Chapter 150

--- 24th Day, Evening ---

When I knocked on the door to Cassia’s apartment, she opened it almost immediately, as if she had been waiting on the other side. I looked at her in surprise, seeing her for the first time in a flowing dress that showed off her shoulders. It was so far from her usual clothing that she actually looked a bit strange in it.

“Hey, you’re finally here,” Cassia said, a hint of strain in her voice. “The food is ready, we were waiting for you.”

I entered her apartment, and approached her pulling her in for a short hug. She immediately tensed, but at least she didn't push me away and I hoped her parents didn't notice.

“Hey, I’m not late, am I?” I asked, my gaze flicking to Cassia’s parents, who were standing behind her.

“No, no, you’re fine,” Cassia replied.

“Hello, sir, I’m Tobias,” I introduced myself, reaching out my hand to Cassia’s father first.

“Antony,” he replied.

I shifted my gaze to Cassia’s mother, who was watching me carefully.

“Peyton, I’m glad to meet you,” she introduced herself.

“Likewise,” I replied, smiling.

“Okay, let’s sit down and eat,” Cassia said, urging us toward the table. She couldn’t have been more obvious about wanting to get it over with. “Will you help me?” she asked, already heading toward the kitchen before I could even sit down.

I smiled at her parents before following Cassia out of the room.

She closed the kitchen door and stepped close to me.

“Let’s try to keep it short. The less time they spend with you, the lower the chance they’ll realize something is wrong,” she whispered. “Don’t mention Zoe or Azura at all, and…” She trailed off, hesitating for a moment before continuing, “I really hope the topic doesn’t go in that direction, but my mom thinks that we’re already… intimate.”

“Sure,” I snorted. “Relax, everything will be fine. Do you really need help?”

“Yeah, wait,” she replied, quickly putting food from the pots onto plates. She handed me mine, then took plates for her parents as we returned to the room.

We started to eat, but the silence didn’t last long before Cassia’s father asked, “Tobias, are you from Ortas?”

“No, I’m from far away.”

“Which guild?” Peyton asked.

“Even further. I was born far from Tenebre. You’ve probably never heard of that country.”

“Oh, how is life there? Is it much different from here?” Cassia’s mother asked.

“Not really,” I replied. “Life is more or less the same everywhere. You work to have something to put on the table and a roof over your head. You meet people,” I added, looking at Cassia. “Get to know them better,” I continued with a warm smile. “Start a family, and grow old.”

Cassia grimaced slightly, glaring at me, but quickly relaxed her expression so her parents wouldn’t notice.

“Do you want to start a family?” Cassia’s mother asked immediately.

“One day, when I’m ready,” I replied.

Her mother nodded slowly, eating in silence for a moment before continuing her interrogation. “You’re young, right?”

“Depends on what you consider young,” I replied, wondering what age I should tell them, since my real age would raise too many questions.

“Compared to Cassia,” her mother clarified.

“Mom!” Cassia gasped, while I tried to hold back a laugh.

“What? You’re not getting any younger, and he’s what? Seven years younger?”

I actually had no idea how old Cassia was, and while she didn’t look twenty, she didn’t look thirty either, probably somewhere in between. The thing was, she also had no idea how old I was, so she couldn’t really answer that question.

“It’s not that big of a gap between us,” I replied.

Cassia’s mother frowned slightly, clearly having something on her mind, but at least she stopped herself from speaking. Though it wasn’t hard to guess she was thinking about kids.

“What do you do for a living?” I asked, glancing between Cassia’s parents, leaving it open for either of them to answer.

“We run a tailor shop together,” Antony replied. “The only one in the city, so there’s quite a lot of work.”

“Especially when we don’t have Cass to help us anymore, and we don’t have much time to visit her after she moved out,” Peyton added.

“I have to live close to the dungeon,” Cassia replied.

“You could have helped us at the shop as well,” her mother said. “Don’t you think, Tobias, that risking your life every day is not the best job?”

“Well, I do the same,” I replied. “And we’re very careful, sticking to easy fights and playing it extra safe.”

“Are you?” Peyton asked. “Cass always says the same, but she doesn’t want to tell me any details.”

“Because there’s nothing fun or interesting about killing skeletons or wraiths,” Cassia replied.

“Is this something you want to do your whole life, or do you have other plans for the future?” Cassia’s mother asked me, ignoring her daughter.

“It all depends on how life goes,” I replied. “I can imagine that one day I’ll find something else to do.”

