MOAB

Chapter 4i^2

Chapter 4i^2

“You want me to do what?” Thalia said disbelieving her ears.

“Honey. Please. This is the method. They want me to follow it. I want to follow it. It worked for Nikos and it might work for me. I might actually finish the proof in time,” Yanni said with obviously rehearsed arguments.

“It worked for Nikos because he is a bachelor! You want to become a bachelor too because they claim it might work! And…and finish it in time for what exactly?”

She was really upset, but Yanni had played over this argument in his mind a dozen times while coming home. “Before I turn thirty. I know, I know, it’s silly. It has stuck in my mind, that I need to finish the apodeixis before I turn thirty, or else I will never do so,” he said, sitting on the couch and looking at the corner of the wall.

“Ok. So you need to eliminate all distractions, is that it? I, we, are a distraction. Is that right?”

Yanni readied himself for the impact of his reply, gripping the couch’s hand rest. “Frankly, in this situation… Yes.”

Thalia opened her mouth and her eyes wide. The dish in her hand was about to become a projectile and there were plenty more ammunition two meters beside her.

But then she did something else. She closed her mouth and relaxed her face, talking to herself mostly. “This is what they are talking about. Right here, now, this is the distraction and I am causing it. They are right.”

Yanni stared at her for a few seconds, surprised by this reaction. Then he stood up and held her in his arms.

She turned and looked him in the eyes. “Kala. I get it. I don’t want you to resent me or the kids for missing an opportunity like this. We’ll do it. We’ll try this.”

Yanni kissed her. “You surprise me every day. That’s why I tell you everything,” he said softly.

“Oh you better, mister. I’ll take the kids and go to my mom’s for as long as it takes. But I still need to see that so-called muse that I’ll let into my house alone with you. When is she coming over?”

“Tomorrow morning they said.”

“You haven’t seen her yet?” Thalia asked.

“No, never. We’ll see her together.”

“What if she is hot and curvy?”

“I assume that would be distracting and run contrary to the Ellipsis method. They really seemed to have faith in this thing,” Yanni said.

Thalia buried her head in her husband’s chest and hugged him. “Okay. But she is an android, right? Not a real woman?”

“She is not real, you will see for yourself tomorrow.”

“I’m still not fully convinced this isn’t an elaborate plan to bring your mistress in here,” she said, squeezing him in her arms.

Yanni thought about what he had concluded regarding the Ellipsis project. “Trust me, I couldn’t make this whole thing up if I tried.”