“So, you’ve been searching for what, thirty years plus already and found no one else but me?” said the beautiful young man in front of her.

She nodded to him who had merely rearranged her words, but she could only describe him as beautiful rather than handsome. Maybe a little bit of both. The woman-like facial features didn’t make him look soft at all as he still had that clearly delicious, manly jawline.

But of course, she wouldn’t tell him her exact age, not in a million years. All these years of constant search and many, many failures she finally found one, and he was Teddy of all other people.

Is fate playing with her? Or their fates were meant to be?

“When do you realize it, I mean, the other you?”

“After the Awakening ceremony, like everyone else,” she shrugged. “Other awakens had lived here sometime in the past or other different worlds with mana. It is the very purpose of the taxing ceremony.”

“So, practically everybody is an OP returner?”

Verona chuckled, she hadn’t heard that for a very long while. “Well, not every single body remembered everything they had learned before or recovered all the talent they had in the past lives. The ceremony is gambling with fate, one way or the other.”

“Well, that’s an eye-opener,” Artus aka Teddy chuckled. “And a relief.”

“So, you actually had made a soundproof shield?” she asked the young man while looking around at the said shield. It was unbelievably stable. No ripple at all. It’s gorgeous.

“I figured a vacuum in between two shells will stop any soundwave and it just works,” Artus shrugged as if it was nothing to him.

The barrier surrounded only both of them as they sat in the exclusive diner. Nothing, not a single click of spoon or fork was heard from outside the bubble. The two captains were staring daggers at Artus while their eyes and mind were reeling with questions.

“And you did this with a low [Aether] affinity and zero [Air] affinity, how again?”

Artus chuckled, “Your petty tricks won’t work on me, silly girl, I haven’t told you my tricks of trade yet. The plebs around us called you the famous blue flame sorceress, how so?”

Pride swelled in her and she stood a little straighter, “I’m among the very few [Fire] mage and the only female that can conjure blue flame, and I’ve done it without much effort compared to others.”

“How did you do it? Conjure flames, I mean.”

“I guess you need the full version?”

Artus nodded to her question. “Yes, please.”

“Well, I have a high affinity to the [Fire] elements, which makes forming fireballs a lot easier and less taxing. The affinity helped a lot in the image translation from the [Mind], a middle man, if you know what I mean. But of course, it took a lot of practice to have a clear image to have a stable reality.”

“Clear image will stop the fireball from exploding on your face?”

“Yes, exactly that,” she chuckled. It is fun talking to him.

“Your class is Sorceress? What classes do? How do you get them?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you this yet, but what the hell. My class is [Sorceress] and it is different from the common [Mage]. Classes complete and complement your skills. As an example, my class allows me to get a skill so I could use my [Mind] to form a complete and stable spell. I don’t need scribes to make one for me. I’ll tell you more if you agree with my terms, Artus.”

Artus nodded a few times, “I understand, but the blue flame, does the propane gas stove have taught you how to make them?”

Verona reeled at the reveal, she almost stood up and made a scene. It was the greatest secret she had kept in a very tight wrap.

She would have been labeled useless if she didn’t have the blue flame for herself. Even the closest people around her didn’t know. She feared they too could’ve easily conjured blue flame after learning the concept.

The blue flame is all she has.

No kind gentlemen would offer their help just because she was a girl and pretty. Those things only happen in the stories she read. Men only give useless things to get under her skirt as they rather kept to themselves and buy another woman.

She looked around and a small relief hit her as no one had heard his careless jab.

“You are as greedy as ever, Verona,” Artus laughed before shaking his head. “But worry not, I won’t ruin your ‘hard-earned’ fame, for old times’ sake. So what do you want from me?”

Verona stared at the young man for a few seconds too long. She thought it was he who would have asked for her help after knowing each other. She’s the rich person here.

“I- I don’t know,” she stumbled as her ears drummed with every heartbeat.

Knowing the very huggable Teddy had a very different appearance had made her feel a little like a headless chicken. She didn’t know what she was feeling right now.

“I just want you to be around, you know, and maybe talk about old times or about our old world. Things like that,” she said what came to her mind.

Verona didn’t miss the subtle change when she mentioned their old times, but she couldn’t blame him. She was like an old ex who was asking to talk about her problems with another man. No one could stand listening to that.

She knew how painful it felt to be dumped but she could never imagine how he felt after what she had done. And she did want to talk about her problem with another man.