“Do you have a strong team right now?” Antony asked.

“We have potential,” I replied. “But we’re just starting and still have a lot to learn.”

“Cass doesn’t want to tell us much about your teammates,” Peyton said. “Are they experienced in dungeon fighting? Do they have classes? Are they nice?”

I glanced at Cassia, who clearly didn’t want to tell her parents much, and I wondered if there was any specific reason to keep our team members hidden. I could talk about them, just not mention that I was sleeping with two of them.

“They do have classes, but they’re pretty new to dungeons. And yeah, they’re fine,” I said, lying on that last part. There was one member who was far from nice, but I didn’t want to get into details about Mari.

“You were in the dungeon today, right?” Peyton asked. “How did it go?”

I glanced at Cassia, wondering if she would answer, but she was busy eating quickly, clearly not intending to join the conversation, or rather, the interrogation.

I described our trip to the dungeon that day, mostly sticking to what actually happened, since it had been a fairly uneventful exploration with no real danger for our team. I hoped that would calm Cassia’s parents a bit and waste some time while we ate.

When I finished talking about the dungeon, I asked more about their work and what they produced, but I learned they mostly repaired things rather than sewing new ones, which still kept them busy.

Cassia’s father handled the manual work, while her mother dealt with customers. They had tried to involve Cassia in both roles when she was younger, but she hadn’t wanted anything to do with the job.

“What do your parents do?” Peyton asked me at some point.

“Oh, they’re no longer with us,” I replied, causing a brief silence that Cassia immediately took advantage of.

“Did you like it?” she asked, gesturing at her mother’s empty plate.

“Yeah, it was really great,” Peyton replied.

“I’ll clean up now,” Cassia said, getting up.

“I’ll take care of that,” I offered, picking up the plates before she could.

“I’ll help you,” Peyton added, which immediately caused Cassia to grimace.

“Mom, there’s no need, I can do it,” Cassia insisted.

“No, no, you cooked, we’ll help with the cleaning,” she replied, grabbing something from the table before leading her way into the kitchen.

I frowned, unhappy that my attempt at avoiding the interrogation ended up even worse, but it seemed I had no choice, so I followed Peyton into the kitchen.

“The dinner was delicious,” I said. “You did a great job teaching Cassia how to cook.”

“Did she pay you to pretend to be her boyfriend?”

“What?” I snorted, looking at her.

“I don’t see any chemistry between the two of you,” she said, watching me as if trying to see through me.

“Well… Cassia and I aren’t very open about showing emotions or being affectionate around others. And while you’re her parents, to me you’re still strangers. We also haven’t known each other that long.”

“And how long have you been together?”

“We formed a team two weeks ago, and… felt some attraction about a week ago.”

“I don’t see that attraction.”

“It’s all pretty new, and… we’re just getting to know each other. I admit I was a bit surprised she already invited me to meet her parents, but…” I shrugged.

“So you’re not really together?” Cassia’s mother asked.

“After a week? No,” I replied. “But if Cassia gives me a chance, I’d like that to happen.”

“Did you ask her out, or did she do it?” Peyton asked.

“She flirted with me, and I asked her out,” I lied, hoping it didn’t contradict anything Cassia had said.

“And that happened last week?” Peyton asked.

“Yeah, so it’s still a recent development.”

Cassia’s mother fell silent, looking at me, clearly thinking something over.

“Let’s join the others?” I suggested. “I’ll wash the dishes later.”

“You really seem to be a nice guy,” Peyton murmured, more to herself than to me, as she walked out of the kitchen.

“We should get going, honey,” Antony said before we could fully return to the room.

“What, already?” Peyton asked. “We just finished eating.”

“Yes, but they’re both tired after the dungeon and probably want to spend some time alone,” he replied.

“But I didn’t even have a chance to talk with Tobias,” Peyton protested.

“Honey, please, you’re going to scare him away if you keep interrogating him, and we don’t want that, do we?” Antony said.

I glanced at Cassia, wondering if she had convinced her father to step in while we were gone, but it seemed to work. Peyton locked her gaze on her daughter with that expression of a parent who knows that their kid is up to something, before she sighed, reluctantly accepting it.

“We will talk later,” she said, still looking at Cassia, before she turned toward me. “It was nice to meet you,” she added, stepping in to hug me, which surprised me a bit. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into my ear.

“I’m glad I met you too,” I replied with a smile.

