CHAPTER 97: I HAVE YOU ALL TO MYSELF!

Mika knew the battle was over. There was no chance in hell he was going to take this any further. The cold edge of steel at his throat, Yelena’s eyes gleaming with that dangerous blend of command and affection, he had reached the point where resistance only invited madness.

So he let out a long sigh, raised both his hands slowly in a gesture of surrender, and gave in.

"Alright...fine, fine, Yelena." He muttered, his voice low but firm, his chest rising and falling with the weight of resignation. "I’ll give in."

Her eyes lit up instantly, so bright it was as if the entire room flickered with their glow.

But he wasn’t done. His lips curved with a faint smirk, and he tilted his chin ever so slightly, the blade still brushing his skin.

"Though just so you know." He said quickly. "I could take this dagger in my neck right now...and still wake up the next day. I could survive it just to prove my point."

He shrugged as much as her grip would allow.

"But what’s the point? It wouldn’t be worth it. I’d have to drag myself to the shower, scrub all the blood off me, and then clean the mess off your precious floor. And since this is your house, not mine...and I’m just a guest here...I’ll respect you as the owner. I’ll listen to you."

Her dagger shimmered, then vanished as though it had never existed, and in its place came arms around his neck, tight but no longer restraining, no longer threatening.

Her voice softened into syrup, her breath warm as she pressed close.

"That’s a good boy, Mika." She whispered, and he felt her breath caress his skin. "That’s such a good boy. If you had just done this from the start, none of this would have happened."

Her lips curved into a satisfied smile, and then she turned her head, her finger pointing like a commander directing a soldier.

"Now, there. The couch. Go and sit. Sit like the obedient boy you are."

Mika groaned, rolling his eyes as he glanced back over his shoulder at her clinging to his body like a stubborn barnacle. "Aren’t you going to get down first?"

"Not a chance." Her eyes narrowed, gleaming sharp as daggers themselves. "I’m not letting you slip away again...So move. Keep those legs walking."

He exhaled heavily through his nose, muttering under his breath as he carried her weight, every step dragging them toward the sofa. At the edge of it, he stopped, gesturing at the space where he was about to sit.

"Unless you want to be squashed flat behind me, you’d better get off now. I’m not the lightweight you used to haul around years ago. Sit down with you still clinging back there, and you’ll end up a pancake."

For a second she seemed to consider it, tilting her head with an oddly thoughtful expression. But then she made her move, sliding not off him, but around him.

Like a monkey shifting from one branch to another, she swung herself from his back to his front, her silk nightgown whispering across his skin as her breasts brushed his chest and her thighs slid down his sides.

Her arms looped back around his neck, holding fast, until she hung from his front now, her pretty face tilted up at his in open defiance of his disbelief.

"You really don’t trust me, huh?" Mika muttered, peering down at her. "Not even for a second?"

Her smile widened, bright and unrepentant and she shook her head. "You’re too sneaky, Mika. I know you, so I’m not taking any risks."

He snorted, then let his body fall back against the cushions, the sofa sinking beneath them with a soft whoomph. Yelena slid with him, ending up perched directly on his lap, her ass pressing firm into him, her breasts mashed against his chest.

The scene looked nothing like two people settling in to watch a movie. It looked like lovers caught in the opening tremor of something far more dangerous, far more intimate.

Yelena then pulled back just enough to search his face, her lips parting in a breathless laugh as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

"Is this really happening, Mika?" Her tone was almost disbelieving, a hushed whisper laced with giddy wonder. "Did I actually manage to steal some time with you? Alone?"

Mika glanced around, shrugged, then let his gaze return to her eyes. "Seems so. No one else is here."

Her breath hitched, eyes brightening with excitement as her voice rose, trembling with a joy she couldn’t hide.

"T-Then, does that mean, Charlotte won’t interrupt? She’s really asleep? She won’t come barging down here to ruin everything?"

