Chapter 869

Chapter 869: Chapter 869

"Hey, Minne. You’ve been on your phone the whole way here."

"Sorry," she replied quietly, adjusting the container in her arms. "My mother and I were talking. I sent her some cute photos of Mik."

"How’s she doing?"

"Good. Better." Minne’s expression brightened slightly as she talked about him. "She can nearly run now. Nearly. She’s so close."

I smiled and reached over to gently ruffle her hair. "That’s good. Really good."

Minne looked up at me with a small smile before fixing her hair with one hand. "She was very happy when she saw the pictures."

"I’m sure she was."

We started walking toward Mendy’s house together. It was just shy of ten, and we hadn’t told Mendy we were coming because Tessa wanted it to be a surprise. I just hoped she wasn’t already asleep.

We reached the front door, and I raised my hand to knock. Before I could touch it, the door opened. Penelope stood on the other side. She glanced back toward the living room, then immediately raised a finger to her lips.

"Shh. She’s sleeping. I was actually just about to leave," she whispered, stepping slightly into the doorway.

Tessa looked at her for a second, then glanced down at Penelope’s chest. "Whoa," she muttered. "Those have to be fake."

Penelope looked down at herself before looking back at Tessa with an amused smirk "They are."

Tessa nodded approvingly. "Thought so."

Penelope leaned against the doorframe and looked between us. "So, who are these people?"

"My friends," I answered.

Tessa gave her a casual wave. "I’m Tessa."

Minne bowed her head slightly. "I’m Minne."

"Nice to meet you all." Penelope’s eyes suddenly landed on the container in Minne’s arms. "Wait, is that soup?"

Minne looked at me, then back at Penelope. "Y-yes?"

Penelope closed her eyes and groaned. "That little bitch snitched on me. That... that idiot."

I raised an eyebrow. "Snitch? Who, Mendy?"

"Who else?" Penelope sighed. "So what if I forgot to put salt in the soup? She asked for another one from you, didn’t she?"

Minne looked down at the container, clearly unsure how to respond.

I chuckled. "No comment."

Penelope narrowed her eyes at me, but there was more amusement than anger in her expression. "That bitch..."

"Well, if she’s sleeping, can you at least put the soup and salad inside? We didn’t come all the way here for nothing."

"Yeah, sure." Penelope stepped aside and carefully took the food from Minne. "Jokes aside, thanks, though."

She disappeared inside for a few seconds. Through the small opening between the door and the frame, I could see her placing the containers on the kitchen counter before walking toward the living room.

Mendy was lying across the double couch, apparently too tired to even notice what was happening around her. Penelope walked over and placed the back of her hand against Mendy’s forehead.

I stepped closer and peeked through the doorway. "Still burning up?"

Mendy shifted slightly but didn’t wake.

Penelope looked over her shoulder at me and shook her head. "Nope. She’s getting better." She paused, then gave me a smug little smile. "Thanks to the soup I made, probably."

I snorted. "That, or her body has completely shut down and doesn’t know what to do anymore. Seriously, she sounded pretty desperate when she told me about that soup."

Penelope scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Just... ugh."

She walked back toward the door, and I took a step backward to give her room. She stepped outside and quietly pulled the door closed behind her.

For a moment, the four of us stood outside Mendy’s house.

"So, what now?" Penelope asked, crossing her arms. "Beer?"

"Fuck yeah," Tessa answered immediately.

She turned toward Penelope with a grin. "I know a great bar nearby."

"Texas Gun?"

"Oh, yeah! You know TG?"

"Who doesn’t? Those male strippers are just... exotic."

I figured there were only two possible outcomes when they finally met. Either they would hate each other’s guts, or they would get along incredibly well.

Apparently, we’d gotten lucky.

They were both aggressive, loud, and had absolutely no problem saying whatever came into their heads before thinking about whether they should actually say it. Somehow, that was probably why they got along so quickly.

Neither of them seemed interested in pretending to be someone they weren’t, and I had to admit, I liked that about them. Both of them were probably the most direct people I’d ever met.

"Sure." I muttered. "Let’s drink some beer... but not Texas Gun. No. I don’t wanna see male strippers."

"Uuuh, are you going to get naked and dance for us, Evan?" Penelope asked, one hand on her waist.

"No?"

"Then TG it is. Come on!"

⟁ ⟁ ⟁

Thankfully, Texas Gun was actually closed because some of its workers had gotten into trouble for public indecency. Probably those male strippers Tessa had been talking about. So, we decided to head to Stingy Ladies instead.

It was a little further away, sure, but at least this place had decent enough music playing, and the first shots were on the house. What more could I possibly want?

"Texas Gun sucked anyway," Penelope said to Tessa as we settled in. "Not one time did they play Robbins."

"I mean, for sure. If you have a bar called Texas Gun, out of respect, you have to play at least one Robbins song."

"W-who is that?" Minne whispered from beside me.

"Some musician," I whispered back. "I’ll tell you later."

"Mendy talked a lot about you," Penelope said, looking between us. "You two are Nala’s employees, right?"

"R-right," Tessa replied.

Talked a lot about us? But what exactly had Mendy told her? That we were all staying in that penthouse, or that we were just friends from work? Either way, dwelling on it would probably lead me into asking more and more questions, so I cleared my throat and decided to change the subject.

"So, uh," I began, looking around the table. "Should we..."

"Holy fucking tits!" A man called out from behind Penelope, loud enough to make several people nearby turn their heads. "YOOO! They are bigger than my head!"

"You have a small head, kid," Penelope replied with a smirk.

"Kid? Hey, I’m twenty!" the man shot back defensively.

"You’re acting like one, though. Yelling like that," Tessa cut in, turning toward him. "Can’t you see we’re talking?"

"Man, fuck you."

"Hey, calm down." I pushed my chair back and stood. "I won’t have you..."

Before I could finish, Sophia grabbed the man from behind and squeezed his balls with all her strength.

Ouch.