LOST IN PAST

THE DISCOVERY

Dante

6:00 pm

Dante Vale's House

Venice, Italy.

"Forty seven new mails! This is ridiculous!" Lok spoke up as we entered my house. It was difficult to open the door as the mails jammed it. We finally returned from our 'not so exciting' mission in Spain. It was completely worthless. The rumors said that there was an extremely powerful titan to be found at Barcelona. All we got to see was the famous football club out there (Yes, yes, it was Lok's wish since we were there). There was no titan there. I had never minded traveling to investigate stuffs. In fact, there had been many moments when there were rumors about titans but there weren't any. This time, however, I was completely disappointed. Not only did the foundation give me wrong information, they sent me on this mission just after my wedding with Zhalia. She was completely pissed off, and even fought with Metz about this. She, however, didn't succeed and the result; Lok, Sophie, Zhalia and I were back to the same routine: Go Place, Fight the Aces.

Zhalia was giving a good silent treatment to all of us. She didn't talk to me ever since all the truth came to light. I even tried to apologize to her, knowing very well that all this wasn't my fault. I just had to make her speak to us; to me at least. She was smart. She slept during our entire journey back to Venice, and it was a good way of avoiding me. I was just dying to talk to her.

"What are those mails, Dante??" Sophie asked me, as Lok, along with Cherit, went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

"Ah….there's a newspaper bill, advertising papers, magazines…….gift vouchers…."

"Can I have the gift voucher?" Sophie asked me.

"If you expect to buy shoes at the dairy shop, then I don't think so." Lok giggled at this, while Sophie gave him a hard stare.

Zhalia entered with her bag pack, still avoiding me. She didn't say anything and went upstairs. She was still mad at me.

"Lok, Sophie, why don't you go out somewhere?" I said to them.

"Why are you throwing us out from your place?" Sophie said.

Lok chuckled, and said, "Sophie, you are such a kid! Don't you understand? Dante wants some quality time with his lovely fiancée!"

Sophie mouthed "Oh" before joining Lok's laughter session.

"Alright! So you're mature enough to understand! Now, would you please mind…?"

"Sure, Dante! But I was wondering…….." Lok started.

"What? Say it!"

"…I was wondering that since we're going out you could lend us……."

I reached for my wallet and took out some cash and handed them to Lok. He hardly does any work of my interest without taking bribe.

"Gee, thanks!" Both of them said and hopped out of house. I had to admit the fact that they looked really adorable as they walked out, holding hands.

Time to check Zhalia……..

When I reached our room, she was taking bath. I could make out her silhouette from the translucent glassed bathroom. She looked mesmerizing and I wondered what she would look like if I could just have a look at her while she's in the shower. Naughty thoughts gathered in my mind as she came out of the bathroom. She stood still in front of me, wrapped in a towel. My heart skipped a beat as I'd never seen her like this before. She looked like an angel.

"Ah….will you excuse me for a minute??" she said, giving me a cold look. I knew she was still mad at me.

"Ok…" I didn't know what else to say. I walked towards the room, knowing that it was going to be hard for me to deal with her anger.

I went to another room and quickly washed myself. I still had lots of work to do, like preparing the dinner. I went downstairs and found Zhalia lying on the couch, with a newspaper and a pen in her hand. As I approached her, I saw she was wearing a black miniskirt and turquoise translucent cotton top, which showed her inside girly stuff. I'd never seen her in a skirt and was glad that she'd decided to wear that. She still didn't notice me as I continued to stare down at her. My breathing became heavier.

I moved towards her until I sat on the couch near her feet. Slowly, I began to trace my fingertips on her leg. She kept the paper down at once. For a moment, I thought that she would start protesting. But, she kept herself still. I continued tracing till I reached her thigh. She flinched a little and said in a shaky tone, "Dante, what are you doing?"

"Something I should have done much earlier." Saying this, I placed myself on top of her, my fingers making there way under her skirt. She tried to push me away gently, but I held her firmly. I started pecking her lips. That pecking soon turned into a kiss. She ultimately gave up and pulled me closer to her, kissing me harshly and passionately. I remover my hand from under her skirt and started unbuttoning her blouse. She moaned softly as I stoked her cleavage. She placed her hands on my chest and I soon realized that I wasn't wearing a shirt. Her back arched as I pulled her closer, closing all the gaps between us. My hands moved back to the previous position and I gently caressed the inside of her thigh. She started unbuttoning my trouser as I almost removed her blouse. I broke the kiss and we both were breathing hard. Soon my tongue started tracing the curves of her neck. She moaned, this time a bit loudly.

"You need to get a room, Dante!" a deep voice said.

I pulled myself away from her and found Guggenheim on the screen, staring at us with a smirk on his lips. Zhalia blushed due to embarrassment and ran upstairs, holding her unbuttoned blouse firmly. God, we were almost there!

"You're such a peeping Tom, Guggenheim! Since when have you been seeing all this?" I asked him, angrily.

"Hey, I'm sorry! I came online just now and didn't expect to see……you know what. I never knew you'll be doing it right there!" he said, pointing towards the couch.

"So, why are you here now?" I asked him.

"Just want to tell you that Metz is expecting you at the Headquarters now. He wants to discuss something important."

"Right now?"

"He gave you half an hour to report to him."

"This is…"

"I can understand, Dante. But, I can't do anything!"

"Alright, I'm coming."

I got up from the couch and found Zhalia on the bottom of the staircase.

"Zhalia…...I…."

"I know everything." She said, in an emotionless voice.

"We'll continue after I come back. I promise!"

"We'll see that later." Saying this, she went upstairs again and slammed the door of the bedroom shut.

I quickly dressed up and went towards the Headquarter.

7:15 pm

Huntik Foundation Headquarter

Venice, Italy.

What was so important that he called me in half an hour and threatened to suspend me if I don't? I still couldn't take my mind off from Zhalia. She was in a bad mood, which I had almost altered completely, until it restored itself back, thanks to Guggenheim. She said 'we'll see that later' before I left her. Was she going back to her silent mode? She knew my weakness and the fact that not talking to me will act as a slow poison for me. I'd never felt this weak before.

I reached Metz's chamber, only to find that he wasn't there. Damn it! He told me to be here in time and he himself is missing from the spot!

I was completely disturbed when I realized that there was huge machinery at the corner of his chamber. It looked like some alien technology. It was like a ring, with a shiny silver color. There were many translucent blue tinted pipes attached to it, along with numerous wires. A warning sign was place in front of it, which said 'DO NOT TOUCH'. I wondered what it was doing here.

"What's that, Dante?"

I looked back to take a look at the speaker and found a furry white titan looking at me.

"Cherit! What are you doing here?" I almost screamed at him.

"I saw you going out the house and, since I was bored, I decided to follow you!"

"Spying a detective, huh?" I said, with a smirk.

Cherit moved towards the machine.

"I wonder what this is……….." saying this, he extended his hand to touch it.

"Cherit, no! Don't touch….."

It was, however, too late. He had touched it. I tried to stop him by pulling him towards me, but in vain. Before I could know what was happening, I felt as if I was being absorbed by something.

The darkness gathered me completely.

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