After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

While other men were going wild, another was keeping the night wholesome.

The day actually started outside of the Grand Hotel for Ryan and Gwen. This day was very important, too: It was the day Ryan was set to propose.

He thought long and hard and asked many people for advice on how to do it. For one, he had asked his sister for ideas but she gave him ideas that didn’t quite fit with how he knew Gwen was.

She asked him if he could rent out an entire restaurant for her, sing for her, and then propose with a lot of flowers. The next option was to propose to her in the Grand Hotel, in one of the private rooms there, and create a sexy atmosphere and then shaboink.

What was ’shaboink’? He learned it that day, and he looked at his sister in aghast.

Anyway, if someone was to propose to his sister one day, then he’d know what to suggest.

Anyway, after some thought, he decided to tap on Gwen’s adventurous spirit instead. She would have fun on a hike, and liked seeing new places. Alterra was big and she hadn’t explored everything yet, especially when she was busy with the guard applications and the like.

The Alterran Mountains had a lot of trekking paths and some hidden alcoves. The official landscapers decided to add hidden gardens, smaller fountains (directly connected to streams for continuity), and so on.

Gwen also told him how she wanted to explore more, but they didn’t have the time.

So… he planned an adventure date of sorts. With the help of his sister and a couple of other guards, helped him plan the entire day, placing small gifts in different places.

He told her there were clues all around the trekking paths and she would have a gift at the end of it. He specifically told her that he worked very very hard for it and he hoped she found the prize.

According to the spies (friends he got to guard the clues and report), Gwen was smiling when she found these hidden treasure places. They used the newly trained messenger birds for this, and Reddit gladly lent them for their ’exercise’ and training.

The final stop was a more hidden part of the view deck. The mountains weren’t smooth after all, and the roads and decks were organically placed.

Gwen was a little sweaty already but she was smiling. It was the kind of tiredness that felt good and refreshing, and she was very curious about what Ryan had prepared at the end of the line.

There Ryan stood on his own… with a ribbon on him. It was the ’masculine’ blue ribbon, but… still a ribbon.

He was the prize.

Ryan could see his sister laughing at him, but when Gwen laughed and hugged him, he knew the embarrassment was worth it.

”So you’re the prize eh?”

He nodded. ”I worked very hard on myself so I can deserve you.”

She blinked, and flinched when she saw how his face turned serious, and she gasped when he kneeled down in front of her.

”Ryan…”

She unconsciously wiped her sweat and arranged her hair, not wanting to look ’ugly’ for this moment—no matter how shaky she was.

Ryan’s lips twitched when he watched her do this. He raised his hand to grab the hand she was trying to arrange herself with. ”You’re so beautiful, Gwen…” he said. ”There’s no need to fix anything.”

Gwen’s eyes shook and she bit her lips. She was really shaky and arranging herself was her way to deal with the burst of emotions spreading throughout her body.

”Gwen… would you do me the honor of accompanying me for the rest of our lives?”

Of course, Gwen said ’yes’.

Later that day, as newly engaged couple, they went to have fun in the Grand Hotel. They tried every activity couples could do, both smiling widely—still high from entering the next step of their relationship as a couple.

That night, they went to their room to rest. It felt a little awkward, but they knew the lines that were not to be crossed.

The two of them simply slept side by side—just feeling each other’s warmth and presence—and they were perfectly satisfied to do so.

…

The next morning, a lot of the couples (understandably) slept in. They had an activity-filled day and night the previous day after all.

However, despite this, the hotel restaurant was pretty lively early in the morning. Breakfast was full of activity, and most tables were actually occupied.

Some were there early to eat breakfast while they waited for their check in time (which was at noon), while some woke up early because they weren’t with a lover.

One of these guests was Vanessa, who had managed to coax a ticket from her brother. Juni was still not in the condition for too much activity so they passed on the opportunity for now.

Vanessa came with a female guard and fellow soldier Barbara, who was also part of her brother’s team back in Ferrol. She was assigned to Alterra and was on her way to becoming the captain of her own team.

They weren’t actually close, but Vanessa realized she didn’t have anyone to invite. It felt a bit humiliating, but she didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.

Barbara, though she didn’t say, was afraid of offending the princess and had no choice but to agree. They would do their activities separately though, and she was basically just there in the restaurant to accompany Vanessa so she didn’t look so lonely.

Some sharp-eyed people still saw though. For example, a certain firecracker called Gwen happened to be sitting a table away.

They were up early because staying too long in the bedroom outside of actual slumber was... dangerous.

Anyway, Vanessa saw that she was dining with the handsome Ryan, and they looked happy together. They had never gotten along well so seeing Gwen happy with a man while she was with a placeholder made Vanessa feel embarrassed in comparison.

Gwen also noticed Vanessa but she wasn’t planning on acknowledging her at all. Who wanted to ruin a wonderful morning with that woman’s face?

Sadly, Vanessa couldn’t help but greet them intimately, both as old friends.

She had traveled with Ryan for three months, and she had undergone battles of life and death with him.

Although they weren’t so close as she was with the late Johnny, or even with Leon and Santos, she did call him older brother a lot. Ryan was indeed kind to her, as if treating her as his own sister, who he hadn’t seen for a while back then.

”Gwen, Brother Ryan,” she greeted, voice soft and nice, though her tone when calling for Ryan’s name seemed a little too velvety.

Ryan nodded politely, not noticing the difference at all, while Gwen’s eyebrows rose.

She crossed her arms. ”Vanessa,” she said in greeting, looking behind her to see Barbara, who was pretending not to be a part of this.

”It’s good that you’re with girls this time, it’s unhealthy to stick to guys all the time.”

”...”

”...”

A crackling electricity passed the two women then, and everyone at the nearby tables felt it.

People in the other tables looked complicated. They were pretending to eat their meals, but their ears were twitching.

Was a catfight about to happen so early in the morning?

Why did they wanna watch it?