Flicking the spiraled end of the mascara wand against her lashes should have been the final touch to her already meticulously applied cosmetics. But she frowned at her reflection instead. "Ugh, it must be perfect today." She slammed her hands against the counter of the vanity paying no heed to the inky streak of mascara that she had unintentionally applied to it since the wand was still clutched tightly in her hand.

She turned abruptly on her heel and averted her frown to her current, temporary, living arrangements. She could barely admit to herself that it was far better than the original room she had been sharing with the other female member of the team. Having to pull out her own gold credit card to make the swap wasn't really a chore. (To her it was a necessity.) But it still was by far not her first, or even her second, or third choice in lodging.

The digital clock on the bedside table had her squinting her emerald green eyes in annoyance. She would be late as it was, and she still hadn't gotten dressed. Luckily she had chosen the perfect outfit to see him (well really the both of them) once again. But, she knew for a fact that he wasn't a fan of when someone wasn't punctual. Although her tardiness would also have the side benefit of making her stand out.

She turned back to the mirror and smirked candidly at her own reflection. "Oh yes, and I was born to stand out." She tossed her head back in a flirtatious manner, letting her thick golden locks fall back into their meticulously curled waves. "He won't know what hit him." She winked at herself and trudged back to put on the 'perfect' outfit she had selected for their reunion.

"Mahna mahna. Do do de do do." Noll groans and answers his phone before it can repeat the phrase over and over again.

He doesn't even have to look at the display to know his brother is the guilty party for changing his personal ringtone to something so substantially annoying. "Seriously, Gene? When did you change it this time?"

Noll feels through their connection as his brother shrugs. "Who knows. It's not often I have to communicate with you over the phone." That was true enough. "But, you must have blocked me out while you slept. So, obviously I had to use a more mundane way to contact you." Although, now I have to find another annoying ringtone. Maybe 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua?

"I heard that." Noll wasn't all that perturbed by his brother's childish antics. It was part of what made him 'the fun one.' He even knew that his brother transmitted that thought to him on purpose, simply because he was nonsensically silly and was attempting to get out a rise out of Noll. It at least woke him up a bit more. But he still rubbed the sleep from his eyes and submitted to a full body stretch and jaw popping yawn. The movement had Mai whimpering in her sleep, and he found himself gravitating closer to her.

"Mother has been asking where you are this morning. I didn't tell her that you stayed out all night. But you know mum. She is quite brilliant, and is sure to connect the dots in a hurried fashion."

Yeah, there wasn't much point in keeping it from her as if it were some secret. But she will formulate her own agenda once she learns of the depth of his affections toward Mai. There really wasn't much helping it. He starts to shift away to climb out of bed when Mai scoots back into him. Suddenly the idea of lingering in bed and cuddling Mai for longer has more appeal than going home and getting ready for the meeting. "Will you please bring me an outfit to wear for the meeting?" He couldn't quite remember what was hanging in his closet but his brother knew what he favored. If he had any questions he could always ask via their telepathic link.

He scanned his eyes over Mai's sleeping form. Not realizing he was telepathically displaying it to Gene's eye also. "I can definitely understand why you are hesitant to leave. No worries brother. But you only have another half an hour before she should be waking up. So spend it wisely."

Noll blindly put his phone back to the bedside table when the phone call disconnected. He pulled Mai flush against him and inhaled her natural scent at the nape of her neck. He nuzzled against her, coaxing her to consciousness. "Mai, wake up. The meeting is in an hour and a half. That means you will be meeting my mother in an hour and a half." If not earlier. He thought to himself.

Those words had Mai waking up fully. Her eyes panicked as she looked around the room. What had he just said? Oh yes that she would be meeting his mother today. Crap, then she had to pick out something both feminine and career oriented. She was at her closet shifting through her hangers before she realized she had even moved.

"I prefer when you wear the long form fitting skirts. What are those called?" He paused to think it over because he knew he heard the term mentioned somewhere before. "Pencil skirts?"

Mai turned around and quirked an eyebrow his direction. "Why exactly do you prefer those?"

Noll smirked at her. His devilish smile coming out to play at full force before he climbed up from where he was lounging to stride her way. When she was in reaching distance he pulled her into him so there was no space between their bodies. She wasn't aware of his right hand's trajectory. "Because, I like how the skirts hug your womanly curves." He paused for a moment before adding, "especially the curves of your delectable looking derriere." His right hand gripped said curves in question, and Mai gasped in response.

Not one to let a moment go to waste Noll manically dove at her lips. His tongue immediately stroking hers into submission. With how close they were there was no way he could deny what she did to him. Perhaps he should have pulled away to let her get ready. But instead he found his left hand climbing up her ribcage as his right hand became acquainted with the curves he had gripped. He ghosted the fingers of his right hand where the back of her upper thigh and ass met, teasing that area with his fingertips. His left hand continued upward with another destination in mind but just before he got to the underswell of her right breast she pulled away.

