Pao -
Rhys watched from his seat, eyes focused solely on Seren and his own smile turning down into the slightest of frowns when she asked him for that minute. It was rare for her to ask even him to leave her be, but he nodded and got up to take care of the blankets as requested. At some point in the middle he put a comforting hand on Dai's shoulder, and then he quickly finished up the blankets and took a seat again, not sure whether he should wait for her to call or if he should go on after her.

Aria -
Dai watched Rhys for a minute, as he also packed up some of the cookies, and then, before leaving, gave him a shoulder hug, then went to the door. He paused at the door, and looked back. "See you soon, bro. Don't forget the cookies, and your box of cocoa. Someone'll walk off with them." He shrugged, and added "It's been a few minutes. You can probably go to her soon. Unless she's changed a lot from when I knew her before, she usually meant what she said about these things." He then stepped out the door, and went off to deal with the dishes.

_________________________________________________________________

Seren got back to their room, and let herself in, then slipped her shoes off, and flopped herself on the bed. She lay there for a long moment, and then sat back up, and got into the classic pose for meditating. She had her hands on her knees, and she just began to do some deep breathing, clearing her mind, pushing out the unhappy thoughts.

Pao -
Rhys stayed put, eyes on Dai as the kid headed out the door. He nodded at his words but ultimately, once he had gone, stayed put and wondered about his place, at least between the two siblings. Family now or not, there were still things he clearly ought not to touch or comment on, especially on the more unpleasant parts of Seren's past. It still hurt her, he knew that much, so he sat in his seat for a few extra minutes before finally getting up and continuing his thought process down the hall and to their room.

He stood at the door and sighed, hesitating for the first time since he moved in with her.

Aria -
Seren blinked, coming out of her meditation when she heard the knock, and got off the bed. She padded over to the door, and opened in, then looked up at Rhys in confusion. "Babe...?" She didn't get why he knocked... he'd respected her need for a few minutes, and then some, and she was glad he was back. She reached over and took his hand, her eyes on his, her expression showing every inch of her confusion.

Pao -
When the door opened he looked at her, a soft and apologetic expression on his face as she took his hand. He gave it a squeeze and walked inside, closing the door behind them before setting the cocoa and cookies down and pulling her into his arms, burying his face into her shoulder. "Sorry, babe," he sighed, his hold just a little bit tight.

"Did I say something, or...?"

Aria -
She hugged him tight, her head leaning against his as soon as he buried his face in. His apology almost had her confused, then she realized he didn't know, and was worried. She was conflicted for a moment, then sighed, and gently guided them back to the bed, so they could talk while snuggling. She wasn't sure how to say it, but she knew she wanted to explain, so that he did not worry anymore, or feel like she was putting him off.

Once they were settled on the bed, she said "I don't think you realized that Dai's comment had bothered me, initially, and... your suggestion made me realize I could have thought to make him the cookies myself. I knew how much he liked them, and so I felt guilty and thoughtless. I also know you were just trying to be nice to Dai, and did not mean it, babe." She pressed a kiss to his head, and then continued. "I just needed to deal with the self-guilt, and the unhappiness."

Pao -
He followed her to the bed, slipping out of his shoes and settling a little more into his nerves about what he'd done because she hadn't said anything yet. At least not until they were comfortable in bed and he loosened his grip and listened quietly. Even after she finished he could only sigh and nod a little bit, at least at first.

"I didn't," he started, and then leaned back so he could meet her eye. "Think about it, honestly...sorry. If I can help at all...?"

Aria -
She watched him, waiting for his response. His words had her brows lifting up and she leaned forwards to kiss him, softly. "I'm ok, now, babe. It was an accident. I'm not mad at you, I'm not upset at you. I wasn't before, either. I just needed to untangle the emotional knot in my head. I'm ok. I took a few minutes to do some meditative breathing stuff." She reached up to caress his cheek, her eyes filled with how much she loved him.

"Please don't feel bad. I know you did not mean it, and it wasn't anyone's fault to begin with. Well, no one on this island, at least. Please don't feel bad?"

Pao -
The kiss was comforting and did a great job at calming his worries, and he listened and again nodded at her words. As always he leaned into her touch, eyes closed as the relief washed over him. "Seriously thought I was in the doghouse for a sec, there...and you had me worried, too. But if everything's okay then that works for me."

Opening his eyes again, he leaned down and kissed her, softly, lovingly.

