Chapter 64: Blood is thicker than water

The next day, Penny was up early despite staying late tutoring Slater. She stayed with him almost all night to make sure he at least understood the lesson. It would be more efficient if he understood one lesson per subject every session. In that case, they could move forward easily.

Still in her pajamas, Penny carried a pad of paper and headed straight to Slater’s room. Her body had grown accustomed to staying up late and waking up early since purchasing her laptop, but she wasn’t sure of Slater.

"Knock knock!" Penny announced as she knocked on the door. "Slat — Third Brother, time to wake up!"

Penny knocked a few times and when no one answered, she gazed up at the door.

’Don’t blame me for being ruthless.’ Penny took a step back and kicked the door open.

The door opened with a bang, waking up Slater in an instant.

"Who’s there!? I’m innocent! Please don’t kill me!" he jumped on the bed, still half dreaming, half awake.

"Goodness... what kind of dream were you having?" Penny scrunched up her nose, gazing at the dried drool on the corner of his mouth and his messy bed hair. She stood beside the bed and tossed a pad of paper to him.

When the pad landed on Slater’s lap, he blinked a few times before clarity dawned on him. "Penny, what time is it? It’s too early... can I sleep more?"

"I want answers to those questions after breakfast," she said in a commanding tone. "So no, you can’t sleep more until you earn it. Chop chop."

After saying that, Penny quickly skipped away to start her morning.

Her brother, on the other hand, just stared at her helplessly. "Penny, close the door — tss. She didn’t close it."

Another deep sigh escaped Slater as he felt like his bed was pulling him down for an embrace. He usually sleeps more during the weekends, since it is his only time to relax and recover from all the bullying. But now, he also had to wake up early on the weekend because he had to study.

"How does First and Second brother do this?" he mumbled as his eyes inevitably landed on the pad of paper on his lap. "She’ll kill me if I doze off."

Casting his bed a reluctant look, he dramatically bid it farewell and dragged himself out of the bed.

****

Penny was on her way back to her room when she heard her parents and Haines talking. Curious, she approached the railing of the mezzanine and gazed down.

"Allison, I want to sleep some more..." Charles complained as he dragged himself to the main entrance of the house. He still looked groggy, as if he only had an hour of sleep.

Haines was also yawning while following him behind. Both were just wearing casual clothes, so Penny could tell wherever they were going, it wasn’t business affairs, so they were free to complain.

"Then come back after you visit my parents." Allison yawned as she waved dismissively.

Charles grunted, but still dragged his feet out.

"I thought it was just me and Slater, who stayed up all night," Penny mumbled; it was her first time seeing her parents look so sleepy. She didn’t dwell on it, though, telling herself even adult Penny had days she felt too lazy to get up.

What Penny didn’t know was that her parents, including Haines, stayed outside the library, taking turns to watch them study. But even when they resigned to bed, they couldn’t stop talking about them. Slater and Penny hadn’t gotten along well, but last night, they spent hours without fighting.

*

*

*

Haines drove Charles to Allison’s parents’ house while sipping a cup of coffee they bought in the drive-thru. Allison should have been with him, but she wanted to save herself from her parents’ nagging about meeting Penny.

"Ah. Why do I have to go through this alone?" Charles grumbled as he held the cup of coffee while sulking in the front seat. "She shouldn’t have agreed if she’s going to change her mind at the very last minute."

"She stayed up late last night. Give your wife some slack."

Charles wanted to complain more, but he loved his wife so much. It wasn’t like Charles didn’t get along with his in-laws. To be fair, he gets along with his father-in-law and brother-in-law so well that they used to go hunting together.

The only reason Charles was reluctant to meet them now was because of the situation.

Allison’s family was all eager to meet Penny. The surprise they had when they found out that Nina wasn’t their real daughter truly left everyone speechless. Knowing Allison’s family, although they were kind people, they were also very strict on some terms. For them, blood was always thicker than water. It was the same with the old-generation Bennet Family rules.

In other words, there was this palpable change when they found out that Nina wasn’t their real granddaughter. They never said it, but one could tell they felt cheated.

Therefore, Allison was upset about how the wind quickly changed when they found out Nina wasn’t their real granddaughter. Plus, Allison thought it was best not to overwhelm Penny with all these new faces until she fully adjusted and accepted them as her family.

"They still like Nina, but Penny..." Charles sighed. "I haven’t even told the boys that Nina would be leaving tomorrow. Especially with that bet. I’m afraid this would throw Atlas and Slater off their game."

Although the agreement was that Nina would stay during the weekend, she had to leave for the Cortez Household before Monday so she could settle in.

"Then tell them she’d be staying with the elders," Haines suggested, making Charles frown.

"Slater might believe that, but Atlas? Haines, tell me and I won’t be mad. Do you hate Nina?"

"No," but Haines would if she did something to harm Penny. "I’m just giving suggestions."

Charles sighed. "Using the elders as an excuse... isn’t that cowardly?"

"I think the elders from both sides will not mind for the sake of the children."

Charles squinted. "No, they won’t."

"Want to make a bet?" Haines slid his eyes to the corner and smirked.

Seeing that cunning smile at briefly appeared on Haines, Charles didn’t dare. He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Why did I even become the CEO when, clearly, my cousin is more capable than me?"

"That’s not true."

No, it was true.

Silence momentarily reigned over them until Charles’s playful imagination tickled every part of his brain. "Say, Haines, when are you gonna get married?"

When that question flew out of Charles’ mouth, Haines treated him like a ghost for the rest of the ride. And as if ignoring Charles wasn’t enough, Haines even brought up the question regarding using the elders as a cover-up not to distract the boys.

If Haines and Charles made the bet, Haines won.

And he wanted Charles to know that.