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

Present.

Aditi was now sitting crossed legged on a decorative mat, surrounded by friends. She was smiling brightly as she chatted with them, her happiness radiating from her.

Aditi, after many months, had somewhat returned to her bright self before the tragedy—albeit just a little bit more cynical. She was still a bundle of joy, but she had already shed the layer of naivety around her.

"Aiya~ you're so beautiful Aditi! I'm so happy for you," Nina said, and the other nodded.1

"Chris is a very lucky man," another woman said, looking at her with a warm smile. She was a brunette who had a demure air about her, and people totally wouldn't expect what she did for a living.

She was a fellow writer in the company, though her main bread-and-butter was writing BL fanfiction, with the sunset pair Ansel and Oslo as her favorite and best seller.

She also wrote about other weird pairings like Brandon and Jake (Weapons Pair), Loki and Luis (the Yinyang Pair), and even Hubert and Fable (the Vain Pair).

She also wrote about guys from other territories, like Shiro and Raine, as well as Micheal and Juno. (She highly suspected the latter had an actual chance of becoming real though).

Like Oslo, they signed the (questionable) agreement of earning from the use of their names in articles (as long as they were clearly fictional) without realizing in what way they could be used.

Ansel goaded them into this. At first, he was a victim (at the time he was too distracted with his pregnant wife to check the contracts carefully) then he wanted to pull others to suffer with him.

Of course, most of the pairs with written fanfiction on them weren't actually homosexuals, so they naturally wanted it gone (except when they got the paychecks, and many of them would be quiet that day.)

Since then, a new paragraph in the new agreements was formed: That they must all be strictly approved before getting published.

Fortunately for the subjects, the agreements were renewable annually. Unfortunately for the writer like Ria, this meant she had to maximize writing while she could, so she was pretty much churning out these things.

This also became a topic between the girls, with them laughing as they threw around random pairs and imagined what it'd be like. "What about… Gus and Brian?"

"HAHAHAHAH! How would they even get close when they barely go out?"

Gus was one of Althea's Pharmacists while Brian was one of the Architects. These two men barely crossed paths, especially when they barely went out to socialize, but they did not stop the imaginations of some women.

"What about Madon?"

"Hey!" Nina reacted, pinching Ria. "Don't touch Madon!"

"Yes yes, queen."

Feminine giggles abound as they waited for the set time to arrive. The guests all looked beautiful, though one of them was a step above the rest, subtly using colorful fabrics akin to the bride's.

Aditi was too busy to notice many details at this time, though. Her body had been applied with henna tattoo as per tradition, though there were some areas that they had to reapply because she was so naughty and accidentally wiped some ink before it dried before.

She couldn't help but giggle a bit, not knowing if she was just ticklish, giddy, or both.

"I'm… really getting married…" she whispered, looking wistful. Her eyes were soft and watery, and a pretty blush adorned her coffee-colored skin.

To one of the women there, it was a stab to the heart.

This was Penny, of course, who had met and was rescued by Chris at the same time Aditi was.

She still didn't understand what he saw in Aditi when she was also there. She believed she was prettier than Aditi. She was even one of the stars of the theater troupe. Rather, she quit her artist job for it, because she felt it was more 'beautiful', not to mention she was talented in it too.

She was so popular and charming, why? Why Aditi?

Her eyes pooled with tears when she remembered what he told her. It was just last night, actually, and she waited for him outside the Guard Station, where he had been assigned for the week.

She asked to meet him somewhere private, though he refused to go too far with her—no doubt afraid of being misunderstood.

Penny didn't want to lose the chance so she blurted out her feelings for him, with her bluntly asking him not to marry Aditi.

"Even if it isn't Aditi, it wouldn't be you."

Now, a day later, the words still stabbed at her heart. She felt like crying, but she was afraid she'd ruin her makeup somehow, making her ugly.

Her attention was pulled back when someone was talking to Aditi, but obviously aiming at her. "Hmn, you look the best in that color, unlike others…" one of the girls said, head pointing at the girl on the corner.

"As if she wants to be the bride; she's not even hiding it."

It was only now that Aditi had noticed Penny, who was wearing a very red dress, though in a slightly different and less saturated shade. In modern times, it was socially allowed, though not recommended nor was it looked favorably upon.

Aditi was aware of Penny's affections for her fiance. It was what pushed her to confess in the first place. In that way, she was thankful, but saying it out loud felt cruel.

"Can we have time alone?" She asked, making everyone else flinch and looked at her with varying expressions on their faces.

"But…"

"It'll be fine."

The girls nodded reluctantly in the end, and they all looked guardedly at Penny. Although they were all friends with Aditi, they were from different circles and weren't actually mutually friends.

Penny bit her lip. Did she look like a villain who would cause her harm? She just… didn't feel comfortable! She did not hide her affections for Chris at all, so why was she invited? Was it to mock her?

Anyway, these questions lingered in her mind until the door closed, completely leaving the two of them behind.

Aditi stood up and embraced her with the arm that didn't have wet ink. "Penny… you are beautiful, you deserve a good man," she told her. "I understand your doubts. I often asked myself that question, too, many times, at first.

"But there are souls that just fit better," she said. "I like you and I want you to remain my friend," she said. "So please…, and I know it is not easy, but can you at least try forget about Chris?"

One of the architecture students working under Oslo