He chuckled lightly, tilting his head. "She’s a heavy sleeper. Odds are slim she’ll wake up. It’s just you and me."

Yelena’s face lit up ever further as though the universe had handed her the crown of the world. She clung tighter, her body pressed flush against his.

"So then...this night, it’s really ours? My baby boy Mika and I, all to ourselves, with no one to bother us? No one to take you from me? You’re mine tonight?" Her voice cracked with excitement, her hair spilling wildly as she all but shook with it.

Mika chuckled low in his chest, shaking his head faintly.

"Yes, yes. Even though I’m not really your ’baby boy’ anymore...and I’m a fully grown adult now...I’ll admit it. Tonight, I’m yours. Just for tonight. There’s no changing that."

The words lit a fire in her.

Her eyes glowed, a flicker of light dancing in them for just a moment before she squealed and threw herself against him, bouncing almost, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing with all her strength.

"Mika! Mika, Mika, Mika!" She cried, her voice bubbling with unrestrained joy. "I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long! Oh my god, you don’t know, you don’t know how long I’ve waited, how many nights I dreamed of this!"

Her body pressed and rubbed against him frantically, like she couldn’t contain herself, her face nuzzling against his chest in wave after wave of affection.

"You’re really here, really in my arms, not slipping away, not running off! You’re mine, mine, mine, mine!"

She laughed and sobbed at once, incoherent with excitement, her words spilling in a rush between kisses and nuzzles.

Mika himself tilted his head down at her, lips tugging into a crooked, almost amused smile even while Yelena’s arms clung tight, her kisses raining, her sob-laughter muffling against his chest.

He didn’t fight, didn’t shove, didn’t even return the hug at first, he simply sat there with his hands at his sides, allowing her to bury him in love until she was drunk off it. His voice came out wry, teasing, cutting through her flood of affection.

"Is this really necessary, Yelena? You’re smothering me like I’m going to vanish into thin air if you stop for a second. Don’t you think you’re going a little...overboard?"

The instant he said it, her head jerked back. Her teary-eyed smile vanished, replaced by a stern, commanding glare that made him blink.

"Yes!" She said firmly, her voice as sharp as the dagger she had just hidden away. "Yes, it most definitely is necessary."

Her eyes shone with intensity, her tone strict but trembling with emotion.

"You don’t know, Mika, you don’t know how much I missed you...How much I longed for this."

Her voice cracked, spilling out the words like an open wound.

"There were so many nights...so many nights I sat here, on this same couch, trying to watch movies alone. But I couldn’t even focus. Not once. Because every time I looked at that empty seat beside me, all I could think of was you."

"...You, my baby boy who was supposed to be there with me. And instead...I was all alone."

Her grip on him tightened as though she was afraid he might slip away even now.

"At first I thought I could get used to it. But it never got easier. It just got lonelier. So lonely without you, Mika. There were nights I would dream of you, so real that when I woke up, I reached out for you. And when I realized you weren’t there...I couldn’t even get out of bed."

"The whole day would feel empty, heavy, meaningless. I even tried, pathetically tried, to go back to sleep just to find the dream again. But it never worked."

Mika’s expression softened, though his lips curved with a light chuckle as he tried to ease the heavy atmosphere.

"Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. You weren’t completely alone, were you? You had Charlotte. She’s cheerful enough, right? The type who always wants to be coddled by her mother. No way you could’ve been that lonely with her around."

Hearing her daughter’s name, Yelena’s lips curled into a scoff, sharp and dismissive. She shook her head.

"Charlotte is a good girl, yes. She’s obedient, always listens, never turned into one of those daughters who despises their mother just for existing. I’m grateful for that, I truly am."

Her eyes narrowed faintly, glinting with a flicker of annoyance.

"But she doesn’t have what you have. She doesn’t give me what you give me. And honestly..."

She rolled her eyes in exaggerated exasperation.

