Noah tugged at Levi’s arm and looked up at him with gentle understanding. He felt both happy for Levi’s sake and stuffy inside that his pitiful brother-in-law had no one to care for him.

Levi looked down at his adorable darling and felt like he had been injected with a stimulant.

Ah, ah! His baby was so lovely!!

Look how enthusiastic he was about sleeping with him, Levi, alone tonight!

Just look at that gaze! If that isn’t a doting gaze of a lover, he doesn’t know what is!

Blackie nearly foamed at the mouth, ‘I told you! I told you he’d misinterpret the signals you are sending him, host!’

The mentioned host clearly completely missed Blackie’s agitation, “Blackie, you know, I’ve never tried skiing before. I’ve always envied the rich kids in school who went skiing with their folk for winter holidays.”

Blackie swallowed down a mouthful of metaphorical blood, glancing between his host and his host’s future husband.

Retard of a host: ‘Yahoo! (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ* Skiing! Skiing!’

Future husbando: ‘Yahoo! (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ* My juicy cabbage is ready for plucking!’

In the end, Blackie’s agitation burst out with, “The so-called rich kids in your school were clearly just rich in comparison to you, poor little orphans! Real rich people wouldn’t go skiing for winter holidays – they’d go to take a dip in a tropical paradise.”

Noah ignored his sourpuss of a system once again. After tasking one of their people to bring their luggage up, this little waifu ran off with his husbando to have some winter fun.

Family-friendly fun, of course.

…The mature-rated stuff was left for night time.

***

When Noah and Levi had posted a status update yesterday, mentioning the bachelor party, they didn’t say where the party would be held. This was because they didn’t wish for the terrorists to run over to prepare that same night – they themselves needed some time to set up their trap.

And that’s also why they planned the party for the day after. The purpose of this free day that they would be spending “goofing off” was to let the terrorists plan out tomorrow’s attack. Noah and Levi had left Concordia with great fanfare, and by now, the terrorists should know exactly where they would be holding that party.

According to their estimates, Swiftrain would arrive at the resort today and would take the day to scout out the layout of the resort, the venue of the party, and Noah’s and Levi’s activities. Activities that involved Levi taking Noah around the resort, like a rich man showing off his property to impress his crush. (Blackie swallowed down another mouthful of blood because… the crush was indeed impressed. ಥ‿ಥ)

Activities that, besides passing the time, were meant to let Swiftrain know that the only way for him to pull off that hit would be at tomorrow’s party.

A bit of eavesdropping on the hotel staff would allow Swiftrain to figure out that the party would be held on top of the east skyscraper tomorrow afternoon. And with that information, Swiftrain would go up to the other rooftop to check out this venue and figure out the ideal position to shoot from.

As for why that attack could only be performed at the party, that was because, today, from morning until night, regardless of what Levi and Noah did, if they weren’t behind bulletproof glass, they were under a Shield.

This time they even had multiple Shielders in their party, thus, one Shielder could shield Levi and Noah, while another could Shield the first Shielder and the remaining staff. Using this method, Noah and Levi’s entourage had always kept a respectable distance from the two, giving them an illusion of being alone on a date.

Suffice to say, the entire time while Trey was wistfully staring at his young charge with a bleeding heart, Levi was on cloud nine.

The two, of course, went skiing, and Noah didn’t even need ski lessons to glide around the white snow like Santa Claus on his sled.

Oh, because he was a worldborn with high specs?

No, because Aris already knew how to ski!

After that, Levi took the merry, ruddy-cheeked Santa– ahem, Noah, to lunch, while their entourage dined a few tables away.

Then they went out to play in the snow again.

“Look, this is how you make a proper snowball,” with a somber tone, Noah explained to Levi, who was barely holding in his laughter. Noticing Levi’s obvious amusement, Noah gently punched him on the chest in retaliation, “Why are you laughing? You think how to make a snowball is obvious? Hmph! Let me tell you, it’s not! I’ve rarely seen anyone do it right!”

Faced with his coquettish kitten, Levi immediately surrendered, “Mn, mn, show me, I’ll learn properly.”

Noah hmphed again and continued to demonstrate, “See, when you are making a snowball, you have to keep in mind that this will be used to hit someone. A snowball fight is supposed to be a fun game between friends. It isn’t meant for hurting people. And this is why it is so important to make the snowballs properly.”

Noah brought up his finished snowball for Levi’s inspection, “When you are shaping a snowball, you are supposed to tap it into shape gently. It needs to be small and fragile, crumbling easily.”

Levi, with the corners of his lips unconsciously upturned, kept nodding like chicken pecking rice.

“Getting hit with a snowball that has been compressed too much is no different than getting hit by a rock. You can kill people. So, remember, use a gentle touch to shape the snow into a snowball!” Noah turned to face Levi, whose nodding abruptly stopped, the previous smile nowhere to be seen.

Levi looked at the small snowball, presented in his darling’s palm like a treasure, for a few long seconds.

Then he faced his baby and spoke out in a grave tone, “How… how about we play something… less dangerous?”

Noah, “…”

…

In the end, they indeed went to do something else.

Levi could be really stubborn about certain things.

And one of those things included his refusal to fling a snowball at his baby.

Noah was helpless about this, and as the easily distracted sort, he found another fun activity they could do soon after.

***

While the two boys were having the time of their lives, Noah’s sister, after a long absence, had finally returned home. To her mother’s very awkwardly apologetic facial expression, “Ah… honey… you… sigh~ I don’t think this wedding will be happening…”

Receiving such a greeting the moment she came home, the eldest Cordia sibling tripped and hit the same pot Fynn had run into only a day before, “…What?”

“Honey!” Cordia mommy hurriedly trotted over to check for injuries. Only after scanning her plant twice over without finding any signs of damage, did she let out a sigh of relief.

The daughter that received not a single worried glance, “…” QAQ

Cordia mommy rolled her eyes as if to say, ‘you are Healer; why would I be worried about you? Duh!’

The daughter, “…” 〒▽〒 ‘Healers have feelings too…’

The eldest Cordia sibling blinked away her unshed tears and went straight to the point, “What… what did Levi say?” Her fiancé must be having quite a temper tantrum if even her mother had heard about it! Was he so mad he spoke shit about her? ‘Gosh, he is so petty!’

“He didn’t say anything…” Cordia mommy drawled, “But he didn’t need to spell it out…” She sighed wistfully. “His behavior spoke volumes in itself.”

“His behavior? What behavior?” The younger Cordia’s wide amber eyes stared at her mother befuddled. What kind of behavior would her fiancé need to have for it to spell out ‘not getting married’??

“Just…” How does one tell their daughter that her fiancé is after her brother instead?

Cordia mommy wistfully sighed again, “Just talk to him as soon as possible.”

“Fine, fine,” Her daughter pouted and fled upstairs to her room.

Only after slouching about for the majority of the day did she gather up enough courage to call Levi.

‘Everyone’s telling me to talk to him.’ She grudgingly mumbled under her breath. ‘Fine then! I’ll talk!’

Finally, she gathered up her courage to press that call button, feeling like a martyr heading for her last battle.

As she waited for the other side to pick up her call, seconds ticked by, feeling like hours.

She waited and waited and waited and then…!

…realized that her fiancé put his communicator into “do not disturb” mode…

“…”

This is payback, right?! This is definitely his payback!

‎(ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ ┻━┻