I Just Want to Farm, But My Beasts Keep Evolving!!

Chapter 138: The Girlfriend Experience

Raiden was sweating bullets while holding on to his phone as he prayed to all the gods above and below for his safety. What he was about to do next was dangerous, much more dangerous than any life-threatening events he had faced in the jungle.

If it were possible, he would have much preferred going back into the jungle and facing that black dragon than facing what was going to be faced next in the upcoming call.

"It’s fine, Raiden, it’s fine. You were in a genuine mortal peril. Surely she would understand that, right? She is your girlfriend, not a bogeyman or something. You don’t need to fear her. Be more positive, be more brave, be the man of the relationship. Tell her exactly what happened. She will forgive you. Let’s do this."

He took a deep breath before quickly typing in the new number he had already memorised by heart on the phone and pressing call.

The phone rang for two beats before it was picked up by a stunning girl with red hair and green eyes. As she looked at him through the screen, Raiden swore he felt an intense stare that directly chilled his soul.

"Hey, Morg!! How have you been?! I missed you so much!! You look so ravishing today, like an angel that came down from Heav—"

"Raiden. Ashford. Do you even know how long it has been since you last called me? Huh? A month!! It has been more than a whole freaking month!!" Morgana’s voice immediately exploded from the phone, making Raiden’s whole body stiffen.

Raiden gulped after hearing her threat and unconsciously sat up straight, as he tried to formulate some words to answer her. But his brain had already frozen up and regressed to the age of 3, as he wasn’t able to think of anything else but GuguGaga.

"I—"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I was checking my phone every day like a fool, trying not to panic, trying not to think of every horrible thing that could have happened to you, and then you just show up now like nothing happened? You’d better have a very, very good excuse for your absence, or I swear I am coming back home and dragging you by the ear myself."

"I—Umm—GuguGaga??"

"GuguGaga?? That’s your response?! Gugugaga?!!" Morgana continued, her eyes narrowing while still carrying that same worried glow underneath the anger.

"You don’t get to vanish for a month and then come back looking like you got chewed up by the whole jungle and expect me not to explode. I was worried sick, Raiden. Sick. Do you understand that? I am trying very hard to be reasonable here, but then I see your face, and all I can think is, ’This idiot is alive, but he is still going to kill me with stress.’"

Raiden tried to smile, but the corners of his lips were already trembling. He wanted to explain. He wanted to make her understand. He also wanted to run into a wall and hide there until the universe stopped spinning.

"Morg, I really wanted to call you. I really did. Things just... happened."

"Things just happened?" She repeated it with a look of pure disbelief, then leaned toward the camera like she was trying to crawl through the screen and grab him by the collar.

"Things happened for a whole month? Raiden, what kind of excuse is that? Were you busy fighting a dragon with your bare hands? Were you buried alive? Did you get kidnapped by some lunatic and forced to do farm chores in the jungle? What happened, hm? Tell me, because right now my imagination is already worse than whatever truth you are hiding from me."

Raiden stopped speaking. She had somehow hit the mark.

He looked away for a moment, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, which somehow made him look even more guilty.

"I was in trouble," he said at last. "Real trouble. The kind where if I told you earlier, you would have flown over here and tried to drag me out yourself."

Morgana blinked once, then her lips twitched.

"Well, yes. Obviously."

Raiden stared at her.

"See?" she snapped immediately, as if he had proven her point for her. "That is exactly why you should have called. Do you think I want to sit here and worry like an idiot while you disappear into the wilderness and come back looking like a beaten-up scarecrow? I am your girlfriend, not a decoration. You could have called. You should have called. I would have yelled at you, yes, but at least I would have known you were alive."

Raiden went silent for a moment.

The way she said it was still angry, still intense, but underneath all of it was the thing that made his chest feel warm and awful at the same time. She was mad because she cared. She was furious because she had been worried. She sounded like she wanted to punch him, but the truth was she was probably more scared than angry.

That was what got him.

His shoulders sank a little.

"I know," he muttered. "I am sorry."

