2025-03-10 10:45:50The Next Day
I still couldn't comprehend what was happening. One moment, I was living a painfully average life, and the next, I was tied up—figuratively and maybe even literally at this point—with Amber.
Amber image pop in my head. She is absolutely a beauty, but her personaly its of an devil.
I sighed as I followed her through a dimly lit underground corridor, the sound of our footsteps echoing off the cold metal floor. The deeper we went, the less it felt like reality and more like we’d wandered into a secret sci-fi base. Dim lights flickered along steel walls lined with pipes. Cameras tracked our every movement with lazy precision. The air smelled faintly of metal and… was that gunpowder?
I wasn’t sure if I was walking toward some top-secret government facility or a villain's hideout. Given Amber’s smug grin, I was leaning toward the latter.
“You sure this isn’t where you keep your hostages?” I asked, trying for humor.
Amber glanced back over her shoulder, flashing a smirk. “Only on Wednesdays.”
I rolled my eyes. “Lucky me. It’s Thursday.”
“Exactly,” she shot back with a wink. “Which means you get the VIP treatment.”
If this was VIP treatment, I didn’t want to know what the regular package looked like.
After what felt like hours—but was probably only a few minutes—we reached a heavy steel door. Amber didn’t bother with any security code. She just kicked it.
I flinched. “Pretty high-tech, huh?”
The door groaned open with a hiss of steam. Beyond it was a large room that felt… weirdly casual. Like a common room at a college dorm. Six girls sat around a battered table, chatting, snacking, laughing. Bags of chips were open, soda cans scattered, and someone had dragged a beanbag chair into the corner. For a group supposedly part of some dangerous organization, they looked painfully normal.
At least, until they saw me.
The room fell silent. Every head turned. Six pairs of eyes locked onto me like heat-seeking missiles.
I froze mid-step.
Their expressions ranged from curiosity to suspicion to outright irritation. One girl even looked like she was calculating the best angle to throw something heavy at my head.
The first to break the silence was a blonde with sharp blue eyes. She leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, gaze cutting straight through me like I was some undercooked piece of meat.
“Amber… who’s the guy?”
Before I could even think of something to say, Amber threw her arm around my shoulders, practically leaning on me. She grinned like the cat that stole the entire damn seafood market.
“My boyfriend.”
…
Wait, what?
“What?!” I blurted, but it was already too late.
The room erupted.
“YOU’RE WHAT?!” the girl with glasses nearly choked on her drink, coughing as soda sprayed everywhere.
A redhead with twin tails dropped her chips, mouth hanging open. “No way! You’re kidding!”
“Amber, are you serious? Him? You have awful taste,” another girl chimed in, scrunching her nose like she’d smelled something foul.
“Yeah,” the blue-eyed one said bluntly. “He’s not even that good-looking.”
Ouch.
“I thought you’d go for an assassin,” the redhead added, “or at least a rogue. Not… this.” She waved at me like I was a stain on the carpet.
My soul quietly left my body and went somewhere nicer. Anywhere nicer.
Amber sighed dramatically, releasing me from her casual hostage situation. “Relax, idiots. It’s a joke. Noah isn’t my boyfriend.”
The collective relief was almost offensive.
“Oh, thank God.”
“Phew, I was about to lose all respect for you.”
Amber clicked her tongue. “That’s a little rude, don’t you think?”
They ignored her.
The blonde was still glaring at me, arms crossed. “Then why is he here?”
Amber gave them a smile that promised mischief—or murder. Maybe both. “He’s an addition to the team.”
A chorus of groans erupted.
“Amber,” the girl with glasses groaned, rubbing her temples, “our team is called FLAMES. You remember why, right?”
Amber raised an eyebrow. “Because we’re all pretty hot ladies?”
The glasses girl sighed. “Because it stands for our names. Fina, Lynn, Amber, Mei, Emma, Sion. F-L-A-M-E-S. If we add a guy, it ruins the whole acronym.”
I blinked. “That’s… actually kind of clever.”
“Right?” Glasses Girl said, pointing at me like I was finally making sense. “And now you’re ruining it.”
Amber shrugged. “We’re not changing the name. Noah’s just an addition. Not a real member.”
I frowned. “What does that even mean?”
She patted my cheek like I was a clueless child. “It means you’re the intern.”
I glared at her. “I don’t remember signing up for unpaid labor.”
“You didn’t,” she replied cheerfully. “That’s the best part.”
Before I could respond, Amber suddenly spun on her heel, throwing her arms out theatrically. “But enough about that. Let’s talk about why Noah’s here.”
The room fell quiet again, but this time it wasn’t suspicion. It was anticipation.
Amber pointed at me. “Noah has the power to erase anything from existence.”
For a long moment, no one reacted.
Then Mei snorted. “Bullshit.”
Amber didn’t even blink. “Fine. Watch.”
Without warning, she raised her hand and conjured a small flame at her fingertips. I was still getting over the fact that magic apparently existed when she flicked the flame directly at me.
I panicked.
“Reject!” I shouted instinctively, holding out my hand.
The flame vanished the moment it touched my skin. No smoke, no heat. Just… gone.
The silence that followed was much heavier this time.
And then—
Thunk!
A knife embedded itself in the wall, inches from my head.
I froze. Slowly, I turned my head to find Sion—the quiet one—holding another blade, eyes focused, analyzing.
“Interesting,” she murmured.
I wanted to sit down. Or throw up. Maybe both.
Fina, the silver-haired girl with violet eyes, folded her arms and nodded thoughtfully. “So his ability requires conscious activation. If something hits him before he reacts, he’s vulnerable.”
The realization hit me like a freight train. She was right. If I wasn’t fast enough… I’d die.
Mei grinned, folding her arms behind her head. “Makes it less scary, honestly. At least we know he can’t just blink people out of existence without warning.”
That wasn’t exactly reassuring.
Amber clapped a hand on my shoulder again, this time squeezing with a bit too much force. “Means you need training, Noah.”
I sighed. “Great. Training.”
“Don’t look so excited,” she teased, giving me a playful shove that nearly knocked me off balance.
I rubbed my ribs where her elbow jabbed me earlier. “You know, for someone who saved my life, you’re kind of mean.”
Amber flashed me a grin that was all teeth. “Keeps you humble.”
I found myself smiling despite everything. “You know, you’d be really beautiful if you weren’t so devilish.”
Her smirk froze. For half a second, I thought I saw a flicker of something like embarrassment. Then her fist drove straight into my gut.
“Urgh!” I doubled over, gasping for air. “Why?!”
“Don’t get cute,” she said, but there was a faint pink on her cheeks as she turned away.
I wheezed. “Worth it…”
Mei cackled from the side. “I like him. Can we keep him?”
“Only if he survives,” Sion said, already pulling another knife from… somewhere.
Fina sighed but didn’t argue.
Amber crossed her arms, watching me as I straightened up with as much dignity as I could muster. “You’ll fit in. Eventually.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a promise or a threat.
“Come on,” she said, jerking her thumb toward another door at the far end of the room. “Time for the tour.”
“Wait, there’s more?” I groaned.
“There’s always more,” she replied, her grin widening. “Welcome to the underground facility, Noah.”
As I followed her again, I realized something.
This wasn’t going to be boring.
And maybe… just maybe… I didn’t mind that.
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Chapter 41: No Regrets
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