Welcome Home

Under the urging of his biological clock and the rays of sunlight striking his face, Khan's consciousness slowly resurfaced from slumber, waking up, there he found Lily cozily snuggling up his arms, seeing her sleeping face, and her slightly puffed rosy cheeks, Khan fought the desire of stretching her cheeks out, lest he wakes her up.

Carefully standing up, Khan slipped out of the bed and walked towards the bathroom, but as walked out of the exit, the smell of fragrant herbs assaulted his nose, his expression changed into curiosity as he silently went towards the kitchen and took a peek.

There, he found Twenty-One, holding the handle of a pan wherein a meat was being fried with numerous spices including the five herb combo spices that he made. The jet-black haired young girl would flinch in each time the oil from the pan flew upwards, but her hand, clenched tightly on the handle of the pan, and her expression, revealed her determination in completing her work.

Khan revealed a slight smile, sneaked behind her and said, "Hooh, quite good you're doing, right there." She flinched in shock, but this time, she didn't do any excessive movements as she complained, "Please stop sneaking behind... me..." She murmured in the air, which made the former chuckle as he retreated at the side, observing her earnest cooking.

The smell of the meat intensified, along with the crackling of oil which splattered more oil towards her fair skin. Khan stared at her determined, yet pain filled expression as he spoke, "That's enough, I'll do the rest."

"No." She flatly refused.

Khan momentarily froze before saying, "And why?"

"At least let me be useful, I can't just stay here and freeload for all of my life, right?"

"Huh? What are you saying? Who said that you're useless?" Khan frowned, 'just what ideas are inside this girl's mind?'

"I know that I am, and since I'm weaker than the two of you, at least, let me help you with the household chores, or else, I will feel extremely guilty about me, staying in here." She replied in an indifferent tone, yet Khan could feel the wavering within her sentence. But since her reason was logical enough, he didn't intervene anymore and just let her continue.

After about ten minutes, she finally finished the meat dish and laid it down on the plate, afterward, she went towards the sink and ran her arms through cold water, feeling the sensation of relief, surging through her arms, she sighed and withdrew her arms.

But before she could walk and bring the dishes towards the table, Khan stopped her by clutching the sleeves of her baggy clothes. Twenty-One startled, she turned around to face him and found that the world around her, seemed to slow down.

She stared at Khan with anticipation shining in her eyes, and at this moment, everyone disappeared from the world, leaving only him, and her to stare at each other's eyes with desire burning within their eyes.

Khan slowly raised her right hand and it stretched out towards her chest. Twenty-One's expression furiously blushed as she realized this fact, and she tightly closed her eyes, afraid that she might overreact over a touch.

But what she didn't expect was, Khan's hand deviated from her chest, instead, it landed on her arm as a surge of golden light manifested from his hand and transferred on her arms. The golden light eventually faded, bringing with it the stinging sensation that she felt earlier.

Twenty-One's fantasy world dissipated as Khan proceeded in healing her other arm. With the disappearance of the persistent stinging pain, she only felt the warmth that came from his hand, giving her a strange sensation of pleasure and the reluctance to part with his touch.

As the two stared at each other, a light cough interrupted them at the side, which made the two, instantly transform into a blur as they separated. Khan hummed a tune at the side, while Twenty-One looked fidgety as her gaze darted to Khan and Lily respectively.

"Hoooh, Sis, It seems like you're doing some pretty good development with this naughty rascal...If you continue doing that, it will just be a matter of time before this horny dog would eat you." Lily sarcastically remarked, Khan turned around, crossed his arms together, slightly inclined his head to the skies and said in a same sarcastic tone, "Hmmm, so you're saying that I'm a naughty rascal, well, can't really argue to that." Khan shook his head side by side, revealing a cunning smile, he continued, "But who is the one who keeps moaning and urging me to do it more...?"

Lily's expression abruptly turned scarlet, she clenched her fists together and gritted her teeth, "Khaaan..."

"What? You're the one who attacked me first, don't tell me that I can't retaliate?" Khan hurriedly leaped backward as he faced the approaching Lily, but soon, he ran out of space and was pressed up to the wall.

Twenty-One just stared speechlessly at the two with blushed cheeks. Lily's words repeatedly echoed in her mind as she stood there, frozen.

Meanwhile, Lily already arrived before Khan, the latter endured the full brunt of her stern glare, but when her right hand, stretched to his waist and clutched the fat around it, beaded sweat formed on Khan's forehead as he hurriedly pleaded, "No, don't twist it, please no, Noooo!!!" Khan's miserable shriek echoed across the mansion, startling even Twenty-One who resurfaced back from her imaginary world.

Later on, a Khan whose upper body was naked could be seen sitting on the couch, beside him was Twenty-One who tended to his reddened waist. Her expression, filled with deep concern while the former, suffused a visage of being wronged.

"Sis, I think you went too far in twisting it." Twenty-One murmured as she dabbed an ointment on the reddened area.

"Hmmmph! Who does he think he is, actually daring to tease me, also, Sis!" Lily's arms akimbo, her cheeks puffed as she continued, "If you continue on being soft with him, the time where he will take advantage of you will definitely come!"