Aria -
She smiled and shook her head at his words, and then kissed him back, her arms sliding around him to pull him a little closer. After a moment, she broke the kiss, and murmured "I promise, babe. I won't sit on things. If you do something, I'll talk to you about it, not hide it, or avoid you, or anything like that. Sitting silently on things, waiting for it to 'get better,' that sort of stuff... That's what led to my breakup. I don't want that for us."

She sighed and added "I swore to myself, after that, in fact, that if something is hurting me with someone I cared about, I'd tell them, so I wouldn't have to go through that again." She looked him right in the eye as she continued. "Promise me, please, that you'll do the same?"

Pao -
There were a lot of things about his girlfriend that he admired, and this, her honesty and openness, was definitely one of them. It was something he sought to do as well, at least between the two of them, so at her request he simply nodded. "Promise," he murmured before kissing her again. He pulled her just a bit closer, leaving it to her to break the kiss.

Aria -
She beamed when he responded with that simple word, and kissed him back, her eyes closing as she relaxed against him, letting his presence sooth what little stress she had left away. She let the kiss go on for a good minute, before breaking it, and gently pulling him to lay back with her. "I do want that nap, though, babe... Rest with me?" She gazed at him with soft, and loving, eyes, glad to get that small concern settled.

Pao -
"Anything for you, love," he chuckled and laid back with her, an arm securely around her as he scooted in as close as he could without making things uncomfortable for the both of them. He didn't think he'd be napping at all, but he'd be happy to lie there with her as long as she wanted him to.

Aria -
She smiled up at him and cuddled in, resting her head on his chest like she preferred to do. "Thanks, love. I always rest better in your arms." She settled in and closed her eyes, nuzzling his chest just a little in her contentment. It was not long before she drifted off, snoozing softly, and occasionally making soft noises in her sleep, including the occasional little snore.

She must have been tireder then she realized, too, because she was out for a good two hours, and when she finally woke up, the sun was almost set.

Pao -
He watched her sleep for a while, just quietly admiring her and thanking whatever deities existed that she was now a part of his life, and truth be told the most significant part. He even chuckled a little at the sounds she was making, curious what had gotten her tired enough to even snore a little, but after a while he drifted off as well, snuggled in close and feeling perfectly happy and content.

He stirred awake almost at the same time as she did, and as he did he nuzzled into her hair. "Sleep good, babe?" he asked, voice a little bit muffled.

Aria -
She blinked slowly, processing how much time had passed, then said "Yeah, pretty damn well. I just slept a lot longer than I expected too. Guess getting up that early to prep, then going to make all that stuff for breakfast after our run tired me out more than I thought it would." With the addition, of course, of the emotional drain that had suddenly occurred during the conversation. "But I'm feeling better now. We should... probably bring the dishes back to the kitchen, and wash 'em up, then have dinner."

She sighed, a little, and then half shrugged. "Dun wanna move. Wish we had, like, a pizza delivery service on this island."

Pao -
Rhys chuckled and tightened his hold on her just a little bit, a loving and somewhat playful gesture. "I don't want you to move either, babe," he murmured, smiling as he kissed her head. "One of us has to, though. I can do the dishes and call you when I've got 'em done?" It was the best he could do, really, though the thought of a pizza delivery service made him not want to move either.

"You wanna do pizza for dinner?"

Aria -
Seren chuckled at the way he tightened his grip, her eyes glittering with amusement, and she gently shook her head at him. "Goof. And yeah, I guess, on the joining you when they're done. Or I could go ahead, make something, and text you when it's almost done, then you could come and just... one round of dishes instead of two?" And it would give her time to head back, and prepare her last Christmas surprise for him...

His question had her shaking her head. "Not unless there's a frozen pizza somewhere! Crust takes a hell of a lot of time. It's gotta rise and all that."

Pao -
"Whichever you wanna do, babe. Don't really mind either way," he paused and finally leaned back so he could get a better look at her face. "Or we could just go together, 'cause that saves us the little bit of work of texting, and I could just hang back and do the dishes if you wanna head back here to rest some more."

He sighed, then, and shrugged slightly. "So not pizza. Something simple works for me, anyway. What'd you have in mind?"

Aria -
"That works too. Let's head over together. We can split what needs to be carried back between us, too." She sighed some, slowly pulling free to sit up, because she had to motivate herself, or she just would not do it, and she knew that for a fact. She stretched slowly, considering his other question, her eyes thoughtful. Her back popped, and she winced a little, because it surprised her, not because it hurt. Finally, she swung her legs off the bed and stood.

