Chapter 298: Symbiote 0298: Restraint?

Symbiote 0298: Restraint?

As the days passed, Alex and Gwen spent a significant amount of time at Gwen’s old home. She accompanied her widowed mother while Alex quickly established a good rapport with her brothers by literally bribing them. The youngest got access to more games than he could play in his lifetime. The middle one got multiple sets of tickets to concerts and shows that were already sold out — he was already leveraging them to establish his superiority in school. As for Gwen’s eldest brother, he got his admission into the College of Law at Oxford approved; despite his strong resume and application, he wouldn’t have been accepted by the University even after considering Gwen’s alumni status. The program was far too competitive.

Ultimately, although the four years of estrangement had taken a toll on Gwen’s relationship with her family, they didn’t have any resentment. They were just happy to see her return and reestablish her relationship with them.

A week after the dinner, Gwen and Alex had to return to Oxford with an entourage of four in tow.

“Seriously, Alex? You got the jet?” Gwen looked frustrated.

“Dude, are you kidding, a private jet?” Howard, Gwen’s middle brother, was the opposite.

“Of course,” Alex smiled a wide smile as the pilot waved at him from the entrance of the plane, beckoning them up to the jet. “Let’s go up.”

“What about our ride?” Phillip, the oldest of Gwen’s brothers, asked while gesturing to the minivan behind them. Alex had driven them straight from their home to the airport, where they reached the private jet without stopping even once.

“Someone will naturally come pick it up once they load our luggage onto the plane,” he said. “You don’t need to worry.” He turned to Gwen with a wild grin; her hair was wildly flailing around in the wind as she tried to hold it down, the same as her mother.

She clicked her tongue at him and ignored the hand he’d stretched out for her to hold. She held her mother’s hand and led her up the ramp stairs.

“I think she doesn’t like it when you show off too much, dude,” This comment was passed by Simon, the gaming nerd and Gwen’s youngest brother.

“She’s just embarrassed and doesn’t want you guys to feel uncomfortable,” Alex shook his head. “Tell me, are you intimidated that I have more money than I know what to do with?”

“You’re planning to marry my sister, right?” Simon asked. “Then it’s all fine. I’m going to freely ask you for whatever I want.”

“Fair enough,” Alex chuckled, messing up the young man’s hair. As they boarded the jet, the three of them freely exclaimed about how luxurious the treatment they were receiving was.

As for Alex, he moved to the cockpit to discuss some things with the pilot before returning to the cabin. However, the only ones who were there were Gwen and her mother. Gwen had already grabbed a bottle of red wine and was sharing a drink with her mother.

“Your brothers hanging out in the game room?” Alex asked her.

“You went too far, Alex,” Gwen frowned at him.

“What?” He raised his arms in defeat. “I agree that I’m in the wrong, but about what?”

“This,” She gestured to her surroundings. “All of it.”

Alex sat down on a seat opposite Gwen and her mother, “I’m not putting your family in economy while the two of us fly in first class, Gwen. And believe it or not, this is cheaper than six first-class tickets.”

“You heard him, Mom,” Gwen said, instantly turning her tone around. “I agree it would’ve been better to let you know first, but you can just treat it as a pleasant surprise and enjoy the amenities. Once we take off, you should go in the back; we have a jacuzzi there. It’s a long flight, so relax, okay?”

“You’ve been here before?” Helen asked, suppressing the thoughts of the logistical issues of having a jacuzzi in a plane.

“I have,” Gwen said. “I worked on the interior design with Alex when he bought it.”

The older woman could only helplessly shake her head. “I’ll go check up on your brothers,” She downed the wine in her glass in one go and got up from her seat.

“You’re going to break my mother if you keep surprising her like this,” Gwen said, though the happiness in her voice was difficult to conceal. Her previous blaming was all pretend.

“Then you better prepare her,” Alex said. “I’ve already prepared two maids to be at her beck and call at all times. She won’t even have to lift a finger to do anything if she doesn’t want to.”

“Please don’t,” Gwen chuckled. “Just seeing the mansion is going to be enough of a shock for her.”

“What are you talking about? It’s a cozy place for just the two of us. Looking at the scale of usual mansions, it’s barely medium-sized.”

