Chapter 115: Fresh Off The Boat!

Chapter 115: Fresh Off The Boat!

The bright morning sun streamed through the windows, casting a warm glow across the bedroom as I woke up this Monday morning. The heavy, pleasant exhaustion of a long evening spent loving Hana and Mary still lingered deeply in my muscles.

Mary had already slipped out of bed to head down to the station, leaving her spot empty and cold. Beside me, Hana was still snoring softly, her body curled tightly into my side. Looking down at her peaceful face, I watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest until her eyelashes fluttered open.

She caught sight of my affectionate smile, her eyes softening with a sleepy, intimate warmth. "I think we overdid it last night? I am still sleepy. But, it was more fun than I thought it would be, fufu."

I leaned down to press a gentle kiss against her warm lips, enjoying the sweet, lingering taste of her. "Go back to sleep then, I am going to work out and get ready for my University. I will see you at breakfast, love you."

After tucking the heavy blankets safely back around her bare shoulders, I quietly slid out of bed and stepped into the hallway to tackle the regular morning workout routine that I had missed so much.

Later, the bathroom filled with thick steam as I stood under the cascading hot water of the shower with Mercy. The heat beat down on my shoulders, but I had to break the unfortunate news to her that my little buddy was completely out of commission. Hana and Mary had spent a relentless twelve hours ensuring that I was thoroughly drained.

Mercy blinked through the water droplets, a look of distinct disappointment settling over her beautiful features. "Mercy, I really would just like to hold you if that is alright? Skin-ship does not have to be just about sexual release. Just embracing can strengthen our bond as Master and Maid."

The hot water slicked our skin as I pulled her slender form against my bare chest, enveloping her in a firm embrace. Her arms slid around my waist in response, her head tilting forward until her chin rested comfortably against my shoulder.

A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she leaned into my warmth. "This is nice. I can feel your care for me, Master."

I reached for the soap, sliding the lathered sponge slowly across the smooth expanse of her wet back. "Being a young man, I want nothing more than to have sex because that is my instinct telling me to release myself in women I want as my mate, but, there is more to life than getting my rocks off."

I pulled my head back from our tight embrace, forcing her to look up so I could stare directly into her clear, focused eyes. "The most important thing for me is family and affection. For me, I want to make all of you around me happy, till the end of our, hopefully very long lives."

Yielding to a sudden urge, I closed the remaining distance and pressed my lips gently against Mercy's, feeling her stay perfectly still against the spraying shower water. She slowly let her eyelids close completely while tightening her grip around my waist, her deep affection coming through clearly in every small rub of her fingers against my wet back.

We finally parted after about ten minutes of continuous, slow kissing. A rare, genuine smile touched her wet face. "Master, let us get ready for your breakfast and University. Also, I really liked your affection for me. I will practice with you more often to improve my skill in it."

Warmed by that moment of mutual affection, I stood still and let her help me dry off and get ready for the day, feeling incredibly blessed to have a woman like her standing by my side.

I was the first one to arrive at the breakfast table, the dining room quiet before the morning rush. The house maids immediately hurried out of the kitchen, setting down a large, steaming dish filled with eggs, ham, and a mountain of steamed vegetables. The extra greens on the plate were strictly because pregnant women need properly balanced nutrition, so nobody had any right to judge my breakfast choices.

Linda walked into the room a few moments later, her eyes brightening the moment she saw me. She moved quickly to my side to give me a tight morning hug and a lingering kiss before sliding into the empty chair on my right.

Hana followed right behind her, matching her speed as she offered the exact same affection before quickly claiming the seat on my left.

Nichole and Nadia entered the dining room together next, both of them balancing heavy law books in their arms and setting the volumes down with a thud before leaning over to greet me with the same kisses.

Lastly, Tina swayed into the room with her usual confident stride, wearing casual blue jeans and a tight white sweater. Without a word of warning, she leaned over my chair and pulled my head straight into her large breasts, kissing me deeply and thoroughly until Linda's irritated voice broke the silence.

A sharp scowl formed on Linda's face as she dropped her fork onto her plate. "Have you lost your dignity as a noble lady? Please don't act shameless at the breakfast table, Tina."

Tina finally broke the vulgar kiss, pulling back slowly with a mischievous grin as she squinted down at Linda. "I saw you running ahead of me to get the spot next to Rick before I got here, so I think I deserve a prize for the turtle cheating, right? Ufufu."

Tina claimed an open seat further down the table while I looked over at Linda, the hilarious mental image of her sprinting through the mansion's hallways just to beat Tina to the dining room causing a wave of amusement to rise in my chest. When Linda noticed my knowing smile, her cheeks flushed bright red and her eyes filled with pure shame at being exposed, looking incredibly cute trying to hide her face.

Later that morning, Tina, Linda, Jenifer, and I walked through the crowded university corridors and into our business classroom together. I couldn't help but let out a quiet, internal sigh at the fact that Jenifer and I were wearing perfectly matching navy-blue suits that drew looks from the passing students.

The three women went to find their usual seats, while I walked up to the front professor's desk to handle the attendance sheet. Victoria was practically buried behind a massive tower of school paperwork that had accumulated over the last two weeks of our absence. She looked up from the clutter, her expression entirely desperate the second she saw me reach for the log binder.

A weary sigh escaped her lips as she tapped her pen against the desk. "Rick, please save me? Come during lunch to my office and help me organize all of this chaos? I will have someone bring us a Big Burger for our lunch?"

