Future's First Marriage, Later Love - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

And so they took him as their own. If he hadn’t met that person back then, he would likely still be working as an operator on the Pandora border today.

“I’ll try to contact them again in a few days,” Spinai frowned. “My equipment here isn’t quite up to par yet, and their newly developed interference system and AI robots are too powerful. I’ve tried several times to hack into their internal central operating system, but I failed and nearly got caught…”

“Is that so…” Mai Hai thought for a moment and said, “If it doesn’t work out, let me try next time.”

Spinai said, “But your current identity might not be very convenient. Besides, it takes at least three or four days; how are you going to explain that to that guy?”

Mai Hai considered it. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll find a way. You just get the equipment and the location ready when the time comes.”

Spinai snapped his fingers. “No problem. I’d do anything for you.”

Mai Hai propped his chin on his hand with a beaming smile. “Oh, is that so…”

Hearing Mai Hai’s intentionally drawn-out tone, Spinai shuddered and said, “Uh… just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“But you clearly just said it…” Mai Hai’s smile didn’t fade.

Waves in a Sea of Vinegar (Part I)

Spinai made a “let me go” gesture and said, “Alright, I give up. I’m afraid of you.”

Mai Hai laughed heartily at those words.

Just then, an unfriendly male voice suddenly cut in from the side: “What are you doing here!”

Mai Hai and Spinai turned their heads at the same time and saw Pollack, Kedexin, Chris, and Finael standing not far away.

The unfriendly voice had, of course, come from Pollack. They had just finished work, and since Pollack had been away from the group for too long, they insisted he come out for a drink today no matter what. According to Chris, the owner of “Blues” in the city center was good-looking, the decor was unique, and the drinks were authentic.

But Pollack never expected that upon arriving, he would see Mai Hai chatting and laughing with a beautiful man. Instantly, an nameless fire flared up in his heart. He wasn’t sure if he was angry because his spouse was ignoring him to flirt with someone else, or if there was another reason—like liking him… But Pollack knew that regardless of the reason, he simply hated seeing Mai Hai smile so happily at another man.

Mai Hai asked with a smile, “How come you’re here?”

Hearing this, Pollack felt even more annoyed and snapped, “If you can be here, why can’t I be here?”

Spinai sat nearby, his eyes darting back and forth between Mai Hai and Pollack. After Pollack spoke like that, he originally thought Mai Hai would mess with him, but the result was shocking: Mai Hai actually spoke to Pollack gently: “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Pollack snorted. “Then what did you mean?”

“Nothing.” Mai Hai looked amusedly at the sulking, child-like Pollack. “I was a bit bored at home, so I came to chat with a friend.”

“There was no need to chat that happily,” Pollack insisted, refusing to let it go.

Their conversation, which rivaled that of kindergarteners, left the others standing nearby dumbfounded, staring at each other in disbelief.

Kedexin poked Chris. “Are you sure that’s Little Spinach?”

Chris also looked dazed. “Probably…”

Kedexin said thoughtfully to Chris, “Mai Hai’s charm is truly powerful…”

Chris nodded. “Yeah…”

Only Finael rolled his eyes and gave a cold snort, his face full of disdain.

Spina was somewhat speechless. Perhaps this was a case of “one thing yielding to another.” How else could he explain the scene before him? Before today, he could never have imagined that Mai Hai would be so gentle toward someone…

Noticing that everyone around was staring thoughtfully at them, Mai Hai gave a light cough and pointed to Spinai. “This is my friend, Spinai.”

“Nice to meet you.” Kedexin and Chris hurried to greet Spinai.

Pollack, however, gave a cold, sullen nod and remained silent, while Finael held his chin so high it was almost touching the sky. Born into a family of high-ranking officials and pampered since childhood due to his beauty, he had always been like a proud peacock. If it weren’t for Pollack being here, he wouldn’t have bothered coming at all.

With Spinai’s high EQ, the situation was crystal clear. He immediately utilized his social skills to invite everyone to sit down and asked, “What would you like to drink? Since you’re all friends of Mai Hai, you’re friends of mine. Today is on me.”

