Endless Evolution: Last Star

Step. Step. Step.

Silvana ran quickly down the hallway. She was returning from her jog and wanted to leave the water bottle in her room before returning to Riska.

'Hmm? Why is the door ajar?'

Silvana internally muttered when she stopped abruptly.

'Adam's back so early? Wasn't he still supposed to be practicing with Max today? Did something important happen?'

Silvana pondered, then she cautiously approached the door. For some reason, she didn't think it was a good idea to make any noise in this situation and reveal her presence early.

The first thing Silvana saw was Adam, holding small tools in his hands.

'What? What's going on here? Why is he fixing something?' Silvana was confused as she looked more closely.

Adam hadn't noticed her. He already spent an hour assembling the bracelet and was only 25% finished. He was completely immersed in the process and was not distracted by anything. This was a challenge, quite difficult, and interesting for him.

He never did anything like this before, but he was willing to try his best to see the joy on Silvana's face.

After a few seconds, Silvana realized that Adam was assembling the bracelet, but she didn't know that he was doing it for her.

Then, her gaze moved to the side, to the black box where was printed the name of the company that made this unusual bracelet.

'Rote Noe... What an unusual name, it's definitely not something simple. I should find out more about it.' Silvana internally muttered with a slight nod.

She carefully stepped back, her footsteps quiet and unnoticeable.

Silvana went downstairs to the training hall, where ten minutes later she easily found that company.

Silvana's eyes went wide at the prices of their bracelets, but it wasn't until later that she saw the department where custom bracelets were sold, especially those that the customers had to assemble themselves to achieve a unique result.

Crackle.

The door opened as Riska stepped inside.

"Hey, where have you been? We were supposed to get to the stretching exercises." Riska asked but there was no response.

Silvana couldn't believe how much a simple bracelet with no gemstones cost. Discover stories with empire

'Hmm? What's going on here?' Riska narrowed her eyes as she stood behind Silvana.

She leaned over, advancing to Silvana's shoulder to see what was on the screen of her tablet.

"Oh, Rote Noe, what a good choice. Going to give someone a gift?" Riska asked nonchalantly, unaware of the whole situation.

Silvana flinched, she abruptly turned around with a startled look as if she saw a ghost. She didn't even notice that Riska had come up to her, so close.

"I didn't mean to scare you." Riska smiled slyly, then she pointed at the screen, "Tell me about it? They make stylish and high-quality bracelets."

Silvana shook her head.

"I'm not sure what's going on. I mean, I wanted to leave it and come back..." Silvana muttered pointing to the bottle on the table.

She continued:

"But... I saw that the door was ajar, and... Adam was picking up this company bracelet."

"Oh, it's not good that you saw that, but congratulations to you." Riska let out a deep sigh as she sat down across from Silvana.

Silvana gave her a confused look. She didn't understand what Riska was congratulating her for.

Riska gave her a sly smile.

"Hah, if I could I would stare at your innocent expression for hours." Riska's corners of her lips went up as she leaned back in her chair.

Silvana's cheeks flushed, feeling embarrassed.

"What...? What are you talking about?"

"Well, what kind of Operator is what kind of Phantom, right? When it comes to something important, you're like children that haven't seen anything in this world yet."

Riska leaned forward, rested her chin on her hands, and said softly: "Isn't it obvious? Adam ordered this bracelet and is trying to put it together for you. He wants to give you not just an expensive gift, but something unique where his money, time, and effort have been involved."

Silvana blinked a few times, then her face turned red with embarrassment. She would never have thought Adam would be willing to do something like this for her.

Sure, they were Operator and Phantom, but they'd never given each other anything, except for the time Adam came to her with various expensive coffees.

Silvana always helped Adam and gave her best, not for gifts, but because it was her job at first, then she started doing it because Adam became a dear and important person to her.

"What...? No! There must be some other reason... I mean, it's too expensive a gift."

Silvana turned away without looking Riska in the eyes.

"Even if you're right, I'd be embarrassed to accept such a luxurious gift... I've never given him anything like this and I don't even have the money for it..."

Riska didn't reply to anything.

Instead, she walked over to Silvana, squatted down, and gently took her palm in her two hands, squeezing it lightly.

"So, he bought an expensive gift, took the time and effort to assemble it with his own hands with no experience and you're just going to refuse because of shyness?"

Silvana gulped. That wasn't what she meant at all, but she couldn't say that Riska was wrong about it.

Riska smiled kindly.

"Unfortunately, there's no more surprise, but you can still give him something decent in return."

"Hmm? Should I order some kind of bracelet too?" Silvana suggested.

Riska chuckled.

"What a silly idea, I didn't expect to hear such a thing from such a smart girl, well, it just shows what you're worried about."

Silvana puffed up her cheeks, looking at Riska unhappily.

"You don't need to give him anything in return, he just wants to make you feel good and the best you can give is your emotions."

Silvana bit her lip, frowning.

"But... I already know about the bracelet... Doesn't that mean I messed it all up?"

Riska shook her head.

"You don't have to be surprised. Just give into your feelings when he hands you the bracelet and show how you really feel. Just be sincere, it's so much better than any plan you can come up with."

Silvana nodded silently.

She realized that Riska was right.

Then, Riska stood up and extended her arms up, stretching.

"In that case, how about another lap?"