"What about a stir fry? Chop up some chicken, some veggies, and maybe some noodles, and toss in some soy sauce, mirin if we can find it, a bit of chili, and maybe a tiny dash of sugar..."

Pao -
He followed her example and sat up when she did, stretching a little bit before getting up out of bed and slipping into his shoes. He thought on the stir fry as he fixed up the dishes they needed to bring to the kitchen, trying to find a way to split things up so she got a lighter portion. "Mm...sounds good," he eventually said as he picked up his set of dishes.

"What's mirin?" he blinked at her, curiously. "Some kinda asian ingredient thing?"

Aria -
"All right, that works." She slipped her own shoes on, and gathered up her half, and then smiled at him. "It's a rice wine, technically? But as far as I know, it's not for drinking. I've never heard of anyone drinking it, anyways. It's for cooking. It's in a LOT of stuff you might have tried, like teriyaki. It's part of what gives dishes like that their sweetness... but also that flavor that some people call umami."

Pao -
"Hm..." he mused as he made his way to the door, opening it wide for her to step through first. Once she was out he followed, closing and locking the door behind him. "I think I heard the word 'umami' on a cooking show once or twice before, didn't know it was a cooking-only rice wine though. Cool." He shot her a smile as well, and would have loved to hold her hand but both of them had their hands full, so he was happy to just keep himself close to her.

"So stir-fry, then? What'd you wanna do for drinks?"

Aria -
"Umami isn't a rice wine, it's a flavor. It's kind of salty, but also savory... and it's hard to describe. Mirin is the wine." She followed him down the hall, and to the front door. "But anyways, when cooking with it, it's basically just a flavorant. Mirin is basically a VERY weak rice wine to begin with, and cooking removes all the alcohol, so you just get the flavors." She sighed at not being able to be under his arm, or hold his hand, but coped for now, staying at his side.

"Yeah, stir-fry. Simple and easy. Ummmmmmm. I mean, there's always water, or we could make some tea, or something?"

Pao -
Rhys squinted at her correction, taking a second to process it before it finally clicked and he sort of made an "o" with his mouth. Moving on to the topic about drinks, though, he sort of just nodded. "I'd go for iced tea this time, though, if that works for you?" he asked, getting the front door for her first and following after her once they were outside.

"If not, regular tea's good too. I know it usually works pretty well with Asian type foods, doesn't it?"

Aria -
She smiled and nodded as he processed it, her eyes on his face. His question about iced tea made her look thoughtful, and she nodded. "Of course, Rhys. Iced tea is fine. We can brew it ourselves, though, right?" She smiled a little. "I like it better then most of the premade ice teas."

Pao -
"Yeah, our own brew works for me," he replied with a little nod. The rest of the walk to the kitchen was simple, very comfortable conversation, and after they were inside he set the his stack of dishes by the sink before looking to Seren. "So what do you want me to do?" He didn't want to just be standing around this time, if he could avoid it. He'd managed a few simple meals on his own, he was sure he could be of some help this time around.

Aria -
She smiled brightly and happily, enjoying the walk with him, then when he asked that question, she hmmm'd thoughtfully. "Let's start by getting the water boiling for the tea, then finding the ingredients. Let's see what veggies they have. I know there's chicken, there's ALWAYS chicken available." She set the dishes down by the sink, and then rinsed her hands. "I'm going to find the wok, check for mirni, and see what oils we have. Can you find what veggies you want in it?"

She paused, then added dourly "Just... no brussels sprouts, ok?"

Pao -
He listened and nodded along, moving toward her to give her a little kiss on the cheek before making his way around the kitchen, first to get the tea on--he'd done that a number of times already so it was a quick and easy thing to get started--and then starting the hunt for vegetables.

"Cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic..." he started listing off what he managed to find in the refrigerator, "and they don't even have brussel sprouts, so no worries there, love."

Aria -
"Oh thank gods." She breathed out at that news, the best she could hope for regarding THOSE things. "All of those are good options. Can you grab one small clove of garlic, one small onion, the smallest cabbage, and 2 carrots out, then a pair of chicken breasts?" She was hunting amongst the oils, and made a pleased sound as she found sesame oil, and some peanut oil, and near them, a bottle of mirin and some rice wine vinegar, which she hadn't expected.

She grabbed them, put them on the counter, then got the wok and something that was halfway between a stirring spoon and a ladle, before setting them down, then hunted for noodles. She sighed, finding only some basic, then made a 'oh!' as she spotted one small package of soba.

