Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy

Chapter 164 - 165 | Honey and Starlight

"You’re humoring me."

"Little bit."

She stood there for a long moment, portfolio clutched like a shield, looking at me like she couldn’t decide whether to kiss me again or throw something at my head. The drain still pulsed between us, a low hum of connection that neither of us could ignore.

"Wednesday," she said finally.

"What about it?"

"I have a free period after lunch. Conference room 3-A is empty until four."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought this was a one-time thing."

"It was." She smoothed her skirt, not meeting my eyes. "This would be a different time. Entirely separate incident."

"Ah. Loopholes."

"I’m a Stark. We’re good at finding them."

She left without looking back, but I caught the way her hand trembled on the door handle. The way she paused for half a second before pushing through. The way her Essentia reached back toward mine even as she walked away, like it didn’t want to let go.

I sat in the conference chair for another five minutes, processing.

Six heroines down. One to go.

Aurora’s face flashed through my mind. Golden eyes and silver hair and that kiss in the darkness that neither of us had talked about since. She was dating Nolan. She was supposed to be the original protagonist’s endgame. She was the one person in this whole mess who might actually be off-limits.

My phone buzzed.

AURORA: Can we talk?

I stared at the message for a long time.

ROME: Name the place.

Her response came thirty seconds later.

AURORA: The observation deck. 9 PM. Come alone.

I pocketed my phone and started getting dressed, my mind already running scenarios. Aurora wanted to talk. After everything that happened in the match, after Nolan ended up in the infirmary, after she fired those photon blasts at my chest while looking at me like I’d betrayed her.

This could go a lot of ways. Most of them complicated.

The drain hummed with anticipation.

I told it to shut up.

The observation deck sat on the roof of the main academic building, accessible only through a maintenance stairwell that most students didn’t know existed. The view overlooked all of Century City, a glittering grid of lights that spread toward the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.

I arrived at eight fifty-five because I’m not an idiot.

Aurora was already there.

She stood at the railing with her back to me, silver hair catching the city lights like liquid mercury. Her hero costume had been replaced with civilian clothes. Simple jeans and a cream-colored sweater that made her look younger than usual. Less like the academy’s top-ranked support fighter and more like a girl trying to figure out where she stood.

"You came," she said without turning.

"You asked."

"I wasn’t sure you would."

I crossed the rooftop and stopped a few feet behind her. Close enough to talk. Far enough to give her space. "You shot at me today."

"You hurt Nolan."

"He hurt me first."

"That’s not—" She turned, and I saw the conflict in her golden eyes. The anger and the confusion and something else underneath. Something that looked a lot like want. "He’s in the infirmary, Rome. Severe Essentia depletion. They’re saying he might not be able to compete in the exhibition match."

"Good."

"Good?"

"He came at me with full kinetic discharge. Broke four of my ribs. Drove me through a building. If I hadn’t drained him, he would have killed me."

"He wasn’t trying to kill you."

"Could’ve fooled me."

She turned back to the railing, gripping it hard enough that her knuckles went white. "You didn’t have to drain him that deeply. You could have stopped earlier."

"Maybe." I moved to stand beside her, looking out at the city. "But I didn’t."

"Why?"

Because he touched you. Because he looks at you like you belong to him. Because every time I see you two together I want to rip him apart and show you what real attention feels like.

I didn’t say any of that.

"Because I wanted to win," I said instead. "And winning meant making sure he couldn’t get back up."

"That’s not—" She shook her head. "You’re different now. Than you used to be."

"Different how?"

"Before the transfer, you were just... Rome. Rich kid. Playboy. Everyone knew you were coasting on your family name." She glanced at me, silver hair shifting in the night breeze. "Now you’re something else. Something dangerous."

"Is that a problem?"

"I don’t know."

We stood in silence for a long moment. The city hummed below us, a constant pulse of life and light. I could feel her Essentia from here, that familiar taste of honey and starlight, reaching toward me like it remembered what we’d shared in the darkness.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked finally. "At the party. Before everything went wrong."

"Why did you kiss me back?"

"I asked first."

"Because I wanted to." Simple. True. "Because you were standing there looking at me like I was the only person in the room, and I couldn’t think of a single reason not to."

Her breath caught. "That’s not—"

"Your turn."

She was quiet for so long I thought she wasn’t going to answer. Then, softly: "Because I wanted to know what it would be like."

"And?"

"Different than I expected."

"Good different or bad different?"

"I don’t know." She finally looked at me, golden eyes catching the city lights. "You taste like fire, Rome. Like something burning. Like if I got too close, I’d never be able to pull away."

The drain stirred at her words, reaching toward her Essentia like a plant toward sunlight. I kept it closed. Locked down. This conversation was too important to contaminate with supernatural influence.

"Is that what you’re afraid of?" I asked. "Not being able to pull away?"

"I’m afraid of a lot of things."

"Name one."

"Nolan." The word came out raw. "I’m afraid of what this means for him. For us. For everything we’ve built together."

"What have you built together?"

She laughed, bitter and soft. "I don’t know anymore. I thought I did. Before you came back, before everything changed, I thought I knew exactly what my life was going to look like. Graduate top of my class. Get recruited by a major agency. Marry Nolan and become the power couple everyone expected us to be."

"Sounds boring."

"It was safe."

"Safety’s overrated."

"Easy to say when you’re the dangerous one."