Evening came quickly to the quiet town of Harlow.

The sky outside the window transitioned from a bruised purple to an inky, star-speckled black, casting long shadows across the bedroom.

Wren looked up from the glowing screen of his phone, running a heavy hand through his blond hair with a weary exhale.

"It’s that time, huh?" Wren said under his breath.

He sat up on the edge of his newly cleaned bed and his mind inevitably drifted to the dark space beneath him.

The delicate lace panties and the sweat-stained trousers were still tightly wrapped up in a bundle and shoved safely under his bed. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to broach that subject.

He simply didn’t exactly know how to tell Diana that he had used her underwear to jerk off, nor did he want to explain how they ended up crusted with his dried fluids.

Some secrets were better left buried... he would wash them when she slept.

’Also, that girl really can get shy, huh?’ Wren thought with a small smirk rising at the corner of his lips.

Before he had gone down for lunch earlier, he had stepped out of the laundry room and gone upstairs to call Dani down for the meal.

Instead of her usual boisterous self, the short blonde girl had completely panicked with her face burning in a violent shade of red.

She had sprinted right past him in the hallway, aggressively avoiding eye contact and shouting loudly that she urgently needed to go home.

Wren sighed, pushing himself up to his feet.

He stood up and walked directly to his large wooden wardrobe, pulling the doors open and revealing the pristine newly bought pairs of clothes as well as the sleek shoes he had purchased earlier today.

His wardrobe was entirely full.

That was a completely new sensation for him... Back when he was living in his cramped, dingy one-room apartment in Bostara, it wasn’t exactly that he barely had clothes but they definitely weren’t that much, to be honest.

Most of his city wardrobe consisted of cheap practical clothes meant to blend in.

Now that he was looking at them, he had more clothes than he could realistically manage.

Wren looked back down at his phone screen and winced, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fuck, I forgot to take Cara’s number... what am I supposed to wear?"

Wren stared blankly at the neat rows of clothing. He genuinely didn’t know if the people of Harlow dressed to impress when they went out clubbing.

’Since this is a small town at the countryside, should I wear casual?’ he thought with his hand hovering uncertainly over a pile of basic shirts.

Wren reached for one of the Harlow Casual tees, his fingers brushing the soft cotton and then he reached back hesitating.

What if, precisely because this was the countryside, they felt the need to dress up more to compensate?

There was a high-end boutique in the town, after all.

Since it was prominently located right on the Main Street and seemed highly successful, he should naturally assume that everyone bought their clothes from there and if everyone did, they probably wore those expensive clothes out on club nights, too.

Wren’s hand twitched with indecision. He stared at the wardrobe for another long moment, and then he took a deep breath before letting it out in a heavy sigh.

"Fuck it..." Wren muttered, reaching for the wardrobe hangers.

Several minutes later, Wren stepped out of his room and made his way downstairs.

The house was quiet, save for the dramatic swell of orchestral music coming from the living room.

Diana looked up from the plush couch where she was curled up beneath a blanket while watching a movie.

Wren paused at the bottom of the stairs, turning his head to look at the large, flat-screen Television.

The dramatic lighting on the screen illuminated the dark room, clearly showing that the handsome male lead and the weeping heroine on the TV were slowly moving their lips closer to share a passionate kiss.

"So this is the kind of stuff you like watching?" Wren asked with a teasing voice.

Diana instantly gasped as a brilliant blush exploded across her mature features right where she sat.

She scrambled to stand up, physically trying to cover the massive TV screen with her body in a futile embarrassing attempt to hide the movie.

"S-so what if I like romance movies?!" Diana stammered with her chest heaving slightly under her blouse. "It is just a p-preference!"

She pouted, her embarrassment slowly morphing into a defensive glare, until she finally took a proper look at his clothes.

Her eyes widened, trailing up and down his tall frame. She raised an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips.

"Where exactly are you going dressed like that?" she asked.

"I’m going to the club..." Wren said simply. He looked down at the clothes he was wearing, brushing a piece of invisible lint off his sleeve and asked, "Isn’t it good?"

He wore the heavy, charcoal grey overshirt left completely unbuttoned over a fitted, black silk-blend tank top.

The tight, minimalist fabric clung to his torso, perfectly exposing the raw, muscular definition of his chest, broad shoulders, and thick arms.

He had paired it with the slim-tapered black denim trousers and his sleek, matte-black boots. This was what Nyx had recommended.

Diana’s blush stubbornly remained on her cheeks as she took in the sheer breadth of his shoulders in that tank top.

"No, you actually look entirely fine... very handsome, actually," she admitted softly, looking away for a brief second.

She cleared her throat. "Are you going to the club with anyone?"

Inwardly, a different train of thought was running through her mind.

’I haven’t gone to the club before... so if Wren wants to go, then maybe I could go as well. I could keep an eye on him and make sure he’s safe.’

However, Wren completely shattered her sudden hopes.

"I’m actually going there with Cara..." Wren said casually, adjusting his collar.

Diana’s face visibly deflated with her shoulders slumping.

"Why are you going with Cara?" She asked with suspicion, why was he suddenly spending time with a married woman?

