Chapter 132: I Knew It
Chapter 132
"Now how about we talk about that ability you’ve been hiding from me."
Alex’s body immediately froze the moment he heard those words, making the pizza stop halfway away from his mouth.
The treacherous system, who a moment earlier had been flying happily around him immediately disappeared back into the deepest recesses of his mind, leaving him completely on his own.
Slowly, he turned his head and spotted Nyx staring directly at him, with her beautiful amber eyes fully open and fixed squarely at him with a gaze that made his spine tingle a bit.
Even though she looked really calm right now, Alex could feel that the serene expression on her face somehow felt exactly like when someone was held at a gunpoint, with the mouth of the gun pressed firmly against the back of the person’s head.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke. The only sounds inside the cabin was the sound of their breathing. Alex quietly put back the slice of pizza back onto the plate.
Then he composed himself. After everything he had survived recently, there was no way he was going to panic now. At least not externally.
"What ability are you talking about?" He asked casually, while meeting the unwavering gaze of the beautiful woman.
"The special ability you’ve been hiding under my nose all this while," she said, slowly crossing one leg over the other. "You know? the one that allowed you to make those luggage bags disappear into thin air inside our hotel suite, and the exact same ability that let you suddenly bring out all the flesh food you had been gluttonously devouring just seconds ago."
Hearing what she said, Alex secretly released a small sigh of relief. Thank God. For one terrifying moment, he had thought she was talking about the Eyes Of Chronos ability.
That was because during the battle with Annie, he had most especially used that ability several times to escape those accursed energy balls and explosions.
So if Nyx had found out and somehow connected that ability with Doris since his was a dead copy, and she was smart as hell... Then things would become extremely complicated.
Because knowing Nyx, she definitely wouldn’t stop at asking why he possessed the exact same power as Doris.
No.
Instead she would continue digging deeper. And once she started digging, there was a frighteningly high chance she would connect the dots and eventually figure out his secret; that he possessed an ability to copy the abilities of other Awakened.
That ability was something he didn’t want people to know about.
But maybe one day.
Perhaps in the near future, once he was absolutely certain that her heart belonged to him entirely and she had fully fallen in love with him, then maybe, just maybe he could tell her about it, since by that time she would have already noticed one or two with that sharp mind of hers.
But definitely not now. Not when he was still figuring things out himself.
So, placing a hand casually behind his head, Alex scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.
"Oh, you mean that," he said, letting out a soft chuckle. "It’s a spatial kind of ability that basically allows me to freely store any object I want into a pocket of frozen, timeless space, and retrieve it whenever I need it."
He then pointed toward the nearly empty food spread across the table, and continued.
"To be completely honest, I didn’t exactly want people to know about it, since having an ice and healing ability already draws attention from people, so I didn’t want people to know that I possessed a third ability."
Nyx stared at him silently.
"Hmm."
That was all she said. Just one simple hum. Yet for some strange reason it made Alex feel more nervous than the time in his past life when his greedy boss had called him to his office for the first time.
Several seconds passed before Nyx finally spoke again.
"I see why you hid it. But with how much you’ve been hiding from me lately..."
She tilted her head slightly.
"How am I supposed to be sure that you don’t possess another hidden ability tucked away inside that clever head of yours?"
Alex, not knowing about the deliberate probing trap by Nyx since he wasn’t exactly an omnipotent deity who could read minds or anticipate the complex mind of someone like Nyx, subconsciously widened his eyes for a mere fraction of a second, before he immediately recovered his relaxed expression.
"C’mon Nyx, that’s just ridiculous," he laughed it off, shaking his head as he reached for his nearly empty bottle of cola, trying to add a layer of natural movement to dismiss her suspicion.
"Four different abilities resting inside a single Vanguard Realm Awakened? Do you even hear yourself? How can a human possess four separate abilities in Vanguard Realm?"
Nyx’s plump lips slowly curled upward into a knowing, triumphant smile that sent a sudden chill down his spine.
"I knew it."
Alex’s smile immediately faltered.
"What?"
Nyx leaned back comfortably and replied softly.
"I know you have another ability, Alex."
Alex nearly choked on his spit.
"What are you talking about?"
He was already preparing his denial. Unfortunately, Nyx didn’t even give him the chance.
"Don’t try to lie to me, Walker. When I asked that question earlier, your eyes widened ever so slightly."
Alex opened his mouth to talk but Nyx continued before he could even speak.
