There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 785: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 66

While his twin was experiencing a scolding back in Lucre, Asa was in lockdown.

Well, a lockdown he imposed upon himself, to be exact. The project he started together with the girl he pursued, which was to increase the efficiency of a core component for the ship’s energy reactor, developed into something bigger. They had been working for almost four years on it and the deadline for the report was coming closer, so he shut himself inside the lab with the girl.

Not the kind of ’locked-together-in-a-room’ he wanted, but his childhood dream was still more important than his romantic pursuit.

Perhaps that was why Bassena felt even more saddened when Kar did not come home immediately; Asa had been cutting all communication for the past week.

He merely set his communication filter to emergency, ignoring everything else--including the juicy gossip that Lucy and Nari sent his way. He even heard about Kar from his research assistant. Not even from the news.

"Deputy Chief, isn’t your twin out of the Deathzone already? You don’t want to go and see him?"

"He’s alive, isn’t he?" Asa shrugged. "Then that’s enough."

If something bad happened, his emergency warning would already triggered anyway. As Kar’s guide and twin, his other half, Asa would always instinctively know if Kar was in a perilous situation.

The chief of the project, the girl Asa had been pursuing, shook her head. "I don’t know if you trust him or just cold."

"What do you think?" Asa smirked, but immediately corrected himself when the girl narrowed her eyes. "Just kidding--the Saintess told my father last month that he was alright."

"Whoa...sometimes I forgot you know those great people," the assistants clapped their hands quietly. The amazement was real, though.

"My parents know them, not me," Asa shrugged. "For me, the people in this building are more important."

The assistants clutched their chests, looking at Asa with sparkling eyes. "Deputy Chief..."

"That only if you can arrange this sequence without any error," Asa continued with a smirk.

"Oh, come on!"

Asa laughed and merely ushered the research assistants to return to their task, drowning in more calculations. The Chief, however, glanced at Asa curiously. She knew very well how worried he was during the past years since he couldn’t communicate with his twin.

So what is this behavior, now?

"Still, he’s your twin," she muttered beside him. "Are you not going to see him even once?"

"Hmm..." Asa glanced at her, leaning down to whisper with a smile on his face. "Are you worried about me, Chief?"

The answer he received was nothing but glare. Asa laughed, but he had already told her why; he already received confirmation that Kar was alright and there was no emergency call. He trusted his instinct, and he trusted his twin. Besides...

"He’ll prefer spending time with his boyfriend anyway," Asa scoffed. Rather than worry, maybe he was actually feeling a bit jealous. "There’ll be plenty of time to see him after we’re done with this."

"Hmm...sacrificing everything for science," she nodded in approval. "I can see you’ve become a true researcher."

"Is that a compliment?" Asa arched his brow.

The girl pressed her lips and turned her face away while grumbling. "Think what you want."

Asa laughed from the nice, added boost of mood that would help him go through this hellish deadline. While he had finally crossed the wall and successfully got on a few dates--that felt like a real date instead of just a meal with a colleague--they hadn’t done anything more with how focused they were on this project.

So, he would take whatever he could.

But, well...it wasn’t like he was hopeless. That reddish hue on the tip of her ears was enough proof.

As always, however, Asa had no leeway to lose himself in happiness. It had been fourteen years since the spaceship program was first established, and the investors wanted a real result soon. Not just the fuselage or the engine, but the whole spaceship in its entirety, ready to be launched for a test flight.

They were planning for it during the tenth year, but the large energy consumption hindered the launch; because the ship would burn the fuel before it even breached the atmosphere.

How could they reach the star if they couldn’t even leave the Earth?

That was why, for the past four years, all research had been focused on solving this problem. From increasing the engine performance to perfecting the regulator system, and what their team had been doing: decreasing the energy usage.

"Alright; I’m done inputting the sequence," Han Shin took a deep breath. "Let’s see if we get it right this time."

They had been successful in the simulation, but things could be different in the real test. Hiding behind the tall deputy chief, the assistants clasped their hands in prayer and chanted repeatedly.

"Come on come on come on..."

Asa also felt anxious, but the chief also held his arm tightly, staring at the core engine on the other side of the glass window nervously. Oh...not bad. With a soft chuckle, he pressed the button that would turn the engine system normally--without their developed sequence.

"Activate booster sequence," Asa spoke to the recording and pressed another button.

The core engine let out a soft whirring that sounded different from before, and the researchers stared at the fuel usage gauge on the screen. Before using the sequence, the gauge needle always pointed at the red area; they had managed to lower it to yellow before, but it wouldn’t be enough for long exploration.

Holding their breath, they didn’t even dare to blink as they stared at the gauge needle moving from red to yellow and then, finally, touching the middle of the green area.

Even then, they waited for a few more seconds, and only after the needle stayed there without moving over again did Asa smack the table in front of him.

"Yes!"

"Aaah! We did it! We did it!"

Papers were thrown in the air, and the room was filled with clapping sounds. They jumped and hugged anyone near them--even the chief loosened up for a second and hugged the man beside her.

Of course, she quickly let go after realizing who it was and cleared her throat in embarrassment.

Oblivious to their deputy and chief’s slightly reddened cheeks, the poor sleep-deprived assistants ran around the room like kids in amusement parks. "Whooo! We can finally go hooome!"

Asa laughed and waved his hand. "Go home, then."

"Eeh--just like that, Sir? What about the after-party?"

Asa scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What after party? We should show this to the other departments first."

"Aww..."

"But you can eat and drink all you want for now," he fished out his card and threw it to the excited puppies.