"I had invited her over for a date earlier." Wren explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "And she had suggested the club. Though, I’m not really much of a clubber, since I have only been to a club in Bostara once in my entire life."

Diana sighed heavily as a mix of disappointment and subtle jealousy swirling in her chest.

She moved away from the TV screen with the romance movie completely forgotten and began walking directly toward him.

She stopped just inches away, looking up at him with a critical eye.

"You are overdressed for Harlow..." Diana stated firmly, reaching out to smooth the lapel of his overshirt. "This is too rigid, I will make sure you look good to head out to the club."

With that absolute declaration, she didn’t give him a chance to argue.

She grabbed his bicep and physically pushed him toward the stairs, herding him back up to his room with her following closely behind him.

’Even though I can’t be there with Wren tonight...’ Diana thought, her eyes narrowed with fierce determination as she followed him in. ’I’ll make sure that he looks really good, too good for a woman like that to even handle.’

She stepped into his room and closed the heavy wooden door behind her, fully ready to give him a proper, personalized makeover.

...

The evening air was pleasantly cool in town which was a contrast to the hot afternoon.

Cara stood casually outside the front gate of her house with the glow of the streetlamp illuminating her striking features.

She was wearing a distinctly oversized, crisp white button-down shirt that was purposefully left untucked, falling loosely over a pair of faded blue denim trousers.

She was looking intently at her phone screen, scrolling aimlessly while continuously running a hand through her vibrant blue hair, messing up the short strands.

’It’s 8:10pm already. It’s not nice to keep a woman waiting...’ she thought with an exasperated sigh.

She shoved her phone into her pocket, preparing to turn around and just go back inside to her parents when she caught a sudden movement in her peripheral vision.

She looked to the left down the empty sidewalk and saw Wren walking toward her, raising a hand and waving at her while saying a simple.

"Hey."

Cara turned her body fully toward him with her eyes instantly dropping to take in his clothes and she raised a single impressed eyebrow.

Wren looked completely different than what she had expected. He was wearing something that could only be described as peak casual perfection.

He had kept the tight, black silk-blend tank top that flawlessly highlighted his thick arms and the defined cut of his chest, but the heavy overshirt was gone.

Instead, he wore a soft unbuttoned dark crimson flannel that hung effortlessly off his broad shoulders, rolling with the evening breeze.

The stiff denim had been swapped out for a pair of perfectly tailored dark charcoal chinos. Cara smiled with a genuine curve of her lips while waving a bit in return.

As Wren finally arrived right next to her, stepping into the halo of the streetlamp, Cara’s nose suddenly twitched.

She leaned forward slightly, inhaling the scent radiating off his warm skin. She could distinctly smell the scent of expensive female cologne on him.

’Why the hell is he wearing that?’

"Why are you so late?" Cara asked, crossing her arms over her chest, letting the oversized white shirt drape casually. "Is this what you always did back in the city when you wanted to go out with girls? Keep them waiting on the curb?"

Wren shook his head looking genuinely apologetic. "No, I just got ready a bit late and then I actually lost my way on the walk here."

It was the truth, mostly. Nyx had suddenly decided to be difficult and gave him a small side mission right as he stepped out of the house.

The system demanded he locate Ryan’s house completely without her digital navigational help. It took a bit of frustrating time wandering the unfamiliar country streets but he had successfully done it.

[Ding!]

A translucent blue screen shimmered to life in the corner of his vision.

[Side Mission Completed]

[Locate Ryan’s house without System assistance.]

[Reward: 300 Credits]

[Your reward has been received in your System Balance.]

Wren dismissed the screen with a blink.

’Well, 300 credits is better than nothing.’ he thought.

"I really expected you to overdress or something," Cara said, her eyes tracing the line of his open flannel down to the tight black tank top. "From what I know, city people usually show up in suits to impress."

"I had been overdressed before," Wren admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle. "But Diana forced me upstairs and helped me out with this." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He then looked down at her baggy clothes. "Aren’t you a little underdressed for a club, though?"

Cara scoffed with a confident smirk spreading across her face. "We are heading to the club to drink, relax, and talk some more. I don’t need to dress up to impress anybody in this town. Everyone’s friendly..."

She stepped a little closer. "Besides, you’ll find out exactly what I mean by that pretty soon."

She didn’t elaborate on that though, instead Cara cleared her throat breaking the sudden tension and turned, beginning to walk past him down the sidewalk.

However, Wren quickly reached out and stopped her, his large fingers gently catching her wrist. She paused, looking back over her shoulder.

"Let’s hold hands..." Wren asked smoothly.

Cara blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "Why?"

"So that we can walk better." Wren said, his face completely deadpan.

He knew it was an incredibly stupid, paper-thin excuse. They were walking on a perfectly flat, paved sidewalk with absolutely no obstacles in sight.

Regardless, Cara stared at him for a second before letting out a laugh.

She stretched out her hand and willingly slotted her smaller fingers through his, gripping his rough palm and holding his hand tightly, thinking nothing of it.

"Now, let’s go to the Harlow Club."