"Even though it only lasted for a fraction of a second. It was a microscopic, instinctive reaction that people have when they’re either shocked or surprised about something. Trust me, I know, especially since I’ve spent most of my life sitting at the negotiating tables with some of the most dangerous, deceptive men in America. I basically map faces for a living. So that tiny tremor in your pupils told me absolutely everything I needed to know."
Alex at this point suddenly felt like he was sitting across from some terrifying detective. He remained silent. Not because he wanted to. But because he genuinely didn’t know what else to say.
Nyx watched him for several moments before shaking her head slightly.
"You know," a faint trace of amusement appeared in her beautiful eyes. "Let’s be entirely honest with ourselves, shall we? For someone who thinks he’s a good liar, you’re surprisingly obvious sometimes."
Alex immediately protested.
"Hey."
Nyx ignored him.
"Did you really think I believed that utterly absurd story of yours the day you came late to our important shareholders meeting?"
Alex froze again.
"..."
Nyx looked genuinely amused now. It was written all over her face.
"The incredible lame excuse about the rat."
Alex immediately knew he was finished.
"The one you supposedly killed and stained your shoes with its blood?"
Alex coughed, feeling his face heating up from being exposed.
"Do you know how ridiculous that sounded?"
Alex looked away, making Nyx let out a small breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
"I knew it was an outright lie the very second you said it, Alex."
"Wait, you did?"
"Of course. Do I look that dumb to you? I just simply chose to accommodate you and drop the matter back then."
Alex suddenly felt both grateful and embarrassed. All this time he had genuinely believed she bought that terrible excuse. Apparently not.
Nyx then folded her arms with a rare playful smile.
"There have been other occasions too."
Alex didn’t even want to ask. Something told him the list was longer than he wanted to hear. The beautiful woman watched his expression and shook her head.
Then her smile faded back into a calm, serious expression as she looked out of the window at the dark sky, with the distant stars reflecting in her mesmerizing amber eyes.
"I might not fully know the exact reason why you try so hard to hide the true nature of these abilities from the rest of the world. After all, there are a lot of possible reasons for a man to keep his cards close to his chest, and to be quite frank, I’m far too lazy to spend my time trying to decipher all of them.
Maybe you’re protecting yourself. Maybe you’ve protecting someone else. Maybe you’re hiding something dangerous. Or maybe it’s something else entirely." She shrugged. "I don’t really know and I don’t particularly care about any of that."
"But what I do care about... Is that you keep it that way, and keep hiding it. Having three abilities is already abnormal."
Alex remained silent because he knew deep down that she wasn’t wrong. Even possessing two abilities was enough for the world to notice you. Three was probably enough to shock the entire world.
Nyx tapped her fingers lightly against the armrest and continued.
"Think about it. You possess an ice ability. A healing ability. A storage ability," then she turned her head and looked him directly in the eyes. "And now I’m fairly certain there’s a fourth one."
Alex didn’t confirm or deny anything. But Nyx didn’t seem to care. Because at this point she had already reached her own conclusion.
"If people discovered that there was an Awakened in the Vanguard Realm who possesses more than three abilities... what do you think would happen?"
Alex already knew that answer. From various Governments, to Organization, to Corporation, to maybe even Research groups. Everyone would want a piece of him. Not necessarily to help him.
Some would want to recruit him. Others might want to study him. And the worst ones would simply try to take him.
Nyx saw the understanding in his eyes and said softly.
"Exactly. You would become a target for many world powers, since it proves your potential to enter into the Transcendent Realm is absurdly high."
Alex felt something warm stir in his damn chest. Because despite everything she had said... There was one detail he had noticed and couldn’t ignore. In a way she wasn’t saying this because she was curious or wanted information from him.
No
She was saying it because she was worried for him. And her next words even confirmed it
"I don’t want my man becoming some kind of high end product that every government and powerful organization desperately wants."
The room became quiet as Alex stared at her, causing Nyx to frown slightly.
"What?"
Alex smiled.
"Nothing."
Nyx narrowed her eyes, but the smile on his face widened. For some reason, seeing her worry about him felt surprisingly nice.
Nyx seemed to understand what he was thinking about and turned her head away, with a faint hint of pink appearing on the tips of her ear.
"Don’t misunderstand."
Alex immediately grinned.
"Hmm."
"I mean it, walker."
....
A/N:
Hi guys, thanking you for the gifts, the golden tickets and powerstones. I’m really grateful.