“No need,” Pollack flatly refused the kindness.

Spinai looked at him with a teasing smile. “Oh? You wouldn’t happen to be jealous, would you?”

Knowing Pollack’s personality well and fearing a scene, Mai Hai cut off Spinai’s joke: “Alright, Spinai.”

Spinai glanced at Mai Hai, his eyes full of mirth, before finally turning toward the bar to mix drinks.

Pollack snorted unhappily at their intimacy and turned his head away. Finael seized the moment: “Pollack, I just remembered there’s a Marine Star biology exhibition nearby. Shall we go take a look?”

Hearing this, Mai Hai felt a surge of inexplicable annoyance. He narrowed his eyes and coldly scrutinized Finael. He believed that anyone with eyes could see that this Finael fellow had feelings for Pollack.

However, Pollack didn’t seem to appreciate the offer. He said coldly, “Not interested.”

Being rejected in public made Finael lose face, especially since Kedexin laughed out loud without any tact. Kedexin hadn’t liked Finale much anyway—his high-and-mighty attitude was off-putting, unlike Mai Hai, who was always so gentle.

Finael was about to stand up and leave when Chris stopped him, acting as the peacemaker with a smile: “Forget it, forget it. You know what Little Spinach and Little Ke are like. Don’t take it personally.”

Only after Chris gave him a way out did Finael sit back down reluctantly, acting as if he were doing Chris a huge favor.

Just then, Spinai arrived with the drinks he had prepared. It was his specialty, “Blue Universe.” It used Vodka as the base, mixed with Blue Curacao, lemon juice, and orange liqueur, garnished with golden kiwi.

Mai Hai picked up his glass to drink, but Pollack snatched it away. Seeing everyone watching him, Pollack drained the glass in one gulp and said, “He’s allergic to alcohol.” After drinking it, Pollack looked at the empty glass with a strange expression.

Hearing this, Spinai raised an eyebrow at Mai Hai and then said, “For his glass, I replaced the alcohol with juice. It looks the same, but it’s just a fruit blend.”

The moment he finished speaking, Pollack’s face instantly heated up. Fortunately, the lighting in Blues was dim, so it wasn’t obvious. Kedexin patted Pollack on the shoulder and said, “I didn’t know you knew how to look after someone.”

“Hmph, I just didn’t want him to embarrass me if he got drunk,” Pollack said, holding his own glass in an obvious attempt to cover up his embarrassment.

“Is that so?” Chris joined in, as the chance to see Pollack flustered was rare.

Mai Hai propped his chin on his hand, watching them with a beaming smile. Pollack’s blushing face hadn’t escaped his sharp eyes. He truly found Pollack adorable—a grown man, a general, who usually acted like an ice block, yet actually knew how to blush.

Spinai nudged Mai Hai with his elbow and whispered in a voice only the two could hear, “Yours seems quite cute. No wonder you can’t bear to mistreat him.”

“Is that so?” Mai Hai whispered back.

Spinai gave him a “don’t pretend” look and asked, “Isn’t it?”

Waves in a Sea of Vinegar (Part II)

Finael looked at Spinai and Mai Hai and said, “You two really have a good relationship.”

Spinai had been annoyed by Finale for a while—his “the whole world owes me money” and self-centered attitude. Now he finally found an opening. He looked at Finael, then at Pollack, and said with a beaming smile, “Your relationship… is really not that great, isn’t it?”

Upon hearing this, Finael naturally couldn’t sit still. He wanted to retort, but after a long pause, he couldn’t find the words to strike back at Spinai. Finally, he chose to turn his spear toward the seemingly weaker Mai Hai. Spinai gave a cold snort and said, “I couldn’t tell—you don’t look like much, but your methods aren’t bad.”

Mai Hai chuckled but didn’t take the bait.

Pollack, however, stood up unhappily and said to Mai Hai, “Let’s go home.”

Before Mai Hai could speak, Spinai cut in: “Stay for dinner.”

Kedexin chimed in as well: “Yeah, stay for dinner.”

Pollack thought for a moment…