CHAPTER 49: EATING SYDNEY [1] [R-18 CONTENTS!]

"I want to have sex."

I blinked several times, my brain struggling to process what she’d just said. The sounds of the movie—explosions and heroic music—seemed to fade into background noise as her words echoed in my head. My mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out.

"You... you want to have sex?" I finally managed to ask.

She nodded, her expression serious. There was no hint of her usual teasing smile, no sign that this was another one of her jokes at my expense.

"I see..." I replied, feeling my heartbeat thundering in my chest like a drum. I forced myself to take a slow breath, trying to think clearly despite the rush of adrenaline coursing through my system. She’d just said she wanted to have sex, but I couldn’t afford to jump to conclusions—not when Sydney had a history of teasing me.

"So what do you think?" She asked.

"Why are you asking me?" I asked, immediately realizing how stupid that sounded the moment the words left my mouth. But I needed to be absolutely certain she wasn’t just playing with me like she always did.

Sydney rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation. "Because I want to have sex with you, you moron," she said bluntly, her directness making my cheeks burn.

"Oh... okay..." I felt heat flood my face as her meaning became crystal clear. "But why me?"

She shifted slightly in her blanket, considering her answer. "Well, you’re the guy I know best in our group," she said thoughtfully. "And I’d prefer it to be you because... I think I kind of like you. A lot, actually."

"You like me? Like... love me?" I asked, hardly daring to believe what I was hearing.

"I think so?" She replied with characteristic honesty. "I’ve never been in love before, so I can’t really tell for certain. But when I was thinking about this, about wanting to experience sex... well, everything... you’re the person who came to mind."

Her straightforward approach left me speechless. There was no coyness, no games—just raw honesty that was somehow both refreshing and terrifying.

"Don’t worry," she added quickly, perhaps misinterpreting my silence. "I’m not asking you to be my boyfriend or anything dramatic like that."

"That’s actually kind of worrying," I replied, surprising myself with my candor.

The situation reminded me of Emily—how she’d asked for the same thing because she thought she was infected and convinced it would be her last night alive.

But she’d said she liked me—really liked me. That had to count for something.

"What?" Sydney asked, tilting her head. "Do you want me to ask you to be my girlfriend first so we can have sex? I don’t mind that, actually," she said with a casual shrug.

"You should be more mindful about these things!" I replied, grumbling but unable to hide a small smile. "But... yeah, that would have been nice. Though I don’t think I can have a girlfriend right now."

"Why not?" She asked.

"I’ll tell you someday..." I replied evasively. I wasn’t ready to explain everything—especially about what had happened with Rachel and Elena. Those two clearly wouldn’t want everyone knowing about our intimate encounters, and honestly, I wasn’t sure how Sydney would react to learning about it.

"So?" Sydney pressed, bringing us back to her original question. "Are you up for it?"

"What, now?" I asked, dumbfounded by her timing.

"Now is actually perfect," she said matter-of-factly. "It’s the middle of the night, everyone’s asleep, and we have the living room to ourselves."

"But Liu Mei and Miss Ivy are sleeping just a few meters away," I pointed out, gesturing toward the guest room. "They might hear us. Hell, they might already be awake because of the movie."

Sydney considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Who cares if they hear? Do you really think those two are the type to gossip or ask awkward questions about it?"

She had a point. Liu Mei was hardly the chatty type, and Miss Ivy was far too proper as well.

"You’re right..."

"Then let’s stop wasting time," Sydney said suddenly, throwing off her blanket and moving with startling decisiveness.

Before I could react, she was straddling me, her legs on either side of my hips as she settled onto my lap. The sudden contact made my breath catch in my throat.

"S...Sydney?" I stammered, my hands hovering uncertainly in the air.

She was wearing sleep shorts that reached mid-thigh, showing off her long, pale legs, and a black camisole that revealed her shoulders and the gentle curve of her collarbones. In the blue light of the television, she looked almost ethereal—beautiful and vulnerable and incredibly real all at once.

She looked down at me with those striking blue eyes and placed her hands on my shoulders, her touch sending electricity through my entire body.

