Chapter 20: Lunch Helps Me Cultivate (Patreon)

Oryon lowered his head, water droplets trailing from his hair to fall onto Lunch's face.

She blinked, her smile turning sweeter, wilder.

"Darling, I still want..."

Oryon cupped her face with one hand and kissed her again.

By the time they left the bathroom, Lunch's whole body was flushed a faint pink, and Oryon carried her, wrapped in a towel, to the bed.

The bed was large, and the two of them sank into the soft pile of blankets.

Lunch rolled over to pin him beneath her, her blue hair falling loose to brush across his face.

"Do you know what makes me happiest about you?"

"What?"

"That you told everyone you'd keep training while staying by my side."

Lunch buried her face in the crook of his neck, her voice muffled.

"Really? What's so special about that?"

Lunch explained, "No one's ever treated me like this before. No one's ever changed their plans for me."

"I thought you'd go off with Goku to train under this King Kai person, leaving me alone with an empty bed. I never expected..."

Oryon's arm circled her waist, his breath drawing close to her slender neck, and her fragrance rushed into him instantly.

Lunch's eyes reddened slightly. "So from that moment on, I decided I had to reward you properly."

She leaned down and kissed him again.

The blankets churned, their entwined shapes overlapping in the glow of the bedside lamp.

[Ding! You engaged in an intimate interaction with Lunch. You have gained 10 days of cultivation progress. You have mastered the Flight Technique.]

Oryon savored Lunch's reward, but as he looked inward at the System's ten days of cultivation, a frown tugged at his brow.

This reward's generosity had dropped off pretty sharply!

At first, just holding hands had earned him thirty days.

Later, a deeper union had earned three hundred days.

Now that Lunch had become his rightful girlfriend, even though this was routine by now, it still felt pretty good.

Just now Lunch's body had trembled slightly — she must have reached climax.

Even so, why did it only earn ten days?

Oryon thought, if some day he wasn't in the mood, or things went badly, and she didn't reach climax, wouldn't he not even get ten days out of it?

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.

Bulma's voice came through the door.

"Oryon, are you in there?"

"Uh-oh, Bulma's here!"

Lunch shot upright and grabbed her nightgown off the bed, yanking it on.

"Coming, coming..."

After calling out, Lunch immediately whispered, "Oryon, hurry up and get dressed. I'll go let her in..."

Oryon cast a reluctant glance toward outside the curtains.

"What's Bulma doing here? So annoying..."

Lunch laughed. "What else? She must be regretting it, coming to take you back from me."

"No way..." Oryon said, unconvinced.

As Lunch finished dressing, she said, "I'm a woman myself, I understand women all too well."

"After all, she used to be your girlfriend. Watching you become my boyfriend, and still worrying about me like this — she's definitely jealous, definitely regretting it."

With that, Lunch padded barefoot toward the living room to open the door.

Bulma stood outside the door, dressed in a crisp, businesslike short skirt, carrying a small toolbox in her hand.

Seeing Lunch answer the door glowing with post-intimacy radiance, a flicker of discomfort crossed Bulma's face.

Lunch smiled gently, like welcoming a friend who'd traveled from afar. "Bulma, good morning! Come on in and sit, I'll make you some tea."

Bulma stepped inside and swept her eyes around the room without thinking.

This was her own house, lent to Oryon for two days, and Lunch had already tidied it into something unrecognizable.

It was far cleaner than before — a few potted flowers lined the windowsill, and two wine glasses sat on the coffee table along with several wine bottles.

Every corner bore traces of the two of them living together.

Lunch, like a practiced hostess, set out the tea things, poured Bulma a cup, and brought out a plate of sunflower seeds.

"You're here so early, Bulma. I only just got up myself. Oryon's still sleeping in..."

Bulma picked up the teacup and took a tentative sip.

She smiled. "Yeah, he can really stay up late, but he does love sleeping in..."

Lunch asked, a bit curious, "Bulma, back when you two were together, did you also stay up until the middle of the night every day?"

Bulma saw the meaningful smile on Lunch's face and instantly caught her meaning.

Her face flushed crimson at once, and she quickly shook her head. "No — actually, we'd only been together a few days, we never got that far..."

Seeing Bulma, usually so tough and no-nonsense, in such an embarrassed state left Lunch mildly surprised.

"Is that so..."

A flicker of scorn rose in her at how slow Bulma was to warm up — no wonder she'd ended up an aging single woman.

But then she reconsidered — she herself was even older than Bulma, and though she'd once met Tien Shinhan and confessed her feelings...

That guy hadn't even so much as held her hand, let alone dated her.

Lunch had felt like she was talking to a monk — years spent just cooking for them, without a shred of real progress.

If she hadn't met Oryon, she'd never have experienced the wonders of being a woman...

Thinking of this, Lunch looked at Bulma.

Counting it up, Bulma might be a bit younger than her, but she was already in her thirties too.

They were fellow sufferers, in a way...

Lunch sat down across from Bulma, smiling gently. "You're here to see Oryon about something, aren't you?"

"He just got up and is getting dressed — he should be out soon."

Bulma glanced at the bedroom door, already imagining exactly what Oryon and Lunch had been doing these past nights.

Her heart ached bitterly.

She was Oryon's first girlfriend, wasn't she? And this house was hers, wasn't it?

And yet...

Now she was the one sitting here like a guest, hosted by Lunch, fidgeting uncomfortably.

Lunch took a sip of tea too, then said quietly, "Bulma, come with me a moment — there's something I need to tell you."

She pulled Bulma over to the small balcony in the corner and shut the glass door.

A sea breeze drifted past, lifting Lunch's long blue hair; she smoothed it back down.

Though her hair was currently in its blonde state, the smile on her face was especially gentle.

"Bulma, are you here to take Oryon back?"

Bulma froze.

It wasn't as if she hadn't considered that very purpose, but hearing Lunch state it so bluntly left her at a loss.

"I..."

Lunch didn't wait for her to finish, gently taking her hand.

"Bulma, I know you regret it. But..."

"I can't give Oryon back to you."

Bulma's eyes reddened at once.

Was Lunch trying to humiliate her?

Lunch looked up, gazing seriously at Bulma.

"I'm sorry, but I can't live without him anymore."

"Do you know that?"

"No one has ever been this good to me before."

"He isn't afraid that I switch personalities when I sneeze, doesn't care that I used to rob people, doesn't even care that I'm a bad woman — all he cares about is whether I'm happy or not..."