The Taste of Seduction

Atlas let out a relaxed sigh. As he set down his coffee on the table, his eyes met Meredith\'s. She smiled at him as she spoke to him about the hotel.

"You\'re so humble despite you achieving so much," she commented, pushing rice on her spoon with the help of the fork. "So this hotel is one of yours, Mr. Handsome and Rich CEO?"

Atlas nodded as he chuckled. "You don\'t have to call me that," he added, already starting to eat his breakfast. He then looked at the bracelet Meredith was holding and remembered Austin.

"He really made way into giving us something we could call him with in case of danger," he said, Meredith looking at the jade bracelet that she was wearing.

"Yeah. This is some sort of magical bracelet, right? For the purpose of calling him if we are in dire danger," she added, Atlas nodding again as he took a piece of his food in his mouth.

"He\'s very cool, you know… Austin. You\'d really not wonder why he is the most powerful and all-knowing fae," he added, Meredith agreeing to what she said.

"That\'s true," she replied, now taking a sip of her coffee as well. "We really need his help to get The Book of Shadows. He\'s really the one going to lead us into what we need when it comes to breaking the bond."

"I wonder, though--" Atlas began, getting Meredith\'s full attention. "--if we could really immediately get our hands on that book with his help. Even he knows that getting it is not all that simple."

"Then we have to further talk about it once we\'re together." She put down her cup of coffee. "For now, we still have to surprise Sofia, Aaron, and Ace," she added, a smile on Atlas\' face coming to light.

"Excited to see them?" he asked, a scoff coming from her.

"Who wouldn\'t? It has been a year, hasn\'t it?" replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "We really didn\'t tell them that we\'re here. I really want to see their reactions once they\'re surprised to see us!"

"Then, what are you planning to do?" Atlas asked, cocking his head to the side. "We visit them first, or your little brother?"

"Hmm…" Meredith thought for a while. "I\'m actually thinking if we should pick up Aaron first. It\'s their break this time around, so he\'s probably out by the park reading a book or playing his Nintendo Switch since it\'s portable. He likes the outdoors."

"Oh, so we go there. And then?"

"We go to Sofia\'s. She\'s usually at home especially if I\'m not here, not around to pester her into going out to explore new places. We can have lunch with them or she decides we go outside if she\'s up to it. She doesn\'t mind us having Aaron around. She loves my lil bro, too," she answered, Atlas nodding.

"Alrighty, then," he said, taking a sip of his coffee again. "Then after that, we visit Ace. He\'s usually free in the evening."

"Alright. That\'s settled, then!" Meredith looked at the grandfather\'s clock present in their hotel room. "We still have a few hours time to ourselves before we head out to look for my brother. What do you have in mind?"

A cheeky grin appeared on the werewolf\'s face. "A sexy meal."

Meredith playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, shut up. Isn\'t last night enough? I\'m quite sore."

With that, she stood up first from the table, already making way to the bathroom to prepare herself first so that they could only leave their hotel room later on and not take up so much time preparing to look for her little brother Aaron.

***

Indeed, Meredith\'s right. In the park under the large oak tree, was Aaron. He was wearing a white baseball shirt, paired with black pants, rubber shoes, and then a cap. He was leaning on the tree\'s trunk as he played his portable gaming console, Nintendo Switch.

He was playing Splatoon. It\'s a third-person shooting game that focuses on spraying ink on the area and its opponent. To anyone not accustomed to gaming, it would be very confusing to them to understand the concept of the game.

Aaron had his brows creased together. As he was focusing firing on his opponent, suddenly, a shadow made his game screen darker. It seemed that someone or something may be standing before him, blocking him.

"Tsk…" Aaron clicked his tongue, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Excuse me, you\'re blocking the light," he added, still continuing to play.

"Ehem…" Meredith cleared her throat, stopping herself from laughing as she found it cute that her little brother is so fixated on playing his game. "Still playing your silly games, lil Aaron?"

\'Lil Aaron?\' he stopped playing for a while, not minding that his character is now dead. \'There\'s only one person who calls me that…\'

As he also realized that his voice is familiar, he slowly looked up to see who was before him. His eyes grew wider when he realized that it is no other than her big sister indeed! Lil Aaron, that\'s it--Meredith! She\'s the only person who calls him that!

"Meredith!"

Aaron immediately set aside his Nintendo. He stood up abruptly, almost falling to the ground but he regained his balance. He quickly embraced his older sister, Meredith immediately returning the hug.

"Oh, Aaron… you grew taller!" she commented, now looking at him as he is indeed a few inches taller than her. "You\'re going to get taller than this soon and I may not call you lil Aaron anymore!"

"I missed you so much, Meredith!" Aaron exclaimed, obviously happy to see his older sister. "Why haven\'t you been keeping in touch!?"

"I\'m sorry, Aaron…" Meredith apologized, a small smile appearing on her face. "I was too busy, that\'s all. But I\'m here now, right?"

Aaron greeted Atlas as well. As the three of them talked to catch up, they decided to stay at the park for a while before visiting Sofia.