"...sometimes I get bored of her. She needs coddling all the time, clinging and whining, and I get tired of it. She’s sweet, but she doesn’t fill the emptiness inside me."

"Careful..." Mika let out a soft laugh at her candor, shaking his head. "If your daughter heard you talking like this, she’d cry her eyes out. Her own mother, calling her boring? That’s cruel, Yelena."

But Yelena only smirked bitterly, her voice firm.

"But it’s true. I can hug Charlotte as much as I want, kiss her forehead, stroke her hair, smother her with all the motherly affection she’ll ever need, and none of it matters. None of it satisfies that void."

"...Because that void isn’t shaped for her. It’s shaped for you."

Her eyes glowed faintly, her voice softening into a near-whisper as she pressed her forehead against his.

"Only you, Mika. Only when I’m with you, when I can hold you like this, kiss you like this, can I feel that emptiness fade. You’re the only one who can make me whole."

She then froze suddenly, frowning as if a bitter memory had struck her, her face tightening with annoyance.

"And then...there’s also the fact that, that damn daughter of mine is always in my way. Always showing up at the wrong time. Do you know how much it irritated me earlier?"

She leaned back enough to search his eyes, her words dripping with sharp frustration.

"When I came to the hospital today, I was worried about you, yes, but I was also excited. I thought finally, finally I’d get to see you again after so long. I was happy, Mika. My heart was racing."

Her teeth clenched, her nails digging lightly into his shirt.

"But the moment I walked into that room, what did I see? You and Charlotte, together, sitting close, acting all lovey-dovey right in front of me. Do you know how that felt?...I wanted to throw her right out the door."

"She already spends all her time with you at the academy. Isn’t that enough for her? But no, even there, in my moment, she had to cling to you, flaunting the fact that she gets you even outside those walls...It infuriated me."

Her voice grew lower, bitter, almost a growl.

"And it didn’t stop there. On the ship, she tried to steal my moment. I understand she loves you, I do."

"...But she should understand her mother too. She should understand that I want you just as badly, maybe more. Instead, she’s greedy. Always greedy."

Mika’s lips curved into a crooked, amused smile, his eyes narrowing playfully. He thought it ridiculous, Yelena, treating her own daughter like a rival, glaring at Charlotte as if she were some other woman trying to seduce him.

But before he could tease her, Yelena’s gaze softened again, melting back into that loving glow as she cupped his face once more.

"But now Charlotte is asleep upstairs. Now she can’t steal you away. Now this whole night belongs to us, and no one can take it from me."

Her body pressed tighter against his, her voice breaking into something warm and trembling as she whispered against his chest, "I’m so happy right now, Mika. So happy to finally be with you again. I won’t let anyone, anyone, take this moment away from us."

She buried her face against him once more, nuzzling deep into his chest, her arms locking him in as though she could merge him into her body.

And Mika, seeing her desperation spill out so raw and unguarded, couldn’t resist anymore. Slowly, almost reluctantly, his hands lifted. He placed them gently against her back, fingers stroking through her hair, pulling her closer with tenderness.

His chest ached with conflicting feelings. She had missed him so deeply, so pathetically much. She had dreamed of him, cried for him, even felt jealous of her own daughter for keeping him away.

And he...he realized just how cruel he’d been to distance himself, to force her into those lonely nights.

His smile softened as his hand caressed her hair, his thoughts quiet but heavy. She really had missed him this much. She really had been waiting all this time.

And though it pained him, he also felt glad, glad that someone could love him with such desperate force.

He made a promise then, one carved silent into the marrow of his bones:

Never again. Never again would he leave her this lonely. Never again would he force her to chase dreams just to feel his presence.

Back then, he had kept his distance out of necessity, to restrain his own emotions, to bury what he felt...But now?

Now there was no need. Now he swore he’d cherish her, hold her, make sure she never suffered another empty night.

Never again would Yelena cry for him in silence...