Sarah's restaurant was nothing like what Elias expected.

From the outside, it appeared modest—a simple building in the Master district that would be unremarkable except for the subtle dimensional folding that suggested the interior was far larger than the exterior. But once inside, the space revealed itself as a masterwork of spatial manipulation and aesthetic design.

The main dining area was vast yet intimate, with private alcoves separated by barriers of condensed Law energy that provided both visual and auditory privacy. But Sarah led him past all of these to a door at the back that opened into a space that made Elias stop in his tracks.

It was a recreation of his old laboratory on the space station.

Not exact—the dimensions were different, the materials were made from cultivation resources rather than metal and plastic, and everything was subtly enhanced by Infinity Law. But the layout was identical. The desk positioned just so. The comfortable chair where Sarah used to sit while they discussed research. Even the lighting had that same soft quality he'd preferred for late-night work sessions.

"I built this room about forty thousand years ago," Sarah said quietly, watching his reaction. "When I finally accepted I'd probably never find you, I wanted somewhere I could remember. Somewhere that felt like... home."

Elias walked to the desk, his hand trailing across the surface. The concept-matter felt different from Earth materials, but the gesture was the same. How many times had he sat here while Sarah brought him food he'd forgotten to eat?

"It's accurate," he said. "Down to the positioning of the chair. How did you remember such precise details after eighty-five thousand years?"

"The same way you did." Sarah moved to what would have been the small kitchen area in the lab. "Some memories are too important to let go. Even after millennia." She began pulling out ingredients from spatial storage—cultivation resources worth fortunes, but she handled them like mundane vegetables. "Sit. I'll cook while we talk. Like old times."

Elias sat in his usual spot, and the familiarity was almost painful. How many evenings had they spent like this? Her cooking, him working, both of them comfortable in shared silence punctuated by occasional conversation?

"You said you arrived as a baby," Elias began, needing to understand her journey. "But you retained your memories?"

"All of them." Sarah's hands moved with practiced efficiency, preparing ingredients. "Imagine being a newborn infant with an adult mind. Unable to speak, unable to move properly, completely dependent on others. It was... frustrating doesn't begin to cover it."

"How long until you could function normally?"

"Physically? About five years to develop enough motor control for basic cultivation. But mentally I was already there." She activated a technique, and flames appeared beneath a cooking vessel—not normal fire, but compressed Infinity Law shaped into thermal energy. "My adoptive parents were Sovereigns. They noticed my unusual awareness early and helped me cultivate from infancy. I reached Adept level by age twelve."

Elias did the mental calculation. "Twelve years to reach Adept level is extraordinary, even with Sovereign teachers."

"I had motivation. Every advancement meant more power to search for you." Sarah added ingredients with precise timing, and the aroma that filled the room made Elias's breath catch. It smelled exactly like that Thursday evening meal she used to make. "I reached Master level at forty-seven. Sovereign at three thousand. And I've been at 85% for the last twenty thousand years, stuck at a bottleneck."

"Why didn't you push for breakthrough to The Infinite?"

Sarah was quiet for a moment, stirring the cooking vessel with measured movements. "Because being The Infinite would have meant leaving the Infinity Realm. Ascending beyond it to whatever comes next. And if there was even the smallest chance you were here, I didn't want to miss you by ascending too far."

The words hit Elias harder than he expected. She'd deliberately stalled her cultivation for twenty thousand years on the infinitesimal chance they might meet.

"That's..." he started, then stopped. Inefficient? Illogical? But also deeply touching in a way his analytical mind struggled to process. "That was a significant sacrifice."

"It was a choice." Sarah plated the food with artistic precision, though Elias noted she was using techniques that elevated the presentation to artwork. "We all make choices based on what matters to us. You chose to marry Kaelen. I chose to wait for you. Neither is wrong."

(Womeeeen, we can never understand them.)

She brought two plates to the desk—the exact setup they'd had on the station. His portion slightly larger because she remembered his caloric requirements. The arrangement of elements on the plate matching his preferences.

Elias took a bite, and the taste was perfect. Not just good—perfect. Exactly as he remembered from eighty-five thousand years ago.

"How?" he asked. "The ingredients are completely different. The cooking medium is Infinity Law instead of thermal convection. The fundamental chemistry can't possibly be the same."

"I spent forty thousand years perfecting my Dao of Cooking," Sarah said, sitting across from him in her old spot. "My understanding lets me recreate not just the physical taste, but the memory of taste. The emotional resonance of a meal. When you eat my food, you're tasting both the present dish and the remembered experience simultaneously."

