Suddenly, I Am Rich

”Brother?”

”Oh shit!”

Gray’s eyes flew open at the sound of Lily’s voice. His brain was still foggy from last night’s alcohol, but the shock hit him like cold water. He turned his head to the side, and sure enough, she saw Lily there.

”Lily...” Lily was standing at the foot of his bed. She was looking at the side with her eyes wide open.

”What are you looking at?” Following her gaze, Gray looked to his side.

In there, he saw that Mara was there. She was still asleep, her body covered by the sheets. Her hair was messy and her face was relaxed like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Gray’s stomach dropped.

Fuck.

”Wait... No, Lily, it’s not what it looks like,” he immediately tried to explain things. He sat up so fast that his head throbbed.

But Lily’s face had already turned red. She threw her hands over her eyes.

”Ahhh! I didn’t see anything! I didn’t see anything!” she yelled out loud and turned around to run away.

”Lily, wait! I can explain!” Gray scrambled out of bed, but Lily had already bolted out of his room. She was still shouting that she didn’t see anything as she ran away to go back to her room.

Gray groaned as he ran a hand over his face.

”Shit...”

Gray sat frozen for a second after he heard Lily’s door slamming shut from the other side of the condo. He let out a deep sigh. He could feel that his heart was still racing from panic.

After a second of calming himself down, he glanced down at himself.

”Oh, crap.”

He was naked.

Completely naked.

And so was Mara, who was still curled under the sheets beside him.

Gray’s mind flickered with flashes from last night. The heat, how their hands moved, and their breathless breath.

”Oh shit...”

However, he quickly set the thoughts aside.

This wasn’t the time.

In his mind, all he could think of was Lily’s horrified face.

He quickly scrambled to put on his sweatpants and a shirt. He ran a hand on his messy hair. He tried to fix them before heading outside. He walked into the hall and stopped outside Lily’s room.

Gray let out a breath and knocked.

”Lily, it’s not what you think—”

From inside, Lily’s voice immediately cut him off.

”Why did you bring a girl here, brother?!” Lily’s voice sounded as if she were distressed.

It made Gray lightly laugh.

However, knowing that Lily probably had some thoughts on her mind, he quickly stopped laughing.

Gray sighed as he leaned more against the doorframe.

”It’s not like that. She’s my long-time friend, okay? We just drank too much last night, and it was late, and it would’ve been dangerous for her to go home alone. That’s it.”

There was silence. Then, slowly, the sound of skeptical breathing.

Gray knew that sound even if he can’t see her. She definitely wasn’t buying his explanation.

Before he could think of anything else to add, the sound of movement came from his bedroom.

Mara had just woken up. As soon as she woke up, she realized that she was wearing no clothes. There were also some red marks all over her body.

”Damn...” She could only mutter a curse as she hurriedly collected all her clothes. She quickly put them on, and once she was dressed enough to be decent, she walked out and made her way toward the sound of Gray’s voice.

She arrived just in time to catch him in the middle of explaining things to Lily.

A small chuckle escaped her lips as she saw it. She looked at Gray and gave him a nod.

”Let me,” she muttered in a low voice.

Gray looked skeptical, but he still stepped to the side to let her do what she wanted.

Mara swallowed the lump in her throat before lightly knocking on Lily’s door.

”Lily, did you forget about me already?” Mara’s voice was teasing. It was also loud and clear enough to make sure Lily would hear her.

The door cracked open just a little after. In there, Lily’s eyes curiously peeked out. When she saw Mara standing there, her suspiciousness turned instantly into excitement.

”Mara?!”

”Hello there, sweetie.”

In the next second, Lily threw the door wide open and jumped straight into Mara’s arms.

”Sister Mara! I miss youuuu!”

Mara laughed out loud. Lily hugged her tightly almost immediately. She was smiling in all ears.

”I really missed you, Sister!!!”

”Really?” Mara lifted Lily off the ground slightly as she hugged her back. She spun her around once before setting her down.

”I missed you too, sweetie,” she said warmly, ruffling Lily’s hair.

”You don’t get to say that!” Lily immediately pouted, still clinging to her. ”You disappeared for years! Do you know how long it’s been since I last saw you? I was still small back then!”

”I know, I know...” Mara chuckled, her voice tinged with guilt. ”I’ve just been busy. Life got in the way, you know how it is.”

”That’s not an excuse!” Lily jabbed her finger at Mara’s arm, though she was grinning.

”You better make it up to me!”

”Oh, I will,” Mara said, playfully raising her hands in surrender. ”We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I’ll even let you boss me around for a day.”

Their voices overlapped with laughter, teasing, and mock complaints. Suddenly, the quietness of their condo disappeared. It was replaced by loud voices and high energy like they’d never been apart.

On the other side, Gray just stood there with his arms crossed. He silently watched as the chaos unfolded right before his eyes.

He sighed and shook his head while a small smirk tugged at his lips.

”I guess my problem is now solved,” he muttered under his breath, realizing Lily had completely forgotten the morning’s awkwardness.

===

A/N:

Thank you to all the readers who have dropped Golden Tickets for the past few days:

Daoist64YeDs, imperial_demon, PatD, Arnold_Manuel, devildays, PatD, TrashSkill, Usernameyaya, Kallebrecht, kingog, JungleDan, Hitoshi_Misaki, Tripeace, Darkness_19, MrRyzen, joe_richardson, Dieshard101, Wolf1Pack8.

We reached top 150 in the Golden Ticket Ranking, so expect 2 additional Chapters for today!