Elena’s POV


    “What are you doing here?” I ask with a bright smile as if it’s the first time I have seen the sun after a long, dark night.


    Deacon, leaning on his ck Maybach car like a handsome billionaire straight from a dark romance movie, had his arms wide open for me with his lips curved into a wide smirk.


    And to top it all, he’s wearing a pair of suits that made him taller than he already was, and his physique looked more manly than those bulky warrior suits I always see him in.


    Running up to him with excitement, I jumped like a teenage girlfriend who hadn’t seen her boyfriend for a long time and wrapped my arms around his nape while his arms circled around my waist, pulling me even closer.


    With my chin on his shoulder and head leaning on his, I asked, “I thought you were busy. Howe you’re here?”


    When I left him in the office earlier, his brows were drawn together, and he was busy with the pile of work. I didn’t expect him toe here.


    “Were you that worried? Do you really think your Mom can eat me alive?” I joked, pulling just enough to see his face.


    His reaction always made me swoon over him. So much so that sometimes I forget that our uing marriage didn’t start from love.


    His eyes shone with mystery, telling me I was about to expect something good.


    “I had the important matters done, and I’ve shelved the others that’re not urgent.


    My brow furrowed,pletely pulling away and looking at him with questioning eyes. “What? Why?”


    “It’s a surprise!” That’s all he told me before pulling me by my waist and guiding me to the passenger seat of


    the car.


    “Wait, what?” I asked again, wondering why he was making me sit up front when we always sit at the back.


    But as soon as he closed the door for me, I got my answer.


    I almost shrank in my seat as I let out a controlled scream when someone suddenly popped out in the centre from the backseat.


    “Aunt Elena!” Rafael<b>, </b>who looked theplete opposite of how he was when he was in the hospital bed earlier, was looking at me with a bright smile.


    I looked at him from head to toe and even caressed his face. “How are you here? Are you sure you are already alright?”


    “As good as I’ll ever be!” He looked so excited, as if he had never been poisoned in the first ce, even jumping on his seat to prove a point.


    Meanwhile<b>, </b>Deacon entered the driver’s seat and looked at me with a boastful smile. <b>“</b><b>I </b>told you, everything will


    Chopter 168


    be alright.”


    “I… what… how… wait… are you driving?” I ask one after another, every thought tangling up in my mind.


    Starting at the engine, he gave me a knowing look. “Is that so much of a surprise?”


    “You never fail to amaze me,” Imented, to which he reciprocated with a wink before he drove off.


    Trees, grass, and roads passed by us in a blur as we got further and further away from the city, “Where exactly are we going, and are you ever going to exin this?” I asked about getting to the car, us, and Rafael. Well, to everything and this sudden tour we were taking


    “For one, it’s a surprise,” he replied, eyes still focused on the road, though he would take a quick glimpse at me every now and then when he spoke. “And second, the doctor said the antidote is quick and with Rafael’s enhanced immune system after all these years, it isn’t much of a surprise that his recovery was faster than the rest.”


    Immunity… I wasn’t sure if I’d be d about the fact that he could recover so fast from it or be sad that he already got stronger because of how much he had been poisoned and tortured before that; his body had already adapted to things his age shouldn’t be ustomed to.


    Deacon probably saw the changes in my mood and quickly squeezed my hand before putting it back on the wheel,


    “And are you forgetting something?” he asked, cheering me up a little. And he didn’t fail, especially with <b>his </b>following words. “He got an Alpha blood on him.”


    “Look! Aunt Elena! It looked like they were dancing!<i>” </i>


    Rafael, who was running at the shore ahead of us, imed while pointing at the scene far ahead of us, where dolphins could be sighted, jumping in a pod and singing


    He was so energetic and lively, just like a pup like him should be.


    “Careful, don’t slip off. And don’t be too loud or you’ll scare them off<b>,</b>” I gently told him, smiling widely while my arms were clinging to Deacon’s as we walked barefoot behind Rafael on the shore.


    Apparently, the great surprise was his spontaneous idea to bring me and Rafael to the seaside.


    “He has more energy than half of my soldiers,” he announced in a softer voice while watching Rafael.


    “As he should be. You know…<i>” </i>I uttered,ughing halfway through my words, when I looked back again at the clothes he was wearing now, which he had changed into earlier.


    He narrowed his eyes at me and flicked my forehead after he followed my gaze and found that I was looking <b>at </b>his attire again. “Stopughing.”


    “I’m sorry. It’s just… who would have thought that the god of war and prince of the kingdom would be here on the shore with me, walking barefoot while wearing a floral printed pair of shirt and shorts!” <b>I </b>couldn’t stopughing while saying that, to the point where he couldn’t evenin anymore and began tough.


    I was still drawn inughter when he halted, making me stop with him, and then hisughter died down.


    “What happened?” I asked.


    +25 <b>Bonus </b>


    But when I looked back, I found him in silence while staring at me with those gentle and mesmerising eyes.


    “What?” I asked again. “What are you looking at?” I couldn’t help but smile at the way he was looking at me.


    Damn… Every passing day, what we have started to feel is bing increasingly real.


    “This is why I wanted to bring you both here, away from the whispers. Away from my mother’s sharp tongue,‘ he started and then his hand reached up to my cheeks, his thumb sliding to my lips. “Because of this beautiful smile and your contagiousughter.”


    My heart stopped beating, and I’m pretty sure that my face turned into a tomato while my smile vanished as I froze in his eyes.


    27


    For a while, it felt like we were the only ones in the world. But that feeling didn’tst when we felt an attack that alerted both of us, pulling us from the trance.


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