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Today was kind of... strange. Topaz’s gut told her as much. She woke up early, drank her coffee, did a bit of exercise, and went to work as usual. Granted, she had been very reluctant to do anything that involved more than walking due to overworking herself last night. Her morning routine was more or less the same, though.
But why did she feel like... there was something very different that she failed to notice at her workplace.
Every time she passed by a co-worker, she would receive two reactions.
They would either blush.
Or their jaw dropped.
What those two had in common was that all of them would flee before Topaz could even call them out. Now, that was suspicious. They knew something, and she wasn’t going to rest until she figured it out!
Flames of determination lit her blue hues. All the while, Numby just looked at her with confusion.
First off, she needed to find Aventurine or even Dr. Ratio since she had heard that he had business at headquarters. Whispers and rumors had likely started spreading about something that was off about Topaz, and the gambler probably heard about it. If she was lucky, he might even know the reason for all of the unnecessary attention she had suddenly gained.
Ratio’s analytic and logical mind could likely deduce what was going on if she stumbled upon him first.
“Come on, Numby. We’re heading to Aventurine’s office.”
The warp trotter let out a cheerful squeal, always happy to visit the gambler... definitely not because of being treated to gold and valuables. As she walked toward her fellow Stoneheart’s office, more blushes and gasps had been sent her way as she passed by other IPC employees.
She would soon arrive in front of Aventurine’s door, heading inside and, “Excuse me, Aventurine. Do you know why people are— um, what am I looking at right now...?”
Right in front of her was Aventurine, as was Dr. Ratio... The former’s face was buried in the latter’s chest.
“T-Topaz! What are you doing here?!” The blonde leaped away from the Mundanite’s pecs, posing professionalism. He acted like Topaz didn’t just see him rubbing his face against Ratio’s chest!
The academic heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering, “And this is why I told you that someone might come in when you least expected.”
“I thought you were joking!”
“Do I look like the type to make a joke, you fool?”
“Ack...”
She sweatdropped. “Okay... Mind if I ask you two something?”
“I’ll humor you since I need a break from this idiot,” Ratio ignored Aventurine’s ‘hey’ as he turned to Topaz. “What do you need— Ah.”
“Ah? Did you just ah— Ah...”
Aventurine had the same reaction as Ratio’s upon turning his attention to Topaz. Okay, now she was worried.
“I-Is there something on my face?”
“Do you... not know, Topaz?” Aventurine asked, each word slowly leaving his lips as if adding consideration to his words.
“How could you have not noticed that hickey on your neck?” Ratio, on the other hand, didn’t bother sugarcoating his words.
Aventurine looked at the man with mild mortification, but no one was more mortified than his fellow Stoneheart.
“Huh...?” was all she could utter, head turning to the nearest reflective surface in the room.
‘Ah’ was right.
On the left side of the woman’s neck was a scandalous mark of a hickey. To add insult to injury, a lipstick stain of a particular shade had been on top of it— a specific shade of purple a certain Stoneheart used on occasion.
“I’ll be back. Numby, you stay here with these two.”
“?”
Numby could only let out a squeal as they watched their mother storm out of the office. As her footsteps trailed off, the trotter heard one “JAAAAAAAADE!” before it completely vanished.
“Should we tell her about...”
“Don’t bother.” Ratio cut off the gambler, shaking his head. “She’s heading to that woman’s office anyway.”
“Hmm... If you say so.” He tossed a gold coin to the trotter, who happily consumed it before circling around his office. He supposed that Numby was fine with staying with them for a bit. “Soooo... Can I rub my face against your—”
“No.”
“What the hell, Jade?!”
“A fine day to you as well, Topaz.” Unfazed by Topaz’s outburst as she stormed in, Jade simply greeted the woman with a smile. “Can I help you with something?”
“You most certainly can!” She pointed at the love mark on her neck. “Seriously?! We didn’t even have sex last night!”
“Oh? You didn’t bother cleaning that up?” An alluring smirk stretched across her face, momentarily causing Topaz to falter. No! She must be strong! There were unnecessary rumors about her because of the hickey! “Did you want the whole IPC to know you belong to me~?”
“N-No! I didn’t even notice I had this until Ratio pointed it out!”
“Goodness. Then, I take it many have already seen it?” Her smirk seemed to widen.
“Ugh... It’s your fault... I can’t believe you bit me while I was sleeping.” She sulked, plopping down on the seat in front of her desk as she crossed her arms.
“But Topaz,” Jade decided to get up and make her way around the Stoneheart, tilting her chin to make her meet her gaze. “You were the one who marked me first.”
“W-What...?”
It was as if a snake had coiled around the woman as Jade went around her, arms wrapping around the Stoneheart with soft lips oh so close to her ear.
“Did you know, honey?” She whispered, and Topaz swore she was using her bedroom voice. “You’re quite active when you sleep. You marked my neck while we were cuddling...~”
That’s impossible. Her exhaustion would have kept her from doing anything besides sleeping! “You’re lying...”
“Am I?”
Pulling down her necklace slightly, Topaz felt her jaw dropped at the sight of hickey— three, in fact, on Jade’s neck. How did she not notice?
“Since I figured you were marking territory,” The gaze of a predator fell onto the woman as her chin would once again be lifted. “I thought you would appreciate it if I did the same~”
“T-That’s...”
Unable to form a reply, Topaz could do nothing but helplessly stutter at the temptress before her as Jade took her hand and let it rest on one of her mounds. The soft pillow that consumed her palm’s senses made her blank out. It didn’t help that the woman’s voice was akin to a succubus.
“Aven told me about your schedule today. You just finished submitting your report to Diamond, yes? Then, you must have time for little ol’ me, right~?”
“Yes...”
“What do you want to do... with me?”
Her response? Let’s just say Jade would need to clean up her desk later.