“Just don’t shock her,” Gwen said. “She’s already acting cautiously and is being conscious of her surroundings. Ironically, despite how headstrong she usually is, you kind of intimidate her. See how she went back without so much as a thank you or goodbye to you?”

“And here I was thinking of how to win your mother over …” Alex said. “Are you sure she doesn’t just hate me?”

“Of course not,” she said. “Shouldn’t you already know that, mister hypnotist? Reading microexpressions should come with the job, no?”

“Like you’d let that slide. I just don’t want you to chew my ear out about using superpowers for everything.”

“Well, this was a test. And you passed by actively working not to read my mother’s body language.”

“You are just looking for a reason to get mad at me, aren’t you?”

Gwen coughed, “I wanted a foot massage. Being mad at you would give me a reason to force you to stay within certain bounds.”

“Are you going to start being this convoluted all the time from now on? Just ask me to massage your foot. If I try to take things further, you can always refuse.”

“Like it’s easy to refuse when you’re already aroused and dripping,” she snapped at him.

“Fine, fine, wear your seatbelt first, we’re about to take off. Then you can put your foot on my knee. I won’t try to have sex with you when your mother and brothers are in the next room.”

“Thanks, darling.” Gwen’s tone instantly shifted when Alex agreed to her request.

…

“Ale-Alex, stop. You promised~” Gwen squirmed in her seat, looking at him with grievances.

“I’ll be quick, no one will even know,” he said.

“No …” Gwen was reluctant and seemed like she was about to accept, but her glassy, aroused eyes seemed to find determination from somewhere. “Stop, stop …” She straightened her body and looked at Alex with disapproval. “I don’t want to, okay?”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re going to start preaching restraint to me now …” Alex sighed. “I’m the kind of guy who would secretly penetrate you in the middle of dinner with your family. You can’t tell me to start restraining myself.”

“Some prudence is naturally necessary, Alex. I’m not a superhero with a skewed mental model who’s affected by the great power they hold; I’m just a normal woman. I want more than just pleasure from our relationship. Do you understand?”

“They don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” Alex said. “You are trying to take it to the extreme.”

“I’m not,” Gwen said. “I’m not saying that I don’t want to do it with you. I’m just conscious of my family being literally next door. And no, I don’t want to treat it as a risqué adventure.”

“So, no sex for the next two weeks, then. Got it.”

“W-what? Why?” Gwen was startled. “It’s just for this flight. Let’s leave the kind of intense denial play you’re imagining for later. Maybe in a couple of years. When I’m ready for it.”

“I’m already imagining leaving you denied and edged for the months leading to our wedding,” Alex chuckled. “The wedding night will be wild.”

“Too far ahead, Alex,” Gwen sighed helplessly. “We have to make a normal relationship work first. We may not be starting over from scratch, but in my mind, it’s close enough.”

“We already had a normal relationship.”

“Please. It was toxic and damaging to both our minds, mine more than yours, and you know it. Most of our interactions boiled down to sexual stuff and very occasional dates that, more often than not, also boiled down to sex and the likes. As for my other part, I hated your guts and wished I could gut you. What part of that sounds like a healthy relationship to you?”

“Noted,” Alex sighed. “And here, I was thinking about exploring the Bonding Rate further. Maybe I could finally try to take it beyond 75%.”

“Can we not?” Gwen instantly shuddered. “I don’t want to end up with another personality once again.”

“You won’t, Gwen. Not this time,” Alex shook his head. “I made sure of it.”

“Still …”

“Trust me. In all honesty, I want to experience being one with you once again. It felt … interesting.”

“I won’t deny that. But still …”

“Let’s come back to it later if you’re still apprehensive,” Alex submitted in front of Gwen’s cute, hesitant expression.

“Thank you, darling,” Her smile momentarily dazzled Alex, showing no traces of her previous hesitation. “In return, I’ll massage your foot. And I won’t infuse your soles with an aphrodisiac either.”

“It’s not an aphrodisiac.”

“You use it as one. Seriously, only you would be so bold as to use the purest form of life energy as a cheap aphrodisiac.”