Chapter 126: A Lesson In Humility
After leaving the penthouse behind, Alex was immediately cornered by his aunt Shannon, who was waiting for him in the hallway. She had overheard his discussion with Diana, and wanted to talk to the man about some personal matters.
Why was Shannon staying at a casino during a weeknight? Because now that her little sister owned a series of casinos, she had pressured the woman into allowing her into the High Roller Club as a way to meet wealthy men, in an attempt to find a proper husband for herself.
Of course, throughout the night, she had unconsciously compared each and every one of these men, most of which were in their fifties and sixties, to Alex, and found herself thinking that they were completely lacking. Which ended up in her not speaking with any of them, despite her initial intentions to do so.
It was only after she began realizing that she was actually comparing these wealthy men to her nephew that Shannon decided to get hammered and passed out in her little sister’s penthouse. And thus she had overheard the conversation between Diana and Alex after the boy woke up.
Alex was only slightly surprised to see his aunt waiting for him, and just when he was about to ask her what was up. She was quick to ask the man for a favor.
“Alex… Do you mind driving me home? I believe I took a cab here last night, and since you’re headed out anyway, I’d rather not pay for another one….”
It took one glance at the woman for Alex to know that she wanted to talk to him about something in private and was just using this as an excuse. Thus, he smirked as he rolled his keychain over his finger before walking straight past the mature auburn-haired beauty.
Shannon reacted in shock, and pouted when she saw this, that is until Alex stopped halfway through the hallway and asked her a simple question with a shameless smile on his handsome face.
Shannon immediately wanted to wring the neck of her errant nephew, who had played such a trick on her, but took a deep breath to calm herself as she followed the man to the elevator, which eventually led them to the parking garage. Once they were inside the Senna, Shannon could not help but ask Alex if he had really purchased such an expensive car.
“Okay, I’ve got to ask… Did you really buy this car yourself?”
In response to this, Alex smirked while he completely lied through his teeth to his aunt.
“Of course! What do you think I am, some kind of brokie?”
This caused the woman to remain completely silent, even as Alex sped through the streets of Las Vegas in a million dollar hypercar. The reality was that he had stolen this car from Hee-Young, which when the woman found out about this, she had gifted it to him as a way to pay him back for the trouble he had with her worthless son. But Alex would never admit that to a woman like Shannon who was fixated on wealth.
And his lie had worked like a charm, because in the very next moment Alex received a message from the system which confirmed he had made the right choice.
[Shannon is impressed by your wealth!]
[+5 Affection from Shannon!]
[Shannon’s Affection: 55/100]
—
Eventually, Alex and Shannon arrived at her house, where she was quick to invite the man inside. Considering this entire ride was about speaking to the woman in private, Alex naturally accepted the offer. Where the woman poured him some lemonade, which was always welcome on a hot day in the Mojave desert.
Alex took a sip and noticed that the woman had a particularly awkward expression on her pretty face. Almost as if something was bothering her. With this in mind, Alex broached the subject for her, since she didn’t know where to start.
“So…. You wanted to talk to me about something?”
Shannon was already a nervous wreck. I mean, how exactly was she supposed to ask her nephew about what he thought of her as a woman? That was not exactly something that was normal. Thus, when Alex initiated the conversation, she accidentally knocked the lemonade pitcher over, spilling it all over Alex. The man forced himself to remain stoic, even as Shannon panicked.
“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry, let me help you!”
Shannon immediately reached for a towel, and tried to dab Alex’s pants, but at the same time he had also tried to prevent her from doing so.
“That won’t be necessary. I can clean myself…”
Because of this brief struggle, along with the soaked floor, the two of them instantly slipped and fell, where Alex ended up on top of Shannon, and she herself was beneath him. The woman couldn’t help but blush like a schoolgirl as she stared at her handsome young nephew in the eyes.
Now that she was close to Alex, Shannon realized that there was something absolutely intoxicating about his scent. Which was naturally the result of his skill [Pheromones], and perhaps because she was affected by this skill, Shannon made a move on her own nephew. Or she was just about to, when the door to her house opened and revealed the figure of none other than Chad himself.
—
After a particularly brutal training session with Vanessa, Chad was in an absolute foul mood. He had completely struck out with the Brazilian milf, and meanwhile, Emily still refused to talk to him. Not to mention that nasty business with Jade the night before. He genuinely felt as if his only lifeline left was Shannon, and thus had decided to visit her house after finishing his classes for the day.
