Aegon didn't immediately call Elara. For some reason, he was hesitant and a little nervous. He couldn't even understand it since he never had that problem talking with anyone, especially Elara.

But now he was in this situation.

'What the hell, bro? She's your girlfriend, just talk to her.'

Taking a deep breath, he decided to just go out with it.

'What's the worst that could happen anyway? It's not like she'll dump you for not talking for a month straight after confessing, right? Goddamn it!'

His heart beat rapidly as he waited for her to pick up. Thousands of thoughts passed through his head as he simulated how their conversation would go and how he would respond to her questions.

[Hi!]

But the moment she picked up and said that one word in her low, gentle voice, everything faded away from his mind. No thoughts, no simulation, nothing remained.

His heart relaxed as if someone put a warm blanket on it in the freezing cold winter. His lips curled up in happiness. "Hey, how have you been?"

[Can't say I've been very good or fine.]

"Huh? What happened? Did the old man pressure you too much?" Aegon asked, narrowing his eyes. 'I really should have told Xiu to go a little overboard.'

[Not really. He's actually very good and saw my weakness at first glance. I improved a lot in this one month, but it really put me in a spot. He said we don't have much time, so I had to work harder. And well, that exhausted me greatly. I just came back from a thirty hours straight training.]

"Damn!"

Aegon could sense relief and happiness in her voice, even though she also seemed tired. Even if Amon pressured her to go past her limits, she was happy with the improvement and didn't regret putting in the effort.

Without him realising, Aegon actually began to talk casually with her, forgetting his nervousness.

"That sounds hard. When is your training over?"

[It depends on me since he gave me a target. I think I can complete it in two days.]

'Two days. I'll need to complete my work in that.' Aegon thought before saying, "Good. I'll finish by then too, so how about we hang out?"

[Are you asking me out for a date?]

Aegon gulped and scratched his cheeks. "Yeah? I mean, if you want, of course."

[Haha, of course I'd love to join you. Besides, I'm your girlfriend, so you don't need to be so shy about it.]

"I'm not really shy," Aegon countered, then paused and said in a low voice. "It's just that you're my first girlfriend, so I want to make sure I give you everything as your partner. I don't want to mess this up."

[Silly boy, you're also my first love. We're in this together, and I feel the same. If we do mess it up, we'll just have to clean it up. Together. We're both amateurs at this, so isn't it fine if we explore it together?]

Aegon felt warmth creep into his heart as he smiled. "Yeah, you're right. We'll just do it together."

[Exactly. My mom says that being in love is easy, but being in a relationship is hard. Love alone doesn't mean the relationship can be successful.]

Aegon had to agree with that.

[Do you know that my parents actually had an arranged marriage?]

"Really?" Aegon's eyes widened slightly hearing that. "They clearly love each other, though."

[Yes, but we're seeing their current selves, not the past ones. Well, Dad loved Mom, but his feelings weren't reciprocated.]

"Don't tell me he forced an arranged marriage on her?" Aegon gasped, before shaking his head. "Actually, no, I don't think he's capable of that."

[Haha. Yes, Dad loved her way too much to actually steal her freedom of choice. It was the elders who did that, and well, my grandmother. Mom didn't like it, but eventually had to give in.]

Aegon was surprised to hear the story. He didn't think that loving couple had such a backstory. Theon and Aurelia were like a perfect couple whom he looked up to and hoped his relationship would also be like that.

Who knew they would hide such secrets?

[It was a marriage of one-sided love. Dad knew about Mom's feelings, so he never forced his feelings on her. Instead, he put effort into making the relationship work. And he succeeded.]

Aegon couldn't help but smile hearing that.

[My mom was quite unreasonable back then, but not enough to put her anger on someone else. She saw his efforts and her heart melted. She saw his boundless love for her and decided to put every effort into the relationship. She didn't think that she could love that man, but she at least wanted to make sure she fulfilled her duties as a wife and returned his efforts.]

Now that was a perfect example of marriage. Aegon realised that to make a relationship work, both sides needed to put in effort. Love alone didn't sustain the relationship.

[Haha, who knew she would fall for him so hard? It's still funny to me how she initially hated the relationship because it stole her freedom that she loved so dearly. But then, she willingly gave it up because of her love for him.]

"You want to kill me with sweetness?" Aegon asked, still smiling. "This just melted my heart into a puddle of sweetness. Also, you seem too proud."

[Of course I am proud of having such good parents. Not everyone has such a luxury, after all.]

It took her a moment to realise what she had just said as she hurriedly added.

[I-I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry.]

Aegon chuckled seeing how nervous she got, so he said, "It's fine. I know what you meant, and I agree too. Having parents like yours is a luxury many don't have. It's something to take pride in."

He grinned and added, "Of course, you might be forgetting that I have the most wonderful parent in the world too."

[Ah, how can I forget about my dear Aunt? But don't you think something is amiss here? I have both a dad and a mom, but you only have Aunt Xiu. I don't mean it in any wrong way, and I know Aunt can fulfill both roles. But don't you think she has a vacant spot in her life?]

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