The morning light filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his dormitory room, casting long shadows across the sea of fabric hanging before him.

Neville stood before his closet, surveying his overflowing wardrobe options.

Not that it matters, he told himself firmly. This isn’t a formal event. Casual wear is appropriate.

His internal reasoning sounded convincing enough, but his hands betrayed him.

It lingered over a soft blue oversized sweater that Gloria had picked out for him during their shopping trip. The fabric was luxuriously soft. He was sure that it was made with the kind of expensive material that he dared not think about how ridiculously expensive it really was.

But since they were going to an aquarium, it seemed fitting to wear blue.

[Host, you’ve been standing there for seventeen minutes and thirty-two seconds. Can’t you just find something? (・・ ) ?]

Neville ignored Shelly and pulled out the sweater and held it against his chest. Then, to be fair, he grabbed two other blue shirts for comparison.

One was a button-down that felt too formal. The other was a thin long-sleeve that screamed trying too hard.

The sweater won by default.

Neville pulled it over his head and turned to face the full-length mirror on the closet door.

The soft blue fabric draped loosely over his frame, the hem falling past his hips. It looked a little thin on him but it made his slender build made the oversize fit seem even more pronounced.

Good thing that the material was warm enough to withstand the snow outside. It seemed that Shelly’s forecast that the winter would last a whole year would really happen.

Looking in the mirror again, Neville decided not to add a thick undershirt or layer a cardigan on top. The last thing he needed was to overheat and look like a sweaty mess in front of—

In front of no one in particular. Neville turned his gaze away from his reflection. This is just a casual outing between colleagues who were given free tickets.

His light brain buzzed with an incoming message. Neville’s heart beat stupidly as he read the notification.

G.M.: Already at the dormitory entrance.

Already?

Neville glanced at the time display hovering in the corner of his vision. He still had fifteen minutes before their agreed meeting time.

Why is he here so early?

Unable make sense of this, Neville just decided to hurriedly grab his sling traveling bag—a compact messenger-style carrier that Gloria bought for him.

Good thing, he already packed the night before with carefully selected snacks, his camera, and a few emergency supplies.

As he was putting it on, Neville thought in relief. The bag would have been impossibly heavy if he hadn’t discreetly transferred some of the food into his system inventory beforehand.

One final check in the mirror.

His hazel-brown hair was a bit unruly, falling across his forehead. Today, though, it felt right to let it stay a little messy.

His ocean-blue eyes stared back at him—striking, almost unnaturally vivid, with that small red mole tucked under the corner of his right eye.

His eyes were the problem. They were too eye-catching.

Neville reached for his nerd glasses out of habit, then stopped. His fingers hovered over the familiar frames.

The glasses weren’t prescription anyway. If anyone asked, he could just say that he was wearing contacts.

Since he wasn’t wearing his glasses, he decided to buy a small hair clip in the system mall. Nothing fancy, just a simple silver clip shaped. It would hold back the longer strands of hair threatening to fall into his eyes without making him look trying hard.

With one last deep breath, Neville left his room.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

The dormitory lobby was relatively empty for a weekend morning, most residents either still asleep or already gone to their destinations. Neville spotted Grayson immediately—though spotted wasn’t quite the right word when he only searched for the tallest man in sight.

But something was different today.

Neville had expected Grayson to be in his usual attire: one of those perfectly tailored long coats, paired with dark trousers, which looked lowkey flashy because it screamed ’this guy had money’.

Instead, Grayson stood by the entrance in baggy pants and an oversized white shirt, with a V-line cardigan layered beneath a zipped-up hoodie. The casual look made him look younger somehow, less like the intimidating and more like... well, like a regular person going out for the day.

But most importantly, he had uncharacteristically put glasses on.

Neville blinked.

Then blinked again.

He even rubbed his eyes if they got clouded by some remaining eye booger.

The frames were sleek and black, rectangular in shape, resting on the bridge of Grayson’s nose naturally. They softened his sharp features just slightly.

Did Grayson have prescription glasses?

The question burned on the tip of Neville’s tongue, but he swallowed it back.

Asking felt too personal somehow, too intimate.

Instead, Neville said, "You’re early," descending the last few steps to meet him.

Grayson’s silver eyes looked at him through those glasses, smiling slightly. "So are you."

"Fair point." Neville smiled back.

Neville couldn’t exactly criticize when he had also rushed down fifteen minutes ahead of schedule the moment he had seen that Grayson already arrived.

A brief silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, but a little awkward.

Grayson’s gaze swept over his outfit, then lingered on his eyes for a moment, and Neville felt his ears warmed against the weather.

"Ready?" Grayson asked.

"Ready."

Without much chatting, they walked to where Grayson’s hovercar was parked.

Neville climbed into the passenger seat of the hovercar, hyper-aware of every small movement of Grayson. The subtle scent of his fresh water pheromones filled the enclosed space, making him relax and heat at the same time.

The hovercar lifted off and merged into the morning traffic, gliding toward Xylos’s Shopping Center.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

Neville had been to the massive structure of Xylos’s Shopping Center twice before. Once with Liam, entering through the standard public entrance. Another time with Gloria through an exclusive VIP section that required a separate QR pass.

Today, Grayson parked at neither of those entrances.

"Just how big is this place?" Neville couldn’t help but sigh as they exited the hovercar into yet another unfamiliar parking area.

"Twelve levels," Grayson replied, as if that answered the question.

It didn’t.

Twelve levels were just how tall this particular building was. It didn’t explain why the building seemed to have more entrances and buildings than a rabbit warren.