Chapter 320
He did not give her time to think or to be noticed by others.
With quick yet unhurried steps that nonetheless drew attention, he led the way along the edge of the market crowd.
His eyes stayed alert, avoiding eye contact with anyone, choosing the least crowded route.
Aldraya followed obediently, her steps aligned just behind Theo, as if they were connected by an invisible string.
Their presence, previously veiled by stillness, now moved with purpose, yet still managed to avoid notice thanks to the density of the market, which allowed two people to come and go without standing out too much.
Within a span of only about five seconds—a brief interval that felt long to Theo as his heart pounded—they managed to slip out of the center of the crowd.
Theo turned sharply, pulling Aldraya into a narrow gap between two rows of closed stalls.
It was a small alley, so tight that only two people walking side by side could pass through, lit by the dim glow of an emergency lamp that left many shadows behind.
Once they were fully inside the narrow corridor, the noise of the market suddenly dulled into a distant murmur.
Here, in this relative isolation, Theo finally stopped, turning to make sure Aldraya was behind him, ready to face the wet, trembling reality that had now become a matter for only the two of them within the silence of the damp alley.
"I want you to be honest, Aldraya."
Hooooh!
"Do you really want that closeness with me… right now?"
In the silence of the narrow alley, lit only by the pale yellow glow of an emergency lamp, the world seemed to shrink until it held only the two of them.
The clamor of the market faded into a vague backdrop, like waves breaking in the distance.
Theo turned fully to face Aldraya, his taller body bending slightly to meet her eye level.
Both of his hands, usually folded or tucked into his pockets, lifted and gently yet firmly came to rest on Aldraya's shoulders.
His touch was not rough, but it carried the weight of a serious question, an attempt to anchor the being before him who was experiencing something far beyond ordinary understanding.
Theo's gaze stared straight into Aldraya's vacant eyes, trying to pierce that unshakable layer of calm to find an answer, a confession, or at least a hint.
The air between them felt heavy, scented with the damp earth of the alley and lingering traces of food carried by the wind.
In a low, hoarse voice, yet filled with undeniable intensity, a question slipped from his lips.
The question was simple in its wording, yet complex and burdensome in its meaning.
He asked directly, without further preamble, about the deepest desire Aldraya had once hinted at through her gasps and closeness in the cinema.
Was the desire to engage in intimacy, for the most primal and human form of physical union, truly what she was feeling, and was that desire so strong that it demanded to be fulfilled right now, in the midst of this strangeness.
"I… want… I want… I want… want…."
"Forgive me, Aldraya. May I check something for a moment?"
Wussssh!
'Its consistency resembled semen—thick and warm—with no smell at all.'
Aldraya tried to respond.
Her mouth opened, her usually perfectly still lips trembling as they moved.
But what emerged were not words, only a collection of broken, repeated sounds.
Like a cassette tape damaged at one point, her speech halted at the initial syllable, then restarted again and again, never managing to form two complete, understandable words.
"I… want… I want… or I want… want…," a pitiful failure of the verbal system, as if the language center in her mind had short-circuited under the surge of physical sensation overwhelming her.
Her empty eyes now appeared slightly glassy, not from emotional tears, but perhaps from excess fluid or undefined internal pressure.
Seeing her condition, an urgent, practical decision overtook Theo's sense of propriety.
With an extremely careful and apologetic motion, his right hand—usually reserved for strategy or comforting touch—now moved with investigative intent.
He extended the back of his hand, the less intimate side, and very slowly brought it closer to Aldraya's groin area, precisely where the wet fabric of her skirt formed the darkest shadow of dampness.
The moment the back of his hand touched the soaked cloth, even through the layer, an undeniable physical confirmation struck him.
It was not just wet; the fabric was saturated, heavy with fluid that was still seeping through with surprising warmth.
His intuition had been correct.
The volume absorbed by the ground earlier had not been an illusion.
Aldraya was releasing something in an extraordinarily large amount, far exceeding any normal capacity known to Theo.
However, as he very carefully withdrew his hand and examined the fluid clinging to the skin on the back of it, another strangeness revealed itself.
This was not ordinary menstrual fluid, though the context might have suggested it.
The liquid appeared clear, with a very thick, elastic consistency, resembling semen rather than blood.
There was no red color, no metallic smell or organic scent of any kind, only a steady bodily warmth and an unfamiliar texture.
For Aldraya, the former Supreme Angel whose existence was built from pure essence and will, biological concepts such as menstruation simply did not apply in a literal sense.
What was happening to her seemed to be a deeper physical manifestation, a reaction from the core of her being.
In the cosmology of her existence, a "menstruation" was not merely a monthly cycle, but an indicator, a sign that she had become emotionally or spiritually bound beyond the limits she should have maintained.
And the object of that transgressive bond, as once hinted through her gasps and closeness in the darkness of the cinema, was none other than Theo himself.
"Didn't I already tell you to wear a pad, like other women usually do, Aldraya?"
Returning to the narrow, damp reality of the alley, now burdened with new knowledge, Theo tried to draw a steadying breath.
The look in his eyes, once filled with investigative wonder, now shifted into a mixture of deep concern and a need to resolve a practical problem.
He realized that this strange incident could have been prevented, or at least managed, if a basic step had been taken.
His memory drifted back to the early days when Aldraya first stayed at his dormitory, when he awkwardly yet attentively tried to introduce the girl to the most basic human needs, including suggesting the use of pads as preparation for any possibilities related to her new body.
With a softer voice now, trying to cut through Aldraya's confusion and verbal stumbling, Theo posed the question.
He asked, in simple and direct words, whether Aldraya had forgotten or intentionally chosen not to wear a pad as he had once suggested.
The question was not an accusation, but an attempt to trace the root of the problem.
Theo's face reflected a small hope that this was merely a matter of logistical oversight, something that could be easily corrected to prevent the recurrence of an embarrassing and confusing incident like this in the future.
In his mind, he hoped the answer would be that simple, so they could quickly find a solution and refocus—or at the very least, take Aldraya home in a more dignified way.
To be continued…