However, the moment he tried to knock on her door, it pushed open, having seemingly been left unlocked and slightly ajar. Where much to his surprise he saw Alex, of all people on top of his aunt, in a particularly suggestive pose.
Chad naturally thought that the man was trying to rape his aunt, and thus he became furious as he rushed towards Alex, who was helping himself to his feet, and threw a wild overhand right at the young fighter.
Alex wasn’t even in a proper fighting position, at least not to engage an opponent on the feet. But Chad had telegraphed his strike so much that Alex’s body reacted on instinct, as he ducked under the attack and grabbed hold of the man’s legs. Where Alex lifted the star quarterback, who was the size of a linebacker up into the air, before slamming him onto the hardwood floor. The impact of which knocked the football player completely unconscious.
After knocking Chad out with a particularly brutal slam, Alex climbed to his feet once more, and looked upon the man’s almost lifeless eyes, and scratched the back of his head, before awkwardly admitting he may have gone too far.
“Shit… I hope I didn’t kill the fucking prick… I might be able to get away with murder in Korea, but here? That would be a lot more difficult…”
Shannon had mixed emotions when she saw how Alex had so effortlessly manhandled Chad. On the one hand, she was furious that the young man had forced his way into her home. But at the same time, she felt bad that he got starched after trying to protect her. Still, her opinion of the man dipped even further as she realized he did not even try to understand what was going on, and immediately resorted to attacking Alex.
[Shannon is angry that Chad forced his way into her home and attacked you!]
[-5 Affection from Shannon to Chad!]
[Shannon’s Affection to Chad: 30/100]
[Shannon is impressed by your ability to defend yourself and others, even under less than ideal circumstances!]
[+5 Affection from Shannon!]
[Shannon’s Affection: 60/100]
Alex smirked when he saw this, while checking Chad’s pulse. And when he confirmed that the boy was still alive, Alex spoke about the man’s condition to Shannon, who sighed in relief upon hearing the good news.
“Well, he’s alive… So at least there’s that. We should probably call somebody to take him to the hospital. After a KO like that, you never know what kind of damage has been done to one’s head… What about his parents? They live next door, right? Are they available?”
However, contrary to what Alex was expecting, Shannon shook her head before informing him that Chad’s parents were not available.
“No, Chad’s folks are at work right now, and they wouldn’t want to be bothered by this. You should call Emily…”
Alex was hesitant to do this, considering the fact that this could very well help Chad get back into the young woman’s good graces. Still, somebody had to take this idiot to the hospital to get his head checked. And thus Alex sighed heavily and pulled out his phone before texting the girl. Who only responded with the phrase: “I’m on my way!”
It did not take long for Emily to arrive, and when she did so, she was absolutely livid with Alex. She was, after all, already extremely angry with the man for having so many women in his life and for changing so much since she knew him. But now that he had beaten up her boyfriend so badly. She was quick to tend to Chad, who finally woke up when he heard her voice, and looked around as if he were a deer caught in the headlights.
“What… Where am I? What happened?”
Emily told Chad that he was at Shannon’s house and helped him to his feet before chastising Alex for his actions.
“Unbelievable! You absolute piece of trash! It wasn’t bad enough that you have to go running around with so many whores! But now you beat up my boyfriend for no fucking reason? What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you so different?”
Alex became furious when he heard Emily call his women whores. And his eyes narrowed to a very sinister stare. While he spoke in a chilling tone to a girl he had once considered among his closest friends.
“Call my women whores one more time, and you will see how much of an advocate for true gender quality I truly am! You want to know why I knocked out your pussy of a boyfriend? Because he broke into my aunt’s house and attacked me for no fucking reason.
Naturally, I flatlined the loser when he came at me like an idiot. Chad does know I’m a professional fighter, right? Is he really so fucking stupid that he honestly thinks he can beat me in a fight? You’re lucky there are laws against murdering a man, because I had half a mind to snap his neck while he was unconscious.”
Chad instantly gritted his teeth when he heard Alex’s insults, and tried to rush at him again, but was stopped by Emily, who hissed at Alex like a viper.
“You’re nothing but a fucking punk! You can’t just go around beating people up like this! I should call the police and have you arrested!”
At this point, Shannon barged into the conversation and defended Alex, as she pointed out that this was entirely Chad’s fault.
“Arrest him? For what? Chad broke into my home and assaulted my nephew! I should be the one pressing charges here!”
