Chapter 1123: Something is wrong with him

Days passed in the blink of an eye, and before anyone knew it, the trip was almost nearing its end. Penny and Zoren spent most of their days with their friends, but they made the best of their private time at night.

So far, the energy of the group remained the same. If anything, they were more comfortable with each other after four days of seeing each other’s faces.

But something was bothering Penny.

"Hmm..." Penny rubbed her chin, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. When she caught James walking back to where she was from the yacht’s deck, she grabbed him and sat him beside her.

James was caught off guard, his eyes wide with surprise. He didn’t know what happened until he felt himself fall into the seat. Turning his head, deep lines appeared between his brows.

"Penny?" he called in confusion. "What is it this time? I swear I’m not working your brother to the bone after this trip!"

"Shh!" Penny hushed, keeping her suspicious eyes on someone. "Tell me, what’s wrong with him?"

Confused, James shifted his gaze to where she was looking. His eyes quickly fell on Slater, who had been in the corner, watching the scenery around the yacht.

"What about him?" he blurted out. "He’s having a moment of peace...?"

"No," Penny shook her head at him. "Something’s wrong with him."

"Is there? I think he’s perfectly normal to me."

"He’s not."

"What made you say that?"

"Well, for one, he hasn’t bothered me since the second day," Penny explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "And second, he’s surprisingly behaved around my husband. He hasn’t been nitpicking! I checked his temperature earlier, and he’s not running a fever either."

"Uh..." James blinked and scratched the side of his cheek mildly. "I think Slater could be like that some days, though."

Penny squinted her eyes at James. "You’ve been with him all this time, so tell me, what happened to him?"

"Penny, I really have no idea what you’re talking about. For me, Slater is being... Slater. I don’t sense anything amiss." What James was saying was the truth. Slater had always been like this sometimes. "In case you don’t know, he’s like this at work."

Was Penny expecting her brother to have all the energy in the world all the time?

Yet Penny was not convinced. She hummed a long tune and shifted her attention back to where Slater was, tilting her head to the side.

"I really feel like something’s bothering him," she murmured, making James gaze in Slater’s direction again.

Instead of resuming his original path, James stayed with her and studied Slater. The more James kept his eyes on Slater, the more he noticed what was bothering Penny.

"Oh, he does look like he has a lot on his mind lately," he muttered, making Penny nod. "Is it because of Peppermint?"

"Peppermint?" Penny arched a brow and cast him a look. "Like a... plant?"

"It’s a person." James let out a shallow breath. "On our second night here, Slater and I stayed in the main town for drinks?"

"Uh-huh. What about it?"

"Well, we forgot about Ray, so we picked him up from where we left him. But since Ray knew the bar we were headed to, we bumped into him halfway," he shared. "Slater was left behind in the night market. When we came back, he was arguing with Mint over some keychains. Turns out Mint is Benjamin’s cousin, and she... was one of the women on Slater’s date."

"I think he started acting strange since then," James added quietly. "So, I’m guessing it’s because of her."

"Because one of the dates he had, which he blew up, turns out to be Benjamin’s cousin?" Penny asked for clarification, watching James shrug.

"They don’t seem to get along well," James said. "And correction, that date wasn’t a date. If it was, it was the most horrible date I’ve ever seen in my life. So, don’t ask him to go on blind dates next time — please!"

"It wasn’t me!" Penny rolled her eyes. "It was a misunderstanding that kind of got out of hand. Still, I hope this makes Grandma realize they’re a hopeless bunch. At this point, what my brothers need is a miracle."

James laughed awkwardly as he studied her side profile. "You gave up so easily, huh?"

"Mint, huh?" Penny ignored James and kept her eyes on her third brother. "That’s still weird, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if my brother doesn’t like someone, he just doesn’t like them. Even if he says the rudest things to that person, he wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep."

"Penny, even if that’s true, it’s still kind of mean to say about your brother," James laughed weakly, but it made him also reconsider. Setting his attention back to Slater, James couldn’t help but wonder.

During Slater’s date, Slater was actually very kind to his dates. He treated all of them with gentleness and kindness, just like how he would treat his fans. But then Mint came, and his energy swiftly changed. Initially, James thought it was because Mint wasn’t bringing any posters or Slater’s merchandise for him to sign, and that Mint came there expecting a real date. Hence, Slater was extra harsh to her because Slater was obviously keen on blowing up his dates instead of looking for "the one."

Now that James had thought about it more, he couldn’t help but think that the interaction was strange.

"What are you thinking about now?" Penny’s voice snapped James out of his thoughts. "I can hear the gears in your head turning."

James laughed airily and shook his head. "It’s nothing, Penny —" he halted when Penny suddenly grabbed the back of his collar like the bully she used to be.

"Come on, spill it," she threatened with a twisted smile. "You had a realization just now, didn’t you?"

"Are you a fortune-teller or a mind reader? How did you know?"

"It seemed you’re unaware, but I used to do fortune-telling."

James laughed awkwardly. "Penny, it’s really nothing. I just thought that Mint is probably someone Slater knew way before. I mean, even before the date."

"What made you say that?"

"I don’t know. It’s just intuition."

"Intuition, huh?" Penny rocked her head before letting James go, patting his back like a thug. She then set her attention back on Slater. "Benjamin and others are waiting for us in the town, right?"

"Uh... yes?"

"Do you think she’s going to be there?"

"Huh?"

Penny shot him a sidelong glance. "This woman you’re calling Mint. Do you think she would join us? Because I’m sort of interested to know why her existence bothers my brother."