Zhane had never behaved like this before. As he drove back to the Everett manor, the butler noticed his foolish grin. Given his age and experience with life’s highs and lows, the butler quickly recognized that Zhane had fallen in love. It wasn’t long before the news had spread throughout the entire manor.


    Zhane’s parents were eagerly discussing his love life in their room, while the Patriarch quickly shared the news with his friends over the phone. He was already talking about great-grandchildren and weddings, which began to irritate his friends.


    They, too, had no great-grandchildren and were preupied with their own families, making Zhane’s romantic developments a bit of a sore spot.


    One of them was Dave’s grandfather, who was particrly irritated by Zhane’s grandfather’s endless chatter in their group chat. Zhane’s grandfather couldn’t stop praising his grandchild, boasting about his achievements and only mentioning that his sole w was being a workaholic.


    He couldn’t even discuss his own grandchild because Dave was like a firecracker, behaving as the ck sheep of the family. Dave ignored everyone’s advice, shirked his work responsibilities, and refused to attend the blind dates his mother arranged to help him settle down.


    As he grew older, Dave’s grandfather longed to see great-grandchildren before passing away, but Dave’s indifference made that increasingly unlikely.


    As he fumed over his annoyance, someone tagged him in the group chat.


    [Patriarch A: Didn’t both your grandchildren end up involved with the same woman?]


    [Patriarch B: Oh, yes! My granddaughter even showed me tabloid news about Zhane and Dave dating the same woman. There was even a photo of them together. Is there a story behind this? Why don’t you both share the gossip with us, @EverettPatriarch and @CarsonPatriarch?]


    [Everett Patriarch: ...]


    [Carson Patriarch: Why don’t you ask @EverettPatriarch since he was just boasting about his grandson going on a date for the first time?]


    [Everett Patriarch: @CarsonPatriarch what, are you jealous because my grandson has stopped just hanging out with his stinky male friends and decided to date someone?]


    [Everett Patriarch: You are being petty.]


    [Everett Patriarch: You should just discipline your grandson and drag him to attend the blind dates if you really want to have children running around your backyard. Hmph!]


    [Carson Patriarch: Why are you being so pricky? Huh?! Are you afraid that my grandson would win the girl since your grandson was boring and only knew how to busy himself with work?]


    [Everett Patriarch: As if! Your grandson was too willful and yful like a child, who would take him seriously, at least, my grandson was dutiful and mature. Yours was just a big child.]


    [Everett Patriarch: You are just like your own grandson, I guess, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Ha ha ha!]


    The two patriarchs, long-time friends, began an online banter,paring their grandsons. Their friends stayed silent, unable to intervene and content to watch the spectacle unfold. They settled in with popcorn, enjoying the show and picking up thetest gossip from both families.


    Unaware of the online feud between his and Dave’s grandfathers, Zhane happily returned to his room and messaged Hera to let her know he had arrived home.


    After staring at his phone screen for a while, he headed to the bathroom for a shower. When he didn’t receive a reply from Hera, he assumed she had already fallen asleep.


    Meanwhile, his group chat with the other five men was exploding with questions about how the date went. Dave was even asking for tips on what to do on his own date, pretending it was for future reference.


    In reality, he was bing increasingly anxious about his uing date with Hera, as he had no dating experience and was feeling nervous.


    At the moment, no one knew that Dave had a date with Hera scheduled for tomorrow. He wanted to learn from Zhane’s experience to avoid making any mistakes that might annoy Hera or spoil the date.


    He had never felt this nervous before, not even when standing before the Russian president for diplomatic negotiations.


    But now, his stomach was churning with anxiety. He still hadn’t finalized the itinerary for their date. He had received a confirmation from Hera about their ns half an hour ago, just before she went to sleep.


    He kept ncing at his phone, hoping Zhane would reply or start discussing his date, but there was no update. Even the other four were curious, pressing for details about how the date went and what had happened. They were relentless, like detectives eagerly awaiting answers from Zhane.


    It took Zhane 15 minutes to check his phone and see the flood of notifications from the group chat. He hadn’t discussed his date with them, fully aware of their curiosity and what they were up to.


    Instead, he decided to send a series of pictures from their date: from the shooting range to the seafood restaurant, the beach, and even the sunset from the mountaintop.


    The other five stared at the photos with narrowed, envious eyes. It was clear from the images that Zhane’s date had gone well, and Hera looked genuinely happy and content. They found it difficult to pick apart any ws.


    No matter how much they egg Zhane to divulge the info of his date with Hera, they didn’t get anything and Zhane just went to sleep with a smile on his face, still, before closing his eyes and falling asleep, he was still thinking of Hera, as a result, he dreamt about Hera nad him intimately entangled in the bedsheets.