Chapter 7

"Ash, I am starting to get hungry. We need to stop it now."

"Not until I redeem myself and beat you again."

"Oh? I cannot remember that I lose to you in this game. Not even once."

"Shut it. Just keep on playing until I beat you in this level."

"Ash, this is stupid. I really want to eat now."

"Be quiet. I only need one hit and— Ah! Damn it!"

Sera can only roll her eyes seeing Asher throwing his phone on the sofa. Although he has a huge interest in RPG games, Sera still cannot lie on the fact that he really sucks at playing it. No one knows how competitive Asher is except for her and his twin brother, Aster. Asher is the type of person who will not stop just because he lost once. He will continue to challenge the things or the person that makes him lose until he becomes the winner at the end.

Both Sera and Asher becomes interested in RPG games lately. They are both excited about the games' hero designs and their skills. When the game was released last month, they both downloaded it on their smartphones and played it at the same time. The rules and agenda of the game are simple and very easy to understand. All they have to do is to break the enemy's main tower and they will win the game.

At first, Sera and Asher are always on the same team. They were still familiarizing themselves in playing that game and both of them are taking it very seriously. When they soon know how to use their chosen characters and maximize their skills and power, Asher proposed to Sera that they should have a one-on-one game every week to see who is improving more in this game. To make things more interesting, Asher even said that the losers need to fulfill the winner's wish as a punishment.

Sera has no problem with that proposal and quickly agreed to it. Asher must be feeling confident that he can easily win against Sera when he came up with that proposal. But unfortunately, he has never won against Sera ever since they started that deal. She is too good in this game that Asher does not want to admit that he is struggling to beat her despite his declaration that he will easily win against her.

"One more game." Asher suddenly said before picking up his phone again.

"Ash, this is already our tenth game and you never win against me. Give me a break." Sera helplessly said.

"Come on, Sera. I can feel it now. I know this is the real timing where I can beat you in this game." Asher replied.

"I'm sorry for breaking it to you, but you already said those words just a few minutes ago."

"I was just practicing earlier. This time, I am going to take it seriously. Come on. Let us have one more game, okay?"

"You know what? No. I will not play this game with you anymore unless you are going to feed me." Sera firmly said before she logged off on her account and put her phone on the coffee table.

"Sera!" Asher whined. To show his dissatisfaction, he kicked the coffee table in front of them and the magazines on top of it fell on the floor.

"Stop it, Ash. Whining does not really suit you." Sera said while looking at Asher with a frown. "And I will not starve myself just because you are acting like a child again."

Seeing that Sera is not moved with his acting, Asher just clicked his tongue and lean his back on the sofa.

"Fine. But we should play again later. I still need to beat you before the day ends."

"That is only a wishful thinking, Ash." Sera commented. "So do you even have food in your fridge?"

"You can reheat the pasta in the fridge if you want." Asher suggested.

"Pasta again? We just ate a lot of it last night, remember? So yeah. No thanks. Aside from it, what else do you have?"

"Some crackers and fresh fruits, I guess. I think Aster left some beef soup inside the fridge before he left."

"...For an athlete, you really do not know how to take good care of yourself."

Since Aster will not come back to their unit until tomorrow evening, Asher invited Sera to come over to their place and play some games. These things are just normal for them now. There will be no problem with it even if their mom finds out that Sera stayed in their place. It is because she is fond of Sera since they were kids. In fact, their mom is fond of her because she really wants to have a daughter. But instead of a daughter, she gave birth to a pair of twins and both of them are boys.

Both Sera and Asher do not feel weird about this setup. She has often visited Asher's unit in the past up until now because he likes to hang out with her a lot. She is also the only one that he keeps on inviting since they were still kids to play with him or discuss some things that he finds interesting. But Sera does not mind it at all. She also enjoys Asher's company and he is fun to hang out with.

"As if you have the right to talk about it." Asher said and rolled his eyes. "Should I remind you that your cupboard is just full of instant noodles and canned goods? And your fridge has nothing inside except bottled waters and frozen snacks."

If Asher is not aware that Sera can cook delicious foods, he will definitely think she is too hopeless to live alone inside her unit. There are no fresh ingredients like fruits and vegetables inside her fridge. The kitchen in her unit is always clean and spotless because she rarely uses it these days. If she feels hungry, either she will eat the instant noodles in her cupboard or she will go to the nearest restaurant to eat some decent food.

No wonder his mom is also concerned with Sera these days. While his mom is on a business trip, she is calling the twins during her free time. Their mom is also mentioning Sera on her calls telling them to remind her to eat proper food and avoid eating too many instant noodles. If someone can hear their mom on the phone, they will think Sera is also her biological child with the number of reminders she gives for her.

"I just have no time to do some groceries." Sera said.

"That is the same reason you gave to me last week."

"Oh, shush. That is not our concern right now." Sera quickly said and changed the topic. "Since you have no decent food in your fridge, do you want to order pizza and a bucket of fries for our dinner?"

"How about a change of pace and let us order some salad and less oily food?" Asher suggested.

