The House
"Amanda, this house is huge. How many people are supposed to live here, 100?" Matthew couldn't help but ask after seeing the monstrosity in front of him.
They had made it to the piece of land that Amanda's father had given her, but after seeing the house in the center of it, Matthew didn't know how to phrase his words.
The house in front of them had at least five floors and covered at least ten thousand square feet.
If anything, Matthew didn't feel like calling this thing a house was appropriate. It was more like an estate than a house!
"My father wanted to buy out a famous farming family and have them all move to this plot of land. He even bought out this area and constructed this house for them to show sincerity, but sadly, the deal fell through." Amanda explained calmly. It was as if this monster of a home didn't phase her in the slightest.
"That's a good explanation, but who the hell builds such a big thing to show sincerity? This couldn't have been cheap." Eva asked sarcastically.
At this point, she was even wondering if she and Amanda were both humans. It was like they were both playing different versions of life. She had worked hard her entire life and was now about to get a decent internship and move up in the world, but Matthew was given a plot of land almost the size of Central Park just by asking.
Even the house, which was supposed to be the side piece of the deal, was larger than anything she had seen before. It was bigger than some of the mansions she had seen online! However, as she wallowed in self-doubt, she soon realized something.
Maybe working hard wasn't the answer to life? What if it were to live off your rich friend and live lavishly? Thinking this far, Eva didn't hesitate and started her plan immediately.
"Big sister Amanda! Can you take me under your wing? I don't want to have to study anymore." Eva lunged into Amanda's arms and cried.
If she could live a salted fish life in this beauty of a house, she would be more than content!
"Sure, why not?" Amanda smiled at the pitiful Eva. "I can even give you an allowance."
"Really? What do I have to do, though? I don't want to leech off of you forever." Eva asked.
"It's nothing, really. Just let me have Mat to myself. I like the boy a lot!" Amanda answered with a broad smile.
Immediately jumping away, Eva shook her head like a rattling drum. But since Matthew was too close, she didn't say anything aloud but instead just made her disagreement known.
She wanted Matthew to herself, and no matter how well she could live by leeching off of Amanda, it wouldn't be worth losing her love.
"Is this thing furnished?" Matthew asked as he interrupted the duo's comical play.
"I'm not sure, but I think it should be," Amanda replied, unsure of the answer.
"I'll go check!" John volunteered, and without giving anyone else a chance to say no, he ran inside.
"Dammit, John, wait for me!" Joanne angrily shouted as she chased after her twin.
"Should we follow?" Matthew offered. And after the woman nodded, they followed suit.
Entering the mansion, Matthew immediately sighed in relief. Thankfully, the interior of the house was furnished, as the time it would take to furnish this monster would be much longer than they had.
Currently, it was the morning of the 27th, giving them just shy of a day until the seal would be punctured. And if they did order all of the furniture required to furnish this house, it would take at least a few days to arrive.
But with the quarantine happening in two days, any and all shipments would stop halfway.
Inside, the twins and the adults both took different routes, planning to investigate every room. However, with over five floors and more than ten thousand square feet to search through, the group knew they wouldn't be able to search everything today. So, they only planned to go through the first floor and the basement before meeting up.
About 30 minutes of walking later, the group finally walked around the first floor of the mansion and investigated all of its various rooms. Once they did, though, Matthew called the twins for a meetup.
"Eva, can you watch the kids here? I'm going to buy some groceries." Matthew asked as he sat down on a couch.
"Why me? Why can't Amanda stay? Who knows what trouble she'll make if she goes with you?" Eva retorted.
Amanda was trying to steal Matthew away from her! Who knew what would happen if she left them alone any longer?
"It's fine. I can stay with the kids. I've been getting kind of tired from walking so long." Amanda chimed in.
"Then it's settled! Come on, Matthew!" Eva cheered.
Before Amanda could say anything else, Eva grabbed Matthew's arm and pulled him out of the house.
Allowing himself to be dragged by Eva for the nth time, Matthew followed the excited girl to the car.
"Matthew, what are we going to buy?" Eva asked as she fastened her seatbelt.
"A lot of things. If anything, I wanted to bring Amanda, too. But since I don't trust the twins by themselves, I had to leave her behind to watch them." Matthew answered as he started the car.
The food and supplies he was planning to buy would have to last them a few months at the minimum. Thankfully, with an almost unlimited debit card, Matthew was confident he could complete the task.
"How much could you possibly buy? There are only five of us for a few days. After that, it'll only be you and two kids." Eva laughed.
However, little did she know how much Mattew really planned to buy.
"Matthew, where are we going first?" Eva asked as they drove back into the city.
"I need to get a U-Haul first. This car can't hold everything." Matthew answered.
But since his vague words didn't give Eva enough of an answer, she tried to get more, yet no matter how much she asked, Matthew didn't bother to explain further.
In the past few days, he had been reborn. Matthew had long trained his skill in dodging questions to level 100, so no matter how much Eva asked, he didn't say a word.
"Eva, drive the rental car and just follow me," Matthew said, still ignoring the young woman's questions.
Matthew then got into the U-Haul and drove to the largest grocery store near them, with Eva following close behind.
—
"Sir, your total for today is $3890. Would you like for us to help take this to your car?" The cashier said with some shock in his tone.
"Yeah, I need some extra hands if that won't bother you all much," Matthew said with a smile.
He had almost ten shopping carts behind him filled with household supplies and various delicious foods that could last a family of five for at least three months.
Thankfully, it was only a quarantine and not a catastrophic apocalypse. Because while he would be stuck inside, the farmhouse had internet and electricity. This meant Matthew could buy both perishables and foods that needed to be refrigerated.
"Matthew, who are you buying for? Are you hiding a family somewhere that we don't know about?" Eva couldn't help but ask as she pushed a shopping cart to the car.
When they first entered the supermarket, Eva had separated from Matthew as she had planned to buy some expensive things to get back at Amanda. But after she found her things and went to meet up with him, she was stunned.
Not only did he have two shopping carts with him that were almost filled, but he also had two more already filled waiting at the register.
"I like to buy things in bulk. And now, thanks to the almost dozen fridges we have, I can buy as much as we need for the foreseeable future." Matthew lied.
"How long is the foreseeable future? Half a year?" Eva asked sarcastically.
But to her surprise, Matthew nodded.
"Just about, actually. Good guess, Eva." Matthew answered as he gave the girl an affectionate pat on the head.
After the little play of affection, he started pushing his two shopping carts to the U-Haul.
Even though he had the help of three employees from the store, Matthew was still much stronger than them, so if he helped, it would be much faster.
"Ah! Wait up, Matthew!" Eva only came back to her senses after Matthew had already walked out of the store.
'Idiot! You can't do that to me randomly,' Eva thought as she ran to catch up with him.
With the help of a few store workers that Matthew generously tipped afterward, the two drove back to the house, with Matthew driving the U-Haul and Eva driving the rental car.
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