Chapter 228: A summary of their summer break

The vacation trip passed without the Bennet Family noticing. When one was enjoying, time was very quick to pass.

Once they got home, they spent their days doing the most menial thing. Everything was normal like usual, no grand events occurred. It was the usual routine; it was almost boring. Even so, they still found things to enjoy somehow.

They would accompany Penny whenever she had to review for her upcoming exam. Once she was done, her mother already finished the snacks she could enjoy. Her brothers would join her frequently, with Hugo forcing Atlas to take care of her pets. As for Slater, he eventually succeeded in touching Tiana for the first time after many squeals and cowardly moments. Tiana still preferred staying on top of Hugo’s head, though.

Although it was a summer break for the children, Charles had no breaks from work. Oh, how he wished he was a student as well. All his closed employees had to listen to their boss lament about wanting a summer break, only for Haines to break his drama by saying, "Go on an entire vacation and go homeless after months."

As for Haines, he was already preparing to leave the country and was finishing all the other work he had and could do to help the main branch. Haines would look after Penny, which was why he didn’t mind her departure. It would be Uncle and Penny’s time. The only downside of this was Charles had been nagging him to exchange office every single time they shared the same space.

And just like that, the day before Penny’s exam day arrived.

Idling in the garden as the children were having a picnic, Slater gazed at Penny.

"Penny, why aren’t you studying?" Slater inquired as he was reaching out of the glass of juice. "Tomorrow is your exam, but you’re too relaxed."

Atlas, who was reading a book, glanced at Penny. ’I thought she was relaxing to purposely fail the exam to stay.’

"I already studied." Penny giggled and raised a finger. "Before the exam, one should relax."

"Why?" Hugo tilted his head to the side. "Shouldn’t you use that time to study more?"

Penny shook her head. "It probably works for others, but for me, I always let my brain breathe and absorb all the knowledge I studied about on the last day. Although I will still do a quick read, it won’t be the same as how I studied the past weeks."

This was a habit Penny learned in her previous life, and even though she was confident about passing the exam, she didn’t want to take chances. Therefore, she did some deep studying in the past weeks.

"Ohh..." Hugo rocked his head. "I’ll try that."

Slater also nodded. "That’s why on our last day of tutoring, we kind of relaxed, huh?"

Atlas glanced up, making a mental note to do that.

Penny chuckled as she grabbed another sandwiched. ’Good thing I also did some study materials for them.’ Although the study materials she did were mostly for Atlas, she knew Atlas would guide Hugo and Slater when she wasn’t with them to help.

*****

Meanwhile, in the kitchen of the Bennet Household...

Allison, the in-house chefs, and even Butler Jen were seated around the table. They gazed at the dish before them like statues.

"What?" Jessa, who was standing near the table, folded her arms. "Are you just going to stare at it?"

Currently, Jessa is practicing some dishes because she ended up joining the audition for the cooking show. She wasn’t officially a contestant yet and her audition was tomorrow. The audition would be like in the show. If she passed, she would be an official contestant on the show.

Therefore, she was practicing with Allison because Allison had a big kitchen. Moreover, it was Allison’s idea, so Allison shouldered all expenses for the dishes. It was a joint responsibility... that was what Jessa said.

"Ahem!" Allison cleared her throat and smiled at everyone. "Let’s taste it."

She nervously picked up the cutlery and took a bite.

Silence reigned in the dining for an entire full minute, savoring the dish she made. They all looked at each other, carrying different expressions. When they glanced at Jessa, their nervousness once again swelled in their hearts.

Why does she look like she would make a dish out of them if they said a bad comment?!

At this point, everyone could only think Jessa might win just because she would scare the judges.

"It’s... good," Allison whispered with a subtle smile, staring at the dish Jessa made. "Wow."

Jessa arched a brow, gazing down at Allison. "Allison, I need more than ’it’s good.’ My husband and children always say that. It’s one of the reasons I had practice here because I can’t tell if they’re just scared of me or if it’s because I’m just perfect."

Butler Jen cleared his throat as he wiped the corner of his mouth. "Chefs, please give your professional opinion about the dish," he suggested.

The chefs were a little scared, but since Butler Jen had already given out detailed feedback on what he thought about the dish, the chefs regained their confidence to give Jessa honest feedback.

The dish was good — it was more than good. However, since Jessa didn’t even have an idea of the authentic taste of the cuisine she was doing, the chefs offered to give them some time to make a few dishes from different cuisines just to expand Jessa’s horizons. After all, Jessa was already a great cook, but she mostly cooked home-cooked dishes and hadn’t eaten or tasted a variety of dishes that could give her an idea of some dishes.

Fortunately, Jessa agreed.

Just like that, another day had passed for Allison and Jessa as they focused on Jessa’s upcoming competition.

Another peaceful day had passed for everyone.

****

[CORTEZ HOUSEHOLD]

Yuri, Yugi, and Nina sat outside Nina’s room. The speck of paint was seen on their clothes and bodies, their exhaustion was evident in their eyes. However, they were also smiling as they ate snacks while staring at Nina’s room.

"Wow... we only cleaned the room and then painted the walls, but I can’t recognize it already," Yugi blurted out. Even though he was simply dragged to help the girls, he felt proud of what he was seeing.

Nina and Yuri grinned from ear to ear, staring at the newly painted walls of Nina’s room.

Since the beginning of summer, the three did a deep cleaning in the room. Yugi barely helped with the cleaning, but he helped a lot with the next steps. Nina has also been sleeping in Yuri’s room. Fortunately, Yuri was kind enough to take her in.

"It’s fun," Nina whispered, satisfied and fulfilled despite her sore arms and the paints on her skin. "I’m so happy."

And it wouldn’t be a stretch to say Nina seemingly fell in love with something she had never had a chance to do or try before.

In a way, Nina thought that everything that had happened surely had a reason. Because if things didn’t happen, she wouldn’t know what she wanted to do in this life, which she knew she would love doing for the rest of her life.