There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 729

Chapter 729: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 12

With so many espers, guides, and high-profile people gathered, the party was bound to linger with reunions and impromptu business talk. The many conference rooms inside the resort were fully utilized, and refreshments continued until dawn.

Not for the parents, however. They had adapted to their children’s sleeping cycle and retreated to their respective rooms before midnight. At least, Zein did. He felt like he would be tempted to take a sip of alcohol during the merriment, so he left the venue early.

Some people looked at him suspiciously, but he managed to escape before anyone could ask about it. He noticed that couples did leave early--whether to rest or continue the party privately. Interestingly enough, he couldn’t find Rina and Cohen, and he wondered if they were still together or separated early.

That thought ended the moment he reached their villas, and he truly realized that he wasn’t as strong as before. To think he would get this tired just from an evening event...Zein sighed and let Bassena take care of him. Well, he did enjoy being pampered by his husband, who seemed to find joy in simply taking care of him.

What an adorable man.

Thanks to that, he woke up fresh in the morning--unlike Bassena, who threw up again. People would think he was partying too hard if they saw the esper, looking as if he had a hangover.

Fortunately, most of the guests seemed to have real hangovers, including the espers. And fortunately, there was no emergency call for a sudden dungeon appearance somewhere. Because of that, the resort was very calm and quiet in the morning.

At least until the children were awake.

"Dada, Kar wanna play with ice again!"

Zein raised his brow. The usually reserved Kar was this enthusiastic about something that he asked it first thing after breakfast? How intriguing. "Weren’t you satisfied with yesterday?"

"Yetstelday its yetstelday! Today its today!" Asa supported his older twin.

"Oh, you can start saying ’s’ now?" Bassena raised his brows.

"Tssss!"

Asa showed it off until his tongue came out, and Zein patted the little platinum head in praise. "Good job."

The twins tugged their father from both sides, pleading with sparkling eyes. "Can we, Dada?"

Zein glanced at the clan members who were in charge of guarding them on this vacation trip. "Did Cohen return last night?"

The bodyguards smiled cheekily. "No, Sir."

"Heh," Zein smirked, and Bassena arched his brow.

"Well, well..."

Asa tilted his head. "What? Why Uncle Co’en not letuln?"

"I don’t know yet," Zein replied with a light, amused chuckle.

Kar, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes in confusion. He did not understand why his Dada talked about Uncle Cohen. "But Kar want Auntie Rina."

Zein patted the impatient little boy. "Maybe Auntie Rina is with Uncle Cohen."

"Why?"

"They are...playing together," Zein said with a smile.

Aca tilted his head. "Play ayce?"

"...should we ask?" Bassena muttered in intrigue. The curiosity was enough to get rid of his nausea.

Did he get infected by Shin? Zein narrowed his eyes and flicked the esper’s forehead. "Don’t be naughty."

"How else can we know?" Bassena shrugged.

That being said...Zein did feel a bit curious, so he called Cohen through his commlink while the twins were whispering with each other in front of his stomach. The call went through, but even after half a minute passed, no one answered it. "Hmm...I don’t think he’ll pick it up."

The ’duty run through my vein’ Cohen? Bassena arched his brow. "Not picking up a call from you? That’s new--oh!"

Just then, the ringing stopped and a connecting sound could be heard. But nothing more.

"Cohen?" Zein called out curiously when there was no one speaking on the other side. He heard a bit of rustling, and then a soft giggle. "Rina?"

The giggle became laughter and a question was spoken with a slightly hoarse voice. [Is he on duty today?]

"No," Zein chuckled. "He’s on paid vacation until tomorrow."

[Great]

Just like that, the connection was cut. Zein stared at his commlink’s interface dumbfoundedly, before letting out a crisp, amused laugh. "She hung up."

"Huh..." Bassena blinked, equally amused. "That’s certainly fast. Never thought Cohen would be that type," Bassena smirked. From the look of shock and amazement on the bodyguards’ faces--who were technically Cohen’s younger cousins--it seemed like this event was indeed quite extraordinary.

"What type do you think he is?" Zein tilted his head.

"The type that would at least have three dates before going further?" Bassena shrugged, and the guards nodded in silent agreement.

Zein chuckled and patted the twins’ heads. "Well, there you have it, boys--Aunt Rina is playing with Aunt Cohen now, so she can’t make ice."

"Aww..." Kar sighed in disappointment while Asa pursed his lips. "Playing like Dada and Baba?"

"Pfft--" Bassena almost sprayed out the water he had just drunk.

"We don’t know yet," Zein laughed. He wondered what kind of ’play’ his twins were thinking of. "Why don’t you look for Aunt Senia? She can make ice too."

The disappointed boys perked up. "Really?"

"Ask her to do it in the pool," Zein said. "Go with Baba."

Bassena wiped his wet shirt while raising his head. "Me?"

Eh--Zein shrugged and leaned back on his lazy chair again, continued with his sunbathing. It would be good if things worked out well, but if it wasn’t, then it just wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t like Cohen would tell him anything about it, so he better shoved it out of his mind.

Rina laughed and smirked at Bassena. "Why? Thanks to your Chief of Staff, I realized that I don’t have to be so special all the time and live more slowly," she shrugged. "You know, being boring."