After the Zerg General Was Accidentally Marked - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Confession

A date?!

Everett’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be Solas…!!

But when he opened the invitation full of joy, he saw a familiar name in the applicant field:

Walter Maud.

That performative military female who saved him?

To be honest, Everett didn’t really want to deal with him; he always felt like the type of insect who was very good at acting but lacked sincerity. However, when the spaceship incident happened, it was indeed he who had sent Everett to the hospital. The coordination for compensation also required his help. They still needed to get along well.

Then, the little high-rank firmly clicked ‘Decline.’

Unexpectedly, as soon as he declined, a second date application from the same person popped up.

This was getting a bit annoying. According to regulations, all high-ranks must register in the Breeding Association’s system upon reaching adulthood to collect subsidies and fulfill obligations. Eligible legal military females can also initiate paid date applications through the association.

Yet for all these years, being F-grade, Everett had been ignored. This was the first and second time he had ever received a date application.

Repeatedly declining wasn’t a permanent solution. Fortunately, he had the other’s optical-link account and immediately sent a message: I have a Female Sovereign.

You only have a Female Attendant, not a Female Sovereign. Walter replied quickly.

So he had been investigated. Everett immediately understood why the military female was interested in him again; he had likely obtained news of his grade change from the doctor. A B-grade high-rank was indeed much more sought-after than an F-grade.

Just as he was about to decline again, the other party sent several messages in rapid succession.

Excellency Everett, please don’t be so quick to refuse. Don’t look at this as a date; just consider it a meal between friends, alright?

It would also be a good time to handle the compensation matters with the cargo company.

Besides, your Female Attendant might be very pleased to see us on a date.

Solas would be pleased to see him on a date with another military female? Impossible!

But Everett’s hand paused. In the end, he didn’t decline, nor did he agree.

Thus, the date application was temporarily shelved.

Everett got off work at 5:30 PM. The Magic Lamp Company wasn’t far from home it took only half an hour. On the way, he bought dinner from a “Military Female Snack Street” he had just discovered.

When he got home, Solas and the little cub were already waiting. As the containers were opened, the aroma of food instantly filled the small house.

At the dinner table, Sears tried to bring up the confession he had mentioned earlier several times, but he was interrupted by the little high-rank every time. First, Everett introduced the snack street and the fried rice he bought, then he began describing the company, his new colleague Liam, his new position, and his new discoveries about Kalatin. Finally, he turned his spear toward the only one happily eating at the table, Bigu, criticizing him for buying too many messy things.

Bigu took a large gulp to finish his meal, huffed, flicked his tail, and left.

“The little cub truly needs proper education.” Sears watched as the cub sprang directly onto Little Dummy’s shoulder and began mimicking assassination moves—slitting throats, snapping neck vertebrae… and the like. The cubs of the Fourteenth District lived very fiercely and savagely indeed.

Only the two of them remained in the kitchen. Amidst the sounds of tidying the table, Sears spoke again: “About talking properly today…”

“I know what you want to say!” Everett didn’t let him finish. “But can you listen to me first?”

Sears thought he didn’t know, but he stopped washing the dishes, wiped his hands clean, and turned around to wait. “Fine, go ahead.”

Everett took a deep breath, staring into those steady blue eyes: “I love you!”

Sears frowned. “You’re still—”

But the little high-rank stepped forward, covering the military female’s mouth across the bite-guard. “Shh… let me finish.”

“In my heart, a confession should be a perfect, solemn ceremony. In my imagination, it should be grand and joyful. A highlight reel playing on a big screen, a group of friends doing a flash mob dance in a plaza, and then I, wearing my most expensive suit, would pull a bouquet of roses from behind my back and drop to one knee…”

“It’s very cheesy and very cringey! But… the passionate, grand atmosphere is there!”

Sears raised an eyebrow and was about to speak, but his nose and mouth were pressed tight again, making breathing a bit difficult. He, a nearly two-meter-tall military female, was trapped between the kitchen counter and the high-rank by the palm and the other arm of a high-rank who was only about 1.8 meters tall.

He could push him away at any time, but seeing how serious and hardworking the other was… he decided to listen.

“It could also be somewhere else the seaside, a mountaintop, a cruise ship, a warship. But no matter what, it shouldn’t be like this, here, in a tiny kitchen full of leftovers where two adults bump into each other just by turning around.”

“But there is never a perfect confession in this world. The longer I wait, the more afraid I get. And you haven’t given me time. So I thought, to hell with perfection, to hell with the plan! I’m going to mess it up! That’s why I’m standing here, prepared for nothing, just saying… saying everything I want to say.”

“I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say I’m too young, I don’t know you well enough, I’m just acting on impulse… using countless reasons to try to convince me that my feelings for you—that liking, that heartbeat, that passion, that urge to both invade and protect are all just illusions and mistakes.”

“And you really are a very persuasive guy. As long as I listen, I can’t help but follow your logic and think: Is everything really as you say?“

“But by what right! What about my own feelings? What about my own thoughts? So I won’t listen! I won’t be disturbed by you! I’m going to speak! And I cannot lie—I can’t lie to you, and I can’t lie to myself!”

“I used to be… very lonely. I felt like I didn’t belong here. For a long time, I only did one thing: try my best to survive and tell myself that life has its own meaning. So I created a god for myself, Admiral Sears. I looked up to him, anticipated him, and loved him, as if through him I could love something, grasp something.”