I felt heat spreading through me as her weight pressed against me, her warmth seeping through the thin fabric of our clothes. My mouth went dry, and I swallowed hard before slowly reaching up to rest my hands on her waist.

Even though she was acting confident and taking charge, I could see that Sydney was nervous too. Her cheeks were flushed, and there was a slight tremor in her hands where they rested on my shoulders.

"What happens next?" She asked me.

"Next..." I repeated, my mind struggling to form coherent thoughts.

"Yeah," she said, a small, nervous smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "I’m the virgin here, so you should probably take the lead, right?"

"Yeah..." I nodded, my throat suddenly dry.

It was strange—with Rachel and Elena, I’d felt more confident, more assertive. But with Sydney, everything felt different. More intimate, somehow. More genuine. With the others, there had been the excuse of the cure, the medical necessity that had driven our actions. But this... this was just about us, about desire and connection and the basic human need for closeness in a world that had become cold and terrifying.

Just as I was gathering the courage to make a move, Sydney leaned down and pressed her lips to mine.

My eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment of shock, I kissed her back, breathing in her familiar scent mixed with the lingering taste of potato chips on her lips. Somehow, even that small detail—the evidence of our shared late-night snack—made the moment more real, more perfectly imperfect.

Her kiss was tentative at first, unpracticed but eager. I could feel her inexperience in the way she moved her lips against mine, but there was also raw honesty in it that took my breath away.

"Mmm..." Sydney made a soft sound against my mouth, her fingers tightening on my shoulders as I took the lead, deepening the kiss and showing her the rhythm that felt right.

I wasn’t exactly an expert at this sort of thing, but I did what I knew——and what I felt.

The next minute blurred into the sound of lips colliding, mouths finding one another with a mixture of hesitation and hunger. Her taste was warm, sweet, intoxicating, and the faint smack of our kisses filled the room, muffled beneath the booming soundtrack of The Avengers playing on the TV. For me, though, the movie may as well have been silent; every explosion and line of dialogue faded into the background until the only thing I could hear was the soft hitch of Sydney’s breath, the delicate moans that slipped out between our kisses.

When we finally pulled apart, both of us breathless, Sydney’s eyes widened slightly. Her lips, red and glistening, parted as though she wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words. She looked dazed, almost like she’d just been pulled out of a dream.

"That was..." She started, but her voice faded, the thought unfinished.

"Yeah," I murmured softly, brushing my thumb along her cheekbone. "It was."

She let out a shaky little laugh, the kind that carried both nerves and excitement, then rested her forehead against mine. "I didn’t think it would feel like this," she admitted quietly.

"It wasn’t your first kiss, was it?"

"No." She shook her head slightly. "I had a boyfriend once... for a month. He was kind of a jerk, and the kiss wasn’t even remotely close to this one."

"He should’ve considered himself lucky just to get one kiss from someone like you," I said with a smile, and meant it.

That earned me a smirk. "Dear Ryan has suddenly grown bold, hasn’t he?" She teased.

"Well... I have to be, with a woman like you in front of me."

Her smirk softened into something more thoughtful. She studied me for a moment, fingers tracing the edge of my jawline as if committing it to memory. "You know... maybe I’m imagining it, but I swear your face looks different. And I could’ve sworn you’ve grown taller too."

You’re not imagining things, I thought. I had noticed it as well — the slow, almost imperceptible changes in my body since the awakening of my power. My features sharpening, my frame subtly shifting. Sydney picking up on it so quickly surprised me... but this wasn’t the moment to explain superhuman transformations.

Instead, I leaned in and silenced her curiosity with another kiss, stealing her words right off her lips. She gave a small gasp of surprise, which melted quickly into a pleased hum as I pressed my mouth to her jawline, then trailed soft kisses along the slope of her chin and down the curve of her neck.

"Mmmn... Ryaaaan..." She moaned, her voice sweet and shaky as she tilted her head back, baring her slender neck for me like an offering. Her skin was smooth, warm beneath my lips, and every little sound she made stirred something hotter inside me.

My hands moved of their own accord, sliding from her waist down the sides of her thighs. Her skin was so soft beneath my palms that I lingered there, savoring the feel before letting them wander lower still. Eventually, I found myself cupping the full, bouncy curves of her ass, fingers sinking into their perfect softness.