"Woohoo!"

"Do it moderately," the Chief warned them. "You need to look fresh for the executive test."

"Yes, Ma’am!"

The assistants saluted and immediately ran away before the bosses could change their minds. Asa chuckled and leaned against the table, exhaling slowly as the pressure slowly released from his heavy shoulder.

Ah, no wonder he felt stiff these days. Or was it because he had no chance to exercise? His father would give him an earful if he knew.

Oh, but he had another mountain to climb before he could rest.

The chief crossed her arms and stared at Asa sharply. "Now, since we’re alone..."

"We need to talk about it," Asa smiled.

"Yes."

In the research room where there were only the two of them, they stood face to face in front of the meeting table. Eyes sharp, none of them averting their eyes from each other, as if gauging their opponent’s move. In a suffocating silence, they raised their hands at the same time and slammed the table.

"My name will be listed first!"

Their overlapping voice bounced on the glass and the wall, similarly unyielding. Of course, in any research, the contribution point was always a place for conflict. Even Asa didn’t seem to yield to the girl he liked. Having their name listed first meant they contributed the most, but what if the contribution level was equal?

"What are you talking about, Chief? Things like this always use surname first," Asa tilted his head and smiled charmingly. "Ishtera Karsa certainly goes before Rios Julia."

"In this kind of project, isn’t it normal to put the Chief’s name first?" the Chief, Julia, frowned in protest.

"Whoa...are you abusing your power now?" Asa gasped. "Using your position? How scary~"

"Oh, shut up!" Julia pursed her lips. It was truly a blow for her, who hated the misuse of power the most. "Fine! T-then, let’s use given names first!"

"Sure," Asa shrugged. "We’ll go with Asa Ishtera and--"

"That’s not fair!"

"Why? Everyone here and my family know me as Asa anyway," the guide smiled sweetly, looking all innocent that Julia couldn’t even refute his words. "Besides, it’s unorthodox to use given names first."

"Ugh..."

It was annoying, but also true. They could use given names first if everyone in the team agreed, but it was not common, and people would still look at the surname first anyway. She knew it was true, which made it even more annoying.

Asa curled his eyes as Julia bit her lips in frustration. For any researcher, being first on the list was always a goal. "Although..."

Her green eyes lit up immediately. "Yes?"

"There’s a way for your name to be listed first without changing any rule," Asa smiled.

Julia narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the gleaming pair of ambers. "What is it?"

Leaning closer to the girl, Asa spoke in a whisper. "You can change your surname."

Julia blinked. "What?"

"Ishtera Julia will go before Ishtera Karna, you know?" Asa tilted his head, staring straight at the blinking green eyes.

"...what?"

Asa straightened his back and asked again, this time with a more serious tone. "How about it?"

Looking at the tall guy in a daze, Julia parted her lips slowly. "Are you...asking me to marry you?"

Asa stroked his chest in relief. "Oh, thank Gods you got it!"

"Do you think I’m dense?" Julia smacked the guide in reflex, out of habit, before pulling her hand while clearing her throat. "Ahem."

Asa laughed; for him, that smack only felt ticklish. "Obviously, it was a jest," he took the retreating hand and stroked it. Rather than him, her hand was probably the one stinging. "I’ll cry if you couldn’t get to that conclusion after all my efforts."

He never hid his intention behind every meal invitation, always making sure to remind her that it was a date, and not just hanging out with a colleague. Those daily texts reminding her to eat--because she got embarrassed if he said it verbally--and his thoughtful little gifts of stationery and hard-to-get publications.

No one could say that Asa was doing it platonically, and she never told him to stop. Just like how she did not pull her hand from Asa’s gentle hold. Patiently, he kept at it without pushing the big question, because he knew their focus was on something else entirely.

"Normally, I’m going to tell you to think about it, but..." he smiled wryly. "I’m too scared you’ll avoid me again."

She pressed her lips and replied quietly. "I won’t...do that."

"Really?" Asa held her hand a bit tighter--just a little bit. "Then, will you answer? Or should I kneel first--"

"No need."

Asa paused, wondering if it was a rejection. He wanted to look at her expression, but she lowered her face and her fringe prevented him from taking a peek. In silence, Asa waited patiently, feeling even more anxious than the test they did earlier.

"J-just so you know..." a quiet voice could finally be heard, increasing slightly as she raised her face. "It’s not...it’s not because I want my name to be listed first, okay?"

Asa blinked slowly. "That means..."

"Haa...alright," she took a deep breath and exhaled, looking at the widened ambers. "I accept. Let’s get married."

There was one, two, three seconds of pause before Asa moved to grasp her face, leaning down so closely only to stop when their lips were mere inches from each other. "Can I--"

Before Asa could ask for it, Julia already pulled his coat, pressing their lips together. Their first kiss; their first intimate touch since they accidentally made contact on a random afternoon in the university all those years ago.

It was short and too innocent for their age, but it was sweet beyond their imagination. For a while, they just stood there, awkwardly in bliss, and also confused.

After all, they only live for this spaceship all their adult life.

"What now?"

"Umm...getting married?"

They looked at each other and laughed. While it was confusing, funnily enough, it didn’t feel strange for them. Maybe because of the long pining, they already knew deep down of this result. At the very least, she already knew she would respond positively if Asa ever asked her out.

She just didn’t expect it would go straight to a marriage proposal. She kind of liked it, though. It was very much like the Karsa Ishtera she got to know all those long years.

"Oh, we need to meet my parents first," Asa snapped his fingers.

And she froze.