CHAPTER 278: A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM [PART 2]

"...Latifa?" Alex asked in confusion.

The young fox lady didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she rested her chin on the back of her intertwined hands and eyed Noelle as if memorizing her face.

Noelle stared at Latifa with amusement before shifting her gaze to Alex.

"Alex, is she a cosplayer friend of yours?" Noelle asked. "What is she doing inside your house?"

"Um... she is..." Alex glanced at Latifa, thinking of what to say next.

But before Alex could answer properly, his club member beat him to it.

"My name is Latifa," Latifa replied. "What is your name?"

"Noelle," Noelle answered.

"Noelle... I don’t remember Alex mentioning your name in the past."

"Oh, really?"

"Really."

Alex watched helplessly as the two girls eyed each other.

A moment later, his guildmaster glanced in his direction with a smile that said, "you got a lot of explaining to do, young man," which made Alex feel as if his sweet dream was starting to turn into a nightmare.

The two girls stared at each other for a minute before Noelle stood up from her seat.

"Are you hungry?" Noelle asked.

"A little." Latifa nodded.

"Good. I made an extra serving just in case Alex asked for seconds. You can have it."

"Thank you."

The young lady then went to the kitchen to prepare Latifa’s food.

Using this opportunity, Alex immediately asked Latifa what she was doing in his dream!

"Why are you inside my dream?" Alex asked. "What are you doing here?"

Latifa blinked. "This is a dream. I’m here because you thought of me subconsciously."

"Huh?! No, I didn’t!"

"What makes you so sure? By the way, this is just a dream. Don’t take it too seriously."

Alex still felt suspicious.

The game never mentioned anything about Latifa having the ability to enter dreams. That said, he wondered if he really subconsciously thought of her, which made her appear inside his dream.

Alex rubbed his temples in disbelief. "Are you here to be my wingman or something?"

"I’m not here to help," Latifa replied with a serene smile. "I’m just here."

"That... doesn’t make any sense."

"It’s a dream. It doesn’t have to."

Alex opened his mouth to argue but then realized he was arguing inside a dream.

A dream where his Guildmaster and Latifa were seated under the same roof, having polite conversation one moment and veiled hostility the next.

Suddenly it hit Alex.

He then looked at Latifa in disbelief before saying what was on his mind.

"Latifa... is it possible that you’re here because..." Alex trailed off.

Latifa narrowed her eyes as she waited for the young man to finish whatever he was going to say next.

"You’re here because deep inside my subconscious mind, I was thinking of going on a double date with you and my guildmaster?" Alex continued.

Latifa didn’t reply and simply smiled at Alex. But for the briefest of moments, he thought he saw a bulging nerve at the corner of Latifa’s forehead, like she was angered by something.

Before the two could continue their conversation, Noelle returned and handed Latifa the food she prepared.

"Thank you," Latifa replied and ate her food properly.

Since the atmosphere had changed a bit, the three focused on eating together instead of talking.

When it finally ended, Alex took the dishes to the sink and washed them, leaving the girls behind.

The young fox lady observed Noelle, who was also observing her with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Do you like Alex?" Noelle asked out of the blue, which took Latifa by surprise.

"No," Latifa answered. "We’re just friends."

"Friends?"

"Yes. Just friends. How about you? What is your relationship with him?"

Noelle thought for a bit before giving her answer.

"We’re just friends as well," Noelle replied.

"What a coincidence."

"I know right?"

The two ladies then started to chat with each other, and their topic was none other than Alex.

"What is your favorite food?" Noelle asked. "I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing each other more often, so I’ll prepare in advance."

"I like sausage," Latifa answered.

"Do you want the small one, the long one, or the Jumbo?"

"I want something that is slightly above average. It has more meat in it."

"Oh! I feel the same way."

Alex, who was paying close attention to their conversation from the sink, almost dropped the glass that he was washing.

The two girls were just talking about sausages, but for some reason, he felt like there was a deeper meaning behind their conversation.

However, just as he was about to finish washing the dishes, Noelle suddenly asked a question that almost made him drop the plate he was holding.

"If Alex were to feed you a sausage, would you eat it?" Noelle asked.

"I guess?" Latifa replied. "I mean, if it’s from Alex, it should be fine, right?"

Alex didn’t know whether he should return to the dining area or stay in the kitchen to listen to the two girls talking.

After an internal struggle, he decided to just listen for now.

But for some reason, the conversation suddenly came to a halt.

"I know that you’re done with the dishes, Alex," Latifa said. "Eavesdropping is not good, you know?"

After being called out by Latifa, Alex had no choice but to return to the dining room and sat between the two ladies, who seemed to have cozied up with each other after talking about sausages.

"So..." Alex cleared his throat, trying to ease the pressure. "You two seem... friendly now."

Latifa turned to him with a suspiciously calm expression. "We bonded over meat preferences."

Noelle leaned forward. "We’ve reached sausage diplomacy."

Alex coughed. "That sounds like something that should be illegal in at least three countries."

Latifa blinked in confusion, while Noelle only smirked, as if understanding what Alex was trying to say.

"Latifa, do you want to come with us?" Noelle asked. "Alex and I will go out on a date now."

This time, it was Alex’s turn to be surprised. He couldn’t help but do a fist pump under the table because his guildmaster seemed to have gotten bolder.

"A date?" Latifa tilted her head. "Are you talking about the dates of the month?"

’Oh, you sweet summer child!’ Alex thought. ’This is what you get for sleeping all day. You don’t have any worldly knowledge!’

Noelle reached out to hold Latifa’s hand and smiled. "A date is when two people, especially couples, go to places together. They can play, they can eat, and do fun things together. Simply put, it is a special time where lovers deepen their connection with each other. Since this is your first time going out on a date, I will help you understand what a date is!"

"Eh?!" Latifa blushed after understanding what the meaning of a date was.

Seeing her beet-red face, Alex couldn’t stop his heart from skipping a beat because of how cute Latifa looked at that moment.

Suddenly, Alex thought of something important.

Although this was only a dream, the world outside of his apartment was very different from the world where Latifa lived.

Earlier, he caught Latifa paying close attention to her surroundings, looking very curious about things inside his room.

And yet, she didn’t ask him any questions. She didn’t need to either since question marks were practically drawn all over her face.

’This is just a dream, Alex,’ Alex reminded himself. ’I’m sure nothing will go wrong if I take them out on a date... right?’

But just as they planned to leave the apartment, Noelle suddenly stopped before heaving a sigh.

"I guess we will go on a date next time," Noelle said sadly. "It looks like time’s up."

"Time’s up?" Alex frowned. "What do you mean, guildmast—-"

Alex wasn’t able to finish whatever he was going to say because he suddenly felt a jolt of pain, which forced him to wake up.

"Huh?!" Alex found half of his body lying on the floor.

It seemed that he had fallen off the couch during his sleep, which had forced him to wake up from his sleep.

"Nghhh." Alex rubbed his head as he slowly propped himself up. "Just when it was about to get better..."

He could still vividly remember the dream he just had and felt disappointed that it had come to a stop.

The young man glanced at the sleeping Latifa before shaking his head.

’That can’t be possible, right?’ Alex thought.

Feeling aggrieved, he once again decided to take a nap.

However this time, he no longer had a dream and slept a blank sleep, which made a certain fox lady feel disappointed.

She, too, didn’t like how the dream ended, for she wanted to know more about the world where the young man with dark-brown hair had lived during his past life.