Chapter 179: Chased Away By Their Commander

Soon, the familiar sounds of cooking filled the kitchen, and the scent of fried meat slowly spread through the house.

Aisha remained focused on the stove, carefully turning the meat as it cooked so it wouldn’t burn, while the smell gradually filled the room.

With her attention completely on the meat, she didn’t notice the footsteps approaching from the hallway.

It was nearly half an hour later when the three men finally returned to the house.

Vince was the first to stop, his nose twitching as he looked toward the kitchen.

He tilted his head and sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

Amar, walking behind him, also stopped and took a breath. "That smells good," he said, already taking a step closer to the kitchen.

Nykos said nothing. His eyes had already settled on the kitchen.

They walked in together.

What greeted them was something none of them had expected.

Aisha stood in front of the stove, cooking as casually as if she had been doing it all her life.

Vince stared. Amar stared. Nykos, meanwhile, felt his lips slowly curve upward.

"Well," Nykos said, his gaze moving from the food to Aisha, "looks like I came back at the right time."

Aisha glanced over her shoulder. "What?"

Nykos leaned casually against the doorway, his eyes lingering on her for a moment. "Nothing. Keep cooking. I like what I’m seeing."

Amar immediately rolled his eyes. "Commander."

Nykos merely smiled, clearly unbothered by Amar’s reaction.

Aisha, for her part, simply turned back toward the stove. "I’m cooking. If you’re hungry, there’s enough to eat. So just wait and sit there."

Nykos glanced at the food, then at her, before pulling out a chair and sitting down without another word.

Aisha gave him a brief look but didn’t comment, then continued preparing the food.

A moment later, she stepped into another room to retrieve something she needed, leaving Nykos, Amar, and Vince behind.

Nykos’s eyes followed her for a moment before slowly drifting back to the stove, and then he stepped closer.

At first, he only meant to see what she was cooking. But the moment he looked inside the pan, his expression changed.

His smile disappeared. He fell silent.

The meat sizzling in front of him was familiar.

Nykos had spent years fighting monsters. He’d encountered countless species across contaminated zones, underground auction houses, abandoned planets, and places where ordinary people would have died before they even caught a glimpse of them.

He knew monster meat because he’d killed thousands of them. Their different textures, colors, smells, and the faint traces of miasma that lingered even after a kill were all things he could recognize on sight.

And what sat inside that pan was unmistakably monster meat.

His eyes narrowed. The longer he studied it, the more serious his expression became.

The meat should have carried miasma. Even cooked, there should have been some trace of that dark energy embedded in the flesh.

Instead, there was almost nothing.

Nykos leaned in slightly, taking in the scent.

It smelled delicious. More than that, it smelled almost normal.

The difference was so stark that, for a moment, he wondered if he’d misidentified the creature.

But he hadn’t. He knew that monster. He’d killed one before.

Yet the meat in Aisha’s pan was nearly indistinguishable from ordinary meat because there was no miasma left in it at all.

Nykos’s eyes narrowed further, and any surprise he felt quickly gave way to a deeper realization.

Aisha had removed the miasma. Not even a trace remained.

Amar noticed the strange look on his commander’s face and frowned, leaning in to see the pan, but Nykos shifted slightly, blocking his view.

"Commander?"

Nykos finally looked at him, a faint smile returning to his lips. "Nothing’s wrong."

Amar clearly didn’t believe him, but before he could push further, Nykos turned toward him and Vince. "You two can go."

Vince blinked. "Go where?"

"Wherever you need to be."

Amar caught on immediately, but Vince only stared in disbelief before glancing back at the food. "We’re leaving now?"

"Yes."

Vince glanced at the pan again. "But she just finished cooking." He sounded genuinely reluctant to leave, and when he turned back to Nykos, his expression had become almost accusatory. "We haven’t eaten since the mission."

Nykos’s expression didn’t change. "You can eat later."

"Later?" Vince looked at the food again. "But it smells incredible."

Amar sighed and stepped forward before Vince could argue further. "Come on."

