The Next Day...
"Uncle Haines!"
Penny jolted upright from her slumber, gasping in shock. "Oh, my god!"
She covered her gaping mouth with her hand, eyes wide in horror. Last night had already felt like a nightmare. After finally giving in to the chaos and helping Zoren, the man had taken forever to reach his first orgasm. She swore she had almost cried from how long he took.
Worse—he still hadn’t gone down even after that.
She had no idea how she had fallen asleep. Maybe she had passed out in the middle of it all, or right after their umpteenth round. Who knew? And, honestly, who cared?
But now, she was waking up with one terrifying realization:
"I forgot about Uncle Haines last night," she whispered in horror.
A low grunt ca from beside her.
"I’m dead," she declared dramatically.
Zoren ruffled his hair, propping himself up on one elbow as he cracked open a sleepy eye. "You want more?"
SLAP!
"Renren!" Penny shrieked, slapping his shoulder. "Uncle Haines ate that soup too!"
Zoren blinked at her, rubbing the spot she had hit. After a beat, he scratched his head and muttered, "Grandma’s to bla. Just pin it on her."
"Do you think anyone would believe that?!" Penny gasped. "If anything, they’d just think I was blaming a vulnerable old woman!"
Zoren tilted his head, picturing his grandmother right now—probably cackling with delight, thinking she had done everyone a favor.
And, well... he was right. Back at the Pierson estate, Old Mrs. Pierson’s hearty laughter filled the air.
Penny was right, though. The mont she tried to shift the bla onto the old lady, everyone would just assu she had hit rock bottom.
"Penny..." Zoren sighed as he reached for her hand. "You need a better PR team."
Her eyes welled up at that.
’He’s not even trying to defend ...’ she thought bitterly.
But then—
"Wait a minute." Her unshed tears paused as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn’t do it. You were the one who fed them the soup."
Zoren nodded. "I did," he admitted, "but my reputation is spotless, so..."
"They’re still going to bla ," Penny finished for him.
Zoren nodded again. "Should I book us a flight and co back when things have cooled down?" he offered.
"Tempting," Penny admitted, wincing. "But the preliminaries are over, and I need to be here for the semifinals and finals."
That damn competition!
Why did this have to happen during such an important event?!
Penny dramatically clutched her head. She could already picture how her day was going to unfold, and it was making her eyes sting with tears.
"Huhuhu!" she sobbed, covering her mouth to muffle her cries. "I’m innocent."
"I know," Zoren sighed, moving closer to console her. "My poor wife. How can I help?"
Penny’s tear-filled eyes snapped to him. "Renren, can you say that without your dragon poking at ?"
Zoren grinned. "I can’t help it. It won’t go down."
"Huhuhu!" Her cries grew louder as Zoren chuckled, pulling her into a tight hug.
---
After Penny’s morning theatrics, she and Zoren had no choice but to face the day.
Unfortunately for Zoren, he didn’t get his "bonus round" that morning—because his wife could barely walk. Penny only realized the extent of her situation when she tried standing up, convinced her husband had broken her pelvis or sothing.
And yet, all of that paled in comparison to the disaster awaiting them downstairs.
The front door was broken, vases lay shattered on the floor, paintings had fallen off the walls, and several pieces of furniture were overturned. The entire house looked like it had been ravaged by a storm.
"I can call soone to fix it," Zoren said, utterly unfazed by the destruction. He cast a glance at Penny. "Let’s go. Be careful—you might step on glass."
As always, Zoren was careful with her, holding her arm as he led her toward a safer exit.
"By the way, Renren..." Penny turned to him as they walked out. "Did my brothers stay overnight?"
She had no clue. After locking herself away with Zoren last night, she hadn’t checked on anything else. She wasn’t sure if Atlas had attempted to burn the world down. Then again, since the world still seed intact, maybe only half of it had suffered.
Nor did she know whether her Second Brother still had both legs—or if Slater’s soldiers had... well, gone down.
Zoren shrugged. "I don’t know. I was busy with you."
Penny scowled.
Honestly, she wasn’t in the mood to see anyone right now. Whether her brothers had stayed or whether her Uncle Haines had handled the situation was irrelevant. Zoren was fine, so she could only hope the others were too.
For now, she needed to focus on making sure she survived the day.
---
[PRI GROUP]
"Hey!"
Hayley practically skipped as she spotted Patricia entering the building. She slowed down to walk beside her. "Good morning!"
"Good morning to you too!" Patricia humd, trying and failing to suppress a pleased smile.
Hayley raised a brow. "You seem to be in a good mood."
"Because I am!" Patricia bead. "I finally told my parents and my brother about my job here last night! They were so happy and excited that my mom made all of this for my colleagues."
Hayley glanced down at the neatly packed lunchboxes in Patricia’s arms. Her mouth opened, but instead of comnting, she simply reached out.
"Let help you."
"It’s okay!" Patricia chirped. "It’s not that heavy."
Hayley smiled in understanding. "Alright."
The two continued walking leisurely. Along the way, they ran into Shawn and Teddy, who were coming from the cafeteria.
"Good morning," Hayley greeted them, looking between the two. "You’re early."
Shawn scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, there’s still a ton of paperwork we haven’t gone through. Figured I’d get a head start."
Teddy simply nodded, not bothering to reply. But his gaze landed on the boxes in Patricia’s arms.
"What are those?" Shawn asked, also noticing them.
Patricia and Hayley exchanged a look before turning back to the guys.
"Apparently, no one in her family knew she had applied for this job," Hayley explained.
Patricia smirked proudly. "My mom made us sothing to share."
Shawn smiled appreciatively, while Teddy just frowned at her.
The group chatted idly as they made their way upstairs, since they all worked in the sa departnt.
However—
The mont they stepped into their office, they stopped short.Their faces twitched in unison. Because there, hiding under one of the desks...
...was Penny.
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