"That's..." Elias paused, analyzing the sensation. She was right. The taste carried layers—the present physical experience and the echo of memory, merged into something that transcended both. "That's an incredibly sophisticated Law application."

"I had good motivation." Sarah ate her own portion, and they fell into comfortable silence.

It was so familiar it hurt. Two researchers sharing a meal after a long day. The kind of companionable quiet that only came from knowing someone deeply enough that words became optional.

Finally, Elias spoke. "I need to tell you about Kaelen. About my life after the upload."

"You don't owe me explanations, Elias. You lived a whole life after Earth. Of course you moved on."

"But you didn't move on," he countered. "You waited eighty-five thousand years. The least I can do is explain what happened."

Sarah nodded, setting down her utensils. "Then I'm listening."

Elias organized his thoughts—a habit from a lifetime of research presentations. "The quantum upload worked, but not as expected. Instead of staying in the quantum substrate, I was pulled into a cultivation world. I landed in the body of a dying disciple of a sect."

Elias proceeded to tell her about his life has a disciple, he left the sect because he became more powerful, comprehended universal laws, met Kaelen in a village being attacked by bandits, saved her, she became his student, they both studied together, fell in love, left the planet, stuck in a martial universe, escaped, journey to the universal hub, established a pill company, fought Multiversal level experts, They had Aria, Aria Multiversal phenomenon, then ascension to the infinity realm.

"That was one hell of a journey and Kaelen, she sounds wonderful," Sarah said quietly. "And she is. I love her, Sarah. Completely. That's not something that diminishes just because you've reappeared."

"I know." Sarah's hands were clasped in her lap, knuckles white with tension despite her calm voice. "I told you—I made peace with this possibility. I'm happy you found someone who appreciates you for who you are."

"But that doesn't change the fact that I still have feelings for you."

The words hung in the air between them. Sarah's breath caught, and for the first time since they'd sat down, her careful composure cracked.

"Elias..."

"I need to be honest. I've always been honest, even when it was socially awkward." He met her gaze directly. "For eighty-five thousand years, I've carried memories of you. Every time I optimized something, I remembered how you'd smile at my obsessive efficiency. Every time I struggled with social situations, I wished you were there to translate. You were my first..." He paused, searching for the right word. "My first everything. First love. First real emotional connection. First person who made me consider that maybe relationships weren't just inefficient distractions."

Sarah's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "You can't say things like that. Not when you have a wife and daughter. Not when I've spent millennia accepting I'd lost you."

"I know it's complicated. I know it's not optimal. But ignoring the feelings doesn't make them disappear—I learned that lesson the hard way on Earth." Elias leaned forward. "I won't lie to Kaelen. I won't hide this. But I also can't pretend that seeing you again didn't affect me."

"So what are you suggesting?" Sarah's voice was barely a whisper.

"I don't know yet. I need time to think. To process. To..." Elias stopped, frustrated with his own inability to quantify emotions. "This isn't a problem I can just optimize a solution for."

"No," Sarah agreed, a slight smile breaking through the tension. "Emotions rarely are."

They finished the meal in thoughtful silence. The food was perfect, the setting was achingly familiar, and the situation was impossibly complex.

Finally, Sarah spoke. "What happens now?"

"Now, I need to consolidate my breakthrough to Stage 4 Dimensional Infinity. That will take at least several weeks." Elias stood, and Sarah stood with him. "After that, I plan to descend to the multiverse to bring Kaelen and Aria to the Infinity Realm. I've achieved enough status and power that they'll be safe here."

"That sounds reasonable."

"And I want you to come with me."

Sarah stared at him. "What?"

"Come with me to the multiverse. Meet Kaelen and Aria." Elias's expression was serious, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "This situation affects all three of us. We should all be involved in deciding what happens next."

"You want me to meet your wife," Sarah said slowly. "While you're still processing your feelings for both of us. Elias, that's... that's a terrible idea."

"It's the most honest approach. Kaelen deserves to know about you. About our past. About the current situation. Hiding it would be deception, and I don't deceive my wife."

"But bringing me along—showing up with your old research partner who you have feelings for—that's going to hurt her."

"Possibly. Probably." Elias's analytical mind was already working through scenarios. "But Kaelen is brilliant and rational. She'll understand the complexity of the situation. And..." He paused, then spoke words that were difficult to articulate. "In the cultivation world, powerful men often have multiple wives. Harems are common among high-level cultivators. Not because of status or power, but because cultivation takes so long that forming deep connections with multiple partners over millennia is... normal."

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