The first day passed without too much trouble; after returning from his date with Sera, the girls understood that he must not be disturbed, so they did nothing. At the same time, it's let Sera know that today was her day; no one would try to snatch it by doing anything even when her date had ended long ago.
•••••
Sun rays come as nature's easel, giving brilliant color to what was hidden even under the passing starlit night.
Alex got up from the bed, strolled to the window, and looked outside. The sun rays shone on the girl's silhouette: Maria, Luna Sakuya, Gracier, and Eri were doing yoga in the garden.
Looking at their graceful curves when they made all these complicated movements made Alex smile.
''A brand new day. Huh! Who among them I will choose to go out with today?" Alex began to mull over who he should choose when suddenly, Silveria intervened.
〖Why not choose your sister? She is the cutest of all.〗
''Gracier? Well, that would work as well, but Nah! I will not choose her, she would come after, but now I'm going to choose Maria.'' Alex finally made his decision.
〖I see, that's good as well.〗Silveria said before retiring.
Alex smiled, not saying anything; he knew well that her intervention let him have an easy time choosing with whom he would go out. Selecting Maria was the right decision as the two rarely got the opportunity to go out and have fun.
Half of an hour later, when Alex and others were eating breakfast, Alex announced.
''Maria, let's go out after we finish.''
Facing this unexpected proposal, Maria froze for a second before resuming eating while at the same time answering Alex's question.
''Sure, let's go out.''
There was a beautiful smile on that ice-cold face, which was truly beautiful, capable of trapping any soul. Leon shook his head and thought that his friend was lucky to have one exceptional woman after another.
After breakfast, Alex and Maria head out. Maria wore a light blue Ruffle-Sleeve Sheath Dress; Alex wore a denim jacket over his jeans.
Alex and Sera visited an aquarium before shopping before stopping at the Skyline in one of their restaurants. They ordered food and wine.
Halfway through their meals, Maria stopped prompting Alex to do the same thing.
''What is it? The food, isn't it to your liking?" He asked as he found her behavior unusual.
Wiping her mouth using the napkin, Maria answered.
''No, the food here is great. It's just that I'm overflowing with emotions. I haven't gotten the time to have such a meal in a long time, so long that I'm moved. You don't know, but I had a similar meal when Sakuya and I visited Tokyo to pay respect to her late father; we visited Tokyo Sky Tree after leaving the Sky Tower, so visiting a place that looked like the sky tree brought back some memories.''
''I see.'' Alex finally understood the reason behind Maria's action. He also wiped his mouth and ordered the table to be cleaned; he asked for another wine but white wine this time, Maria's favorite.
Upon seeing the white wine, Maria's eyes widened, she immediately thought that Luna or Sakuya must have sold her out as they were the only ones that knew that white wine was her pêché mignon (cute sin), she had a secret bottle of white wine hidden under her bed back home, sometimes she would take it out and drink a bit.
''Hahaha! I can see what you're thinking. Rest assured, none of them tell me anything; I just saw it myself. One night I couldn't sleep, and I thought I could ask you to accompany me as we watched the stars in the sky because I felt your presence, you weren't sleeping, to surprise you, I snuck into your room, but who would have thought that I would see something interesting, the Ice Empress drinking white wine with an intoxicated expression.''
''Stop it!" Maria protested with a rare show of blushes on her face. Having one of her secrets being divulged like this made her embarrassed; the ice began to melt, albeit slowly.
''Hahaha! Seeing you blush like that is cute; you're cute.'' Alex continued to tease her, Maria snorted and tried to snatch the bottle from Alex's hand, but the latter dodged with a grin.
Maria stared at her hands in surprise; it was instinctual action; when she saw the bottle of white wine before her, she unconsciously stretched her hand to take it.
Just as Maria was about to get angry because Alex seemed to be enjoying himself playing with her, she was shocked to see him switch into bartender mode and serve her a glass of wine, every gesture he made from opening the bottle, taking the glass, filling it and bringing it to her, it was filled with elegance.
''Beautiful!" Maria unconsciously blurted out.
''Thank you, My lady!" Alex said with a graceful bow. He went back and sat, lifting his glass, he declared.
''To our happiness, cheers!"
''Cheers!"
Maria responded before slowly drinking her wine; Alex also did the same, like they savored the wine taste.
Putting his glass down, Alex asked Maria.
''Maria, tell me about your life before we came here, about your father, your mother.''
Maria flinched upon hearing this question but sighed; she understood why Alex was asking this; he wished to learn more about her; he must have heard a bit of her past from others but still wished to hear it from her mouth directly.
After a short period of silence, Maria told Alex about her past, about her family, and there was one thing Alex learned from her story, her past, her father made her into what she is today, all these things molded the current Maria. Her father's expectations made her into what she has changed her from a gentle girl into a cold one who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Her father made her desire to control everything, to be a leader, to be the one that decided, that dictated the rules. It was unfair, but Alex could understand why Maria's father did this; she was his only daughter, the only child who would inherit the family business. In that environment, you must stand atop the others to rule.
''Ah! Don't worry, Alexia; you don't have to keep everything bottled up anymore. Nobody is placing their expectations on you; we are here, I'm here; please loosen up a bit; this is not Earth; you can be yourself. No, be yourself from now on, not something your father created, it would be hard, but I'm here, we all are.''
Alex, who saw that Maria was still living in her father's shadow, declared, his words touched Maria's soul. She trembled, and she seemed to have come to a decision.
''Thank you, Lex; I'm glad I have you. Please take care of me from now on, I'm not good at expressing myself, but I will slowly learn. Thank you.''
Alex smiled in response, and their date continued.