Chapter 261: Honey, It’s Not What It Sounds Like!!

Raiden broke out in a cold sweat as he heard her voice from the other side of the phone.

When going to Aria’s house, he hadn’t expected to go into some kind of mini dimension with no signal, due to which he had forgotten to contact her for almost a week now. And disappearing like that without warning, he couldn’t even imagine the amount of music he was about to face right now.

"Hahahaha....Hey honey! I was just about to call you!!" He tried to smooth things over a bit.

"Don’t change the question, Raiden Ashford. I asked you: why were you with Aria, and where have you been for this past week?? You better have a really good answer prepared for me. Otherwise, it’s your funeral." Hearing the coldness dripping from her tone, Raiden felt a shiver go down his spine.

’Holy fucking shit. She is serious this time. What do I do? What do I do?!! Should I lie? Should I tell her I was in a life-and-death situation?’

’No, no, no. Get a hold of yourself, Raiden. You may be a scumbag, but you are not a scumbag to your own people. She deserves to know the truth. Besides, nothing really happened with you and me and Aria, anyway, so what am I even afraid of? I can do this. Yes, I can do this!!’

"My dear Morg~, I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. I just went there to fulfil a deal, a business deal, nothing more!" Raiden spoke in a flattering tone.

"A business deal that involved a girl named Aria, which made you go AWOL for a whole week?? Yeah, I’m going to need a much better explanation than that."

"It really was a business deal!!" Raiden protested. "Her grandfather runs a huge Terra Beast breeding operation, and he’s the one who helped me meet Woolie in the first place. I owed him a massive favour, millions and millions of credits’ worth, and this trial thing was the only way I could pay it back. I almost died inside of it, ya know."

Morgana was quiet for a moment.

"A trial??"

"Yeah, her family runs this survival competition for young Battle Masters in a private realm. Aria needed someone to protect her because her own father kept sending people after her, and her grandfather asked me to help as part of the favour I owed him."

"And you agreed to this?? Just like that??"

"I had to!! I owed them!!"

"You owed them money, Raiden. Money can be paid back with money. You didn’t have to go play bodyguard in a death forest for a week. If you needed money, you could have just asked me. You know I’m rich, right??"

"When you put it like that, it sounds bad."

"It sounds insane!!"

"It wasn’t that bad!!"

"Raiden, you just said you were almost dying."

"...Okay, it was a little bad."

Morgana let out a long, frustrated breath.

"And Aria," she continued, her voice carefully neutral, "she’s just a business contact?? Nothing more??"

"Nothing more, I swear!! She’s like a little sister to me, kind of. Not really. More like a friend I had to protect because her dad is a psycho."

"A little sister you went to another city for."

"To pay back a favour!!"

"A favour worth just money."

"Millions of credits, yes!!"

"And you couldn’t have just sent money??"

"It’s complicated!! Her grandfather specifically asked for my help with the trial, and I couldn’t exactly say no after everything he did for me. I really owe them a lot. They saved my life in the last Beast Horde."

Morgana was quiet for a long moment before she let out a sigh. "Fine. I believe you."

Raiden let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.

"Thank you—"

"But," she continued, her voice sharpening again, "that doesn’t excuse you disappearing for a week without a single message. Do you have any idea how worried I was?? I called you every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. I texted you constantly. I even called your sister to see if she knew anything."

Raiden’s face went a little pale after hearing this.

"You called Sylvia??"

"Of course I called Sylvia!! What else was I supposed to do?? You vanished off the face of the earth!!"

"I told you, the signal was—"

"I know, I know, the signal was not there. But you could have at least tried. You could have found a way, or at atleast sent me a message before entering that godforsaken realm. You always find a way when it matters, so why not this time??"

Raiden didn’t have a good answer for that.

"Check your phone," Morgana said quietly. "Right now. Open your calls and messages."

Raiden pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen.

His eyes widened.

There were over a hundred missed calls.

And even more than a hundred messages.

He scrolled through them, his heart sinking with every one he read.

The first few were from the day he left.

"Hey, how’s the trip going??"

"Did you eat yet?? I had the weirdest sandwich today; it had pickles AND peanut butter, who does that??"

"By the way, do you like mountains or beaches more? I was thinking about where we should go for our next date."

"What’s your favourite colour? I feel like I should know this, but I don’t, and it’s been bothering me."

"Do you like cats? Asking for a friend."

The messages kept coming.

Day Two.

"Are you busy?? You haven’t replied all day."

"Is everything okay??"

"Did I say something wrong??"

"I’m sure you’re just busy. Right??"

Day Three.

"Raiden, please answer your phone."

"I’m getting worried."

"Your sister said you went on a business trip, but she wouldn’t tell me anything else. What kind of business trip takes a whole week??"

"Are you avoiding me??"

"Did I do something??"

Day Four.

"I’m not angry. I’m just... confused."

"Okay, maybe I’m a little angry."

"Fine, I’m very angry. But I’m also worried. Can you just... send one message?? Anything??"

"I miss you, idiot."

Day Five.

"I called your sister again. She said you’re fine, but she wouldn’t give me details. I don’t know if I believe her. Something about a stupid brother not saying anything to his precious little sister or something."

"Are you actually okay??"

"Please just let me know you’re alive."

Day Six.

"I’m starting to think something really happened."

"Are you hurt?? Are you in trouble??"

"Should I come over there??"

"I don’t even know where ’there’ is. You didn’t tell me anything."

Day Seven.

"Raiden, I’m scared."

"Please call me back."

"Please."