“But then I met you. Our meeting was terrible, and the process wasn’t much better; it was truly an eye-opening experience for an insect. But somehow… for the first time, I felt something real.”

“You trust me, teach me, help me, and at a life-or-death moment, you were willing to give up your life to save me. How could my heart not be moved? How could I not love you?”

“I just like you! I just love you! Whenever I think about the days ahead, where we, me and you, and Bigu will always be together, eating together, chatting together, huddling on the sofa playing games, telling boring dad jokes… I feel like…”

“The future isn’t so long, and it’s not so terrifying. I can look forward to tomorrow, to the star rising and setting, to the stars filling the sky, to every second, every day, and every year that follows.”

“A lifetime isn’t that long. I want you, I want to be with you, I want to possess you, I want to kiss you, I want to caress you, I want to kiss the tip of your nose every morning, I want to watch you fall asleep, I want to touch your skin under the hot water of the shower, I want to… suck and lick, kiss and possess, hold and squeeze, invade and… love.”

“So, I hope you… give me a chance… can you?”

After he finished, silence returned to the narrow space, and Everett realized only then how embarrassed he was. With his blood boiling earlier, he hadn’t noticed, but now he realized they were in an overly intimate posture. He had practically forced the military female against the counter. Solas was leaning back under the pressure of his palm over his mouth, and Everett had unconsciously moved closer and louder during the confession, even pressing one leg between the other’s knees.

Seven words flashed in Everett’s mind: The Overbearing High-rank Falls for Me!

He hurriedly let go of the military female’s mouth and stepped back, trying to widen the overly invasive distance. But in his frantic movements, he somehow accidentally triggered the sensor faucet of the kitchen counter.

The sound of rushing water suddenly filled the quiet space.

“Pfft…” Sears burst into laughter. He reached out to steady the retreating little high-rank, waited until he was steady, and then asked, “Are you finished?”

The little high-rank’s face was red to the tips of his ears. He nodded, staring at him with bright, beautiful golden eyes, like a good student who had handed in an exam and was waiting for a teacher to grade it, or a prisoner waiting for a final judgment…

Sears wiped away his smile, turned off the faucet, and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Everett, you are a very good little high-rank, but I cannot accept.”

Everett’s shoulders slumped slightly. He felt a bit of disappointment, but mostly it was expected.

True enough, he already knew. So he didn’t lose heart: “Can you give me a specific reason?”

“I am not suited to enter a… normal relationship. Besides, I am not as good as you say. You don’t understand my past. What if I were a wanted criminal? What would you do then?”

“Then I would go with you, wandering the universe!”

Sears shook his head, but a smile remained. He raised his hand, resting it gently on Everett’s head, feeling the soft, cool silver hair beneath his palm, and then slowly and gently rubbed the little high-rank’s head. Like a kind elder.

“Reality is not a comedy movie. Running for your life in the universe is not a fun thing.”

“But I really love you! I’m really willing to do it!” Everett stated urgently.

“I know.” Sears nodded, then he was silent for a moment before apologizing again: “I’m sorry.”

Everett’s heart sank rapidly. “I don’t want to hear you apologize; I want to hear you say ‘I agree,’ ‘I allow it’! Why? Won’t you give me even a single chance?”

“Because, Everett… insects change. One day in the future, you will remember today’s scene and just laugh it off.”

Sears believed every word he said, yet saying it to Everett was still not an easy task. It was like telling a very hardworking student, “I’m sorry, I know you worked hard, but you still failed.”

“Because I have no confidence in myself, in us, in the future.”

“Since insects change, why can’t the one who changes be you? Perhaps one day, you will grow enough confidence in me, in us…”

Sears retracted his hand from the little high-rank’s head, but it was grabbed and held tight by the other. “One chance, I beg of you?”

“I know you don’t love me now, but you haven’t fallen for any other high-rank, have you? Then why won’t you allow me to love you, care for you, and value you?”

Sears forcefully pulled his hand back. “You don’t understand me. I might not even deserve to get—”

“Whether you deserve it is not up to you!”

“I love you! I wish I could tear my heart out for you so you can see it is alive, beating, and full of love.”

“But love isn’t exactly a good thing. It makes me afraid, it makes me worry, it makes me panic, and it makes me stop feeling like myself. Every time I think of you, I think of the wounds on your face, your broken wings, your rejection on the ship, and your secretive past. I feel heartache, sadness, confusion, and even self-blame…”

“Since it’s painful, then don’t—”

“But every time I think of you, I also grow endless courage. My chest feels sour but sweet, stuffed to the brim. I realize that no matter what, no matter how, I still really, really want to…”

“…love you properly and with all my might. Can I?”

Everett tilted his head slightly, his golden eyes filled with two small lakes.

This confession was a mess, incoherent, and certainly lacked a script. Neither of them could convince the other.

Sears wanted to refuse. He should refuse, pull back the distance, be friends, or even superior and subordinate but absolutely not… partners.

What mature military female would believe in so-called love from a high-rank?

But, but…

At certain moments, the little high-rank was truly hard to refuse.

He shouldn’t have let him speak first; he had lost the initiative.

Sears raised his hand, using his knuckle to brush away the tear about to fall from the little high-rank’s eye, and then said: “Alright.”

“I allow it.”

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