The azure sky was tainted in a red hue as the sun went beyond the horizon.
Checking the time on my wristwatch, I knew it's time for us to get back. There's not much place we visited, but I would still consider this sightseeing with Marcello a success.
Climbing the stairs in the bureau, I head straight to Francis' office. There's something I needed to drop off on the way.
"Ethan."
"Yes?"
"Include my name in your answer please."
"..."
"Go on."
"Yes, Marcello, what is it?"
"That's more like it, I just want you to say my name."
I rolled my eyes at Marcello's behavior. He had been beaming with smiles whenever I said his name. It's a harmless request so I thought I would fulfill it, but him asking for it every minute made me question where the joy of it was.
Stopping in front of Francis' office, I raised my hand on the door.
'Once I report, it'll be over.' I thought.
But a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled it away. Marcello smiled, his sharp eyes glared at me.
"You don't think you could ditch me here do you?"
'That's what I intended to do.'
I was confused for a second. In terms of being a tour guide to this city, I thought I did a pretty good job. With Marcello being the busy man that he was, he couldn't stay here for long, so I saw no reason not report to Francis and held Marcello down here.
"Let me make this clear, I'm your temporary tour guide, so once I introduced you around the city, my job is over. You're leaving tomorrow right? I'll book you a hotel near the airport. Once I show you the way, we'll be parting."
Marcello's eyes turned dark, he closed the distance between our faces and said in a low voice.
"And what if I tell you I want to stay longer?"
I backed up, creating a distance between us and patted his shoulder, "If you want to do that, please help Wilson instead. He's swimming in paperwork and has been whining to me every second. It's a company you both founded, so as the co-founder, I hope you directed LifeLink well, as it could help a lot of people, including me."
I flashed him an oblivious smile, "If chance allows, we'll meet again, Mr. Lorenzo."
Marcello stared at my face for a while, he let out a small laugh and was about to open his mouth before I intercepted him, "And no, you can't take me back to The Federation, it'll cause international problems. Ah, no ditching work just to meet me either, I still very much need LifeLink to operate well under you two."
In case of these kinds of people, I needed to turn down every flag I could. It might seem like I was full of myself, but without expressing my inner thought, Marcello wouldn't understand and would keep on insisting to stay and pestering me. That wasn't something I wanted, so I decided to be as blunt as possible.
And as expected, he burst out laughing in amusement.
"Haa... Have you ever been told you're really amusing? If I could, I'd very much take you back and make you my right-hand man."
"No thanks, I'm not desperate for money and I enjoy slaying monsters more than office work."
"What a shame. Now I understand why Wilson is so overprotective of you. It would be nice if you were born as my little brother instead."
I side-eyed him, thinking that if I were born as his brother, I might lose my mind dealing with an overbearing brother like him. I chose Wilson anytime over Marcello.
It didn't take long for me to report everything that happened today to Francis. The gate was an unfortunate incident, but the rest was fine. Marcello even chimed in and commented on how well I handled the gate incident.
"I want to visit Ethan's group and give my greetings to this country's S-Rank espers. As the only S-Rank in my country, I don't have the chance to meet others in my generation. I'd love to use this chance to create a bond."
Marcello said with a smile on his face. True to his title as a businessman, he had a glib tongue. Dancing around with words to sway people.
Francis agreed, and in the end, I walked side by side with Marcello to Team Zero's meeting room.
From behind the door, I could hear my teammates talking to each other, but quickly shut their mouths when I stood in front of it.
Turning the handle, I spotted a familiar brown hair swaying in the air. Ilyas had arrived and judging by how much time had passed, seemed like he had given Cedric and Xain today's guiding quota.
"That's your guide?"
Marcello asked from behind me, with his chin raised, he took a bold step inside.
"Nice to meet you, mister guide. My name is Marcello Lorenzo, currently staying here on a business trip."
"Ah yes, nice to meet you."
He held out his hand, and Ilyas shook it while assessing his eyes.
"You're that guy! What are you doing here in our office?"
"He wants to know you guys so our bureau leader told me to bring him here." I explained.
"Us? Why?"
Marcello turned his head towards me, "Just want to know what kind of people are working with our Ethan."
"Our?"
Ilyas raised him a questioning look, to which Marcello replied.
"Yes, you see, Ethan's older brother is my partner in business, and Wilson has been taking care of me since forever, it's natural for me to consider Ethan as one of my friends too."
Marcello walked toward me, he stared at my face for a while before turning his head to my teammates.
"Don't you consider a relative of your friend, a friend too?"
A smirk formed on Marcello's face, he looked down on Ilyas glaring at him. A spark of competitiveness formed in their eyes.
"Unfortunately, I think we are done with getting to know each other, so please leave now." Cedric stepped up.
Marcello gave him a smirk as he said, "Sure, it's nice getting to know you guys."
"Before that, I'll take my gift."
Confused by what he meant by 'gift,' I turned around.
But before I could ask him, my vision was suddenly tilted upward, a hand was wrapping around my waist. My chin was firmly held as a slick, soft flesh entered my mouth.
By the time I realized what happened, Marcello had kissed me deeply.