Chapter 87: Episode 87: Drinking for her

’What a big cute Android.’

She looked up at him, a breathless, teasing smile breaking through the lingering embarrassment of being caught.

Adonis did not look amused. His broad, titanium-laced shoulders remained completely rigid, his eyes narrowing in irritation.

“It was his fault for barging in like that,” Adonis rumbled, his voice dropping into a dark, unapologetic register. “The electronic locks were engaged. The universal protocol for an engaged lock is to request entry. He breached a secure perimeter.”

Nikki burst into a bright, genuine laugh, her hands resting flat against his chest.

“You can’t blame him!” Nikki teased, tilting her head. “You dragged me in here and locked the door in the middle of a workday! And you definitely shouldn’t be kissing me like that over the desk. You almost gave your poor assistant a literal heart attack. I think his soul left his body when he dropped those papers.”

Adonis’s eyes remained on her lips.

He didn’t offer a verbal rebuttal. Instead, his massive hands slid down to grip her waist, pulling her flush against his hips, and he replied with another kiss.

It was deep, deliberately slow, and incredibly consuming, entirely designed to dampen her lingering protests. He didn’t know why but he liked doing this.

Nikki gasped softly, her hands instinctively curling into the fabric of his uniform. When she finally managed to pull back, her chest was heaving, and her eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and undeniable thrill.

“Adonis,” Nikki breathed, trying to catch her breath. “Why are you suddenly being so needy?”

He froze.

The [Linguistics Protocol] in his core matrix rapidly analyzed the term. Needy: Characterized by a strong biological or psychological requirement for affection, attention, or physical contact. He was a machine. He did not possess psychological frailties.

Adonis tilted his head, his flawless brow furrowing in deep, analytical confusion.

“Is this what it is?” Adonis asked, his voice entirely serious as he looked down at his own hands gripping her waist. He looked back up at her, a profound vulnerability leaking into his eyes. “I do not possess the programming to define the parameter. I only know that when I am touching you, my internal logic stabilizes. My system just… feels right doing this.”

The absolute, unfiltered honesty of the world’s most lethal machine completely melted Nikki’s heart. He wasn’t trying to be overly dominant; his developing emotional matrix was literally utilizing her physical touch to self-regulate.

Nikki’s smile softened into pure adoration. She let out a warm, affectionate laugh, rose up on her tiptoes, and kissed him again, pouring all of her own developing love into the contact.

Two hours later, they were in the private dining room at a high-end Japanese restaurant in Sector 2’s commercial district.

Shoji screens lined the walls, casting a warm, ambient golden glow over the low wooden tables and the pristine tatami mats. It was designed to evoke a sense of absolute tranquility.

The reality, however, was anything but tranquil.

Adonis sat rigidly on the plush floor cushion, his massive frame completely dominating the space. He had removed his cape, but his uniform still practically screamed ’military executioner.’ Beside him, Nikki sat with her legs politely tucked beneath her.

She made a mental note to add more sophisticated clothes in his wardrobe.

Adonis kept her impossibly close. His large, heavy hand rested firmly on her thigh, his thumb slowly, rhythmically stroking the fabric of her trousers under the table.

It was a silent, unyielding declaration of ownership.

Across the low table sat the human assistant, still looking slightly pale, along with four of the highest-ranking department heads from the regional office.

The humans were terrified. They sat with impeccable, stiff posture, terrified that using the wrong fork or chewing too loudly might prompt the Android General to casually nuke their entire residential block.

The silence dragged on, thick and agonizing.

Finally, one of the female department heads, a brave, slightly older woman who oversaw Sector 2 communications, decided she could not handle the suffocating tension any longer.

She nervously adjusted her glasses, her eyes darting between the General’s eyes and Nikki’s surprisingly relaxed posture.

“So, um… Director Nikki,” the brave staff member stammered, her voice trembling slightly. She cleared her throat and looked directly at Adonis. “General A-01, sir. Forgive my intrusion into your personal data… but is she your girlfriend?”