Twenty-One's expression froze, before she whispered in a barely audible tone in the air, "It's fine if he wants to do that to me..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, Sis..."

"..."

Later on, the three finally sat before the dining table and proceeded with their breakfast, and as they sat down, Khan already prepared himself and quickly snatched a fork before stabbing all the meat dishes with it, taking every meat for himself.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Lily raised her fork and pointed it at Khan.

"What am I doing? Nothing, I'm just eating..." Khan nonchalantly spoke and raised the fork where the meat dishes were pierced and even exaggeratedly raised it above his head before dropping it in his mouth.

Lily and Twenty-One revealed a tragic and wronged expression, particularly Lily whose eyes became somewhat moisty as she stared at the remaining meat on Khan's plate.

'Damn it, I can't really defeat her if she plays this card!' Khan inwardly cursed, but in the end, his expression softened and reluctantly handed over the remaining meat, which uplifted the moods of the two. Lily revealed a cunning smile, 'Hmmph! Trying to take away my favorite dish? You can't do that to me!' She felt refreshed upon seeing Khan's defeated look.

Khan just stared speechlessly at her antics and proceeded to continue his meal, afterward, with the same routine, Khan went and washed the dishes while the two young women fiddled with something in the kitchen. After completing his task, Khan curiously went towards the kitchen and found several marks of flour scattered around the table, there, he saw Lily and Twenty-One, whose complexion looked like a clown due to the ripped bag of flour in their hands that constantly spewed flour.

Glancing on the mixing bowl, Khan found a horrendous sight of clumpy flour and other mixture of ingredients, slapping his hand on his forehead, Khan suppressed the urge to laugh and stood beside them.

Because their efforts were wasted, Lily looked wronged and Twenty-One's eyes were somewhat moisty.

"There, there..." Khan domesticated the two with head pats and the duo reacted by raising their head like obedient little kittens, as they saw his confident smile, they became reassured as they stared at each other.

"Sis, you have some chocolate on your nose." Twenty-One raised her hand and wiped off the chocolate on Lily's nose with a swipe of her index finger, she then placed her finger in her mouth and with puffed cheeks, tasted the chocolate.

"Uwaaa... It's bitter..." Twenty-One's expression distorted, Khan and Lily chuckled as they spoke, "That's pure dark chocolate, so It's definitely bitter!" The former became startled because of their synchronized reply, and on the other hand, the two stared at each other before laughing out loud.

Without a doubt, Twenty-One was slowly becoming an important part of their household. Because of this, Khan felt somewhat reluctant about expressing his true feelings about the former, even with Lily's urgings, Khan didn't understand why he became so indecisive when it comes to women. Was it because his point of view about them changed ever since he awakened in this world? Or was it when he met Lily which changed his entire life?

Khan replaced the two and continued on baking the cake. Although the food in ancient times didn't have any cakes on it, with just a single glance in the recipe book that Lily bought somewhere, Khan easily mastered the way of cooking a cake and in just about an hour and a half, a triple layered chocolate cake laid on the dining table.

He dipped his finger on the side of the cake and after tasting it, he nodded his head in satisfaction. Meanwhile, the two young women already cleaned their bodies from the flour and sat obediently before the table. Khan carried a knife and was about to cut some of the cake before being interrupted by Lily.

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Khan confusedly said.

"I still need to write on it!"

"Write on it? For what?" Khan asked, according to the information that he read, cakes were made for the purpose of celebration, especially birthdays, and weddings.

"Stop being so nosy, just wait for me..." Lily sped off towards her room and when she returned, she brought with her a pastry bag with a tip filled with red food coloring. Khan revealed a slight smile as he understood her intentions and when she arrived, he didn't intervene and just let him do what she wanted.

Lily's arms subconsciously trembled, for she knew that just a single mistake can ruin everything. Even so, she proceeded on and wrote messily wrote, 'Happy Birthday,_____'

"Why did you write an underscore?" Khan curiously inquired.

Lily didn't reply, instead, she handed the pastry bag towards Khan and said, "It's your turn."

"My turn to what?"

"Write her name!"

"Ah..." Khan hurriedly positioned himself and was about to write, but before he could, he was interrupted by Lily's stern glare as she said, "If you dare to write Twenty-One, I'll punish you..." Her glare made the former flinch as he swiftly retracted the pastry bag and stared at Twenty-One as he pondered.

'A name... Eh...' When it comes to bestowing names, Khan didn't really have that much knowledge about it, and so, because of the constraints of time, he could only temporarily give him a name, that thoroughly resonated within the deep recesses of his heart.

The name of his second wife, back then, a hundred thousand years ago.

"Alice."

Khan clearly enunciated the word, his eyes shone in a melancholic light as his figure, slightly trembled as memories from the past, flooded his mind. Regaining his calm, he revealed a warm smile, quickly wrote on the cake and said.

"Welcome and Happy Birthday, Alice."

Greeted with the mirthful smiles of Khan and Lily, Alice's expression quickly changed as tears flooded her eyes which quickly streamed down her cheeks, without any hesitation, she leaped towards Khan's arms and buried her head, along with her jet-black hair in his chest.

"Thank you for everything..."