Pao -
Rhys laughed lightly as he gathered what she asked for, washing everything before setting it all down on the counter where she set the oils down. "Didn't realize you had something you hated so much," said the brunette as he grabbed the cutting board and a knife so he could get started on the chopping.

"Also, how did you want these cut?"

Aria -
"UGH they're horrible!" She said, sounding disgusted. "I do not know how anyone can eat those vile, nasty bulbous bastards!" She snagged the soba as she spoke, and then a small bowl, which she filled with water, then set the noodles to soak in them. "Mmm can you chop up the cabbage into thin shreds?" She hunted out the salt, sugar, and a small package of thai chilis. "The carrots... chop off the tips, and the heads, then cut them at the center, then cut each chunk into thin pieces. I'll handle the chicken, garlic, and onions, once you've done that."

While he worked on the veggies, she took two bird peppers out of the package, and carefully removed the stem, then set them in a bowl, before pouring mirin over it... and then muttered "idiot! Forgot the soy!" and headed back to grab it.

Pao -
He wrinkled his nose at her description of brussel sprouts, and then set to work on the vegetables, his pace slow but careful and relatively steady. "I don't mind 'em, but not one of my favorites either," he said between chops. He stopped at some point to grab a bowl to set the chopped portion in, and then continued with his work.

Her sudden outburst though, got his attention and he looked up mid-chop. "You're not an idiot, love," he blinked at her as she went off to grab what he assumed was soy sauce. "But soy in stir-fry would be good."

Aria -
"Never could stand 'em. Were forced on me as a kid. I swear, once they knew I hated them, I think they did it more." She grumbled as she fished out the soy sauce. His comment, though, about her not being an idiot made her sigh and nod. "I... ok. Just... annoyed at myself for forgetting the soy sauce, when I'd mentioned using it from the start."

She returned to the bowl, and poured a decent amount in, then added the sugar and a tiny bit of salt, before mixing it all together. She set it aside, and turned to watch as he chopped. "And yeah, it's excellent in stir-fry."

Pao -
Again, he wrinkled his nose and went back to his work, chopping the cabbage to the best of his ability. "No one's gonna force 'em on you again, baby, so no worries about that." Once he was done with the cabbage he went to the carrots, peeling and cutting them as she instructed. Or...as close to how she instructed him as possible. His knife skills were still not totally up to par.

Aria -
She blinked, surprised when he peeled the carrots, but did not object. "Yeah, that's true, thank goodness." She said softly. Once he was done, she kissed his cheek, then gently took over. "You might wanna stand back, and run some water, if you get teary eyed from onions, babe... I'm gonna do that first." She gave him time to do so, if he needed to, then peeled the onion, and began to chop it, in her usual quick way.

Pao -
He smiled softly and, before he moved away to avoid onion-induced tears, he gave her a proper kiss, lingering for only a second, before finally going off and checking on the kettle. "Thanks for the warning, love," he said as he started the steeping process, glancing at his love from over his shoulder.

"So once all the veggies are chopped, what's next?"

Aria -
"Of course, baby." She said, calmly, clearly one of the lucky ones who did not have Onion issues. "Don't want your eyes hurting." She got the onion done, very quickly, and then chopped up the garlic clove very fine, then used the side of the knife to lightly mash it. The onions had gone into the veggie bowl, but the garlic she tossed into the sauce bowl. "Could you give that a stir for me, baby?"

She blinked at his question, and said, confused, "I chop the chicken, of course?"

Pao -
He went to the bowl and stirred it up a little, peering at the contents curiously. "Lots of steps to stir-fry," he murmured, thinking back and trying to get it all straight in his head. Her confused answer was met with an equally confused look, and then a silly sort of lopsided smile. "Right, meat...then veggies?"

Aria -
"Most of the steps are chopping, really. Once it's in the pan, it's usually pretty easy." She gave him a warm smile, and began to chop up the chicken into thinner slices. "Can you check the noodles, love? See if they're loose and softer?" Once the chicken was all chopped, she left it on the board, and went over to pop the wok onto the stove, and then turn it on, adding about 2 tablespoons of peanut oil.

Pao -
He checked on the noodles, again peering curiously and inspecting as she asked. "Seems okay to me?" he said, uncertainty very clear in his voice. He brought the bowl over to her and set it down, then looking at how she chopped the chicken and again at his work, comparing the two and sort of frowning. "I really need to keep working on my knife work, huh?"

