Chapter 233 | Challenge Accepted
"Challenge accepted."
Mira frowned in confusion as she blinked and looked at him.
"What challenge?"
Dexter flexed the muscles in his neck and replied with a smile.
"You just said I can’t seduce you, even if I have one hundred years. I said challenge accepted. But will do it in ten span of a month."
Mira laughed as thought it was the most funny thing she had ever heard.
Her smile was so dazzling that even after seeing all of Mira, he was still incredibly stunned by that astonishing smile.
Her laughter manage to subside as she spoke.
"You seduce me in a month? Impossible."
Dexter who had been initially stunned came to at her words. His eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
"Are you trying to call me ugly?"
Mira shook her head slightly, a small smile on her face as she replied.
"That’s not it."
She paused as she pondered whether she should say what was in her mind but decided to anyways.
"At first I never truly looked at you and thought you were quite alright," she said. "But now, I realize you are actually handsome. Maybe even more than you previously were.
Dexter’s eyebrows rose and he smirked as a bit of arrogance within his mind.
"But even with that," Mira continued, recovering her composure and reassembling her sneer, "there is no way you can successfully seduce me in a month."
She crossed her Spectral Arms. The mana limbs folded across her chest as she challenged him.
Dexter raised eyebrow dropped and his eyes narrowed.
’Shes quite confident, isn’t she?’
He glanced at her for a while, thought for a bit and then spoke.
"Hm... to you, what counts as successful seduction?"
He paused as a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.
"Kissing or sex?"
Mira’s crimson eyes blazed and she immediately hissed at him. "Who the hell is going to have sex with you!?"
Dexter chuckled as he quickly held up both hands.
"Hey, it’s an appropriate question. I’m just asking, what counts as seduction? Kissing, making out or sex?"
Mira glared at him as her eyes literally almost burned with flames and she said through gritted teeth.
"Kissing," she said.
Dexter nodded. "Okay. So I have thirty days to kiss you. That’s the challenge."
Mira immediately nodded. The nod was accompanied by an arrogant smirk.
Dexter chuckled. "Okay. What are the stakes?"
Mira blinked and was slightly caught off guard by the challenge.
She frowned.
"I have nothing to offer you," She said quietly.
Dexter looked at her then nodded his head.
"Okay," he said. "How about we double the promise you owe me?"
Mira’s eyes widened.
"Instead of you doing one single thing for me," Dexter continued, "let’s make it two. Two favors instead of one. If I win."
Mira stared at him as she thought more deeply about it.
Dexter could not seduce her in thirty days. The man could barely touch her without his heart going haywire. Although he touched her regularly, she could tell he was always on the brink of breaking and also shy.
This man was not going to seduce anyone in thirty days.
"Okay, fine," Mira said confidently. "What about me? What would you give me if you fail?"
Dexter blinked as his eyes shifted and he smirked.
"Anything you want."
Mira raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"
"Anything. And also, along with a surprise, I will do everything in my power to make you walk," he said.
The words landed in the living room like a thunderclap.
Mira eyes went wide as she stared at Dexter.
The ability to stand without help.
Dexter was offering that.
If he failed, he would dedicate everything he had to making her walk.
She stared at him. For a long, silent moment. Her crimson eyes moved across his face. Reading. Searching. Looking for the angle.
She didn’t find one.
Or was he planning to win?
She couldn’t tell.
And that, she realized with a discomfort that settled into her chest like a warm stone, was what made it dangerous.
Because if Dexter actually tried, if he actually applied himself to the challenge with the same focused, relentless, patient determination that he applied to everything else, if he brought that level of commitment to the task of seducing her...
She might lose.
Mira looked at Dexter.
Dexter looked at Mira.
The living room was quiet.
"Deal," Mira said.
Dexter smiled.
The kind that started at his mouth and reached his eyes and stayed there.
"Deal," he said.
He stood up. Extended his hand.
Mira looked at the hand. Then at his face. Then at the hand again.
Her right arm, the functioning one, the one that had moved for the first time three days ago, the one that had grabbed his wrist in a moment of unconscious need, reached out.
Her fingers found his.
The handshake was brief. Firm. The clasp of two people sealing an agreement that would, in thirty days, change everything between them.
Dexter’s hand was warm. Mira’s was cool.
They held for one second. Two.
Then released.
Dexter turned and walked toward the kitchen.
"Thirty days, Mira," he said over his shoulder. "Starting now."
Mira sat in her wheelchair. Her crimson eyes watched him go. Her right hand, the one that had just held his, rested in her lap. The fingers were still curled slightly. Holding the ghost of his grip.
She closed her eyes.
Her heart was beating faster than it should have been.
Faster than it had been in years.
’Thirty days.’
’Impossible.’
’Absolutely impossible.’
’So why is my heart doing that?’
"BAM BAM BAM!"
The knock was heavy.
Not the light, rhythmic tap of Tessa’s morning visits.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Dexter blinked.
He wasn’t expecting anyone. Tessa had already come and gone this morning. Rachel had called. The bakery delivery was done. The squad meeting was yesterday. The festival was tomorrow.
There was no one on his schedule.
His Enhanced Hearing activated automatically, expanding outward through the walls and gate to scan the space beyond. He filtered the ambient noise. Traffic. Wind. The distant bark of a dog three houses down.
Then he found the heartbeats.
Not one.
Five.
All carrying the steady, controlled rhythm of people who were calm and purposeful and had arrived with intention.
Dexter frowned.
’Police? Hero Association?’
The thought sent a cold spike through his chest. Harvest Homes. The fight. The destroyed office. The four-meter transformation. The old man sent flying through a wall. The building damaged. The cameras. The witnesses.
’If they’ve traced it back to me...’
His mind spiraled.