Endless Evolution: Last Star

The aroma of strong coffee filled the kitchen, traveling to the other rooms. Silvana was truly ecstatic.

She tried to hide it, but her eyes shone brightly like a child's. After all, even though she was Adam's Operator, she had to live on the money the government paid her.

'Damn... Before, I didn't think about it at all. You could tell by the look in her eyes that she'd been wanting to try it for a long time.' Adam muttered inwardly, a slight smile appearing on his face.

For him, it made little difference what kind of coffee to drink, as he preferred a latte and could stir it with sugar. It was pretty far from a classic such as espresso, but Adam wasn't a coffee expert, at least not yet.

He drank what he liked, for now, he was pleased to see the joy on Silvana's face.

Tap.

Slowly, as if she had a long-awaited treasure in her hands, Silvana brought the cup to her lips before taking the first sip.

A pleasant bitterness came forward, bringing with it a flood of aroma and pure coffee flavor that filled her mouth.

Silvana often drank espresso, and though this one was just as strong, it seemed much milder and more pleasant to taste, with the flavor being considerably stronger.

"Agh... This coffee definitely shouldn't cost that much, but... I don't regret trying it at all. If I had the chance, I would drink this coffee as often as possible." Silvana said, glancing at the cup, and seeing her reflection in the black surface.

Then, Silvana looked at Adam, who watched her reaction the whole time. The steam coming out of the cup wafted in front of his face as if asking him to taste it too. The coffee was already cooling down a bit, but it was still hot enough to burn the tongue "Hey, you spent a lot of money on this and other coffee, didn't you?" Silvana asked with a slight smirk on her face.

Adam shrugged slightly.

"Don't think about it too much. It's my gift to you since I didn't have any other ideas. I just wanted to make you feel good."

Silvana was ready to reply something, but Adam's last words embarrassed her. She even blushed a little, though she didn't realize it and didn't think that was possible.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Then, shaking her head to the side and coming to her senses, Silvana pointed to the cup in Adam's hands.

"Thank you, but even though it's a gift for me, I want you to try it too. Go ahead and take at least one sip. You might not like it, but you'll definitely experience something new." Silvana said confidently.

However... instead of coffee, Adam's gaze traveled to the paper bag with the three burgers inside.

Tap.

Silvana grabbed the bag and set it aside, behind her back.

"Hah, don't even look in the direction of the burgers until you've tasted the coffee."

Silvana said playfully, watching Adam carefully.

"Hmm?" Adam raised an eyebrow in slight puzzlement, "Are you forbidding me something?"

Then, he smiled, finding the situation quite funny.

"I usually do this, it's like we've switched places."

Silvana confidently lifted her chin and jutted her chest forward.

"Sure, you take charge, and I obey, that's how the relationship between Operator and Phantom works, but... we're past the point where it's purely a working relationship, aren't we?"

Then, Silvana put her cup of coffee aside and smirked slyly.

"Nothing wrong with teasing you, what do you think?" Silvana took a step to the side, pointing to the bag where three delicious burgers lay, waiting for someone to finally try them.

Normally, Silvana didn't order this kind of food, today was a special occasion, but she knew that Adam adored this kind of food. Experience tales at empire

It only took a few ingredients to make Adam satisfied with the meal - sauce, cheese, dough, and meat. Still, it was hard to find a man who didn't like that appealing combination.

"Actually, I'm not hungry." Adam said calmly, ruining all of Silvana's plans.

Silvana blinked a few times before asking:

"What...? How? Even if you ate at some cafe, you get hungry after a few hours, if not sooner."

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Adam patted his stomach.

"Well, tonight my mom and I made a huge and greasy lasagna. It was as delicious as it was hearty."

Silvana said nothing, she twiddled her fingers nervously as she now didn't know how to convince Adam to try the coffee.

Then, before Silvana could think of any plan, Adam took a few steps forward, finding herself close to her.

Adam's blue eyes reflected Silvana, the tips of their hair touching each other as if wanting to become one.

"Looks like your plan failed."

Adam said sternly, it seemed that Silvana was expecting consequences for her insolence.

"But... If you want, I can do it just like that." Adam said quietly.

Without wasting a second, Adam brought the cup to his lips and took a small sip.

In a heartbeat, his face contorted and wrinkled as if he'd just eaten a whole lemon. He wanted to cough and spit out his coffee, but he held back and eventually finished his sip.

"Pffft! Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Silvana was unable to contain her laughter.

The look on Adam's face just made her laugh for a few minutes before she finally calmed down.

"Damn... I haven't had this much fun in so long. You should see your face. But... how does it taste?" Silvana asked, glancing at Adam, who had already set the cup of coffee aside.

Oddly enough, his gaze darkened, becoming thoughtful and deep.

'Did I do something wrong?' Silvana muttered inwardly. She didn't understand what was wrong with Adam, he didn't think coffee was capable of causing such a drastic change in him.

"It's good that we're having fun, and the coffee is definitely good, but I'm not ready for it yet." Adam said aloofly.

He slowly turned around, looking at Silvana.

"It's like we switched places... I said that phrase a few minutes ago and now I'm thinking about it."

Adam stared at Silvana intently.

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if we met under different circumstances?"

Adam took a deep breath.

"I wonder... How our relationship would develop if I were your Operator and you were my Phantom, like Alexia's relationship with Louis."

Silvana's mouth dropped open slightly and her eyes went wide. She hadn't expected to hear a question like that and she didn't have a quick answer.

It was like a second path that was forever lost since fate decided they should take the first one.

...

Adam and Silvana hardly had any choice, they worked together since Adam had become the Phantom.

And... the one who had caused this to happen, the one who had influenced their fate by giving Adam a new life, now watched as his plans were disrupted by one particularly clever monster.

Redcore Wolf used his trump card to bring another monster into the arena. It was a guarantee that Glara would lose.

But... Aiden wasn't going to tolerate his rules being broken.

He glared at Shadow of the Woods and the Redcore Wolf.

His amber eyes flashed, since from his perspective, those two were already dead for choosing to disrupt his experiment.