[I think chapters are too fast-paced for a slice-of-life story, so I'll be slowing it down a bit and focusing on attention to detail.]
Jack slowly made his way back to his apartment. Upon seeing Theresa still on the couch, he felt a sense of relief. However, his relief was short-lived, as she was wearing a dress with a slit in the middle.
Removing his clothes, he took a cold water shower to calm himself down. Then he realized he didn't have any towels or anything else in this new apartment, so he went outside naked and searched for something to wipe his naked, wet body.
Jack went to the living room, naked, and sat on the leather couch. The room's heat made him feel comfortable.
But looking at Theresa, who was sleeping soundly and he was naked, he felt a little weird, but she was sleeping, so when he naturally gets dry, he'll put on clothes.
As he was sitting comfortably, the doorbell rang. He was a little sleepy with all the alcohol and cold bath, so he just went to the door.
Opening the door he saw Ms. Stephanie. Ms. Stephanie's face was first worried, then she looked horrified.
Jack slowly closed his eyes and fell forward in front of Ms. Stephanie.
Stephanie, on the other hand, was horrified by a naked boy. The first thing on her mind was, 'Is my daughter okay? 'Then, after seeing Jack unconscious and falling down on her, she was scared.
Holding Jack barely, she almost lost her footing and fell as well, but she managed to somehow not fall down.
Then she slowly placed Jack down, grabbed his ankle, and pulled him inside. At that moment, Emily, her crazy neighbor, slightly opened her apartment door. Seeing Stephanie grab Jack's naked ankle and pull him inside, Emily smiled and nodded.
"It's not what it looks like. Sigh." Stephanie tried to explain, but Emily closed the door with a smile.
Stephanie, after taking Jack inside, pulled him on to a rug, which was warmer, then covered him with a bedsheet.
Looking around, she found Theresa on the couch near the rug where Jack was sleeping.
She then pulled out another bedsheet from the bedroom and covered her too. Stephanie wanted to pull Jack into a bed but failed because she can't lift a 6-foot man on her own. So she let him be; she didn't even move Theresa.
Stephanie calmly went to the bedroom, which was on the left corner, and slept there.
Jack was having a nightmare where he was poor again, this time no Euro breathing system, his life was rough and he had to quit his studies and work full time. life was miserable, and as he was one day returning home, he choked on a peanut and died.
Jack woke up from his sleep, but he was taking big breaths and was sweating a lot; he was actually scared. Jack, after calming down, felt something heavy on his body. Looking at the heavy object, Jack was confused at first and then didn't remember much.
He actually forgot what happened last night; he just remembers he was taking Theresa to his apartment; now they are only separated by two white bedsheets.
"Oh my!" Stephanie, who just came out of the bedroom, was blocking her eyes with her fingers, sometimes looking through them.
Jack's lower half was covered, but the chest area was not covered with the bedsheet, and on top of him was Theresa.
"Ms. Stephanie, It's not what it looks like," Jack tried to explain.
"I know! Theresa!!!!! Wake up!" Stephanie came near Theresa and slapped her in the back.
Theresa opened her eyes slightly; seeing it's her mother, her senses started to return to her, but she closed her eyes tight.
"Get up, Scoundrel, I'll beat you up." Stephanie pinched Theresa's ear hard and pulled her to get up from Jack and took her to the bedroom she was sleeping in last night. Theresa, looking at where she was sleeping, was horrified, then a smile crept up on her face. She gave Jack a reassuring smile, then her mother closed the door of the bedroom.
Jack was confused as fuck; why was he sleeping here, and why would Theresa smile like that?
Jack, shaking his head from the distracting thoughts, got up. When the bedsheet fell off, he realized he was not wearing anything. Grabbed his crotch, he searched for his clothes and wore them after finding them.
Then he calmly came in to the living room; he could hear Ms. Stephanie was angry at Theresa and was reprimanding Theresa loudly inside the bedroom.
