Chapter 79: Too awkward

Tom walked out of Stella’s building with the night air sitting cold against his skin.

He did not look back. Whatever was going on in her mind after throwing both him and Adrian out, he would not get the answer by standing under her windows. He exhaled once, long and controlled, and started toward the car.

The System chimed as if the entire confrontation had been nothing more than a pause between tasks.

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[DAILY TASK REMINDER]

Incomplete:

Move around the house for 30 minutes wearing one of the new underwear sets and be seen by every woman in the house.

[REWARD: +8 Authority | +8 Charm | +5 Lust]

[PENALTY: -20 Charm]

```

Tom stared at the panel. "That’s all you have to say?"

[Host, do not overburden your head tonight,] the System replied, almost lightly. [Go home. Complete the daily task. Rest. Tomorrow is another day.]

"And what about Stella?"

[Tomorrow will take care of itself] the System repeated.

Tom disliked the answer, but he had no cleaner one of his own. He pressed his lips together tightly, got into the Mercedes and drove home.

~~~~~~~

The house was quiet when he arrived but there was Sienna’s presence already in it. Tom could perceive the faint trace of her perfume in the entrance even though she was not in the living room.

Tom went upstairs, to his room. He hit the bathroom immediately and opened warm water on his head. He stood under the water, letting the water ran over him with force as if he was washing off everything that with the night, from his skin.

He tried his very best to focus on the task he had to complete even though his mind kept circling back to the penthouse...

’What was Stella doing currently?’

He finished his bath then went to the wardrobe. He stood in front of the wardrobe longer than he wanted to admit.

The new undergarments were still there, neatly waiting. He picked one of the more revealing pairs. It was black and close-cut, the kind that did nothing to hide the shape of his cock. For a second the usual awkwardness rose hard in his chest but he pushed it down.

"It’s just fabric," he muttered to himself.

He put them on, checked the mirror once, and regretted it immediately. The outline of his cock was obvious. There was no safe angle. No modest adjustment that fixed it. The task was not designed to let him stay comfortable.

Tom left the room before he could talk himself into delay. He stepped downstairs and the kitchen came first. He walked in with a practiced excuse already on his lips - he was just getting cold water, very chilled one.

But he got into the kitchen and stopped short...

The kitchen assistant was not alone. Beside her stood a woman he had never seen before, she looked absolutely young in the tidy uniform. A new presence in the house? Of course the System’s task would land on a day like this.

Tom clenched his fists tightly, the awareness and shame rolling off him in waves now.

Both women looked up at the sound of his steps.

They were about to look away when they saw what they shouldn’t be seeing and they really looked.

The kitchen assistant’s eyes widened before she forced them somewhere safer. The new woman was less successful. Shock crossed her face first. Then, before she managed to school her expression, her gaze dropped openly and stayed a second too long on the front of his underwear.

Tom felt his neck burned hotly but refused to let it reach his face. He walked sharply to the fridge as if nothing about the moment was unusual.

"Who’s this?" he asked, in a steady voice, trying to hold a simple conversation maybe the awkwardness would lift.

The kitchen assistant cleared her throat before she answered; "The new housekeeper, sir."

Tom nodded once, took a bottle of water, and left the kitchen without hurrying. Behind him, he could still feel their attention like a hand against his back.

He moved into the living room next and stayed there, walking without real purpose, letting time pass because the task demanded it but every minute felt longer than it should have. The house was too quiet and the fabric against him was too... Too awkward. He kept his shoulders straight anyway.

A few minutes later, Sienna came out. Immediately she laid eyes on him, she stopped at once.

Whatever she had meant to do left her expression. Her eyes moved down before she could stop them, landing squarely on the shape the underwear made no effort to conceal. The silence stretched.

Tom watched the exact moment she realized she was staring and still did not immediately look away.

"Hey," he said, as naturally as he could manage.

Sienna’s gaze lifted to his face. A faint flush had touched her cheekbones.

"Hey you too." Then, her voice dropped lower, tighter: "That doesn’t look appropriate to wear around the house."

"I suppose." She added as an afterthought. ℴ

Tom met her eyes. "My clothing choices aren’t your concern. You can just look away." he responded, his voice coming out harsher than he intended. The events of the evening, starting from the wine outing down to the underwear event made him irritable.

The muscle in Sienna’s jaw jumped. For a second she seemed ready to argue, pride and temper rising together. Then something more complicated moved through her face - irritation, unsettled awareness, and the unwelcome fact that he was no longer easy to scold into compliance.

She opened her mouth, closed it again, and looked away hard.

Without another word, she turned and left the living room.

Tom stood where he was until the last of the discomfort had been fully spent. Only when he checked his phone and confirmed that thirty minutes had passed did the tension in his shoulders ease.

The task was complete.

"Oh, finally." He heaved a heavy sigh.

Then he returned to his room at once, shut the door behind him, and leaned back against it for a moment with another long breath of relief.

The System’s reward notice arrived cleanly, but Tom barely glanced at it. For tonight, getting through the task without folding under the embarrassment was enough.