"There's been suspicious activity the first time since you asked me to keep an eye on Antonio," Rose said weightily.

"You knew about him?" I asked Cupcake.

"Willia told me after you and I made up," Cupcake answered.

I uttered an 'oh', and Rose continued, "He was seen going to the crystal cave in the middle of the night,"

"Is that a problem? I mean, the crystals cannot be dug out," Jax pointed out.

"It wouldn't have been a problem had he gone through the front," Rose stated grimly.

"There's a back entrance?" Nick exclaimed.

"Not really. It's more of a data library for the cave. It's the central database; it contains all the information regarding the abilities and powers of every spy ever recruited by Gladys,"

What the fuck.

"He downloaded Janet's file on a floppy. Who uses a floppy anymore?! He should be hanged for that itself. But damn, did he do a brilliant job of covering his tracks! Even Maya thought it was impossible to find out what he was doing there!"

"Who's Maya?" Rey asked.

"Her girlfriend," Cupcake said with a hint of amusement and a teasing sparkle in her eyes.

"She's not my girlfriend! Just a friend, but like a very close one, but like not girlfriend close, but then just friends aren't supposed to b-" Rose stopped blabbering mid-sentence, "Oh, I see what you're doing, you rattlehead. That's Lory, isn't he?" Rose smirked, pointing at me and giving Cupcake a challenging look that strangely made Cupcake go all panicky.

"You don't even remember my name? I just told you," I said, a little hurt.

"Oh dear, he is oblivious," Rose widened her eyes but shook herself out of it, "Anyway, a day after the file theft, Janet took a sick day. Ever since she joined back, her performance changed. Janet is using moves that her squadmates aren't aware of. She's flipped her reports, and she's rising through the ranks very rapidly. Something cynical and wily is happening here, Argenta."

"Do you have proof against Antonio?" Cupcake asked, her brows furrowed and fingers crossed.

"Wouldn't come without it," Rose smiled and pulled out a chip from her pocket.

A knock on the door made us all jerk.

A second later, Dr Jamieson walked inside and asked Cupcake to talk to him in the hallway.

Once the door closed behind Cupcake, an awkward silence veiled the room.

"So," Nick cleared his throat, "How do you manage your time? Spying on Antonio and training?"

"It's a little hard, I won't lie, but manageable," Rose replied.

"We really appreciate your doing this, Rose," I said curtly.

"It's no problem; we would seriously do anything if Argenta asks us to. She's an amazing leader and an even better friend," Rose said, admiration and respect oozing through her eyes.

"That she is," Jax nodded.

Yeah, she is.

"What did I miss?" Cupcake said as she bolted through the door, startling us all.

"Nothing," Rey said.

"Rose, you should go for your simulation training now. And, don't die, alright?" Cupcake chuckled and teased.

"I'll try," Rose smiled and waved us all goodbye.

"Dr Jamieson said you'll be free to go tomorrow," Cupcake told me, "And all of you need to go; we've got training tomorrow," She pointed her finger at the three of them.

"And what about you?" Reyna asked.

"I'll come to the dorm to get some sleep, I promise," Cupcake assured her.

Once they were gone, Cupcake sat on one of the chairs.

"Come here," I said, my voice still a little raspy, as I shifted to make space for her.

She got up and sat beside me. Up close, I could see just how tired my Cupcake was. Her eyelids were heavy and kept dropping to cover her slightly red eyes while she battled to keep them wide open.

"So golden boy struck out, huh?" I said after a few seconds of silence.

"Mhmm, I feel bad, though. Sean looked so broken, Lory. I felt like a monster for doing that to him."

"Hey!" I reprimanded her, wrapping an arm around her while my other hand tucked her hair behind her ear, "You are not a monster, Cupcake. You're the farthest thing from it, in fact. If you didn't feel the same about him and told him that, it was good because otherwise, it would have hurt him later on, which would have been more painful."

"You, Cupcake, are sweet, caring, thoughtful, helpful, funny, a little stupid, but-"Cupcake slapped my chest lightly, and I chuckled, "You are an angel. An extraordinarily terrific angel, alright? Never ever bring the thought of being a monster into that head of yours. Never again." I said while looking into her gorgeous eyes.

"How do you always know what to say?" She smiled, not breaking eye contact.

"Meh, I'm just perfect," I shrugged cockily and smirked.

"Shut up," She slapped my chest playfully and rolled her eyes.

I missed you, Cupcake. I love you.

I woke up to find Cupcake cuddled beside me. I gathered it was already morning from the sunlight oozing through the white curtains, lighting up the room. Her head was on my shoulder, and our hands intertwined. Cue the gazillion butterflies and a heartwarming fire of love.