"No! No, we can't do this right now. Naru! I have to get ready!" She blinked up at him. Noll was pleased to see the flush infusing her cheeks, her dilated pupils, and the way her chest was rising and falling as she tried to regain her breath.

Mai felt like she was twiddling her thumbs as she was staring up at Naru. How can he look so irresistible when he first wakes up? How can he be so irresistible? She closed her eyes for a moment, as if that would clear her head. Before reopening them she turned back to her closet. Out of sight, out of mind. Right? Yeah right that was never the case when it came to Naru.

Even while he was back in England she at least had one time each day where she thought of him. Sometimes it was for only five seconds. Sometimes it was for five minutes. But the really torturous times were those few days she had thought about him for hours. She sighed as she unintentionally drowned herself in a moment of melancholy. She startled when his hands came down her shoulders.

Noll wanted to ask her what was wrong all of the sudden. But that wasn't really his way. He was a scientist. He deduced by observation. But that is what had gotten him to realize that for a few seconds there she had lost her dazed enthusiasm and replaced it with something else. Something he couldn't put a name to for certain without more facts. But something he knew he didn't care for.

"Naru?"

"Hmm?"

"Perhaps this is a preposterous thing to ask. But when did you know you had feelings for me?"

Noll immediately shifted her around so he was looking directly in her eyes. "Knowing and actively having are two different things. I have to clarify that before answering. I probably had my first inkling for certain when you proclaimed your feelings. Something echoed in my chest when you said the words. But, I'm a man of science and found the statement illogical. So, I questioned it." He realized he brought up that same moment that they had already talked to death and agreed to move past so he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead as a wordless apology.

"I can't say I knew for certain until we were reunited. Only because I wouldn't let myself feel that way. But there wasn't a day where my mind didn't wander, and I found myself thinking about you."

It wasn't the perfect answer. But it did alleviate her qualms. His answers were consistent with what she had hoped they would be. She reached up on tiptoe and pecked his lips then turned back toward her closet. She pulled out a lavender pencil skirt, and a white blouse with bell sleeves that had embroidered flowers that matched the skirt.

She was about to tell him to go back to the living room so she could get dressed when there was a knock at the door. "And that would be my brother with my outfit for the day." He grinned before leaving the room to answer the door himself.

---[There is supposed to be a page break here but for some reason wattpad isn't giving me the insert image icon.]---

...Just after Gene ends the call with Noll.

"Soooo? Where is he?" Luella definitely smelled something important was going on. She hadn't spied on their conversation. Well not for lack of trying at least, listening at the door only allotted her to hear his muffled voice. Hence why she bursted through said door after a hefty pause in the conversation.

"Mum! I could have slept in the nude! Consider what you are walking in on." He groaned and muttered something his father often did. "For the love of propriety."

"With how cold it is in here? No, I know my son well enough to know that he wouldn't risk freezing his 'wee willy winky' off at this temperature." She could have taken a moment to laugh at the noise Gene made at that comment but she continued onward. "Besides, it's not like it's something I haven't seen before."

Their mother was definitely one of the only people to ever be able to leave both the twins completely flabbergasted. There was no 'getting used to' her colorful array of expressions and personality quirks. In fact the woman was much like fashion trends. They both seemed to change with the seasons.

"Earth to Gene! I asked you where your brother took off to in the middle of the night."

Was there any way to evade answering her at this point? He was wasting time standing here gaping as it was. He shrugged his shoulders and headed for his brother's room. As he sifted through Noll's closet, he relayed what had happened in the night that pulled his twin from his bed. "So, Mai dreams about the cases that her team ends up taking before the file actually falls into her lap. Does that make her precognitive or post cognitive?"

Gene sighed. "She's both." He paused as he consider that answer. "Actually, Mai's psychic talents are quite varied." He notices the clock past his mother's head. "Crap, I need to get this outfit to Naru before we are all late to the meeting!"

"Then, I am coming with you. I'll schedule an Uber, and we can let the lovebirds next door dawdle for a bit longer. You can tell me more about Mai on the drive over." Luella grabbed her coat.

Gene hadn't even registered the fact that his mother had already been ready when she walked in his bedroom door. But now he found himself groaning. His brother was going to berate him for letting their mother manipulate him like this but he could at least curb the amount of damage she would cause some. "You are only coming with me on one condition. Once we get to the building you are to remain in the office and wait out to meet Mai until the time the meeting arrives."

Luella knew this was the only deal she was going to get so she nodded. "Fine. But, I expect you to fill me on as much as you can about Mai between here and there." She didn't let on that she already had some knowledge about her before she had even arrived. Rather she almost pretended this was the first she had heard of Noll's former assistant. It was the easiest way to gain access to as many details about her future daughter-in-law as possible.