Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 80

Chapter 80: First Date 3
She smiled upon hearing that it was indeed a good bottle. “Well, let’s enjoy it to our heart’s content since we’ve got an endless supply of it!”

Julian opened the bottle of wine with the opener Rayne had handed him and poured the red wine into their glasses.

While Julian was dealing with the wine, Rayne took out the silverware and a few sides. There was a small basket of freshly baked dinner rolls and butter, as well as two plates of a delicious Mediterranean-style salad.

The plate of steak already had a small side of mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus, making it a well-rounded dinner.

Once everything was situated, they turned off the main lights, leaving only a lamp on in the corner for some dim lighting, and started the movie.

They ate while watching the movie, laughing at the funny scenes.

To Rayne’s surprise, although the movie title was about catching fish, it was actually a comedic action film about a pro fisherman who fishes up an old relic and gets caught up in a mafia war over it. The only way he was able to make it out of difficult situations was by catching fish and hiding the relic in the fish’s bodies.

They finished eating about halfway through the movie, when Julian subtly scooted Rayne closer toward him so they were almost cuddling.

Rayne was so invested in the movie that she didn’t even notice she was curled up on Julian!

He looked down at her, noticing how comfortable she was around him, and smiled internally. The feeling of having her by his side was very nice, and he hoped they could spend more time like this in the future.

“Ah! Can you believe he got away with that?! I mean, it was so obvious that the relic was right there!” Rayne nearly jumped out of the sofa.

Chuckling, Julian shook his head. “I think they did it on purpose. It’s supposed to be a comedy.”

Rayne quickly sat down, feeling slightly embarrassed. She also just realized how close she had been sitting to Julian, and her heart began racing.

To break her nervousness, she looked over at Julian and asked, “So, were you able to open the box? I’m really curious what’s inside.”

“No, so far I haven’t fully figured out the mechanism, but I think I’m close. Tomorrow, I will spend more time on it. I’m also curious about what could be inside something so securely locked. By the way, where did you find it?” replied Julian.

Rayne leaned back against the sofa. “Well, it’s a long story, but I saw my ex at a bar, and he looked like he was dealing with some sketchy-looking guy. They seemed really interested in the box, so I walked over, made a scene, and stashed the box amidst the chaos.”

Julian looked at her with an indescribable expression. “God, you’re so hot.” He didn’t even realize that he had said what he was thinking out loud until Rayne turned beet red.

Instead of apologizing for his words, he moved closer to Rayne and put his arm around her. “I want to know more about you. Tell me some more of the things you like or don’t like. I can be anything.”

Feeling a little shy at first, her words came out quietly. “I like iced coffee and sunny days…” After a few rounds of back and forth, she got more comfortable being held and answered with more emotion.

“OH! And Ella, my friend, the one who won second place at the design contest, is hilarious. I’ve always seen her as a quiet, studious type, but after getting to know her more, she’s a little crazy…” she said, talking happily about her friend.

After finishing her story about Ella, Rayne frowned slightly. “I hope she’s holding up okay. I made sure to drop off a lot of random supplies that could be helpful to her before the apocalypse started, but I feel like I should have done more.”

Julian listened, happy to hear that Rayne had such a good friend. He had a vague impression of Ella, being Reginald’s daughter, but he had never dealt with her personally.

“Don’t worry. I know Reginald, her father, quite well. He’s very astute and excels at decision-making. I’m sure he’s gotten his family to a safe place. If we run across them in the future, we can help them out more.”

Rayne nodded, silently praying that Ella and her family were doing okay and that they could someday meet up once more. She missed having Ella around but knew that, at the time, it would have been difficult to explain how she knew about the disaster.

“Oh, I heard news that the government is finally opening a few bases for survivors to move to. If the information we got was correct, then one of the planned bases is the mountain resort relatively close by,” added Julian.

“Oh, that’s interesting! It’ll be convenient to visit there if that’s the case,” said Rayne happily. She would be able to visit and contribute resources to the base, helping out the people secretly!

Julian saw her sparkling eyes, feeling that she really was too kind. He would have to keep a close eye on her so that she didn’t get into unnecessary trouble.

The two of them continued to chat while practically cuddling on the comfortable leather sofa. Rayne found that talking to him was even easier now than when he stayed with her. She attributed this to her finally having revealed her secret about the system and the apocalypse to him, feeling like she didn’t need to hold back on the things she said.

Soon, the topics changed, pivoting toward Julian.

“So, do you have a family? You seem to know my father well, but I know nothing about yours,” asked Rayne curiously.

When she did her research on REN Corporation, very few things showed up about Julian, and even less about his personal life and family.

“Ah, yes, I do have a family, although I am not very close with any of them. Other than my mother and father, I also have a younger sister about your age,” he said openly.

Rayne listened. “Oh, what is she like?” She would’ve never guessed that he had a sister and tried to picture what she looked like in her head.

“She’s just an entitled leech… Actually, all of my family members are like that,” smiled Julian before continuing, “Growing up, I had minimal support. I remember my father refusing to fund any of my schooling, even though I was top of my class, and he had more than enough money.

While we weren’t extremely rich back then, my father still had a good salary from being a manager at an insurance company. I guess they were just always extremely greedy,” he shrugged.

(A/N: Happy New Years to everyone! I will only be releasing 1 chapter today and tomorrow as I’m celebrating the holidays. Will be back to the usual 2chapters/day after! Thank you!)