"What was that just now?" Nymeria asked, tilting her head in confusion.

I released a sigh before answering, "This artifact is called Phone. It can be used to connect with people at a far distance and talk with them."

I tried to explain it to them in as simple words as possible. I had already turned my phone off, of course, to avoid the incoming call bombardment.

"So it’s something similar to Twin Insight Mirror," Nymeria concluded. "And the person it was connected to..."

"Yeah, Maa was on the other side," I revealed, massaging my forehead between my fingers and thumb. "And now she knows that I’m with some girl. Things have gotten even more complicated now."

"Then why did you connect this phone, or whatever it is, with her?" Nymeria asked, lying back lazily, swinging it like a pendulum from the corner.

’Ha! Pot calling the kettle black,’ I muttered inwardly but decided not to blame her. It was my fault for handing my phone to her without setting a child lock.

I turned to Ume, looking at her with puppy eyes and pleaded, joining my hands in request, "Ume, will you hear me out without getting angry?"

"Why would I get angry at you?" She chuckled, sitting beside me on the bed. "Tell me what it is."

"Can we extend our stay for about a week or two?"

Her smile instantly vanished the moment those words left my mouth, her eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"Whoah, you are bold to make that request," Nymeria gasped, wearing her skirt in the background.

’Shut up, little hamster,’ I muttered inwardly before instantly clasping Ume’s hand between mine. "I really do have a reason for this request."

Ume didn’t say anything, so I continued, "The thing is... you already know that in my life as Raj on Earth, I was never in a relationship with any girl. I was also in a comatose state for five years, just a month ago in Earth’s timeline. How do you think my family would react if I suddenly brought not just one but two women to the house, saying that I want to marry them?"

Ume parted her lips, clearly about to object, but I continued before she could reach her conclusion.

"In the culture I grew up in, polygyny isn’t normal. Maa might faint in shock if she learned about it, and might even oppose our relationship. Please give me some time to reveal it slowly rather than suddenly dropping the bomb."

She clenched her fists, her brows furrowing. She was clearly annoyed by my request and wanted to reject me on the spot, yet she couldn’t, because my reasons were plainly valid. She was stuck in a dilemma. After thinking for a few seconds, she released a sigh and muttered,

"Fine—"

"Thank you so much, baby," I exclaimed, pulling her into my embrace before she could even finish. Seeing just how genuinely happy her agreement made me, she let go of her worries about the future, if only for a moment, and embraced me back.

In a couple of hours, we dressed ourselves and checked out of the hotel room.

Before any plans could be set, what Ume and Nymeria demanded was a set of ’proper clothes’ from Earth so they wouldn’t appear out of place.

As a result, the destination we settled on was Union Square, the main shopping hub of San Francisco.

---

"How do I look?" Nymeria asked with a playful smile, opening the door of the changing room.

She wore a cream sweater, loose and soft, tucked into high-waisted trousers the pale blue of a winter sky, fitted through the thigh and falling open below the knee.

"You look absolutely hot and gorgeous, darling," I exclaimed, staring at her with a stupid look on my face. I felt as if I had fallen in love with her all over again.

Nymeria’s face brightened into a smile from the compliment and the way I looked at her. She slightly pulled me closer by the shirt, pecked my lips and murmured,

"Thank you."

Her sudden attack instantly sent me to cloud nine in both happiness and surprise. Before I could react, she had already pushed me backward and closed the door again.

I still hadn’t come back to earth when another voice came from the neighbouring dressing room.

"Taranis, does this suit me?"

My head turned to where Ume stood at the door, one hand resting at her waist and the other at her cheek. She wore a white one-piece dress with numerous small pink flowers printed over the cloth. It was fitted at the waist and fell freely all the way to her ankles. The dress had elevated her mature charm and graceful appearance to an astonishing degree. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Oh dear heavens..." I murmured, covering my stupefied face with my hand.

After a few seconds of admiring her, I replied, "Please keep this dress on."

She needed no further clarification of whether I liked it.

"Okay," she nodded shyly before stepping back inside to collect her changed clothes.

We spent whole day buying all kinds of modern and classy dresses, accessories and shoes for both Nymeria and Ume, things they had never seen in Vyoman before.

Of course, I attracted countless jealous gazes as I walked between two goddesses, each wrapped around one of my arms.

Since it was their first time witnessing modern fashion, they went a little overboard with the shopping. Well, ’a little overboard’ is an understatement, given that they emptied nearly every store they set foot in. It was a good thing I had exchanged a few kilograms of Soul Stones for cash to afford the expenses of these goddesses. I only got sixty percent of their actual value since I refused to reveal my identity or the source of the Soul Stones, but even so, a million dollars wasn’t a bad deal.

"I absolutely love this place! The buildings here are monumental. If you ignore a certain few, people here actually have a true sense of fashion, and not to mention the amazing roads and those fast carriages the regular people use," Nymeria exclaimed, raising her arms in satisfaction, sitting on a roadside bench with a bottle of bubble tea in her hands. "Sister Ume, don’t you like it here?"

"It isn’t that bad," Ume replied, clearly not being honest. She was sitting beside her, her cute tongue locked in a fierce battle with a multi-flavoured ice cream.

’Thank heavens these two aren’t hating this place as much as yesterday,’ I sighed in relief, sitting between them.

Slipping my hand into the pocket of my blazer, I took my phone out and stared at its dark screen.

’Should I turn it on or not?’ The question was giving me anxiety. I would have just kept it off, but I needed it to book a flight back to India.

’Well, I can’t avoid them forever. And it’s not like Maa would call me as soon as I turn it on,’ I thought inwardly before long-pressing the power button.

The moment the lock screen appeared:

[Expired shit

Incoming call...]

[Accept] [Decline]

I almost dropped the phone from the sudden vibration and Aryan’s unforeseen attack. My thumb instinctively flew toward the [Decline] button.

But before I could tap it:

"Oho, what’s this green button?" Nymeria murmured, tapping Accept.

I almost raised my fist to smack her head, but she looked up at me so innocently with a warm smile after doing it that I couldn’t bring myself to do anything.

"Oy, you little shit, where the fucking hell are you? And why was your phone turned off!?" A wave of sharp curses shot through the speaker.

Nymeria was about to speak again, but before she could, I jumped off the bench and moved a few feet away from them.

"Umm... big bro, I have a favour to ask of you," I said in as warm a tone as possible.

"You don’t have a single ounce of shame, do you?" Aryan snarled through the phone. I could already picture him frowning in annoyance. "What do you want now?"

"Well... the thing is... could you book a private plane for me?"

"Where are you planning to disappear to now? You do remember you have a press conference in two days," Aryan said, his voice thick with suspicion.

"It’s not for leaving. It’s for returning."

"What do you mean?"

"Umm... don’t overreact, alright," I said, taking a deep breath. "I may have accidentally ended up in America without a passport or visa. So I can’t return on a passenger plane, otherwise I’ll be arrested. Hehehe," I chuckled with an awkward grin.

For a moment, no sound came from the other side.

"Hello, big bro, are you the—"

"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU SAY YOU ARE!!!!!????????"