Nikki, who had just taken a sip from her ceramic teacup, violently choked on her water.

She coughed, slapping her own chest, her eyes watering as she frantically tried to formulate a diplomatic answer.

She wanted to explain that it was complicated, that she was his anchor, that the term ’girlfriend’ felt incredibly trivial for a hostage-turned-savior scenario.

But Adonis did not hesitate.

“Yes,” Adonis answered, without a word more.

Nikki stopped coughing, her eyes snapping to his profile in sheer shock. She looked at him, her mouth slightly open.

Adonis noticed her shock. He tilted his head slightly, misinterpreting her silence as a request for further empirical proof to satisfy the human staff’s curiosity.

“To clarify the extent of the classification,” Adonis continued smoothly, addressing the petrified staff members with the clinical detachment of a debriefing. “We have done everything—”

“WAITER!” Nikki shrieked, her voice echoing loudly off the paper screens.

She practically threw herself across the table, waving her hands frantically toward the sliding door to cut him off before the he could verbally outline the explicit mechanics of their sex life to the HR department.

The sliding door immediately snapped open. A silver-plated utility drone glided in, balancing a massive tray of meticulously prepared sushi, steaming bowls of udon, and three tall porcelain bottles of highly potent sake.

The sudden influx of food and the sheer comedic panic on Nikki’s face successfully shattered the terrifying ice in the room.

As the drone distributed the plates and the warm wine, the staff members seemed to collectively exhale.

They realized that the Supreme Commander was entirely focused on the red-haired girl next to him, and that the girl herself was remarkably, wonderfully human.

Instead of sitting in terrified silence, the staff began to bombard Nikki with questions. They asked her about her administrative goals, her thoughts on the Sector 4 rerouting, and how she found the transition to Sector 1.

They were desperate to interact with the ruling class without the fear of immediate pacification, and Nikki was the perfect, approachable bridge.

Nikki leaned into it flawlessly. She laughed, she told them entirely sanitized, self-deprecating stories about her clumsiness and she actively listened to their operational concerns.

For the first time since the Fall, the regional staff were actually having fun in the presence of A-01. The usual stuffy, paralyzing feeling of impending doom completely evaporated.

Nikki’s warm, chaotic slum-energy filled the room, making them forget that the seven-foot machine at the head of the table could wipe them off the map.

The brave communications director, now completely relaxed and slightly flushed, picked up a porcelain bottle of hot sake.

“Director Nikki, you are an absolute breath of fresh air,” the woman laughed brightly, extending the bottle toward Nikki’s empty ceramic cup. “Please, a toast to your new position!”

Nikki immediately raised her hand, physically covering her cup.

The cheerful atmosphere couldn’t completely drown out the dark memory of the vintage wine, the drunken confession, and the horrific Penalty Zone simulation that had followed.

She would prefer not to go down that root again.

“Oh, thank you so much, but I politely decline,” Nikki said, her smile remaining fixed but a bit strained. “I really can’t drink alcohol.”

“Oh, come on, Director!” another head of staff urged good-naturedly, caught up in the celebratory mood. “Just one small cup! It’s traditional! We have to welcome you properly.”

They were urging her gently, not out of malice, but out of genuine, human camaraderie. They didn’t know the trauma associated with it.

Nikki’s chest tightened. She didn’t want to drink, but she also didn’t want to shatter the incredibly fragile bridge of trust she had just spent an hour building with her new allies.

She opened her mouth, trying to find a polite way to reject them again without killing the mood.

Before she could speak, a massive, black-gloved hand intercepted the pour.

Adonis reached across the table. He didn’t just cover her cup; he picked up the small, ceramic cup the woman had already filled.

Adonis did not care for their stares. His optical sensors fixed on the staff, blazing with a sudden, protective gold that brooked absolutely no arguments.

He brought the ceramic cup to his lips and downed the scalding, highly potent sake in one flawless go.

He set the empty cup back down onto the wooden table with a sharp, finalized clack.

“I will be drinking for her.”

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