December 20, 2038 | 7:30 PM | London, England

  At a residence near the TREAM Research and Development Center...

  Mook stepped through the biting cold wind and entered the house, heading straight for the bedroom. There, he found Linnea already waiting for him. Dressed in a sheer, cream-colored nightgown, she sat cross-legged with her arms folded, her expression calm but laced with a simmering anger she was trying hard to conceal.

  Inhale... Linnea took a deep, forced breath to steady her emotions as Mook approached. She tried to ask in her most casual tone, “Why are you back so late?”

  “Had a few extra things to wrap up,” Mook replied as he sat on the bed, pulling her slender frame onto his lap.

  “Ruby told me you gifted nine percent of the shares to Saito and that you’re planning to merge GREM and TREAM. Why would you do that?” Linnea asked, her voice intentionally softened.

  Mook gazed at her beautiful face, which was now filled with deep-seated anxiety. He knew she feared Saito because of the lingering traces of memories from the past. He decided to tell her something that would let her know the truth. “The world that collapsed... you will never have to face it again. I promise.”

  Jolt! Linnea froze for a moment, her composure slipping slightly as she felt the strange weight behind Mook’s words.

  Mook looked at her and gave a small, subtle smile. “I was stabbed so many times... you know it hurt, right?”

  Freeze! This time, Linnea went deathly pale. ‘How does Mook know? Who told him? Was it Jia or Meena?’ Her thoughts were in a chaotic whirl.

  “If you don’t mind... I’m going for it,” Mook whispered. He gently parted her thin nightgown and leaned down to nuzzle and nip at her full chest.

  Push! Linnea instinctively pressed her hands against Mook’s chest, resisting him. At this very second, she was utterly terrified of him. But when she met his eyes again, she found him smiling at her tenderly, without a single trace of malice or vengeance. She stopped resisting and let him have his way, allowing his lips to roam freely over her breasts.

  Even as she was being touched in her most sensitive spots, Linnea felt no sense of romance. Her mind was racing non-stop... Since when did he know? How did he find out? And since he knew, why did he still choose to help her take down GREM? Questions flooded her mind incessantly.

  “Wh... Why did you still help me? Even after I hurt you that much?” Linnea asked, her voice trembling with fear.

  “Well... maybe it’s a reward for the fact that this time, nobody had to die,” Mook paused his activities and looked up to answer.

  “And how do you know everything?”

  “Traveling back a long way creates memory clusters. Those clusters get damaged and suppressed by memories of the new timeline, making people who aren't wearing your kind of watch unable to remember things before the jump. But even so, those memory clusters can be recovered within the virtual world...”

  Mook leaned his head back against Linnea’s chest, staying still. “Mr. William remembered that I once cured his daughter. So, he helped recover those memories for me.”

  Clasp! Linnea instinctively gripped the watch on her left wrist with mounting anxiety.

  “Don't worry, that’s a fake. I’ve already destroyed all three original watches.”

  Linnea was stunned by his revelation.

  “It’s extremely dangerous, you know,” Mook explained his reasoning. “If you keep jumping back repeatedly until the brain’s capacity reaches its limit, you could cause everyone on Earth to suffer a simultaneous brain hemorrhage and die.”

  Linnea gasped. She had no idea about this side effect; it wasn't written in her mother’s documents. “Lin... Lin is so sorry.” Faced with the magnitude of her mistake, she didn't know what else to say besides a quiet apology. She forced herself to accept the reality of the situation. “And you’re not angry with me...? Even though I killed you twice?”

  “Hmm... from the first time we met until now, how many times have I ‘stabbed’ you back?” Mook asked with a playful tone.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Wh... you’ve never stabbed me,” Linnea looked confused, missing the metaphor.

  “I mean ‘stabbing’ like this...” Mook whispered, shifting his hips slightly in a symbolic gesture.

  “Oh...” Understanding finally dawned on her. Linnea’s face turned beet red with embarrassment, and she playfully punched his chest. “Pervert! But... it’s been many times.”

  “Then let’s call it even,” Mook looked up and gave his beautiful wife a sweet, loving smile.