After a few more farewells, Cassia quickly ushered her parents out, locked the door, and returned to the room, dropping onto the couch that had gone unused until now. I joined her, sitting on the other end.

“Your mother is very forward,” I said.

Cassia sighed before replying, “She probably suspects me of lying and was trying to catch us.”

“You are lying,” I snorted. “And she did ask me if you paid me to pretend while we were in the kitchen.”

“What?” Cassia asked, straightening up enough to look at me. She groaned before adding, “What did you tell her?”

“She noticed there’s no attraction between us, but I blamed it on stress and the fact that we’re just getting to know each other.”

“Did she believe that?” Cassia asked.

“I have no clue,” I replied. “You’ll see, if she sends an admirer to your door, you’ll have your answer.”

Cassia groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“I can always pretend to be a jealous boyfriend,” I offered. “Especially if you cook more dinners for me.”

Cassia just shook her head slightly, ignoring my teasing.

“I was wondering…” I started, but waited for her to look at me before continuing. “You’re interested in women, and you live with one, right?”

“It’s not like that!” Cassia protested, a little too quickly and a bit too forcefully. “Really, we’re not together. She… prefers men.”

“Is there someone special in your life then?” I asked.

“I don’t have time for dating. And now…” she trailed off.

“Now?”

“I only meet new people when I join a team or they join mine. And right now… let’s just say I’m not the most interesting person in the team.”

“I’m your competition?” I snorted.

“You’re so full of yourself sometimes,” Cassia replied. “Which is understandable,” she murmured. “But no, I was thinking about Zoe.”

“Zoe is off-limits,” I stated.

“As long as they’re not willing to fuck you as well. Because then they can jump into a threesome immediately.”

“Unless they’re only interested in women, like you,” I replied.

“And what are the chances of someone like that joining the team?” Cassia asked.

“Well… you don’t have to limit yourself to meeting people only that way. There are other options.”

“As I said, I don’t have time for dating. I don’t even really want to date anyone. It’s my mother pressuring me all the time,” Cassia replied.

“She wants grandkids, right?” I asked. “That’s what this is about.”

“That’s exactly the problem,” Cassia replied, looking at me in confusion.

“Have you thought about… You don’t need to be with a guy to have a kid. You could be with a woman, but just sleep once with a guy.”

“Do you want to have kids?” Cassia asked.

“Are you asking me to-”

“No,” she replied, grimacing slightly, clearly taken aback. “Do you want to have kids with Zoe?”

“Someday.”

“If, for whatever reason, that was the only possible way, would you sleep with a guy to have them?” Cassia asked. “Take his cock up your ass?”

“Okay…” I murmured, getting her point. “Then there’s always adoption.”

“I know, but I don’t want kids. At least not now,” Cassia replied. “But my mom thinks that if I start dating guys, I’ll immediately start popping out grandkids.”

I snorted, unable to stop myself from laughing.

“Hey!” Cassia gasped, tossing a pillow at me. “That’s not funny,” she added, though she laughed a little herself.

She seemed much more relaxed now that her parents were gone, and it was one of those rare moments when she was smiling or laughing. In that pretty dress, looking much more feminine, I felt a bit of regret that she wasn’t interested in men. Though I couldn’t stop wondering, and ended up asking out loud.

“Are you really not interested in men at all, or is it just a preference for women?”

“Are you serious?” Cassia asked, disbelief in her voice.

“It was worth asking,” I replied with a smile. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable in front of your parents, but you look really gorgeous in that dress.”

“You promised not to be weird,” Cassia protested.

“Sorry, sorry,” I said, smiling. “Back to silently admiring your beauty.”

Cassia gave me a look that clearly showed she didn’t enjoy the joke.

“I was teasing you,” I added. “Thanks for the dinner.”

“Thank you for going through this,” Cassia murmured.

“It wasn’t that bad. I had fun,” I replied.

“I noticed.”

“Any time you want to go on a date, real or fake, let me know,” I offered.

“Tobias!” she gasped.

“Okay, okay, I’m done with the jokes,” I said. “But you could relax from time to time.”

“Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s just… my parents stress me out. I love them, but… I prefer loving them from a distance.”

“I get it,” I replied, and we both fell silent. “I should get going,” I added.

Cassia nodded, getting up from the couch. “Thanks again,” she said, leading me to the door and letting me out after a rather short dinner with her parents. At least I hoped it helped her, as I headed back home to my real girlfriends.