Jack was also nodding his head, as if he were supporting everything Stephanie was saying, 'That's correct, you can't do that.".
Jack was using his phone after a while because it was getting boring and the mother and daughter were at each other's throats. It's been 30 whole minutes.
Then the sound slowly started to calm down, and Jack heard some sobbing noises from inside.
Jack didn't even want to know what was happening inside that room, such a melodrama?
After 15 more minutes, the door of that bedroom opened. Stephanie came out, then slowly Theresa came out after her; her head was lowered, and she looked guilty.
Stephanie sat on the couch. In front of Jack and Theresa stood behind her mother; her head was lowered, and she looked guilty.
"She stole the jewelry from my cabinet and went to the party without asking me. I am sorry you had to rescue her, Jack. You can blame me for her upbringing." Saying this, Stephanie almost cried.
"Mother, don't cry. I am sorry. I am not going to do it again." Theresa held her mother's hand and cried as well.
Jack, looking at the mother-daughter duo, wanted to just tell them it was okay, but they wouldn't stop crying.
"It's Okay, Ms. Stephanie. She's still young and can make mistakes." Jack wanted to calm Miss Stephanie down.
"You don't know how hard it is to be a single mother, Jack. I really am sorry for bothering you like this," Stephanie said while wiping her tears from her cheeks.
Theresa didn't talk much after that; she felt guilty and blamed herself for everything that happened. If she were an adult, maybe this was not a big deal, but she was not, and she still remembers the phyco who wanted to grab her.
Jack went to her and patted her head like a big brother would. Theresa hugged him and cried like a baby.
Stephanie didn't stop her this time; she also knows that her daughter must be horrified and needed a shoulder.
She went to the kitchen and didn't find anything, so she went downstairs to buy food for them.
Jack held Theresa as she was crying her eyes out, and after some time she stopped but didn't leave Jack's embrace.
Jack was also holding her. Theresa, to be very honest, looked like an exquisite little doll; she was maybe around five feet, two inches, and she felt like a pillow to Jack as she was very soft.
Their moment didn't last long as Ms. Stephanie came back with food and served them steamy fried rice with beef.
"Where did you get such delicious fried rice?" Jack asked while eating.
"Well, apparently they sell this very near here, and it doesn't cost much." Stephanie was also very chill about it.
"How's the apartment?" Stephanie asked, as the person who helped Jack get this apartment.
"It's very nice. Everything feels closer from here."
"Of course it's the middle of the city," Stephanie smiled.
"Actually I was so scared; the first thing I was thinking of calling the police, I thought You took her to the bar," Stephanie laughingly explained.
" Ah! Thank god you didn't," Jack smilingly said.
"Mother about the date with Jack, Can we postpone it?"" Theresa chimed in, seeing the mood was very light.
" Oh! Why? " Jack asked; he was actually very intrigued.
"Well, I have my reasons," Theresa smiled mysteriously.
"Alright, let me know," Jack said.
"Jack, we're going to go. Take care of yourself. Visit us anytime you want." Stephanie smiled at Jack, saying this.
"Yes, I will. I have stuff in that small apartment, so maybe soon," Jack replied.
After eating, both mother and daughter left Jack's apartment and apologized to him time and time while leaving.
When Jack was left alone in the apartment, he thought of the whole incident that happened. Life was so unpredictable that Jack felt anything could happen, from his system to this today.
Then he remembered his dream, and sweat started to form on his forehead. Shaking his head, he was waiting for his PC to come.
Sigh!!! Jack sighed. Life is easy if you can make it easy and hard if you make it hard. Money makes it easy, and poverty makes it hard.
*DingDong* * DingDong*
Jack's apartment's bell rang. Jack opened the door to see two deliverymen and lots of boxes.
"Hello sir, I am from XMG; I've got a delivery for you."
" Ah! Alright, that room over there, place everything there." Jack pointed at a midsize bedroom; this was the room where Jack would come and play games.