Chapter 413 - Sarah's birthday (13)

Sarah woke up in the morning and smiled. She was in the bed, on her own island in the Adriatic Sea, next to the man she adores. The facts that she smelled of sweat and felt sticky didn't bother her at all. Those are remnants from previous night, and it's nothing that a quick shower can't resolve. Just a bit more... she wanted to enjoy this few more minutes before she showers. As she shifted her body close to Aiden, he stirred.

"Good morning, baby. Happy birthday..." His raspy voice from sleeping sounded in the room even before he opened his eyes.

"Good morning." Sarah smiled. "Can you stop with 'Happy birthday'? It was yesterday."

"You don't like that it's your birthday?"

"I don't like when someone makes a big deal out of it. It only brings trouble... You know that I prefer to keep a low profile."

Aiden understood. Every time spotlight was on her, envious people would appear and try to bully her in some way. Instead of getting used to the spotlight and fighting them off, her choice is to stay out of it and focus her energy on things that matter to her. Even with her friends, she decided not to tell them that it was her birthday.

Aiden didn't pursue the topic but wanted to make himself clear. "I understand and respect that. But you should know that for me, you are a big deal. The biggest one there is. Don't deny me this."

Sarah smiled. "I can't deny you anything... You got yourself a deal. Let's get ready..." She was about to get out of the bed when he pulled her back.

"Give me few more minutes." He wrapped his arms around her. "Last night I had to share you, I still feel the need to keep you close."

"Share me? Impossible..." Sarah turned to face him and saw that he is sulking. She cupped his cheeks in her palms and kissed him lightly on the lips. "In order to share something, you need to separate yourself from it... And we are two halves of a whole. When together, we are one and the same. You can't share any part of that, no one can separate us... not even for a little bit." She kissed him again, and again, and again... until he stopped sulking and started returning her kisses. They lost track of time how long they held each other before they went to shower, together.

…

When they came downstairs, breakfast was set up in the sitting area of the kitchen. Sarah reminded herself that after breakfast she needs to go and thank Matija and his family for taking care of them. They happily ate, enjoying freshly made bread while talking about ideas for the island.

Sarah wants to add a helipad. In case they need a quick access, it can come in handy. She also wanted to walk around and see the second beach, but it was getting late, so they decided to go and meet with members of Sigma's army. Once they return in the evening, they will have time.

...

As soon as they entered their base, Emir exclaimed. "You are late!"

"Sorry... we got delayed." Sarah mumbled. She was thinking about what to say if they insist to hear why they are late. She should have some excuse. She was relieved to hear Marija speak.

"We thought you are not coming." Marija pouted, but only for a second before smiling and ogling at Aiden.

Sarah rolled her eyes at her. "Do I need to say it again?"

Marija stuck her tongue out and turned back to the PC in front of her.

Sarah looked around and was disappointed that Nick is not there.

It didn't take long until all of them chanted, requesting a match between Sigma and Omega.

Emir was most energetic. "Boss! I have a feeling you are holding back against us. We need to see what you can do without using breaks!"

As soon as Sarah and Aiden agreed, Mishi who appeared that all that commotion was below him, was already on his feet and explaining the rules. "We will have three tasks from three categories. Boss picks one, Omega second one, and the rest of us will take a vote on the third one. That should make it fair..."

While Mishi talked, Tereza started the projector and displayed more than twenty categories to choose from.

Sarah got to pick first. She looked at available options for a second before announcing her pick. "Performance."

Aiden was pleasantly surprised. That is his strongest area, and she knows it. Sarah is very competitive, and he was confident that she will be all in to crush him completely and show off in front of her friends, so he got pumped up and ready to fight back. But when he heard that she picked performance, all his zeal faded away and got replaced with a desire to hold her... and he did. He pulled her in embrace and kissed her like no one is watching. After few seconds, no one was watching. They all had to look away and wait for them to finish. It took a while.

Without letting Sarah go out of his embrace, Aiden glanced at categories and made his pick. "Security."

Sarah could not hold back her smile. That was her strongest area.

Aiden nudged her nose with his, and their lips brushed against each other. "You destroyed my fighting spirit."

"I'm glad to hear that because I have no interest in fighting against you." Sarah admitted.

"How are we going to do this?"

"Let's treat it as giving them a lesson."

Aiden kissed her few times. Sarah took it as an agreement.

They picked seats opposite each other and set up their laptops. Two custom made black laptops, each with a silver symbol on it, one with "Σ" and other with "Ω".

Sarah and Aiden gazed into each other's eyes and didn't pay attention to what the third category is. They didn't care.

Mishi started the countdown, and when the signal for start was announced, no one took it lightly. Sarah and Aiden treated this as an opportunity to impress one another. Others stared at the projection of their screens and could not believe the speed of execution.

"Shit! I can't even follow what is going on!" Emir complained. "Tereza, we are recording this, right?"

Tereza nodded without removing her eyes from lines of codes which flew in front of them.

"Good!" Emir exclaimed. "I can watch this in slow motion then."

First challenge was Aiden's win, by 4 seconds advantage. Second one was Sarah's win by 5 seconds. On the third one they were evenly matched, or so everyone thought. Sarah was almost done when her hand froze over the keyboard and she glanced at Aiden. She loved watching him focused on the task. Sarah found herself enchanted by his presence whenever he was that intense. He lifted his gaze and their eyes met. It took him a second to realize that she is waiting for him. He pursed his lips in frustration. Sarah smiled and gave him a signal to go ahead. He helplessly shook his head and as he pressed final key to execute last command, Sarah was one second behind him. With one second difference in third round, result of the whole match was a tie.

Six people in the room could not believe what they just witnessed. Both Sarah and Aiden displayed such speed, precision, brilliance... and a tie?!! They turned to face their idols, only to see them making out. Again.

"Well... it's not a mystery why they came late..." Marija mumbled.

Aiden and Sarah were happy to explain what and how they did, as well why they decided on such approach. It was a lively discussion.

Aiden won 2-1 in terms of challenges, and when looking at the time it was a tie. But he knows that she let him have that last win. "You are amazing..." He whispered in her ear.

She smiled and leaned into his embrace. She would let him have all the wins, if that makes him happy. For the first time, she didn't care about winning.

Aiden told himself that he needs to practice. Next time, he will be the one to let her win... but in order to do that, he needs to be better than her.

The group requested another match between Sarah and Aiden, but they rejected it.

"Let's leave it for tomorrow." Sarah suggested. "We still have tomorrow. Two of us don't want to take everyone's opportunity to shine. Don't forget that you learn the most through experience."

Hearing their Boss explain it like this, they had to agree. They picked their opponents and took turns battling while everyone watched and discussed what is happening.

Aiden and Sarah got a text at the same time. That was unusual. It was from Jeff: "Check your email ASAP*" They compared screen on their phones and saw that they got the same message.