darren though skeptical wasn't stupid. A group capable of literally brainwashing someone wasn't to be underestimated. He agreed and hung up.
Walking back to where Gina was sleeping, he stroked her head lovingly. Hours later, Gina finally woke up. Unlike before, her sultry demeanor was gone, replaced by a shy, vulnerable disposition the kind that made most men want to protect her. Darren, returning from the kitchen after cooking, saw this and realized it was Gina's original personality, the one she'd had before everything changed.
Truthfully, while Darren cared for Gina, he preferred this version of her. This was the woman he'd fallen in love with, not the sultry cougar who'd have swallowed him whole and left nothing behind.
And although such sultry cougars were fun at first, one may not be able to keep up. Forgetting his musings, Darren approached Gina, making sure she was fine before carrying her to the dining table to eat. Although Gina's face seemed to struggle after hearing Darren talk about dinner, she had a bad premonition. While her heart belonged to Darren, her taste buds were not included. This was because, although Darren knew how to cook and most of his dishes looked good or at worst decent—for some weird reason, they always tasted bad, as if he was not allowed to cook by the universe itself.
At this very moment, Gina was sweating. She didn't want to eat something that could be poison. Passing her hands over Darren's face, Gina said in a sweaty voice, "How about we eat out on a date? After all, we haven't had a date, and I miss you." Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Darren agreed, putting Gina down to run upstairs and dress properly as he took his phone to make a call to his subordinates to bring him a change of clothes.
After about thirty minutes, Darren and Gina came out of the house dressed to the nines. Darren wore a custom-made suit with a pristine jacket, its well-defined seamlines and lapels darkened to highlight the white shirt beneath. The cuffs were perfectly placed showing just enough to complement the sleeve without distracting from the suit's elegant design, making Darren look every bit the part.
Gina, on Darren's arm, was not outshone. Her gown, with a daring slit up the side, revealed her perfect thigh nearly to the root her foot poised with every step. She knew her man's preference for her thighs and had chosen this dress deliberately, aiming to awaken the animal in him. The gown sculpted her figure like a three-dimensional hourglass, each movement showing her breathtaking figure.
As they stepped into the car, the neighbors stared, a heat rising in their throats at the sight of the striking couple. When the car finally drove away, one woman smacked her husband upside the head, cursing him for staring too long. He yelped in pain and obediently recoiled, though deep inside, he grumbled: *Damn old woman, you were staring at the man too! I wouldn't even mind if that woman were my wife, and I was staring at others but no, as a kept man, I don't have the courage to say it out loud.* Helpless, he could only sulk in silence.
In the car, as they drove to their restaurant reservation, Darren brought up a matter he had been meaning to discuss sooner or later now seemed the perfect opportunity. He had always known Gina was somewhat of an arms junkie. Forget her meek disposition; Gina had become enamored with guns and the like after her husband's death.
At first, it had been for protection, but soon it became an obsession. She began acquiring so many firearms that she eventually opened her own shooting range, which she managed herself. Darren had discovered her addiction after helping her smooth out some legal trouble. She had even invited him into her secret room, where he saw weapons he never believed a woman of her stature should possess. The loving, almost obsessive glint in her eyes made her look like a crazy person.
Darren had been scared. If she hadn't been his own woman, he would have sworn he was calling the police and having her medically evaluated. But now, her obsession was about to become his inventory.
In the car, Darren spoke up as he drove. "Babe, as I explained earlier about the apocalypse, I want to make copies of your guns with my space duplication ability if you don't mind."
Hearing this, Gina absently touched the necklace around her neck, remembering how the dress she now wore had been conjured out of thin air by it just minutes earlier. When she had gone upstairs to change, she recalled how Darren had extolled the necklace's magical properties to the highest degree. Though her belief in him was unwavering, a part of her rational mind still found the idea absurd.
*Treating a dead horse as a living one*, she had decided to test it. To her shock, the nightgown she had been wearing since yesterday burned away, replaced by a different one. After cycling through a few more changes, she settled on the dress she liked. Emboldened, she even thought about makeup and it appeared on her face, adjustable with her thoughts. That was the moment she fully accepted Darren's far-fetched claims.
Looking up at him now, she answered with a cute smile, "Of course but only after dinner."