Vince resisted as Amar grabbed the back of his shirt. "Wait. At least let me have one plate."

"You’ll survive without it."

"How can you know that?" Vince asked, looking genuinely offended.

Amar only shook his head, still pulling him toward the door while Vince kept glancing back at the food.

"Commander!"

Nykos just waved him off. "Go."

"Boss!"

Amar tightened his grip and hauled Vince out before he could try again.

Aisha finally returned to the kitchen, finding it empty save for Nykos.

She watched Amar and Vince disappear through the door before turning back to him. "You sent them away."

"Yes."

Aisha stared at him for a moment, then glanced toward the door. "Why?"

Nykos met her gaze, his expression calm. "Because I wanted them gone."

Aisha’s eyes narrowed slightly. She knew there was more to it than that, but judging by his expression, Nykos had no intention of explaining himself.

She turned back to the food and continued serving herself. "You’re unbelievable."

A faint smile touched Nykos’s face as he sat down, watching her move around the kitchen, his gaze lingering without any attempt to hide his interest.

Aisha caught him staring and glanced over. "What?"

"Nothing." His smile deepened as he rested his arm on the table. "I was just thinking I could get used to this."

Aisha frowned slightly. "Get used to what?"

"Coming home to find you cooking."

She held his gaze for a beat before turning back to the food. "Eat your food."

Nykos gave a quiet laugh, clearly pleased with himself. "Yes, ma’am."

Aisha ignored him as she set the food on the table, while Nykos kept watching her, the faintest smile still on his lips.

***

Outside the house, Vince was still complaining.

"There was still time before we had to meet the others! Why did we have to leave so quickly?"

Amar walked beside him, looking worn thin. "We can eat somewhere else."

Vince turned to him in disbelief. "You were the one who told me not to waste money eating at restaurants."

"I said that when we weren’t standing outside a house with food inside."

"Exactly! So why are we outside a house with food inside?"

Amar rubbed his forehead. "Just let it go."

Vince glanced back toward the house. "But it smelled amazing. The taste must be good too."

"I know."

"And it looked like she made enough for us."

"I know."

"And our commander didn’t even invite us to eat."

Amar sighed. "Vince."

"What?"

"Let it go."

Vince pouted as they kept walking.

After a few seconds, he finally muttered, "Our commander is forgetting our brotherhood."

Amar couldn’t help laughing.

Vince shot him a look. "What’s so funny?"

"Nothing."

"You’re laughing at me."

"I’m not."

"You are," Vince said, narrowing his eyes.

Amar shook his head, still amused. "You really didn’t see what he was doing, did you?"

Vince frowned. "What?"

"Think about it."

Vince fell silent for a moment, glancing back at the house. Then, slowly, his expression shifted. "Oh."

Amar chuckled.

Vince stared at the house, disbelief creeping back in. "He wanted us gone so he could stay with her."

"Exactly."

Vince’s expression soured instantly. "He threw us out just to have her to himself?"

Amar gave him a knowing look. "Now you understand."

Vince folded his arms, looking even more offended. "And here I thought he still cared about his brothers."

Amar laughed again and shook his head. "You’ll survive."

"But will he even finish all that food by himself?"

Amar laughed again. "With our commander? Nothing is impossible."

Vince stayed unconvinced, but he finally stopped complaining.

Amar, though, kept glancing back toward the house for another moment, his thoughts drifting to everything that had happened over the past day.

Their mission should have taken far longer. Instead, Nykos had forced the entire operation to move at an almost absurd pace because all he’d wanted was to get back to Aisha as quickly as possible.

For her, he had gone to the Association, somewhere he had once sworn he’d never set foot in again. Yet he’d gone anyway.

For her, he had been willing to approach Zenick, even knowing what the miasma could do. For her, he had let the miasma inside Zenick’s body touch him.

And now, after everything they’d just survived, he’d found an excuse to send everyone away because Aisha was cooking in the kitchen.

Amar shook his head, laughing quietly to himself.

Their commander had always been difficult to read.

Yet when it came to Aisha, he was becoming almost painfully easy to see through.