“Someone to talk without a filter, I guess... that is fair,” Artus said. “But what about me, what would I get? Hanging around a very famous beautiful woman is among my worst nightmares, you know that right?”

A frustrated groan escaped her as she was reminded of why she fought with him so much. She fought back a mild headache with her fingers.

But then again, the old Teddy wouldn’t even sit in public like this talking to a famous person like it was nothing. He had changed a bit for the better, she had to admit that.

The question is why or who had changed him? Another girl, perhaps?

“Well, we could, you know, fool around sometimes,” she said their code word.

Artus’s sudden cough meant he remembered that she meant sex. Verona couldn't stop the big smile she had. She knew he still had some flame left in him when his instinct forced him to shield her from harm.

She just knows it. He had to.

“I’m not falling for that again,” he said after finishing the milk. “That means no, my lady.”

“So what do you really want, Artus? Money? More women to fool around with? I see you have collected a few yourself,” she said with a pang of jealousy clawing inside.

“Or is it more power, like all men do?”

Artus shook his head. “All this time I thought you know me the best, Verona.”

The young man returned to their new reality by standing up and giving her a slight bow. Eyes mocking her and cajoling her at the same time. She felt giddy all over and she could never have enough of that.

Verona realized that she wanted him and she wanted him bad. But unlike other times, she couldn’t just push it or he would never talk to her the same way ever again.

“All I ever want is freedom, well, other than knowledge, or the joy of making new things. I’m sure you in your magnificence could come out with an excellent arrangement for that.”

“Then, how about a secret endorsement from my family for you to enter the most well-known magic academy? How’s that sound?”

“You don’t have to make it a secret as the fame had its uses, but it will be a good start, ma’am,” he bowed with a smile.

Artus had changed a lot ever since the last time she had seen him. She couldn’t wait to know him more through whatever means if she had to.

-

“Then I’ll ask you to get along with my children, Artus, look after them sometimes. Please,” Verona begged him truthfully.

He could see that in her eyes. She’s a true mother. Verona had hit his weakness without even knowing it, the silly girl always did that.

“Damn, you have kids already?” he said. “How many?”

“Two boys and a girl, they grow in my womb, yes, but the painless labor and the near-instant recovery had created this, I don’t know... an odd distance feeling. They don’t feel like my children, Artus. It only got much worse after their awakening,” the lady sighed. “One of them had even tried to woo me, for goodness’s sake.”

Artus could see a little pride mixed into her last statement. She is beautiful, whatever age she is now. Red flowing hair, big piercing blue eyes, smooth flawless skin, everything she had wanted if not more.

The MILF body shape was the cream on top as there was no sign of her giving birth at all. Everything on her was still springy with youth. She knew a lot of stuff too and he could see it was earned as she really knew what she was talking about.

Learning about the Awakening ritual that could totally change every other person and for the price of magic talent was shocking to him. It wasn't only him and only a magical world would do this kind of thing.

Humans on old Earth loathed incest mainly because of the hideous effect of interbreeding, but what if there is no side effect? Would people still hate it?

The curious scientist inside his head was asking.

But it wasn’t the time to ask if mothers sleeping with their children was something common in this world. She would freak out. Anyone would.

“You know you are MILF now, right?”

She looked shocked for a moment before she laughed. “I haven’t heard that for a long time. God, Teddy, why you say such things? What to try out a MILF like me?”

“It’s only a test and you passed,” he had to do that to make sure. “But how would he react if his mother’s old flame got mixed into the equation?”

“Well, I don’t know,” the woman chuckled. That naughty look in her eyes was all the more proof he needed. She is silly Jessy.

“It is interesting when you bring it out,” she added. “You always did that, didn’t you. We got into a lot of trouble because of your suggestions.”

“I’ve only suggested, it is you who can’t help yourself,” he laughed.

Verona laughed along with him as she stood up. “Can I get a hug, at least, for old times sake?”

Artus sighed and thought about it. He was about to reply when suddenly her warmth engulfed him from the side. Verona got a huge set of racks that he could tease later.

Verbally only, of course, but her bent back hug told him she wasn’t trying to woo him back in or something like that. The silly girl only wanted someone she could be herself once in a while.

He should have known. It was only a matter of time he met another awakened from Earth. There could be more hiding in plain sight.

“I’ve never realized it before, but I’ve missed you so much,” whispered the lady.

“I’ve missed you too,” he replied.

‘I used to, and more than you can ever imagine,’ he continued inside.

‘We could’ve had it all, Jessy.’