"Who are you trying to fool here? As if you really want to eat those right now."

"At least I know how to suggest some healthy food."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

"So pepperoni pizza and chili cheese fries?" Asher asked.

"Pepperoni pizza and chili cheese fries." Sera confirmed with a nod.

"Alright. My treat." Asher said.

Then he picked up his phone and ordered their food online. In just a minute, they received a confirmation that their orders will be delivered after forty-five minutes. Since they still have to wait until their food arrives, Sera finally give in to Asher's request for a rematch. In exchange, Asher will give Sera another extra slice of pizza later.

"Damn it! You must be cheating!" Asher said while his eyes are concentrated on the game.

"You just don't know how to dodge my attacks. That's all." Sera replied in a calm voice.

Compared to Asher's tensed body while playing, Sera is just comfortably laying on the sofa while holding her phone. She even has time to move a lot just to find a comfortable position. In just a few minutes, their game finally ended. As expected, Asher lose once again.

"There must be a bug on the game system or my phone is just too old for this game. Or else, I should be winning continuously against you." Asher grumbled.

"Don't be such a sore loser, Ash. Just admit to yourself that you are not good at playing this game. It is easier than struggling to win against me." Sera said in a comforting voice.

"You—"

"And yeah. You really suck in this game. Big time."

Asher was about to pull Sera towards him when she suddenly stand up and runs away from him. Of course, Asher will not let it happen. He quickly stands on his feet and follows Sera. They both run around the living room until he cornered her behind the sofa. Before Sera can jump on the sofa to escape from Asher, he quickly holds her hand and pulls her towards him. To ensure that Sera can no longer escape, he wraps his arms around her waist and stops her from struggling.

"Let me go, you sore loser!" Sera squeaked while trying her best to escape from Asher's arms.

Because she keeps on struggling, Asher loses his balance and both of them landed on the fluffy carpet that Sera placed on the floor earlier. They did not get hurt too because of the soft throw pillows that are scattered on the floor. But still, Sera continued struggling while Asher is still not letting her go.

"You prick! Just be honest that you are not good at playing this game and I will show mercy on you later."

"You really dare to insult me again, huh. Now take this!"

Since Sera is lying on the carpeted floor, Asher takes this chance to tickle her sides. Sera let out a squeak and her laughter becomes louder. One of her weaknesses is being ticklish. Asher is using it against her every time as revenge for all the teasings she gives to him.

"Asher... Stop... You..."

"Huh? I cannot hear you!"

Asher continued tickling her side until Sera feels tired and breathless. There are also tears forming in her eyes because she is laughing too much. Asher only stopped when Sera finally surrendered and take her words back that he is such a lame gamer. But during their playful banters, they did not notice that the suppressant patch on Sera's neck was removed.

Because Sera becomes excited and laughed too much, her scent quickly spread inside the living room. Sera's cinnamon and vanilla scent are different from Asher's pure vanilla scent. If Asher has a light and warm vanilla scent, Sera has a combination of spicy and minty scent with a hint of fruity smell on it. Her scent is more calming and it brings warmth to those who can smell it.

That must be the reason why a lot of omegas are too attracted to her. They can easily find comfort in Sera's presence by just smelling her scent. And Asher is not different from them. He also agrees that Sera's presence can give comfort and security.

Usually, an alpha does not feel attracted to another alpha's scent. It only smells to them as normal, probably like a perfume or similar to that. It does not give them any weird feeling just like how a scent of someone in heat can give them a reaction. But Asher had already accepted a long time ago that he is not affected by anyone's scent aside from the scent coming from Sera.

Even the wolf inside of him cannot sit still when exposed too much to her scent. It really wants him to forget his logical thinking and just pounce on her. But Asher will not be the man he is today if he cannot stop himself from doing that. He already had a lot of years to practice his control and patience when it comes to Sera.

But it does not mean he is already immune to it.

He is just too good at controlling himself.

Closing his eyes, Asher slowly leans his head until his forehead is resting on her shoulder. Sera's laughter slowly died down and the only sound that they can hear inside the room is her breathing. When she finally calm down, Sera tried to push Asher but he did not even budge on his position.

"Asher." Sera called his name. It can also be considered as a soft warning from her.

"Let me rest here for a bit." Asher said.

But both of them know that it was a lie. Still, Sera did not point it out anymore. Instead, she also closed her eyes continued calming herself down so that the scent coming from her pheromones will be lessened.

"Sera—"

"No."

Asher let out a sigh and he feels her body jump a little when he softly planted a kiss on her neck. Opening his eyes, Asher is really tempted to bury his teeth on the smooth skin of Sera's neck. It really looks so inviting and tempting in his eyes. But before his imagination can run wild, they both heard the doorbell ring.

"...I will get it. Just stay here." Asher said before he slowly stand up and walked towards the door.

When Asher is no longer in sight, Sera finally let out a long sigh before touching her neck. Although it must be just her imagination, but Sera can still feel the soft and warm feeling of Asher's lips on her neck.