Aria -
"Could you drain the water out, Rhys?" She smiled up at him, and then shrugged. "It takes time, and practice, and not everyone gets to this level." She shrugged, though there was a slight tightness to her eyes for a moment. "Anyways, you'll get better as time goes on. Practice makes perfect, or so they say."

Pao -
He nodded and took the bowl over to the sink, carefully draining it before returning it to the counter just nearby her. "I know, just saying. I'll keep practicing, surprising you with some new things once in a while. It'll be easier once we have our own kitchen." He smiled at that, hopefully turning the mood a bit lighter, because he did catch the very subtle change in her expression.

Aria -
Her eyes DID get brighter at his comment. "Yeah, I can't wait..." She said, softly, as she watched the oil heating. After a few minutes, she got a drip of water off the side of the bowl he'd drained, and tossed it into the oil. The oil began to sizzle around it, and she grinned, then grabbed the cutting board, and scrapped the chicken off it into the pan, before adding about half the sauce they'd made. "And then we'll have more time for lessons, too."

Pao -
Her brightened expression got him smiling a bit wider, and when she got the chicken in the wok he went ahead and carefully wrapped himself around her, arms around her waist and chin resting on her shoulder, eyes on the contents of the wok. "Mm, that'd be good for both of us. And you can bake more, too, and we can have people over whenever we wanted. Y'know, plan for that kinda thing."

Aria -
"Yeaaaaaah, I mean... All of these things are stuff I look forwards too." She said softly, leaning against his chest, a soft smile on her face. She loved the feeling of cooking like this... It was just so comfortable, and felt so... so homey, and loving. She began to carefully stir the chicken as she worked, her eyes watching the level of doneness, and then grabbed the bowl with the veggies, and added them, after about a minute, along with the rest of the sauce.

Pao -
He nodded slightly, mindful about the order of the things she put in, particularly how cooked the chicken was before she tossed in everything else. "Yeah, and also just a whole house to ourselves..."

There was a part of him that wondered if things would have gone as well for them if they had somehow met outside of Deus. If, after only so many months, they were already living together and making plans to move into their own home together. It was a bit of a stretch to think about, but there were stranger things in the world. Like...maybe everything they did for a living now.

"Also looking forward to our own bathroom."

Aria -
"Man, yeah... All the privacy, and no worries about noise levels..." She said, sounding happy, as she stirred everything, her eyes focused on the food, but her tone happy. "Oh, might wanna pull the tea bags out, before they over steep, babe." She said, suddenly realizing they'd been steeping for several minutes.

"And oh yes, our own bathroom..." She said, sounding longing about that. "Hopefully with a tub." She sighed wistfully, missing 'their' tub from Siberia.

When the chicken was pretty much cooked, she tossed the noodles in and mixed them well, then let it sit for a few minutes, before saying "Can you get plates, baby?"

Pao -
"Oh, s**t," he murmured when she mentioned the tea. He moved away from her after pressing a soft kiss to her neck, then tossed the tea bags before going straight to grab plates. "A nice big tub, maybe one with jets," he added, a little smile on as he set the plates down. "Just for you and me, huh, baby?"

Aria -
The kiss got her to shiver a little and then she laughed at the idea of a tub with jets. "That would be living the dream, babe, but I admit, I'd be just as happy with a normal tub to cuddle in. But yes... just you and me." She carefully dished up the food to the plates, giving him the larger portion as usual, though her portion sizes were creeping upwards, which was good. Once that was ready, she went and hunted out two largish cups, and filled them with ice.

"Did you want sugar in your tea, babe? It's better to add it to the hot tea, before pouring it over the ice... it blends better.... If so, make sure to add extra, cause remember the ice will water it down some." She, in fact, added sugar to hers, then with extreme care, poured the tea over the ice, with minimal dribbling.

Pao -
He grabbed the readied plates, glad to see that her portions were indeed getting gradually bigger, and hung around when she asked her question. "Yes, please. Thank you, baby," was his reply, and he went and set the plates down at the table before quickly going for napkins (which he had to hunt down first) and silverware.

"And yeah, any kind of tub as long as it's big enough for you and me." He got her chair for her, waiting as she got their drinks ready.

Aria -
She sweetened his tea as well, and got it poured, then carried them over to the table. She was smiling at him, warm and loving, and then set their teas at their spots, before leaning up to give him a soft kiss, and then she sat down. "Exactly. In the long run, as long as we're together and generally comfortable, I will be happy."

