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When Lily entered the restaurant, her face seemed frozen in a silly grin.
But this was only the beginning. She was still grinning foolishly as she ordered, as she cut her steak, and as Arthur opened the red wine.
If Lily hadn't been able to converse normally with Arthur between bouts of giggling, Arthur would have sworn the waiters were about to call the police.
The charges would likely be: "Unscrupulous man seducing a mentally impaired woman with unclear intentions..."
Arthur sighed softly and endured Lily's silly grin as they finished their meal.
On the drive home, Lily's silly grin faded slightly. She leaned against the car door, her head tilted, gazing at Arthur.
At first, Arthur pretended not to care, but he soon found himself struggling to maintain his composure.
Lily's gaze was devastatingly powerful. Arthur felt that even Odin's formidable strength paled in comparison.
When faced with Odin's pressure, Arthur had thought of resistance. But against Lily's gaze, he didn't even dare to resist. He could only submit to her will within her line of sight.
"Hehe..." Lily giggled inexplicably again.
"What are you laughing at?" Arthur finally couldn't hold back his curiosity.
Lily stroked her chin and said, "Why did I even bother picking you up back then? You were wearing rags, looking like you'd been mugged by gangsters. I honestly thought you were an illegal immigrant, you know?"
Arthur thought for a moment before replying, "Perhaps no matter how disheveled and disreputable my appearance, it can't hide the radiance that shines within me at all times."
"That's true," Lily agreed, surprisingly accepting the nauseating answer.
Arthur glanced at her and saw she was completely serious.
Unable to resist, he rubbed his nose, not wanting to appear too arrogant, but a smile began to spread across his face anyway... Damn, he was starting to grin like an idiot too.
Then the two of them continued to talk about this topic, gradually revealing the most common questions couples ask each other after getting together: When did you start liking me? Do you like me? Do you love me? How much do you love me?
And so on...
Even a vibrant girl like Lily, once she opened a certain door, couldn't help but let some suppressed things deep within her bones finally burst forth.
Fortunately, Arthur didn't see anything wrong with this. He believed that expressing love, through words and actions, was far better than keeping it bottled up.
In Arthur's philosophy, love was meant to flow freely: pouring out from him to her, then returning to him in greater measure, which he would then redouble and pour back to her... This was the virtuous cycle.
Conversely, suppressing love within one's heart would cause it to slowly wither over time.
No matter how much one did, if one never spoke of their feelings, the other person would still doubt their love. As for the argument that if one didn't love someone, why would they do so much for them... frankly, no one cared.
There were too many reasons, but the most painful was undoubtedly: "I know you don't love me. You're just doing this out of obligation. If you're really uncomfortable, we can break up."
Such words were far from empty threats…
...
Nothing happened overnight. When Lily opened her eyes the next morning, she immediately started searching for Arthur.
Finding him lying right beside her, she let out a long sigh of relief. She checked the time, then carefully got out of bed, as if afraid of disturbing his sleep.
Before leaving, however, she couldn't resist leaning over and whispering in a tiny voice, "I couldn't help it."
She gently kissed Arthur on the cheek, then giggled and tiptoed away.
As the bedroom door closed, Arthur opened his eyes.
He had woken the instant Lily opened hers. It was like an instinct, completely beyond his control... and her whispered words had made him bite back a laugh, which was actually quite torturous.
He got out of bed, pulled on his pants, and stood at the window. He drew back the curtains, letting sunlight flood the room. The sound of chopping vegetables drifted from the kitchen. Though muffled by the closed door, the sound was still clear to Arthur.
"This is the life I've always dreamed of," he murmured, rubbing his face. He was so lost in the moment that he almost didn't want to go back to Camp Lehigh.
But... no.
He sighed, relieved that he wouldn't be stuck at Camp Lehigh forever. Now that Lily had returned, he'd have to start leaving early and returning late.
Fortunately, the man with the Teleportation Array had no worries about travel time.
Just then, the wristband on his wrist suddenly blinked with light, signaling an incoming call.
Arthur glanced at it and tapped the wristband. In the next moment, Natasha's voice filled his ear: "Good morning. Hmm, not bad."
Arthur wasn't wearing a shirt.
Shrugging his shoulders, Arthur chuckled, "Thank you for the compliment."
"Of course, that's not why I called," Natasha said. "There's a message from Hank Pym. Are you interested in taking it?"
"When?" Arthur asked.
"Originally, it was last night, but I figured you wouldn't be in the mood for such a call then. So, we rescheduled for 9:30 this morning." Natasha glanced at the time. "That's in about two hours. Is that alright?"
"No..." Arthur felt that the question "Is there a problem?" was the most problematic part of Natasha's statement.
"Alright, I won't disturb you any further." Natasha hung up without giving Arthur a chance to respond.
Arthur remained silent for a moment, then sighed inexplicably.
His thoughts turned to Hank Pym, the original Antman.
Arthur had once asked Pym to create a miniature car as a keychain ornament for Lily. In return, Pym had asked Arthur to do him a favor. Now, with this call, was he finally asking Arthur to fulfill that promise?
"Could it be... a new generation of Antman is about to be born?"
Arthur's eyes blinked, and a moment later, a smile curled his lips. "Pym Particles... that should be a good thing, right? I wonder if Camp Lehigh will ever have the chance to truly develop this technology?"
(End Of This Chapter)