Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 481. Friday

Today, when I left the room, I was greeted with two rock ’n’ roll signs—someone was definitely ready to go to a festival.

"Yes, yes." I made it back and suppressed the urge to build a middle finger into the whole display of six fingers for the sixth day.

"Wait." Henry grinned and quickly pulled his phone out and snapped a few pictures.

I rolled my eyes, and after being patient and standing still for two seconds, I pulled him into the kitchen, where only Ethan and the staff sergeant were.

"Where is my grandmother? The throne room?" I asked while simultaneously listening in and hearing that she was indeed there.

Ethan turned around and chuckled while the staff sergeant looked back with confusion at my question.

Without waiting for an answer, I pulled Henry up, and on top of the staircase, we found sleepy little Ren, probably on his way to the kitchen.

I scooped him up and took him with us.

"Sorry we didn’t see each other yesterday."

Ren shook his head into my shoulder and hugged me tightly, apparently forgiving me for not keeping my promise from yesterday morning.

I pushed the door to the throne room open with my foot and saw my grandmother looking frozen on her throne, her face expressionless and helpless while holding a phone in her hand.

"...I...don’t know." She said to the chirping voice on the phone.

When she saw me, she nearly looked relieved until her eyes fell on my hand around Henry’s wrist, and her expression darkened.

Meanwhile, we heard the voice on the other side speaking.

"The designer is rea~lly talented. I just need your chest and hip measurements; don’t worry, I already know your height~~"

"I have clothes," my grandmother mumbled sulkily.

"And your clothes are SO beautiful; I just want to do something for you, sweetheart~ That’s what friends do, right~? A bestie’s outfit in the apocalypse!" She squealed.

"We can also exchange clothes, but you are so much smaller than me—hm~~ Maybe I will start wearing shorter clothes?" She broke into a bell-like laugh.

My grandmother continued to glare at me while I tried to suppress a chuckle.

Mrs. Anand surely was a personality. The old dragon could blast fire at me for just breathing wrong, but it seemed she had no way to be mean to a woman who wanted so enthusiastically to be her friend.

I would love to know what the staff sergeant thought about this.

"..." My grandmother didn’t answer, but Mrs. Anand didn’t seem to mind, continuously chirping about the clothing topic, which she apparently used to deepen their relationship...very one-sidedly.

On the other hand, my grandmother hadn’t hung up.

Should I try to be super energetic in the future just to annoy her? Nah, that sounds exhausting.

Anyway, this was taking too long, so I stepped forward.

"Grandma, I need to talk to you."

"Is that your grandson? Please~ greet him for me; I can’t wait to see the famous Kenny! We will see each other soon, won’t we? Are you excited? Then I will officially introduce my family to you~" The voice continued, and my grandmother nodded stoically before speaking a verbal "Yes" with dead eyes.

Then she finally gathered her wits and said she needed to hang up.

After doing just that, she sat there soullessly for about half a minute before looking back at me.

"Haven’t you learned to knock?"

"So now you can be nasty?" I glanced at the phone in her hand, but she just waved it off.

"What is it?"

I finally let go of Henry, having held onto him to avoid giving the puppy any new insecurities by letting go of him just because of an old woman’s glare.

The kid in my arms had fallen back asleep, breathing evenly, so I softened my voice.

"Regarding Henrietta, did you hear of her walking around and talking?"

"I heard." She looked at Henry.

"What do you want to do with your sister?"

"I don’t care, but she is a danger risk." He answered emotionlessly.

"So you say I should keep her so that she doesn’t suddenly STAB someone in the back?" My grandmother asked, and it was as if Ren and my presence had become unnecessary in this little showdown.

"What I said is I don’t care. I am confident in protecting what I want to protect." Henry, standing upright, crossed his arms, showing off a formidable, tall figure full of strength.

My grandmother laughed degradingly but didn’t speak anymore; instead, she looked at me pensively.

I took this as my presence here had been acknowledged again and conjured up the collar.

"With this collar, her ability will be suppressed, though not her upgraded bodily strength."

Eying the collar, the old dragon grimaced.

"Why do you have that?"

I looked at her helplessly and shrugged, not waking Ren up in the process.

"Someone put that on you???" Her voice turned very deep and very murderously.

"Do you want it or not?" I shook the collar in my hand while approaching the throne.

When I got close enough, she wordlessly snatched it away.

So she wants it.