I shut my eyes and stopped admiring how insanely cute she looked with her mouth half-open when she shifted, waking up from her slumber.

I felt her lift her head, and nothing happened for the next few seconds, but then I felt her gently peck my jaw, and all the nerves in my face caught fire.

I hyperventilated silently; while I pretended to be asleep, which proved even harder to do when she started to run her hand through my hair.

Oh, she's going to be the death of me!

I shuffled a little, despite myself, which stopped her abruptly as she pulled back her hand at rocket speed.

"Good morning, Cupcake," I rasped, smiling and opening my eyes into tiny slits, and I swear her breathing got heavier for a second.

"Morning, Pretty Face" She smiled, slightly flustered, "Okay, get up. We have to get to training in 2 hours,"

Cupcake rushed us out of the med room, filled out all the forms required to leave, got me a check-up, and got us back to our dorms. All in under 45 minutes.

As soon as I entered, Nick practically pounced on me and pulled me into a bear hug.

"Woah, easy there!" I chuckled.

"I'm happy," He grinned once he let go.

"Of course you are; I'm fun to be around," I smirk-smiled.

"Also!" I exclaimed, "I need to tell you something,"

Ever since Cupcake pecked my cheek and stroked my hair, it was all I could think about.

"Shoot,"

"It's, um," I trailed off and blushed involuntarily, thinking about the morning.

"Lory, I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend," Nick said.

"Shut up and listen to me,"

"Okayy," He chuckled, "Go on and don't become a strawberry this time,"

"Yeah," I dismissed him with a wave and told him everything.

"I can't hold it in any longer. I'm going to tell Cupcake how I feel," I said with determination.

"You are?!"

"Yup," I grinned.

"Oh God, I forgot how to breathe! Is it one in two out?" Nick exhaled and inhaled in almost every possible combination before figuring it out, fanning himself frantically and screaming without the sound.

Basically, his mouth was open, and he was grinning and shaking. I believe he was screaming so loud that his voice was beyond my hearing range. It was simply ultrasonic. I was pretty sure some bats would have complaints.

Such a fanboy!

"When are you going to do it?" Nick asked once he was back to normal.

"When training is over," I reply.

The whole fucking day, I strained at the leash, waiting for training to be over. I had planned an extraordinary evening for my Cupcake, and I could not hang fire for my life.

After what felt like an eternity, training got over, and I went to Cupcake.

"Come with me," I said, pulling her by her wrist.

"Uhm, where are we going?" She asked.

"You'll see,"

"Of course," She sighed and gave in to my childish antics.

"Close your eyes," I said when we reached the observatory.

"What is happening?"

"Just close your eyes, Cupcake," I whined playfully.

"Fine, there." She covered her eyes with her palms.

Then, carefully, I escorted her to the back of the observatory to a remarkable place I had discovered a few weeks ago. I called it "Lavender Love".

It was an arched path connected to the back entrance of the observatory. The arc was decorated with lavenders and looked unquestionably magnificent.

Once we got to the outer entrance of the arc, I gently pulled Cupcake's hands away from her eyes. In 0.5 seconds, her eyes widened with surprise and admiration to twice their size. A grin etched across her face as she gazed at the pathway.

"It's beautiful," She said, looking at the lavender dangling from the metallic arc.

"Yeah, beautiful," I smiled, looking at her.

"Come on," I put out my arm for her to hook hers through mine.

She hooked her arm in mine and then walked towards the observatory with me.

Once we reached the gate, I nodded in the direction of the metallic gate, and she stepped forward to open it. She stepped inside, and I followed behind her.

Here goes nothing.

"Why is it so dark in here?" She asked, turning around to find me. Only, I wasn't there. During the lunch break that day, I had Jax teleport me here to black out the observatory. We covered the windows, pulled up the shed on the enormous glass dome, and switched off every light.

"Is it, now?" I said before raising my hands and controlling every fluorescent gas around us, exciting the molecules and deexciting them so that they emitted light, and it looked like stars were floating around us. I had memorised 82 constellations earlier that day just to get these right.

Cupcake's face lit up. Partly because of the light I was creating and partly because of the humongous smile on her face as she looked around at the 'stars' next to her.

"This-" She whispered, "I- Wow," She breathed and grinned, her eyes fixed on me.

"It's magical, Lory," She hugged me, and I hugged her back but broke away quickly.

"Hold your breath; it gets better," I said, pulling her towards the telescope.

There, I had the lights form the words "Will you go out with me?"

As soon she saw them, she gasped. I only saw that she had teared up when she turned around to see me on one knee, with my hand outstretched.

"So? I mean, it is written in the stars," I smiled.

"I can't," She said, her lips pressed into a thin line.