Chapter 41: Back Home!

The house was silent for a few seconds after everyone else had gone to bed.

“Lime, you’re being awfully quiet. What’s wrong?” Evan asked.

“I didn’t want to wake anyone up accidentally by being too loud,” Lime said.

Evan stared at her blankly in the dark kitchen, pausing for a few seconds.

“Then why are you so loud at night when we’re at home?” Evan asked.

Lime blushed.

“T-that’s different! Our walls are soundproof. Nobody else can hear us.” Lime said.

“Lime, you’re too loud,” Evan said, covering her mouth.

He waited a few seconds before removing his hand.

“I don’t think that was loud enough to wake anyone up, thankfully,” Evan said.

Lime just stared at him expectantly.

“Why do you look so excited?” Evan said.

Lime just continued staring.

“...Fine,” Evan said, petting her head.

Lime smiled.

“Alright. That’s good, right?” Evan said, slightly embarrassed.

Lime nodded.

“You don’t have to stay completely silent...oh, that reminds me. You said that the walls in our apartment are soundproof, right?” Evan asked.

“Why are you asking?” Lime asked.

“Well, there are a few reasons. First is that I was the one who worked on Limetech tower's design with Kane. I don’t remember putting soundproof walls in any of the apartments.” Evan said.

“Uhh. Maybe they were added while you were in stasis?” Lime said.

“No, if there were any changes or modifications I would easily notice them. There’s no difference between how it looks now and how it looked before the explosions. The only changes made to the room were because of you.” Evan said.

“W-What's the other reason?” Lime asked, a nervous smile on her face.

“Oh. The neighbors can clearly hear us, and commented on it when I was in the elevator one time.” Evan said.

Lime turned bright red with embarrassment.

“You could have said that fiiiiirrrst!!” Lime whined, covering her face.

“Lime, it’s not a big deal. You don’t need to worry about it.” Evan said.

Lime uncovered her face and took a deep breath.

“You’re right. Yeah... It isn’t a big deal. Heh..ha.. In fact, it makes me feel tingly when I think about how others could hear us. Wait, can they see through the windows, too? They can, right? People could have been watching the whole time. What if they were recording us?” Lime panted, starting to grin.

She was still bright red, but she seemed more excited than embarrassed now. Her eyes became obsessive swirls, sucking Evan into the near point of no return.

Evan froze for about ten straight seconds, staring at nothing in a daze.

“Evan? Dear? Are you all right?” Lime asked, waving her hand in front of Evan’s face.

Evan snapped out of his trance, shaking his head.

“Yes I am fine. Oh no. It seems like we are about to go back to the other world. Darn, I guess we have to end this conversation here.” Evan said in a desperate attempt to stop Lime from straying any further down that path.

“Dear, why do you sound like a roboooooo” lime started, her voice distorting.

[biotech stasis powering down] a mechanical voice announced.

“oooot! Ah! Wh-Oh! We’re back! I feel kinda weird, though.” Lime said, looking around and rubbing her head.

Evan faced away from lime, heading to the light switch.

He took a deep breath.

“Yeah, that’s pretty normal after spending a lot of time in the second world if you’re incompatible with it….. It’ll wear off in a few hours.” Evan said, trying to hide a depressing tone and a sad expression.

“Ugh. You are a horrible actor, dear. Even if I’m dizzy, it’s easy to tell something is wrong. Are you all right?” Lime said, attempting to stand.

Evan grinned slightly.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I just need to try harder if I want to protect you. Sit back down, lime. I don’t want you staggering around and falling on something dangerous.” Evan said.

“Okaay. Ow. Why am I always the one who gets dizzy?” Lime asked, falling back into her seat.

“I’m used to being dizzy, so it doesn’t really affect me too much,” Evan said.

“That’s not how that works.” Lime said.

“Uhhh. Well, what about the time when Teacher teleported us? I got dizzy from that, right?” Evan asked.

“I pretty much passed out. Dizzy doesn’t come close.” Lime said.

“True. You were out of it for a few days.” Evan said.

“It makes me feel like I’m dead weight sometimes.” Lime said.

“You aren’t dead weight.” Evan said firmly.

“How am I not dead weight?” Lime asked, yawning.

“You are a weight, but it’s not dead. I get the feeling that, if you weren’t here to help me, the world would have stayed dead forever. I would never want to fix it. I probably would have said something along the lines of “I did all that I was expected to. The second world is fine. Phil can take care of this place.” If you weren’t there when I woke up. If you weren’t there, I don’t think I would have stayed here for long. I would go out and explore, searching for…..” Evan said.

He sighed.

“Lime. My entire life I’ve felt like there was something missing. I scoured the world from the poles to the rainforests. I’ve participated in almost everything I can think of, from sports to science, to hobbies, cultures, and more. I’ve met hundreds of thousands of people. I’ve made billions of things. From arts and crafts to crazy inventions. Do you know what I found, after all that?” Evan asked.

“Nothing. I found nothing. I felt empty. My fondest memory was of a lime. For me, that lime was special. It was the only thing I could ever think of that came close to what I was searching for. I wanted it. I wanted to find my ‘lime’ again. I didn’t want to feel empty anymore.” Evan said, pausing for a moment.

“I never stopped searching until I woke up from stasis that day when you first found me. The first thing I felt was the fact that I wasn’t empty. I didn’t realize it immediately, but it didn’t take too long. I realized that I don’t have to search anymore. All I need to do is keep you by my side. All I want is to spend the rest of eternity with you happily. I don’t need anything else.” Evan said, smiling.

“This world is our home. I don’t want you to have to live in a wasteland. If you weren’t here, I would have left it like this forever. If you weren’t here, I would have been unable to keep my sanity.” Evan said.

“You’re the anchor that keeps me from losing everything. You make sure I can’t drift off, that I don’t float away. You weigh me down. And I love you for it.” Evan said.

He sighed, letting out a small chuckle.

“I’m going to go make grilled cheese, do you want me to bring you anything?” Evan asked in a louder voice.

“Wha? Oh! I’d like that. And a root beer!” Lime said, waking up at the mention of food.