“I will prepare some freshgaraetteokif you wait a few minutes,” I told him, heading towards the stove.
Paz bit his lip. Apparently, his desire for rice cakes was stronger than his distaste for scientific interrogation. He sighed. “Fine, I’m listening.”
“Great. I need you to get pregnant,” Jaeyoung said seriously.
Paz choked. “What?”
“I need more data points. Levi won’t cooperate, and even if he did, I don’t trust him to remember accurately. He barely remembered how to pilot a spacecraft.”
Paz crossed his arms. “Hm, yeah, I see what you mean. I guess I am the only other human on this planet, huh?”
“As far as we know, yes.”
“So there could be a hidden society of humans that the Maeleons have no knowledge of?” Paz asked excitedly.
This time it was Jaeyoung who looked to me for assistance, but I was busy preparing the dough. I gave him a supportive glance and waved with my tentacle.
“Sure, I guess that’s possible,” Jaeyoung muttered. “But I trustyou, not a hypothetical human society.”
Paz’s eyes flashed as he smiled widely. “Aw. You trust me?”
“I thought that was obvious. You’re far more competent than Levi.”
Paz gave a solemn nod. “God, you’re right. That poor white boy can’t do anything on his own. If I don’t help you, who will?”
Jaeyoung vibrated with excitement. He grasped his friend’s shoulders. “So you’ll do it?”
“I’ll think about it,” Paz said cheerily. “Honestly, it’s been on my radar. It seems nice having a Maeleon partner.” He glanced at the door and was silent for a moment. Then he was pulled to the present, turning back to Jaeyoung. “Don’t wanna be the odd one out, you know?”
But neither Jaeyoung nor I missed the obvious wistful glance. I had my suspicions about the mateless human since the first time I saw him standing on the edge of the Sweetfields.
“Say, Paz,” Jaeyoung began slowly. “Whydoyou spend so much time out by the village outskirts?”
Paz blinked like he didn’t notice. “Huh? Oh.” He went quiet as he mulled it over. “I don’t know, actually. Am I really there that often?”
“Yes. Noticeably so.”
“Weird,” Paz mumbled, scratching his head. “I guess... I have this funny feeling.”
Jaeyoung’s eyes widened at the promise of a new discovery. He flipped a few pages ahead in his notepad and readied his pencil. “Go on.”
“Okay, I’m gonna pretend like you’re not shamelessly studying me. Anyway, it’s like... I’m waiting for someone to come home.” Paz blew out a breath. “I know it doesn’t make sense.”
“I disagree. It makes perfect sense,” I said, still kneading my dough.
Paz and Jaeyoung looked curiously at me.
“What do you mean, Linn’ar?” Jaeyoung asked.
“If Paz’s filum was in the village, they would have already claimed him,” I explained. “The reason I waited so long to express my feelings to you, Jaeyoung, was because you were closed off and hesitant. You would not have believed me.”
“It took me a while to come around,” he agreed.
“But Paz is open to it,” I went on. “He wants to find his filum. Is that right?”
Paz looked shy, which was unusual. He was the most boisterous of the three humans.
“Yeah, I think so,” he mumbled, shuffling his feet. “Filum means your sexy destined alien mate, right?”