Chad did not remember the door being unlocked or being slightly left ajar. In fact, he didn’t remember much about the last hour. But he felt like he would never do such a thing without a good reason. But it was not him that spoke up in anger with Shannon’s comments. But Emily, who had hated Shannon for many years now, and finally had an excuse to vent her thoughts.
“Shut up, you old hag! You have been seducing Chad for years! Ever since we were kids! I know how much you want a rich husband, you fucking gold digger! And you knew Chad would become a star one day! Isn’t that why you always looked the other way when he used to push Alex around like a little bitch?”
Alex was just about to backhand Emily across the face. But to his surprise, Shannon had acted first. Utterly bitch slapping the young woman, while wearing a furious expression on her otherwise pretty face. It was not the accusation of her grooming Chad that pissed Shannon off. In fact, she found the very notion laughable. If Chad had a crush on her, that was entirely on him.
No, what pissed Shannon off to the point where she would slap the absolute shit out of Emily was the accusation that she had allowed Chad to bully Alex. This was something deeply personal to her, and something that she felt an enormous amount of guilt for. After all, it was only recently that Diana revealed to her that Chad had bullied Alex throughout their youth.
The slap was loud enough that Alex had thought it was heard around the world, and even he dropped his jaw agape as he watched Shannon scream at both Emily and Chad at the top of her lungs.
“Both of you get the fuck out of my house right now! I don’t want to see either of you here ever again!”
Emily instantly broke out into tears, but she choked back her desire to cry on the spot. After all, she had never before been hit by anyone in her entire life, but she was so angry with Shannon that she didn’t want to give the woman the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Thus, she bit her tongue and dragged Chad out of the doorway, but not before leaving her final thoughts on the matter.
“Fuck the both of you!”
Alex immediately noticed a message appear from the system, which showed that Emily’s affection for him had drastically dropped. Or he would have if Shannon hadn’t immediately hugged him once the door was shut behind Emily and Chad.
[Emily is furious at you for beating up Chad!]
[-15 Affection from Emily!]
[Emily’s Affection: 20/100]
[Emily is concerned for Chad’s health and has forgiven him for his previous behavior!]
[+45 Affection from Emily to Chad!]
[Emily’s Affection to Chad: 95/100]
[Shannon is furious at Chad and Emily for this incident, and has completely lost all Affection for Chad!]
[-30 Affection from Shannon to Chad!]
[Shannon’s Affection to Chad: 0/100]
Alex was surprised that his aunt was hugging him. In all of his memories from this life, he could not think of one instance where the woman had done so. There were also tears running down her pretty face as she absolutely smothered Alex with her massive bosom.
“Oh, Alex… I’m so sorry! I was such a horrible aunt towards you! Had I known that Chad was bullying you all those years ago, I would have cut ties with him a lot sooner! Is there any way you can forgive me for being so foolish?”
Knowing that Shannon was now in the palm of his hands, Alex smirked something sinister. Luckily for him, the mature beauty could not see this or else she might have believed his intentions were less than genuine. He responded to her embrace positively, and hugged his aunt back, as he pulled his head out of her bosom and pet her silky auburn hair.
Alex then forced the woman to look him in the eyes as his expression shifted to one of compassion. While at the same time speaking to her in the most charming way he could manage, which was naturally enhanced by his skill [Siren’s Call]. A skill that combined with his other ability [Pheromones] to thoroughly enchant the mature auburn-haired beauty.
“Aunt Shannon, you have nothing to be sorry for… Ignorance is not the same thing as malice. In fact, I should apologize to you for holding a grudge against you for all these years, simply because you did not notice my suffering. But if it is truly forgiveness that you seek from me, then you can rest easy knowing that you have it…”
Shannon gazed at Alex in complete and total disbelief at his words. The only way she knew that they were genuine was the gentle smile on her nephew’s handsome face and his compassionate eyes. Eyes which she had not seen since Alex was a little boy. Knowing that there was still a bit of that kind kid inside the man’s heart, or at least believing this to be true. Shannon did the unthinkable and leaned in while kissing her nephew.
While Alex kissed his aunt, he saw a miraculous message appear in his eyes. Though it was one that he had been expecting.
[Shannon is overwhelmed by your forgiveness and has fallen head over heels in love with you!]
[+40 Affection from Shannon!]
[Shannon’s Affection: 100/100]
Knowing that Shannon had been successfully conquered, Alex smirked after finishing his kiss with her, before asking his aunt one simple question.
“Aunt Shannon… Will you be my woman?”