Morgana’s expression changed at once, her anger faltering just enough to show the relief beneath it. She still looked like she wanted to strangle him with her own two hands, but now her eyes were shining too. She had been holding her breath too, just in a different way.

"You better be sorry," she said, softer now, though still trying to sound stern. "Because I was this close to calling Mom every day and making her explode the jungle just to get you out."

Raiden gave a helpless laugh, and that finally pulled a real smile out of her.

"That would have been a disaster," he said.

"Yes, and it would have been your fault," she replied immediately. "Also, you are incredibly lucky I am not there right now, because I would absolutely be making you explain everything while holding your face like this." She made an exaggerated grabbing motion with both hands at the screen, and Raiden instinctively leaned back even though she could not reach him.

He laughed again, more freely this time, and she narrowed her eyes.

"There. Better. That is a more tolerable face than the one you had before. You looked like you were talking to a bogeyman and not the love of your life. Am I really that scary??"

"Kinda? I mean no!! Of course not!!"

"Pfft. You are so bad."

Raiden scratched his cheek, then looked at her properly. Really looked at her. Her red hair was a little messy. He could see the dark circles that had formed under her eyes from worry, and her eyes were intense as always, but the worry in them had not left. If anything, it had only gotten stronger now that she was finally hearing his voice.

He smiled, a little more gently this time.

"I missed you, too, Morg."

That made her freeze just for a second.

Then her face went red so fast it was almost funny.

"W-what? Don’t say that so suddenly!!"

Raiden blinked. "Why not?"

"Because now I have to think about it properly, idiot!!" she snapped, though her blush only got worse. She looked away for a second, then looked back at him with that same fierce expression, except now it was trying very hard to hide how flustered she was.

"You can’t just disappear for a month and then say things like that, like it is normal. I was worried, okay? Really worried. And now you are sitting there with that stupid face, looking all pathetic and handsome at the same time and making me lose my train of thought."

Raiden’s face immediately burned.

"Handsome?" he repeated, like a fool.

Morgana froze again, then her entire face turned even redder.

"That is not the point!!"

Raiden broke into a grin before he could stop himself. Her ears were pink now, too, and that alone made all the fear in his chest lighten a little. This was what he wanted. This. Her worry, her anger, her laugh, her embarrassment, all of it wrapped together in one chaotic thing that felt like home.

"You really were worried that much?" he asked quietly.

Morgana’s eyes softened.

"Of course I was," she said, almost in a whisper. Then she huffed again and looked away, as if the honesty had offended her. "You are my boyfriend. Who else am I supposed to worry about? Some random fool on the street? Please."

Raiden’s heart thumped hard in his chest as he heard the word ’boyfriend’.

Before he could say anything else, she suddenly leaned closer to the screen, narrowed her eyes, and pointed at him.

"Also, for the record, if you ever disappear again without calling me, I will be angry enough to chew through steel."

Raiden nodded quickly. "I will call daily."

"You better."

"I mean it."

Morgana stared at him for a long moment, then her expression finally softened in full, the anger folding away into something warm and bright and embarrassing.

"Good," she said. Then, after a tiny pause, she smiled. "Because I love you, silly."

Raiden felt his entire body short-circuit.

His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, but no sensible words came out. His face turned red enough to match hers, and his hand tightened around the phone like it was the only thing keeping him alive. His face was sporting a grin so big it threatened to split his face.

"Morgana..." he muttered, completely helpless.

She smiled wider, very clearly pleased with herself.

"Say it back."

Raiden looked at her, then looked away, then looked back again, his face burning so hard it probably counted as a fire hazard.

"I love you too."

Morgana’s eyes widened a little.

Then she smiled so brightly that Raiden almost forgot how to breathe all over again.

"There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

"It was absolutely horrible," Raiden said, still blushing, still smiling really hard.

She laughed, soft and warm and full of victory.

"Good. I’ll call daily from now on, you better answer, or I will fly back home the next day!! Love you, Muwah!!"

She cut the call with a smirk. leaving a blushing Raiden on the spot, who couldn’t stop smiling.