CHAPTER 116: BREAKFAST

Nick waited until he calmed down before he joined Eo at the kitchen table. He didn’t say anything. He needed to gather his thoughts.

He knew he had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask now that he could finally talk to Eo, but it was too sudden. It had gone from not being able to have any conversation to flirting with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. All the questions on his mind fought to get out and ended up stuck in the doorway.

Eo didn’t mind the silence. She could tell that Nick was thinking. But...

"Breakfast?" She asked after a little while.

"Sure," Nick answered. Eo remained seated and looked at him with her hands on the table. Her eyes practically glowed.

’Ah.’

She wasn’t offering to make breakfast. She was asking if he was going to make it.

Nick didn’t mind. He had made breakfast all the other days since they arrived at this new world, after all. It was also a good opportunity to let his mind sort itself out. Maybe it would be easier since he would have to look away from Eo.

Her beauty couldn’t distract him if he weren’t looking at her.

"Any requests?" He asked while getting up and opening the fridge.

"Hamburger!" She replied excitedly.

Nick felt that he could have commented on eating hamburger for breakfast before they ended up in another world. Now, though...He ate what he wanted when he wanted. It wasn’t the first time they had hamburger for breakfast.

He had reheated leftovers several times for both him and Eo over the past weeks.

But this was a special occasion, and he had ground beef in the fridge. He decided to make it from scratch.

While cooking, Nick finally managed to squeeze a few questions to the front of his mind. Now, the only question he had to ask himself was what he wanted to know first. But he soon decided on what to ask.

"Eo..."

"Yeah, honeybuns?"

Nick glanced back at Eo, only to almost cut his finger off while int he middle of slicing vegetables. She was standing right behind him and looking over his shoulder.

"Ahem." He quickly composed himself.

"There are a lot of things I want to ask now that you can talk."

"Go right ahead, darling," She answered cheerfully while caressing his shoulders and the top of his back with her fingertips, enjoying the feeling of touching Nick with the senses of a human.

Nick hesitated.

’Ah, what the hell.’ He threw away that hesitation. He had nothing to fear. The beautiful woman behind him was the same tentacle that he had spent months with by now.

If he had told the past him that he was more comfortable with a tentacle monster living in his basement than with ’his wife’, who was that very tentacle monster in human form, the past him would probably have thought he was crazy.

It was a complex situation, but there was no need to overthink it.

"If I didn’t misunderstand you back then, you said you are my wife, right?"

"That’s right." Eo nodded.

"How? I mean, why—What I’m trying to say is, what led to such a situation arising?"

Eo’s hand stopped moving, and she was silent for a few moments.

"I was being selfish and pushy, weren’t I? I saw you and wanted to marry you. You’ve been very kind these past few months, but I understand that it must have been very shocking, right? That’s why, if you want me to, I’ll take it back—"

"No!" Nick said maybe a little too quickly.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat awkwardly as Eo stared at him.

"What I meant to say is that there’s no need to get ahead of ourselves," He clarified, blaming the rosiness on his cheeks on the heat from the frying pan.

"You’re right. It was pretty shocking at first, especially...No, most of it was pretty shocking, including the part where you’ve lived in my house for six years and the marriage part. But I genuinely think that you are the best thing to ever have happened to me, Eo." Nick turned to look Eo in the eyes and make sure she knew how sincere he was.

"Oh...!"

"My life on Earth...It wasn’t pain and suffering. If anything, it was pretty relaxed. I don’t remember hating it or anything. But it was...unfulfilling. Now, I don’t feel stressed. I don’t have to worry about anything. Well, I do, but it’s because I want to worry. The..." Nick couldn’t find the words for it.

Life right now was just satisfactory. He did what he wanted. But it wasn’t because he could do whatever he wanted to do. He wasn’t just living. He was living life.

He might not be laughing every day, but he was enjoying every day. Some days, he was frustrated when the weather was bad, his food ended up in the forest because it didn’t turn out well, or when the arrows he made ended up no better than almost smooth sticks.

But even in that satisfaction, there was something fulfilling since he could always try again. He could always find a solution.

He had his friends come visit him and share meals and stories.

The situation in the rest of the forest was still tense and deadly, so he hadn’t gotten many visits recently. And the ones he got weren’t always peaceful.

People were dying in the forest.

It was tragic, and Nick felt sorry for those who died and the ones who knew them.

But he still didn’t regret coming here.

However, things would have been very different without Eo. Setting aside everything else she had done for and with him, he would have died to the monster kings without a chance to experience everything he had experienced until now.

Well, Eo was partly responsible for his current situation in the first place. But she had done far more good than bad.

"I just...I am happy to be here and to be here with you, Eo."

"Aw, Nick!"

Before Nick could react, Eo had already grabbed his head and turned it to face her so that she could give him a kiss on the lips.

The kiss, the softness against his arm, and her warmth...

Nick almost fainted. But he snapped back and put his hands on her shoulders, separating from her.

"But..."