She took a sip of her tea, waiting for him to taste the stir fry. "Do be careful, if you got a pepper in your portion... they're VERY hot, and you might not want to eat it, itself."

Pao -
He smile softened some when she kissed him, and once she was seated he took the spot across from her and took a fork to his stir fry, the pepper warning making him extra careful. "The soy sauce makes the tiny bastards harder to spot, too, ********, he managed to get a couple out before taking his first bite. His expression went from sour about the peppers to bright and blissful as he finished his first bite, washing it down with the refreshing iced tea. "Amazing, and the tea goes great with it," was his verdict. She had yet to make anything that he didn't enjoy, and he suddenly once again felt like the luckiest man alive.

Aria -
"I didn't chop them up, so they should be whole..." The sauce wasn't too dark, since the mirin and vinegar were clear, and it got spread throughout the mixture. She figured it would be easy to find, and hoped it would be fine. She blinked when he pulled two out. "Well. It looks like you got both of them in your plate. Sorry, it was hard to be sure where they were when I was serving, babe." She'd only used two after all.

His comment on the flavor, though, had her cheeks a happy pink, and she began to eat as well. She looked pleased with the result, and ate with gusto, only pausing for sips of her tea. She finished unusually fast, for her, in fact.

Pao -
It might have been his bigger portion or his happiness in watching her eat as well as she was eating the moment or just the fact that he wanted to savor the food, but he finished just shortly after her, and after washing his last bite with the last of his tea he gave her a big, bright smile.

"I gotta go harder on my workouts 'cause you feed me so well, babe," he laughed, then nodded at her cup. "Refill?"

Aria -
She blushed at his words, but smiled, too, happy to know how much he enjoyed her food, every time. Food had helped them come together, and food was so important in their relationships. "You work so hard, though, I have to think you need every calorie to keep your body going... I remember, once, back in high school, in a Health and Fitness class they made us take as part of the PE nonsense..." And for her, it mostly HAD been nonsense. Very little of it had been of much use to her. "They mentioned that pro athletes need a LOT of calories."

She blinked, and said "Um. Might be hard to do? I poured out all of the tea into these cups, so we'd have to brew more... But I think I'm good. We have water bottles back at the room..." She stood and put her plate with the dishes he said he'd do. "So I think I'll head back to the room, if you don't mind, and wait for you there?" Her expression was innocent, but she wanted to get there first... She had a plan.

Pao -
He smiled back, bright and happy that she understood that and was willing to do so much work for his sake. Reaching over, he took her hand and gave it a little kiss. "Yeah, but I'm not a pro athlete, just an enthusiast. Thanks all the same, though, love. It means a lot."

At the pass on refills he sort of just shrugged, following her lead and standing up. Once he was at the sink with his dishes he turned to her and nodded. That had been their original plan, after all, so he didn't see any reason to protest. "Alright, I'll see you in a little bit then." And with that he gave her another bright and loving smile before starting on the dishes.

Aria -
"You may not be a pro..." She ran her fingers along his cheek while he kissed her hand. "But you work at least as hard as them, as far as I can tell." She looked at him, with honest love and admiration in her blue eyes. "So you need the extra food, and I know it, hun."

She watched him moved over to the dishes, and leaned up to kiss his cheek, then said "See you soon, baby." She walked to the door, calmly, but once it was shut behind her, so that he couldn't see anymore, she took off at full speed to the dorms. Once she was back in their room, she stripped down, quickly, and dug out the last 'gift' she had gotten Rhys while away... a tight pencil skirt, some fishnets, black pumps, and a tight button up shirt.

She quickly worked her hair into a messy bun, then slipped into some of the lingerie from London, before getting the clothing on. She hunted out a pen, which she stuck into the bun, and then settled herself into the desk chair, where he could see her once he walked in. Her top was unbuttoned just enough to tease, and she had her legs crossed. Her expression was such that a person might expect themselves to be hushed at any moment.

Pao -
Rhys was still smiling from the kiss to his cheek well after she left, completely unaware of what his girlfriend had planned. So he took his time, even going so far as to fill another thermos with hot water and bringing along some tea bags in case she was in the mood for some kind of drink later before making his way back home.

Of course, as soon as he opened the door he nearly dropped what he was carrying as his eyes immediately focused on Seren. He did a double take and slowly made his way inside, expression going from surprised to confused and back to surprised as he closed the door behind him.

"Babe...?"