"Haaah!" Sydney yelped softly at the sudden squeeze, her body jerking slightly in my lap. Her wide eyes darted down to mine. "W...what was that, Ryan?" She asked, flustered and almost breathless.

I tapped my hands gently against them, still holding her. "Just... appreciating how ridiculously soft you are down here."

She blinked, then laughed in disbelief, though her cheeks burned red. "Really? God..."

But her laughter was cut short when she froze—her body stiffening as something poked firmly against her intimate area. Given the way she was straddling me, it was inevitable.

"Ryan..." She muttered, her voice quieter this time, her face flushing as the realization hit her.

I sighed, tilting my head. "Sorry... I can’t really control that. Not with someone like you sitting on me like this."

Her blush deepened, but instead of pulling away, she nodded, almost shyly. "I... I see."

"Sydney... if you’re not ready, you have to tell me. I don’t want to rush you."

"God... Ryan," Sydney whispered, her voice trembling as much as her body, "you’re the one making me nervous. I just... I just want to have sex for the first time. I want to feel like a woman, you know?"

"I want to fuck you too," I admitted, my voice low, "but I’m afraid... afraid you’re not ready for the kind of roller coaster this really is."

Sydney narrowed her eyes, lips curling into the faintest challenge. "If you truly wanted me," she shot back, "you wouldn’t be so hesitant. You wouldn’t be this slow."

I exhaled, a shaky laugh slipping out, and met her gaze. "It’s because I like you, Sydney."

Her lashes fluttered in surprise, her smirk faltering. "What...?"

"I love you," I said before I could stop myself. "And I didn’t want to just let lust take over and hurt you somehow. Not you."

Her breath caught. She looked away, biting her lip, as if she couldn’t quite process what she’d just heard. Her cheeks glowed red. "Oh... I see," she whispered, almost embarrassed.

I leaned closer, brushing my lips against her ear. "But since you’re insisting..."

Before she could answer, I pressed my mouth to hers again, harder this time, crashing into her with all the heat I’d been holding back.

"Hmff!" She gasped, her eyes widening before slowly fluttering shut. I slid my tongue past her parted lips, claiming the sweetness inside her mouth. Her cheeks flushed crimson as our tongues met, a clumsy, hungry dance that made both of us breathe harder, our lips locked so tightly the only way to get air was through our noses.

My hands moved on instinct, caressing her soft legs and thighs with quiet hunger before slipping beneath the loose fabric of her camisole. Her body shivered beneath my touch.

"Hmmm..." Sydney moaned softly as my palms glided over her bare back. I kept kissing her, deeper, slower, letting my tongue play against hers while my fingers traced the warm curve of her spine. She melted against me, her hands gripping my shoulders like she was afraid to let go.

But after a long minute, she suddenly tapped against me in panic. I immediately broke the kiss, pulling back just enough to see her. She gasped, drawing in deep breaths, her face completely red, lips glistening from our kiss.

"Sorry," I whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.

She shook her head quickly, still breathless. "N...no... it’s just... too much. I wasn’t ready for how it feels."

I smiled faintly and kissed the corner of her mouth, tasting the wetness she left behind. My hands, however, had already shifted — wandering from her back to the front of her camisole. When my palm brushed against bare skin, I froze.

She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

The soft mound of her breast filled my hand, and my fingers brushed over her hardened nipple almost by accident.

"Haaaan~" Sydney gasped, her whole body trembling as the sound tore out of her throat.

"Fuck, Sydney..." My self-control cracked. I wrapped my arm around her waist and gently shifted her down onto the couch cushions, my body hovering over hers. The world around us faded until there was only her beneath me, her warmth, her breath, her eyes.

But then, suddenly, she pressed her hand against my chest.

"W... wait, Ryan," she whispered.

My heart lurched. "You... you want to stop?" I asked carefully, though my body screamed at me not to. It would’ve been cruel to stop here, after everything, but if she needed me to, I would.

But Sydney shook her head, her blush deepening. "N-no... not stop." Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if afraid of the walls hearing her secret. "Let’s go... down."

I blinked. "Down?"

She swallowed hard. "The basement. We’ll be alone there."