CHAPTER 51: LIVE-IN LOVER - PART 15

Jeff woke up the next morning naked and confused.

At first, Jeff couldn’t remember what happened, but the lingering pain in his right shoulder reminded him of when Jess bit him during her rampage, as well as when she later licked his injury and sucked his blood. The bump on his forehead, along with the pain and headache, made him remember how he lost consciousness after Jess threw the computer CPU straight at his face.

Meanwhile, his morning wood made him assume that Jess didn’t do anything intimate or lewd to him while he was asleep. After all, it only meant he wasn’t satisfied or tired.

Yet one question remained in his thoughts.

Why am I naked?

Setting aside that mystery, Jeff swiftly got dressed, putting on trunks, shirt, and shorts, then hurriedly left his room, heading downstairs to look for Jess.

It was still early in the morning, so Jeff thought that Jess must still be sleeping in the guest room. But the moment he reached the ground floor, he saw Jess sitting at the dining table, having breakfast with everyone in the house.

When Jess saw him, she immediately stood from her seat—even though she hadn’t finished her breakfast yet—walked past Jeff without looking at him or giving him the chance to apologize for their argument last night, and went straight to her room, locking the door.

Jeff tried to follow Jess into her room, but his mother suddenly called out to him in a threatening, dangerous tone.

"You’re not going anywhere but here, my foolish son."

Following his mother’s command, Jeff sat down in a chair at the dining table.

"So what were you two arguing about last night, Jeff?" Jess’s mother asked.

Though Jess hadn’t told anyone—including her mother—about their argument, everyone clearly heard Jeff getting beaten up by Jess.

Jeff earned questioning, dangerous glares from everyone—from Jess’s mother, his own mother and father, and even his younger brother. And he understood that he deserved their anger. After all, he had done something foolish again and made Jess cry.

Cornered with no other choice, Jeff confessed what happened, repeating the same explanation he gave Jess about convincing her to have girlfriends, without mentioning his regression and the Returner Fantasy System.

"That’s why I want Jess to be in a relationship with them, so she won’t be alone just in case something happens to me."

Hearing the end of his explanation, everyone had different reactions.

To Jeff’s surprise, his mother—whom he expected to be mad—remained calm and even had a hint of a pleased smile on her face.

His father proudly nodded at him, while his younger brother looked at him with disdain and envy.

Jess’s mother looked at him with a sad expression, which shocked Jeff. After all, he expected her to be the one most angry.

But upon hearing what she said, Jeff finally realized the grave mistake he had made last night.

"You should know you can’t say something like that to her, Jeff, considering what happened to my late husband."

Jess’s father, a soldier, had died on a mission when Jess was still in grade school. At such a young age, her father not returning home alive traumatized her.

"You’re the most important guy to her," Jess’s mother said. "Saying that something bad might happen to you would trigger her trauma."

With those words, Jeff realized that Jess wasn’t mad when she threw the computer CPU at his face. She was hurt and scared, and he was the one who caused it.

He had promised himself that he would protect her and never let anyone hurt her again, but here he was—a big idiot who regressed twelve years from the future just to hurt her and make her cry again.

With that realization, Jeff stood from his seat and hurried toward her room to apologize and beg for her forgiveness. But his attempt was immediately stopped.

"Where do you think you’re going?" his mother said, as his father grabbed him from behind with both hands and his younger brother grabbed his feet to lift him up.

"Where are you taking me?!" Jeff exclaimed as his father and younger brother carried him away, with his mother following behind.

"Your punishment isn’t over yet, my foolish son."

With Jeff and his family gone somewhere, Jess’s mother returned to the guest room to console her daughter. Inside, she found Jess lying on the bed, still brooding and refusing to talk.

"So Jeff gave his permission for you to have girlfriends?" her mother said, sitting beside her on the bed, followed by a teasing remark. "Didn’t you always want to try having a girlfriend?"

"Why would I even want a girlfriend?" Jess grumbled, burying her face in the pillow.

"Liar."

"Don’t call your daughter a liar."

"But I have proof—a picture of you and your twin friends, Mira and Mina, kissing each other—"

"—Mom!"

Knowing how to get her daughter’s attention, Jess’s mother now had her sitting up beside her, the two of them talking about Jeff’s request for Jess to have girlfriends.

"That idiot is just making an excuse to cheat on me," Jess said, doing her best to control her rage and sadness.

"But if he asked for your permission, then all you have to do is say no, right?"

Her mother was right. Jess also realized that if she said no, Jeff would most likely agree with her. Yet something still kept her from giving her answer—besides the anger of knowing Jeff was in love with other girls.

What if she said yes, and the other girls stole Jeff from her?

What if she said no, and Jeff left her again because he loved the other girls more than her?

"Then all you have to do is make sure they are all yours, right, my sweet daughter?"

Hearing her mother’s words, a sudden idea came to Jess.

"Fine, I’m gonna talk to Jeff, Mom," she said, gathering her resolve to confront him.

"Then you better hurry and save Jeff."

"Save Jeff?"