Chapter 182: Atlas’ Guinea Pigs
Even if Slater didn’t want to believe Silo, he didn’t have a choice. After all, the guy even knew the twins and had pictures with them. According to him, he was simply sneaking in and acting suspiciously because he was worried Lola was finally thinking of ending it all.
Silo didn’t detail his reasons, saying it was too personal and that he didn’t want to speak for Lola. But as her friend, he knew that Lola was usually the gloomy and serious type. So, he was starting to worry about her strange changes.
"Baby," Slater hummed, idling near the bar counter while Baby worked in the kitchen. Silo had already left after receiving an emergency call.
He thought deeply about it. "Did that guy with a weird name just tell me indirectly that my sister is suicidal?" he asked the person with another weird name.
Baby looked up for a second and then shrugged.
"Hmm... I think that’s what he said." Slater tapped his fingertips against the surface of the counter. "But that’s a first. I didn’t know my sister-in-law went to the same school as us."
Slater was not surprised that Lola knew him the second they met. The entire world knew this face and that name, after all. He assumed that was the reason Lola knew him and his family, as he came from the proud Bennet family.
"And he’s part of Penny’s fan club, huh?" he muttered. "What a small world! Surely, this world is very small even when it looks otherwise."
His brows rose curiously. "Does First Brother know about this?"
*****
Hours later...
Slater didn’t have anything to do for the day and was told to watch the home. Fortunately, Baby was with him, although the latter barely spoke a few words. When night came, the twins arrived with their father. Almost at the same time, Lola arrived with them.
As usual, they went through their routine until Lola went with the twins to put them to bed.
Stretching his neck from the ground floor to the mezzanine, Slater peered to see if Lola was around. The second he was sure that she was gone, Slater quickly fled to Atlas’s room.
"First Brother! First Brother!" he shouted, barging into Atlas’s room. The second he did, he scanned the room, only to find no one inside. "First Brother?!"
What answered his yelling was the sound of running water from the bathroom. Turning his head in its direction, his brows knitted.
"First Brother!" Slater yelled as he marched toward the bathroom. "Can you hear me?!"
Leaning against the side of the bathroom door, he listened to the noises inside. After a second, the running water subsided. Then, the door flew open, revealing Atlas in nothing but a bathrobe, his hair still damp, with droplets of water dripping from the ends.
"What?" he asked dryly. "Can’t that wait?"
"Nope!" Slater shook his head. "First Brother, do you know that your future wife went to the Summit School of Excellence?"
Atlas didn’t answer immediately, fluttering his eyelashes ever so tenderly. "Is that the question that can’t wait?"
"Wait." Slater blinked many times before his face contorted. "You — you knew?!"
Atlas shook his head mildly and resumed his steps, tossing a small towel over his head. Meanwhile, Slater jogged beside him.
"First Brother, how come I didn’t know this?!" he gasped. "Does that mean you knew her all this time before the twins?!"
"I do," Atlas replied indifferently as he marched inside the wardrobe to get a pair of pajamas. "Big deal?"
"Of course it is a big deal! She’s been around us without us knowing!"
"Don’t include me in that."
"Huh?!"
Atlas cast him an indifferent side-eye as he said, "I know she’s been around. Hugo might remember her too. After all, he learned to expand Penny’s fan club because of her."
Confusion quickly appeared on Slater’s face while his brother took out the pajamas and walked away to change. This time, Slater didn’t follow him and pondered it.
"Expand Penny’s fan club?" he muttered to himself, tilting his head to the side.
Many years ago, when they were just young, their little sister was quite popular. She was a phenomenon in that school in question. But her fan club wasn’t that big, as there were many other fan clubs. It continued expanding because of his big brothers.
How did they expand it?
Well, his big brothers used to be very popular with girls, while Slater was not. And Hugo, his second brother, was the reason for that. As the most popular Bennet son, Hugo had sent all of his admirers and even his haters to join Penny’s fan club before they could love and hate him.
It was the same for Atlas, but unlike him, Hugo was more popular back then because he was part of the basketball team.
Slowly, Slater’s face twisted in disbelief, looking at the open door of the closet. "Don’t tell me... my sister-in-law was once his admirer?"
A part of him wanted to believe Lola was his second brother’s admirer. But then again, Slater remembered one of the things that had been tormenting him these days. Bitterness quickly spread in his chest before he remembered a memory.
"Is that why... he’s been trying to kill us?"
*
*
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A short flashback...
[Summit Partners]
Allen and Slater sat down beside each other in the chairman’s office, staring at the glass wall separating this office from the next one. Their faces were squeezed as if they had just drunk a shot of vinegar, their eyes set on the male witch inside the other room.
"Slater, if I die... please let my family know that I love them," Allen whimpered under his breath, facing Slater with a defeated look. "And make sure my savings will go to them — my insurance too."
Slater looked back at him, his face mirroring the dread on Allen’s. "If you die here, do you think I will survive?"
Their faces paled, staring at each other in pure silence. After a second, they turned their heads ahead once more, eyes staring through the transparent wall.
Inside was Atlas, standing before an oven placed in the middle of what was supposed to be an office. What was he doing?
Baking chocolates.
His guinea pigs? Allen and Slater.
"I hope we can survive today."