"It acts with electricity, so if she tries using her ability, don’t touch her or you’ll get zapped, and your defibrillator will get confused."

Her other hand snapped to the stick leaning against the throne, but I had already taken a few steps back to look at her judgmentally.

"I am holding a sleeping child. How could you?"

Furious, but with the corners of her lips twitching, she shook the stick and the collar in her hands as if she were threatening me with both of them.

"Put the child down and let’s have a chat." She said slowly, very contrary to the threatening gestures she made, looking like a lunatic monkey.

"I will have to decline," I whispered back calmly but loud enough for her to hear me.

Henry behind me had already opened the door wider, and he closed it the moment I stepped out with Ren, saving us from her wrath.

Henry chuckled, and I did too as we hurried down the stairs back into the kitchen.

The staff sergeant was gone, and I shuffled onto the bench across from Ethan with the sleeping kid still on me and Henry beside me.

"Did Henrietta wake up again?" I asked Ethan, who shook his head.

"No. Today a few men will come to help pack and distribute some things in the house; we planned to ask someone strong to stay to keep watching her."

Oh? My grandmother won’t pack the whole house and take everything with her but also give away some stuff? Not bad.

"I gave her a collar." I explained the function of it to him, and he nodded while taking off his glasses.

"I understand; this device would be very helpful if communicated properly with Miss Devin. I will speak to her in the evening."

"Perfect. You are the right man for that." I had already filled Henry’s plate with eggs and toast and now got some for myself as well.

Ethan smiled and put his glasses back on.

"Today will be a bit hectic in the house, but everything should be done by the time we are back from work."

"Alright." While I ate, the little one woke up, but instead of coming down, he just turned around in my lap and used me as a chair.

Henry gave him a look but ignored it, making me very proud.

I patted his fur, and he leaned into it before giving me a very pitiful look—ah, so he is not completely over the kid’s close proximity to me.

"Pfft." I chuckled and stroked over Henry’s eyebrow before taking a small plate on the side and stuffing it for Ren.

Ethan went to talk to my grandmother about the collar situation after reminding us that we had to go soon.

The moment Ren heard that, he turned his head around and looked at me pitifully, with big abandoned eyes—eerily similar to Henry’s expression.

"Did you learn that from him?" I pointed at the puppy beside me.

Ren nodded, a mischievous smile creeping up his face.

"Bahahahhahhaha! Good job. Try that on Grandma; she will give you everything you want."

After seeing her so helpless with Mrs. Anand, I finally knew that she was way easier to defeat than I thought.

Ren placed his hands together, his fingertips touching like a devious little mastermind plotting something, though with way too innocent eyes.

I laughed and glanced at Henry, then back at the kid.

"Tomorrow you’ll see the sister and the brother of the angel. They are nice people, and they’ll like you very much." I tapped the locket that was under his shirt, its outlines protruding slightly.

Ren looked at me a bit lost before nodding.

"Just because they like you, and by any chance you liking them, doesn’t mean we won’t be family anymore. You are a Howard now, got it?"

The kid brightened up again, and I somehow felt like a proud father.

"Alright, buddy. Have a good day; on Sunday, we’ll start a long journey with everyone."

Henry stood up to make way for us to do the same.

"You will have to pack your favorite toys; they probably won’t bring everything from your completely overloaded room." Henry interrupted a bit impatiently.

Ren froze before wriggling down from my lap and running up the stairs.

"Pfft." I stood up, and Henry hung on me, clearly satisfied to have taken back his potion stuck to my body.

"Don’t frighten the kid," I said while dragging Henry out of the house.

"Did you ever see his room? It is filled to the brim; he can’t even properly use his bed because it is full of plushies."

We were the first ones at the car, and Henry let go of me so we could both lean against it.

I conjured up a cigarette and a second when the puppy snatched the first one away.

"Are you nervous because of tomorrow?" He suddenly asked.

I smiled.

"Yeah. You?"

"Besides anticipating it endlessly, I am scared to death—that you won’t like it."

Hearing him say that helped me relax quite a bit.

"What if you don’t like it?" I asked back.

"Impossible. I like it too much already."

I laughed, breathed out the smoke, and grinned at him.

Henry chuckled; his languid posture, so contrary to the stark emotions that were held inside...he was really...hot.

Not a sign left from the depressed artist I encountered in the crystalline world, I could literally see how much he had blossomed since then just because of my presence.

While staring at him, and he staring back, the atmosphere changed, and I started to get really impatient for tomorrow as well.