173: WILL YOU COME TO THE PARTY?

WILL YOU COME TO THE PARTY?

The four of them looked at each other, and then Reiz. They were confused with Torak's request. Could he possibly be trying to offer an underhanded deal with their new leader of the family?

"Of course." Reiz stepped aside. "It will not take a long time." He said at the other de Mediccis, looking at Torak's briefly when he said that. 

The four elders nodded, and then walked out of the room.

Reiz closed the door. He faced the Alpha, and his Beta with a playful smirk grazed on his lips. "Surprise to see me as an heir now?" He tilted his head, and leaned his tall body against the door behind him.

The professional look, and formal attitude that he showed earlier vanished into thin air, as he held Torak's gaze defiantly.

"I don't think you are capable of doing such a scheme, since you are the Sloth." Torak leaned his body forward, and his voice was getting indifferent as he talked. "You must have had so much free time to come up with such a complicated plan."

"Don't flatter me, Alpha." Belphegor waved his hand to dismiss Torak's sarcastic words. "I am a busy person too."

"What do you want?" Torak talked straight down to the point of what he wanted to know. With Belphegor meddling in this matter, to which he even went to an extent of becoming his business partner, Torak wouldn't expect something good as a result.

In a second, his mind went about to a certain someone. Someone whom he left alone inside the room. 

"The guardian angel of course." Belphegor admitted it immediately as he shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. "Well, I heard she was taking an exam today."

"What are trying to imply?" There was a warning with the way Torak was speaking. 

"Nothing. I was just thinking. Why does she try to live a normal life, when her life is far from being considered normal since the very beginning?" Belphegor stroked his chin. "Don't worry, for the meantime I'm not going to disturb her. But I will find a way to get to her eventually." 

Torak couldn't help but snapped the ballpoint in his hand into two, for now his temper flared up. 

Belphegor looked at the ballpoint on the table. As a response, he smiled lazily and said, "If you have nothing else, I will excuse myself. I am looking forward to our collaboration." He waved his hand, turned his back, and walked out of the room.

Along with that, Torak also stood up. And in a heartbeat, he was already in front of the room where he left Raine alone. 

Torak punched the pass code, and the door opened with a faint beep sound. The moment he stepped inside, he could smell his mate's scent filled the room. It was the one of a kind of smell that could calm his nerves almost immediately.

The sound of splashing water told him exactly where Raine was, thus without a second thought Torak strode towards the bathroom. He pushed the door open without even knocking first. There was a loud gasping sound when he stepped inside the bathroom. There he found Raine was soaking inside the bath up that was filled with bubbles to the rim. 

It was only her head poking out from the surface of the water, while her naked body was hidden under the soft bubble, and foam.

"Torak…" Her voice was low as she looked at Torak anxiously. "What's going on…?" She asked, unsure with the situation.

Torak's eyes glued on the bath up as the rim of his blue eyes started to turn a bit darker. "I… I couldn't find you inside the room." He stumbled on his own words, stuttered while trying to find, if any, excuse to explain himself. But he couldn't find any reasonable reason for this moment. 

"I am… taking a bath…" Raine said the obvious. She thought Torak would be back much later. She didn't expect that he would return this soon. 

Torak didn't say anything after that. But he didn't avert his eyes from her. And this only made Raine nervous, and on top of everything, she was embarrassed. 

"Should I… dress now…?" Raine asked. She bit her lips, and looked around the bathroom. Because she couldn't look him in the eyes. 

"Sure, if you have finished." Torak said, while sounding strange. Suddenly the atmosphere inside the bathroom turned awkward, and the air felt so heavy.

"I will get dressed then…" Raine said. But because Torak didn't take that as a cue for him to leave the bathroom, that he was still standing there, Raine didn't come out from the bath up, staying still under the bubbles and foam.

"Didn't you say that you want to get dressed?" Torak asked when a minute had passed. Raine was still soaking inside the bath up.

"Yes, but…" Raine looked at Torak timidly. "Can you leave for a while… please?" She could feel heat crept on her face.

"What if I say, I don't want to?" Torak pulled a chair, and sat down. 

Raine never expected Torak to ever come up with something like that. Because in her eyes, he was always the gentleman who would never disrespect her in any way. Although there were times when he would act mischievous, and times when he enjoyed teasing her. But he wouldn't be so bold like this. 

"Torak!" Raine shrieked. She looked at Torak in horror. "I am serious…" She said helplessly. But that man who sat four steps away from her was looking calm as if it was nothing, he crossed his legs leisurely. 

"So am I." Torak shrugged his shoulder innocently. "How many times do we sleep together? Why are you still shy in front of me, my love?" His voice was like a beautiful chant caressing Raine's ears.

However, Raine wasn't in a condition where she would appreciate Torak's past generosity. Reminding her about something like that in a situation like this, didn't seem to make her feel any better. 

"Then… then I'm going to stay here until you leave." Raine said sullenly. 

"ALright, let's see how long the bubble will last." Torak grinned. He was really in a good mood to tease Raine to this extent. 

Only then, Raine realized that the bubbles around her started to fade and the water was getting cold. "Torak! Don't do this!" Raine was so annoyed when Torak laughed out loud. He rarely laughed so carefree like this.