  “Wait a minute...” Linnea, whose mood had returned to normal thanks to his warmth and playfulness, suddenly remembered something. “A reward for nobody dying...? You’ve been helping me all this time because Rina didn't die, right?!”

  Cough! Cough! Mook suddenly choked on air as he felt the ‘Wife Instinct’ ability being fully activated. “Ahem, ahem!” Mook coughed several times to cover his tracks.

  “Well... that’s part of it, but not all of it.”

  Hmph! The previously terrified Linnea was now glaring intensely at Mook. “Are you sure?”

  “Mmm-hmm...” Mook stood his ground, leaning down to kiss her chest again in hopes of changing the subject.

  “Stop right there!” Linnea pushed him away. “Akizaki Rina, Head of Security... You were the one who hired her, weren't you?” Linnea’s voice was heavy and demanding as she stared him down like an executioner.

  Gulp! Mook flinched slightly before confessing. “Yeah... I just wanted her to have a job, a good future. So I...”

  “So you cleared her debt AND gave her a high-ranking position, didn't you?!” Linnea’s voice hit a high note as she zeroed in on the point.

  Now, Mook began to feel the true fear of a husband. He tried to lift her off his lap, but Linnea held firm, refusing to budge.

  “Well... look... don't worry. Rina doesn't remember me anymore. Mr. William didn't recover her memories. So right now, it’s just me loving her one-sidedly. Since it’s a one-sided love anyway, it’s better to stay here and love you, especially since we already have a kid together, right?” Mook tried to sweet-talk his way out of trouble.

  “Really?” Linnea narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

  “Yeah, really,” Mook followed up by showering her cheeks with kisses to butter her up.

  “What if I let you go back to her?”

  “I’d stay right here with you.”

  “If you had to choose between me and her?” Linnea fired the questions faster.

  “I’d choose you, Lin.”

  “And if you could choose both?”

  “I’d choose both... HEY!” Mook tried to catch his words, but it was too late.

  “What did you just say?!” Linnea barked, arching her back and pointing her finger right at his face.

  “Just kidding! Right now, I only have you, Linnea. We’re registered, we’re married. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You better mean it!” Linnea growled.

  “I do... I only have you. No one else,” Mook whispered, showering her neck with kisses.

  “Stop it! I just remembered... Head of Janitorial Services, Kamisaki Natsuki; Head of Procurement, Aizawa Hana... Mook! Mmm...!”

  Before Linnea could say another word, Mook pinned her down on the bed and silenced her with a kiss. Then, he gathered her hands and delivered a ‘Full Course’ to her as a way to settle the conflict.

  ***

  January 15, 2039 | 10:40 AM

  After the successful merger of GREM and TREAM, the European government ordered the TREAM servers and primary research center to be relocated to the GREM Special Administrative Islands for easier protection of this world-class technology.

  “There are soldiers guarding everywhere!” “Whoa, is that a forest over there?!” “Look! There’s a swimming pool in the middle of the woods too!”

  The TREAM employees, who had never seen such a magnificent place, were buzzing with excitement as they headed toward the large, ten-story circular building towering in the middle of the forest.

  Inside the building...

  “It’s so spacious. And surrounded by forest... the view is incredible.” Linnea explored her beautiful new workplace alongside Mook.

  Buzz... Mook’s phone vibrated in his pocket with a message from Saito. Mook leaned his elbow on a lounge chair and opened it.

  “This is for betraying me... Consider us even.”

  Mook read the message and tried to decode its meaning.

  “You pervert!” A familiar voice rang out from nearby, making Mook snap his head around instantly.

  “Rina!” Mook accidentally blurted out her name with familiarity.

  Rina simply returned a sweet, gentle smile. Then, she turned toward Linnea, walked right up to her, handed over a security report, and said, “Hold onto this for now... I’ll be coming to take it back later.”

  With those words, Rina stepped between Natsuki and Hana. They all shared a meaningful glance and a smile before walking away together.

  Linnea stood frozen, before turning a death-stare toward Mook, who could now only mumble to himself...

  “Oh, I’m so screwed...”

  END