Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, the Cliffside Villa ~

11: 12 AM

Oni is trying to focus on studying, unsuccessfully.

Yesterday, Michael arranged for Tejan and Daniel to escort Bruno to Sicily. They used Jeff\'s private jet and returned in time for breakfast. The boys didn\'t lose much study or sleep time because Bruno was sedated so Tejan and Daniel proceeded with their usual tasks in the plane.

JoAnna sedated Bruno so that he does not see where he was held or how he is being transported, and that worked in Tejan\'s and Daniel\'s favor.

But Oni does not care about Bruno, Tejan, or Daniel.

She is bothered that after Michael finished giving them instructions (that was yesterday), he went to meet with Noah at the main base of the army of Chaos and he stayed there until late in the evening. Oni slept off before he returned! And what is worse, in the morning, Michael left after a few quick kisses without even staying for breakfast.

Ah, she is missing him! Oni knows that it\'s today and tomorrow and then Michael should return to a normal routine (whatever that is) and spend most of his time at the Cliffside villa, but that seems like forever away.

To make this separation harder, Oni knows that she is taking the pill and her period is gone and… she is missing Michael\'s hugs and kisses and… Oni blinked when Nala hit her with a pencil on the head.

"Why don\'t you go and see him?", Nala asked through giggles. Oni is obviously spacing out and unable to be present enough to study.

Oni blinked. "What?"

"Why don\'t you go and see Michael? Your mind is with him, allow your body to follow as well.", Nala clarified.

"I need to study.", Oni whined, and her eyes moved to the door where Haru is standing. "And it\'s easy for you to tease me, Haru is right here!"

Nala smiled at her love-stricken friend. "It\'s almost lunchtime. If you go now, you can eat together."

Oni bolted to her feet. "Thanks!", she exclaimed while dashing past Haru toward the kitchen.

~ Los Angeles, the main base of the army of Chaos ~

12: 26 PM

Oni opened the door of the conference room used for strategizing and peeked inside.

"Busy?", she asked with a smile when her eyes landed on Michael.

Oni saw Noah and his three deputies stand in attention to salute her, and then she remembered that she is the general. She straightened her posture, cleared her throat, and dismissed them before asking Michael: "Did you have lunch?"

"Not yet.", Michael responded while his eyes rested on the basket in her hands.

Michael glanced at Noah. "Let\'s have a lunch break. Return here at 1:15 PM."

Noah and his three deputies left in a hurry.

"How is your progress?" Oni asked when she placed the basket on the table. She can see a blueprint of a floorplan projected on the wall, and there are several maps and a lot of notes scattered everywhere.

"We are getting there… slowly." Michael\'s frown told her that they are behind schedule. "Uhm… Why are you here? Shouldn\'t you be studying?"

Oni smiled shyly. "I admit that I can\'t focus because I am missing you so… here I am. I made lunch."

Michael\'s expression softened. "Really? What did you make?"

How much he knows, she is not much of a cook. Oni is smart, and she quickly learns everything she is exposed to, but she didn\'t get a chance to cook in Africa, and with Sarah and Aiden they have someone preparing food for them. Michael wondered how much Oni learned from Matias (the cook at the Cliffside villa), but he didn\'t dare get his hopes up.

Oni fidgeted before responding: "Sandwiches."

"Are they any good?"

"I\'m not sure. But I\'m confident that they will be delicious once the sandwich master does his magic."

Michael laughed, happy that she remembered their sandwich-kissing session at the Chateau.

He pulled Oni to sit in his lap, hugged her, and took a deep breath.

"I missed you as well…", he murmured.

Oni was happy that he is missing her, but sad at the same time as well. Work comes first, so until his tasks are done, they will be apart.

Oni got an idea. "How about you tell me what you are doing here? I can think about it while we eat and give my inputs."

"Sarah and Aiden told me to handle this so that you can study."

"But I can\'t study when you are far away, so I decided to help you finish this faster and then you can give me company while I study. Or maybe I can study here." Oni tightened her hold on him. "Don\'t send me away, please."

Michael found it impossible to say \'no\' to Oni. That is dangerous, but there is nothing he can do about it.

"Fine. We are looking at the existing facility.", Michael pointed at the photos showing three buildings and continued explaining: "It\'s in the industrial zone, on the outskirts of Milan. The current challenge is to figure out living quarters and how many people we can have stationed there full time. Our goal is to have at least fifty people, and preferably we can house a hundred. However, considering that this is in Italy, and not many army members speak Italian, it will be a challenge to blend in. That is why we can\'t just get a building in Milan or several smaller houses without attracting attention, and this facility can\'t accommodate so many people…"

Oni listened intently and looked at the map of the area. She got one of the laptops from the side and started searching for sites with the housing market information for the Milan area.

"You have an idea?" Michael wanted to know what is on her mind.

Oni nodded and pointed at the large wooded area, which starts nearby the industrial zone, and it stretches for several miles.

"If we can buy this land, we can build what we need. Similarly to the one in Grindelwald. We remove only a few necessary trees and have most of the structures underground. Then we don\'t need to worry about blending in with the local population, and we can build as much as we want… What is this?" Oni paused her talk while zooming in on the map.

"It looks like an abandoned water reservoir.", Michael said.

Oni smiled and nodded in approval. "This is perfect. Look, it\'s already dug out for us, and the trees around it are providing amazing privacy." She continued observing the map which shows the view from above captured by the satellite, and pointed at the clearing close to the reservoir which is next to a road. "Here we can build one or two regular looking houses which will be connected with the main structure underground, so when our people move in and out, no one will suspect from where they are coming from…"

"Oni…", Michael called, interrupting whatever Oni wanted to say next.

"Yes?"

"I\'m hungry. Noah and the guys will be back at 1:15 PM.", Michael reminded her.

"Oh… I forgot. Sorry…", she said awkwardly.

They cleared part of the table so that they can eat, and Michael made sure to kiss Oni with every bite, to make sandwiches tastier.

By the time they finished with food, it was after 1 PM.

Michael was eating and kissing Oni, but he was thinking about her suggestions as well.

"Your idea about buying the land and building what we need is great, but it will work only if we can secure that land. And I can\'t decide on that without Aiden and Sarah.", Michael shared his thoughts with Oni. 

Michael sighed. He does not want to disturb Sarah and Aiden, but this is not something he can decide without them. It is a large sum, and they can\'t spend it without approval from the bosses (assuming that the land is available for purchasing). "I will email Sarah and Aiden and shelve the housing situation until I hear back."

Oni was happy that he considered her solution. "What is left?"

"When the guys are back, I want to inform them about this, and there is one more thing to discuss which should not take long…", Michael looked at Oni. "Do you mind waiting a bit so that we can head back together?"

Oni\'s face lit up. "You are done for the day?"

Oh, how he wishes to be done for the day! He wishes that Aiden and Sarah come back so that all this extra work is done, and he can spend his time with Oni. But the reality is cruel… "No. But the next thing is to figure out security, and for that, I need to talk to Felix. He is at their Tuscan villa so if you wait, we can head that way together…"

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