"Alright, I'll go." Torak abruptly stood up, when Raine tried to splash water on him. 

"Go, now!" Raine screamed when Torak stood still beside the door, and didn't move while looking at her.

"I feel so grateful for having you, my love." Torak said before he walked out of the bathroom, and closed the door behind him, leaving Raine turned more bashful than she already had.

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Raine walked out of the bathroom five minutes later, while drying her hair. She walked straight to the side of the bed, looking for a hairdryer. Deliberately avoided Torak, who was standing in front of a dressing table

"Come here." Torak said, patted the dressing chair. "I'll dry your hair for you." His other hand was holding the hairdryer that Raine was looking for. 

"I can do it myself." Raine still felt embarrassed because of Torak's words in the bathroom. 

"And I can do it for you." Torak insisted. He looked at his mate with amusement. It felt like his anger that he got after encountering the Sloth earlier, had been subsided only by looking at his mate. He would deal with Belphegor later. 

Raine walked towards Torak while keeping her head down. She didn't meet him in the eyes when she sat down on the dressing chair, and Torak started to dry her hair. When her hair was already dry, Torak leaned on the dressing table, standing right in front of Raine while taking pleasure to see her beautiful face. 

"How was your exam?" Torak moved a strand of her hair from her face. He treated her very carefully, because she was the most precious thing for him. 

"I was doing well. I think I will pass." Raine's eyes were shining with excitement when she was talking about the exam test that she took this morning. 

There were two problems on the test that she wasn't sure of the answer to. But about the rest of it, she was confident that she would get it right.

"Mrs. Martha is a really good teacher. I don't have a problem with the test. She taught me well." Raine said cheerfully.

"Really? I'll ask Calleb to give her a gift." Torak said, as he patted her head. "You were doing great."

"But…" Suddenly Raine's expression turned to worry. "What if I got it wrong? What if I misunderstood the question, and my answers are wrong?" She started to get anxious. It was too soon for her to get happy. The exam was just over, and she was already overjoyed. Getting it done wasn't the end of it, passing it with a definite result was.

"Don't think too much. You were doing great, the result will be great as well." Torak knocked her head softly. She started to develop this kind of habit whenever she felt overwhelmed.

"What if…" Raine was still trying to prepare herself for, if any, the worst of the result.

"There is no 'what if'." Torak said sternly. "Even if you don't enter the university this year, you can always try it again next year."

Torak had another plan in his mind. But he was unsure how to say it to Raine. With Belphegor was inside the company, and meddled with his business, he had a second thought about Raine's plan to enter the university. He was thinking about calling it off.

It was possible that within the year her ability would improve tremendously, and by next year she could return to his territory. It'd be better if she pursued her education in his territory instead of here. How perfect everything would be. If only it went smoothly as this plan, Torak could be less worried about her safety. Nobody knew what would happen within one year, there was still a high possibility for that.

The only problem was, Raine's face turned gloomy when she heard Torak said about taking the exam next year. 

"I really want to go to college this year…" She muttered as he rested her head on Torak's stomach. "I like the atmosphere there. The students, the buildings, the trees, and all. When I entered the gate this morning, I was thinking to myself; how nice it'd be if I can study here. I just can't wait to make a new friend, or two." Raine said in a soft voice, as if she was imagining it all in her head while she was talking.

Torak caressed her long hair subconsciously while listening to her.

"All of these are like a dream for me." Raine continued, feeling comfortable. "Entering university, make some friends. I think now, there's nothing I have to be ashamed of. Lately, all those creatures haven't been around to bother me. Calleb said it's because your smell is all over me. They're afraid to appear in front of me because of it.And that's why I think I can be just a normal student, and study like the others."

Raine tightened her arms around Torak's waist. 

"Thank you."1

And with that, Torak's second plan was out of the picture. He didn't have the strength to break Raine's heart now by saying that she couldn't enter the university like she wanted, and that she can't live the life she wished. All just because he was worried about her safety.

Torak was sure that even if he said it now, Raine would say that she understood. But Torak knew better that it would hurt her, having the life that she wanted slipped away just like that. 

[Raph.] Torak mind-linked his Beta. [Ask someone to look for Serefina.]

As hard as it was to admit that he needed the witch. He couldn't let his ego endanger his mate's life.

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The result of the exam would be out in one month. And until then, Raine didn't have much things to do. Thus, she asked Torak to buy a canvas for her to kill time. Recently Torak didn't let her come to his company very often, but he made sure to return early. 

However, instead of only a canvas, Torak turned one of the empty rooms inside the house into a mini studio where Raine could put all of her painting inside. Raine couldn't be more excited than this for having her own mini studio where she would have all the painting tools that she wanted.

Torak even offered to call a teacher if she wanted to learn more about art. But Raine turned down the offer. Because she was just doing this as a hobby, and didn't think she would take this seriously.

Torak was fine with whatever Raine's decision. The mini studio was done within a week, since then whenever Torak wasn't at home, Raine would spend her time inside the studio. 

Until one night after dinner, Torak was watching a movie with Raine before they went to bed. He asked her. "Will you come to this masquerade party with me tomorrow night?"

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