ZER

TWENTY THREE

I try to straighten my dress as Zer is on the phone. If it were not because of that persistence rings I'd be spread on his massive working desk, half naked. "Can we eat now?" I tell him, starving.

He smiles and nods, "Let's go to the break room. I'd like to introduce you to some of my colleagues."

I happily nod and climb down his lap. My legs are a bit wobbly but then again what do I expect after he put his mouth between my legs? I cannot believe we did that in his office. I always thought he's a stiff person, to see him unable to resist me makes my heart swell.

As he opens the door we can see people are lining outside their room or cubicles. I immediately grab Zer's arm and cling to him. "Is there any reason why all of you are not working?" His voice is loud, clear, and cold. And soon everyone scatters back to where ever they should be.

Zer holds me with one arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. "What do you bring for lunch?" He asks.

"Not sure, you have to ask DAI for that." I smile. We get inside an elevator and stop in a few floors below. Surprisingly, the break room—or should I say hall?—is more or less packed. I thought as we otherwise occupied for almost an hour the break room would be empty. As soon as Zer foot touch the floor the hall becomes quiet and I feel all eyes are on us. I heard a lot of whispers, but Zer pays them no attention.

He walk straight to the middle of the room to a table, he pulls a chair for me—a gesture I teach him to do as human's custom—and as I sit down I can hear the loud gasp from all around us. I flinch when I hear it but Zer is as cool as a cucumber.

As he takes a seat I take out our lunch, two plates, two sets of utensils, and some vegetables in thick soup.

"Please tell me you like this dish," I mumble because honestly, it doesn't look appetizing.

"It's one of my favorite dishes, DAI knows my preference well." He says, "Although I have to say after my appetizer I don't think anything can top that."

My face burns for a good five seconds and I lightly punch him on his shoulder. "Stop teasing me," I tell him.

"Two people can play with words, wife."

I smile sweetly, "Very well, husband, your wish is my command." He almost chokes on the soup when I tell him that.

Our attention shifted as we hear a soft ding and his wrist flashes a light, informing of an incoming call, Zer tap it once and answer to whoever it is on the other side, the conversation is brief and soon he asks me, "A good friend of mine is coming, we supposed have our lunch together but, I hope you don't mind if he joins us."

"Of course not, I'd like to meet your friends."

"You met him before at The Choosing event, he was the one with the blue cape." He explains.

"Ah... okay," And soon Zer looks at the entrance of the break room, a tall muscular male walks with a genuine smile on his face.

"Hello, It's very nice to meet you again, may I reintroduce myself? My name is Lor, The High Minister of Inter-race Affairs." He sits on the other side of the table in front of Zer and me.

"I do remember you and your speech," I tell him.

"Is that so? Did I leave a good speech?" He asks again.

"Yes, I've been trying to speed up my pairing to bring a new beginning to Tzarian." I say as I quoting his words back then. He let out a throaty laugh.

"You're truly blessed, my friend." He tells Zer. Suddenly in the middle of the table, there is an opening and a small tray of the table appears, I didn't expect that so I look at Zer in question. "I believe that is mine," Lor says as he pulls the tray towards him, he unwrapped his lunch which looks like a sandwich.

"So..." Lor says as he bit his lunch, "I've been dying to ask the most unspoken question in Tzar."

"Which is?" I ask him back.

"Lor." Zer says in a warning tone.

"Words are flying—is that Tzarian idiom?—that both of you have been getting intimate without registering to the pairing council first?"

Ah...

"Don't answer him, Kate, he is a disgrace of our kind," Zer says, although I'm sure he was joking, I notice he feels bothered by Lor's question.

"We have, repeatedly," I say shrugging my shoulders. Once again the whole hall goes quiet, have these people listening to our conversation?

"I thought so, my friend here has changed since your pairing." He says again.

"Lor, in the name of unive—"

"How so?" I fish him.

Lor smiles widely completely ignoring Zer. "Well, he's more ruthless, if that is even possible. You know, people always afraid of him whenever they see him, but now, people are running away just from mentioning his name in public."

I raise my eyebrows and laugh. "But why? He is the sweetest male ever."

Zer's body stiffens and Lor chuckled. "I believe you just destroy his reputation in front of his employees."

"Oh I'm not worried about that, whoever walked to multiple wars outnumber and come out victorious can handle a little dent on his reputation."

Now Lor is quiet. "He tells you about the wars?"

"We should go back now, Kate." Zer stands up.

"But why?" I still want to talk to Lor, I want to learn about my husband more.

"My wish, my command, remember?" He reminds me.

I pout and Lor chokes on his sandwich. "Who told you that?" He asks Zer.

"I did," I answer as I stand up. "The husband has spoken. I hope to see you again soon." Lor looks at me and Zer in confuses, then he shakes his head.

"You're truly blessed." He tells Zer again.

He doesn't reply only nods and take my hand with him as we walk out of the hall.

"Confidential information?" I ask him, he knows I'm talking about when Lor mentioning the wars.

"I have the right to disclose it to you," He says.

"But you don't want to?" I ask.

"I don't want to." He replies.

"Because you don't trust me?" I can hear my heart painfully squeezed.

He looks at me, "Because I don't want you to look at me differently." He says.

I smile a sad smile to him. "I can't live without you," I say, I wish I could say I love you, but I know Tzarian doesn't have that word in his dictionary, so I come up with the second best description.

"You will never have to live without me." He replies.