It was the third week since Dylan arrived on Earth. He was already rapidly adapting and has levelled up from a total ignorant to someone from Sherry's mum's generation. He knew of the basic things, could speak some English and could somewhat use technology. It was excellent progress.
As usual, Dylan and Sherry were eating breakfast together when the doorbell rang. Sherry cast a cursory glance at the door before finally reacting. She tilted her head and wondered who it was at this early hour. Sherry glanced at Dylan before standing up together and heading for the door.
"Good morning." A man stood in front of the door. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with brown hair and green eyes. The man was tall, taller than even Dylan. He was like a giant with his long limbs but the man's posture was horrible so he looked to be the same height as Dylan. He had a shy smile on his face and an apologetic expression. "It's been awhile."
"Good morning, Mr Pace. What brings you here today?" Sherry asked after recovering from her daze. She noticed the children lined up behind the man and waved at them.
"Sorry to bother you. It's that time of the year again. I'll have to trouble you with the children." Rick Pace scratched his head and said.
Sherry pondered over his cryptic words before a light bulb lit up in her head. "Ah, it's the holidays now isn't it? No wonder so many kids were wandering around yesterday."
"Yes. We'll be relying on you again."
Sherry shook her hand and laughed. "Don't worry about. I am getting paid after all."
Rick laughed and continued. "Hmm? Is this the rumoured man I keep hearing about?"
Dylan smiled. "Pleased to meet you, the name's Dylan."
"Thank you for taking care of Frank and the children. He's gotten a lot more active ever since you've came. My wife could not stop praising you."
"Ah, it was nothing. Don't worry about it. I enjoy playing with the children after all." Dylan smiled, his alter persona slipping through and creating a slightly dark smile undetected by Frank's father. However, the children could all see the switch flip, shivers went down their spines as they tried to hide from Dylan's eyes.
The two exchanged some small talk before Rick left for work. The children walked in cautiously, still wary of Dylan's slip up. In an orderly fashion, they marched in and sat quietly on the couches. Only after watching TV did their nerves calm down and they were able to rally up their guts to be rowdier.
"I saw your photos yesterday." Diana suddenly said, breaking the silence. The others directed shocked gazes at her. They were still recovering from the animal video and were not courageous enough to take about Dylan's modelling.
"You sure go online a lot." Dylan smiled and said.
It was then that Diana remembered her torture. She mentioned the photos in a whim but now she was blaming herself endlessly for being stupid. When she looked at the others for help, they averted their gazes and refused to look at her. Even her own sister ignored her pleas. Without much of a choice, she decided that they'll all die together and threw everyone under the bus. "D-Dawn likes Kyle and he was modelling for Katjesty so she checked it out. That's when she saw you and sent the photos to the group chat."
Diana unzipped her backpack with fast movements and retrieved her iPad from inside. She unlocked it and showed Dylan the chat before anyone could stop her. The others paled and wanted to protest. But luckily, Dylan didn't look at the iPad. "It's fine. I don't need to see. I already knew that you're going to see it someday anyways."
The children exhaled sighs of relief and their faces regained its colour. They grew bolder and began to actively discuss the photos.
"How'd you manage to model for Katjesty? Are you a model?" Yasmin asked curiously.
Dylan shook his head. "No, I was helping Janine because she asked me to."
"Janine? Isn't that Sherry's friend? What does she got to do with anything?" Frank tilted his head.
Speak of the devil and he shall come. Janine's voice was suddenly heard from the door and she walked in. "Why are there so many shoes at the doorway? Are the brats here again?"
"Janine! I thought you were busy." Sherry exclaimed.
"Ah, the stock ran out and now Charlotte is contacting our suppliers to order in some more." Janine explained. She glanced at the children. "What're they doing here?"
"It's the holidays. I'm helping their parents look after them."
"Right. It's already the holidays. You just lose track of that kind of thing when you're out of school." Janine made the kids shuffle over and sat down on the couch. "Anyways, I heard my name when I was walking in. Are you speaking bad about me again?"
"Again…Since when did we speak badly of you?" Sherry retorted.
"We were talking about the Katjesty photos with Dylan." Yasmin explained.
"It sure was a huge success." Janine beamed happily. "Everyone loved him."
"Janine, do you know people who work at Katjesty? How did you make Dylan model for them?" Fiona asked.
Janine smirked and pointed her thumb at herself. "I'm the CEO of Katjesty."
"Don't lie to me~!" Fiona complained. "Sherry, Janine's bullying me."
Sherry laughed. "They don't believe you because how lazy you usually act."
Janine shrugged and didn't even bother to defend herself. Dawn narrowed her eyes and searched online for the truth. Her eyes widened and she looked up and down from her iPad to Janine multiple times. This attracted the others attention and they all looked at the iPad.
"You were telling the truth o.0?" Fiona exclaimed.
"You have a job?" George unintentionally asked. He covered his mouth in a panic after his slip up.
"Even though you are always free?" Diana chimed.
"I thought you were a NEET." The weeb Frank commented.
"To have a company at this age is amazing." Yasmin gave the only positive review but her sparkling eyes of admiration hurt Janine's conscious too much. Truthfully speaking, her company was started on a whim. She had planned it with Charlotte in maths class and it seemed plausible so she went and stole, cough, borrowed her dad's money to start the company once she graduated and they got enough help. Even now, her dad assists from behind the scene despite his busy schedule.
Janine coughed and tried to change the topic. "Dylan's photos were amazing, weren't they? I took them myself." She proudly declared.
"Really? You're the photographer of Katjesty? Even though you're the CEO?" Dawn asked.
"Cough. We're a small company and I like photography, it's fun."
"She was quite passionate about it." Dylan smiled.
Janine blushed at the memory. She really was overly excited and over did it. But it wasn't her fault, it was just that Dylan was too good, she reasoned.
"Oh, right. We made the account yesterday. I forgot to tell you." Sherry helped to change the topic and spared her friend from the shame. Janine cast a thankful glance at her.
"Mm, I'll follow you. What's your name?"
"Golden Fenrir." Dylan said quietly.
Janine and the children paused before bursting into laughter, holding their stomachs in pain. "Pft- what kind of name is that. Hahahaha, are you some kind of chuni?"
Dylan blushed, he scratched his cheek shyly. "Sherry insisted that I use it."
"That was your nickname. It would be a shame to not use it." Sherry smirked teasingly.
"I never accepted it as my nickname. It's too embarrassing." Dylan said with a red face.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Golden Fenrir." Sherry laughed and dismissed.
The rest also laughed, ignoring Dylan's protests.