A Deal with Lorna

Stories of heroes saving beauties never went out of style.

Especially for young girls, who tended to think far more about such things.

After all, a maiden's heart was always a poem.

Lorna was no exception. As she looked at Ke Chen, who seemed to have descended from the heavens, her eyes nearly sparkled with stars.

To her, Ke Chen was her hero, her Prince Charming, a gift from heaven.

For a moment, Lorna simply stared at him in a daze.

Ke Chen was very handsome, perfectly matching her definition of a Prince Charming.

"Maybe we could find somewhere else to talk?"

Ke Chen gave Lorna a charming smile.

It had to be said that white people matured early. For white women, their most beautiful years were probably between fifteen and twenty-five.

They could look as beautiful as women in their twenties while still in their teens, brimming with youthful energy.

Like Lorna right now. She was probably only eighteen or nineteen, yet her looks had already reached their peak.

What Ke Chen liked most was Lorna's commanding expression and the smile at the corner of her lips.

She looked both beautiful and fierce.

"Of course."

Lorna immediately accepted the invitation.

Her clothes were nothing luxurious, just ordinary, and her pants even had some fashionable tears in them.

Of course, that was the polite way of putting it.

At this point, Lorna still had black hair. It had not turned green yet.

Clearly, her mutant abilities had not fully awakened or come under her control.

Mutant abilities were not activated from birth. Sometimes, it took a major stimulus for them to emerge.

Lorna followed Ke Chen out of the alley and became a little restrained after getting into the Dodge Challenger.

The muscle car looked expensive, clearly not something a poor girl like her could afford.

To Americans, cars were as important as family. Almost everyone's first act upon becoming an adult was buying a car, most often a used one.

The fact that Lorna did not even have a used car showed just how miserable her circumstances were.

"Are you hungry?"

Ke Chen naturally did not ask such an awkward question directly. Instead, he asked this.

"A little."

Of course Lorna was hungry. She had only eaten a hamburger that evening.

And it was already late at night. Otherwise, the streetwalkers would not have come out. Naturally, she was hungry again.

"I'm hungry too. Let's go have a big meal."

Ke Chen smiled, giving Lorna no chance to refuse as he drove her straight to a buffet restaurant.

To Lorna, it felt like a dream.

This was an upscale buffet. Many buffets in New York had time limits, but this place was too expensive for that. It was also open twenty-four hours a day.

Ke Chen paid the bill and tip, then led Lorna to a table. "I don't know what you want to eat, so... just take whatever you like."

"Can I eat as much as I want?"

Lorna asked softly.

"Of course."

Ke Chen replied with a smile.

Seeing that Ke Chen did not look down on her, Lorna was deeply moved.

Then she stopped being embarrassed. Compared to filling her stomach, nothing else mattered more.

She immediately began digging in, while Ke Chen took plenty of seafood as well so she would not feel awkward.

Seeing that he ate with just as much abandon, Lorna became even happier.

Under those circumstances, Lorna let down her guard completely, and Ke Chen coaxed all her secrets out of her.

Lorna had lived a pitiful life. She had never known who her parents were and had grown up in an orphanage.

For some reason, no one had ever been willing to adopt her. Or perhaps she had not wanted to be adopted herself.

After growing up, Lorna left the orphanage and found a job that had been enough to support herself.

But at the worst possible time, when a mechanical malfunction nearly crushed a coworker to death, her mutant powers awakened.

Lorna easily controlled the machine, but she lost her job too.

She trusted Ke Chen greatly, so she told him everything.

Mutants were not uncommon in this world, though their circumstances were not much better.

Most mutants chose to seek shelter at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, founded by Professor X, while those outside struggled to survive.

Humans feared unknown powers.

They feared the mutants around them because mutants could kill them whenever they wanted.

So Lorna wanted to know whether Ke Chen hated mutants. If he did, she would leave immediately.

She kept her eyes fixed on Ke Chen, but his expression did not change in the slightest.

Instead, he smiled and said, "Lorna, you have mutant powers? That's so cool. I really like it."

Of course Ke Chen liked it. Lorna was exactly his type.

She was different from those gaudy, trashy women!

She made Ke Chen's heart race.

Lorna did not know that, but she was still deeply moved.

"Really?"

"Of course. This is a gift that belongs to you alone."

As he spoke, Ke Chen took Lorna's hand.

Lorna quickly pulled away in fright. It was nothing else—her hands were covered in grease...

After eating and drinking their fill, Ke Chen took her away.

As they walked down the street, Lorna looked hesitant, as though she wanted to say something. Naturally, Ke Chen was not about to let her get away.

At this hour, with the night deep and quiet, a lone man and woman...

Well, there were still quite a lot of people on the streets.

As long as one did not foolishly head into places like the slums at night, there was nothing to fear in the city center or wealthy districts.

The ones who should have been afraid were the Black guys, because even in the middle of the night, patrols with weapons roamed the area, watching every one of them.

"Lorna, let me take you home."

Ke Chen said as he held her small hand.

"N-No."

To his surprise, Lorna shook her head like a rattle drum.

Ke Chen thought about it and realized that Lorna's situation might be even worse than he had imagined.

Given her circumstances, she seemed no different from the homeless. She probably did not even have a fixed place to live.

And without a fixed residence, it was impossible to keep a job.

Who would have thought that Polaris Lorna was one of them?

It was obvious that Lorna was a woman with strong self-respect.

So Ke Chen said to her directly, "Lorna, to be honest, I haven't been in New York for long, and I live alone."

"I have an extra room. How about moving in with me?"

Lorna looked at Ke Chen with a face full of question marks.

Wasn't this too direct?

Shouldn't they go on dates first?

"Th-That wouldn't be appropriate, would it?"

But Lorna truly could not refuse such an offer. She desperately wanted a stable place to live and did not want to return to that place, which was like a nightmare to her.

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. If you feel bad about it, just take care of my daily needs."

Ke Chen heavily emphasized the words "daily needs."

Lorna's little face reddened. They were both adults, so naturally she understood what he meant.

But after thinking it over, that seemed to be the only thing she could offer.

She should probably be grateful that she had decent looks.

And so, this arrangement that seemed like a transaction was made.