Chapter 178 For every bit of pain, a pleasure

“I’m back,” Nadia called out as soon as she descended down the stairs. She was so eager to return to the proximity of her group that she leaped over the last several stairs only to then use the momentum of her jump to run the last few meters separating her from the group.

“How did it go?” Mathew asked, raising his head as he pushed his upper body off the ground with his hands.

‘To think that I would still sit down and do nothing,’ he thought, gritting his teeth as he put a neutral expression on his face just in case. ‘Well, it might be annoying but I better not make the girls worry,’ he thought, doing the bare minimum necessary to showcase his attention without straining his already exhausted body too much.

“It went better than I expected,” Nadia reported as she killed her momentum with a slide only to fall down on her knees and kneel by Mathew’s side with sparks of excitement flashing in her eyes. “They organized themselves even before I approached them so it was only a matter of telling them to come to work,” she explained the situation.

And just as the girl finished her report, the group of ten volunteers from the local survivors started to appear by the staircase. They carried no arms or protection, save for the arm-long gloves that someone found in advance.

“Okay guys, let’s not waste the time!” Robert called from the front of the group he was leading. He then took a first, slightly reluctant step towards the pile of corpses. “Right, should we focus on extracting the cores or moving the corpses away?” he then asked, turning his head to Mathew whom he already figured out to be the leader of the group.

“Why not both?” Mathew asked, leaning his head to the side. “I mean, I’m only interested in getting the cores. Clearing the corpses is for the sake of the people stuck in the shed and to prevent the spread of a disease,” he explained the situation before shrugging his shoulders.

“Mat, hey, Matty!” Nadia called out from Mathew’s side, eager to get his attention while slightly annoyed by Robert stealing it from her.

“What’s up?” Mathew asked, slightly baffled by Nadia’s unexpected attitude.

“Did I do a good job?” the girl asked, leaning forward on her knees as if she wanted to make her head easier to pat for her man.

“Yeah,” Mathew smiled, defused by how cute and unorthodox Nadia’s behavior was. He then reached out and attempted to read her intention, placing his hand on top of the girl’s head only to then gently rub it. “You did well,” he added in a soft, hushed voice.

“Hehehe…” Nadia released a small giggle. She also closed her eyes and moved her head even closer, immersing herself in the simple joy of having her head patted.

“…” Mathew continued to pat the head of his first wife. Yet, rather than enjoying the moment like the girl, he couldn’t help but worry.

‘What makes her act like that?’ he asked himself, unable to figure out the reasons behind Nadia’s unusual behavior.

Just three years in the past, he would simply shrug his shoulders and attribute it to how unpredictable and unexplainable the paths of a girl’s mind were.

But today wasn’t three days ago. And in the span of those three short days, the world changed way too much for the young man to simply assume something to be without much importance.

“Did something happen?” Mathew asked, pulling his hand out of Nadia’s head. Yet, rather than bringing it all the way back to his side, he moved it over to the girl’s cheek.

“…” Nadia looked into Mathew’s eyes. Her smile was now nowhere to be seen. And soon enough, she also averted her eyes after opening her mouth for a second only to then close it right back.

“So something did happen,” Mathew muttered, moving his hand up and down Nadia’s cheek.

A series of images flashed through the young man’s mind.

Nadia killing a random survivor. Nadia getting down with Rober or some other man. Nadia scratched her leg only to find out it was now infected with the zombie virus…

“It’s not like something happened. I simply managed to sort out my thoughts,” Nadia finally replied, raising her head… yet instead of looking Mathew in the eye, she looked to the back, where the survivors already started to dutifully fulfill their obligation.

Amongst others, Robert was clearly the one working the hardest.

He would first move the corpse out of the way, stacking it in the corner of the courtyard. Only then would he pick up a small hammer left by the side of the pile of corpses, and smash it into the corpse’s head before extracting the core and leaving it on another pile nearby.

Nadia looked at the workers for a second, scanning the patterns of their movements. She then bit down on her lips before sending a quick glance at the other girls of the group, currently sitting down and resting while observing how her interaction with Mathew would progress.

“I’m sorry,” Nadia mouthed out towards Daria and Leila only to finally turn her head back towards Mathew and lean in for a kiss.

‘Hmm?’ Mathew stumped, unable to understand the progression of the events. And with Nadia pressing her lips against his mouth, the processing ability of his brain lessened to a pitiful degree.

“You see, I don’t really think I was wrong back then,” Nadia said once she pulled her lips away and licked them clean. Her eyes moved up as she locked them on Mathew’s pupils… Only for her hands to sneak up towards his pants. “But I also realized that your point wasn’t wrong either. My failure to figure it out back then was what brought up our argument in the first place,” she stated, right as her hands managed to find the way around Mathew’s belt and under the fabric of his pants.

“And this is…?” Mathew muttered, tensing his jaws to hide the reaction that the touch of Nadia’s delicate hand brought upon his mind.

“I brought you a lot of pain with this argument,” Nadia muttered, leaning in towards Mathew’s face. Yet, rather than going for another kiss, she brought her lips closer to Mathew’s ear. “A lot of mental pain. I saw your face back then, I saw how you acted later,” she said, only to pull herself away at the same time as she sneakily pulled Mathew’s pants down far enough to free his manhood from their restraints.

“So this is my way of making it up for you,” she finally revealed her intentions, leaning over Mathew’s pants in a way that would put her back in the way of any of the survivors that would happen to glance over in their direction. “For every bit of mental struggle that I brought, let me pay you back with physical pleasure,” she requested only to lower her head and place a gentle kiss right on the top of Mathew’s erection.