If we weren't standing in the middle of a crowded university classroom with students watching, I would have pulled her over the desk and kissed her right then and there. "You had me at Big Burger! I will let the others know I will be working then. Relax Teacher Long."

Vicky took a deep, centering breath, looking absolutely adorable in her overwhelmed state as she leaned back in her chair. I knew she was intelligent enough to handle the workload just fine on her own, meaning this was clearly her way of creating an excuse for us to spend some quiet, uninterrupted time together.

On my way back down the aisle toward my desk, Jim raised his hand to catch my attention. "Glad to see you back after your vacation, how was it?"

The words almost spilled right out of my mouth to tell him that Victoria and I had basically treated the entire trip like a honeymoon, but I caught myself just in time. The realization hit me that these two still had absolutely no idea about my relationship with the teacher. "Mei Xia and I confirmed our feelings on that trip, so my heart feels light. Ashley, is this guy treating you well, or should I drag him into the halls for you?"

Ashley blushed deeply at the sudden question, her eyes darting away for a split second before her expression turned incredibly serious as she looked back up at me. "Jimbo has been better than good to me. Um? Rick can I train him privately, now that he is mostly healed. I also want to confess my real background to him, may I?"

James looked back and forth between the two of us, his face a perfect picture of total confusion as he tried to follow the conversation. I just smiled down at the honest woman, giving her a nod of approval. "You and James being honest will make your relationship stronger, and I am sure he won't mind. He is friends with me and I am in your same position, so train him and tell him. Jim, and you! Listen to what Ashley has to say and keep an open mind, see you both later."

I turned away to leave them to their discussion, realizing she was finally going to reveal her status as the Vice Leader of the Hidden Dragons to him. She had probably been struggling to invent excuses for her sudden absences whenever he was off the clock, making me glad to see that she trusted him enough to take this step in their relationship.

As I made my way back toward my own desk, Cat Woo suddenly stepped directly into my path, blocking the aisle. She tilted her head toward the heavy wooden classroom door, pointing her thumb over her shoulder toward the hallway. "Can we speak privately for a moment?"

I blinked in confusion, my mind racing to figure out what she wanted until my eyes drifted past her shoulder to Tina, who simply gave me a firm, encouraging nod from her seat, indicating she already knew Cat wanted to talk to me beforehand. "Sure Cat, I have a few minutes till I need to do this attendance anyway."

I turned around and followed her out into the quiet corridor. Her seatmate Scott glared after us from his desk, a heavy, bitter frown twisting his face as he watched the girl who always complained about me suddenly ask for a private meeting.

She led me down the long hallway toward the bank of vending machines, dropping some loose change inside to buy a cold Diet Coke. The machine rattled loudly as the can dropped, and she cracked the tab open to take a slow, deliberate sip while I leaned my shoulder against the cold metal side of the machine, waiting patiently for her to find her words.

A shadow of doubt crossed her face as she clutched the cold aluminum can. "My uncle Bill Woo, told me what you said to him, so why?"

Her eyes looked entirely confused and defeated as she stared at me, as if her brain simply couldn't wrap itself around my lack of hostility. "Why what? You have never done anything to me or my loved ones, at all. Just because you married an idiot, does not make him your responsibility in my eyes."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she looked down at the floor. "But I have been hurtful to Tina? I thought you would want to punish me for fighting with her? I mean, look at Scott, he is miserable, and I thought that would be my fate. You are the victor and I am the loser, so you should finish me, right?"

Before she could even register the movement of my hand, I reached out and gave her forehead a sharp, gentle finger-flick, causing her to instantly stumble back a step and cover the spot with her palm in pure annoyance.

I let out a loud laugh at her reaction. "Ha-ha! There I punished you. Bill Woo is an honorable man and already tried to apologize, and he will work for me now. The Woo are not my enemy but my allies. Steve Woo was not even a real Woo like you and your uncle. Your husband is in prison and my revenge is done, it is that simple. As for Tina and your feud, it was before I was even a thing with her. I guarantee you if she wanted revenge, we would not even be talking right now."

She stared straight at me as if I were a complete mental case, her jaw dropping slightly. "Do you know why I married Steve? And oh, I am divorced from him now, so please refrain from calling him my husband."

I shrugged because it really wasn't that hard to figure out what she wanted.

"My guess is, when you found out Steve was the first pick of the Feng Head and would inherit the Fire Birds, you as a noble lady of the Woo, wanted to help your uncle and clan by putting your puppet at the top, and try to control him. Sadly you found out too late, Steve was not controllable by normal means. And due to having to be sister wives with Tina, you wanted to make sure she knew she was a second wife and not a first. That way Steve would listen to you and not Tina, right?"

Cat didn't say a single word, her jaw slightly slack as she dumbly nodded her head, completely stunned that I had guessed her exact motivations.

A heavy silence lingered between us by the vending machines before she finally found her voice. "And you had already predicted Steve would lose when you talked to me in class that day. Did you also see this as my ending? Rick, you are a very dangerous man to foresee all of this so far out."

I gave another casual shrug and stood up straight, shifting my weight away from the cold metal of the soda machine.

"Well Cat, I have to finish my sheet, so see you later."

As I stepped past her to head back into the business classroom, her hand shot out and gripped my uniform sleeve tightly. "Please, let me serve the Fire Birds?! I promise I am loyal and won't betray you. I give my word on my Woo family."

I looked down at her desperate fingers clutching my fabric, a small smile playing on my lips as I delivered her only option. "Then, work under Tina, if she wants to take you in, that's my condition."

She slowly let go of my sleeve, absorbing the terms before offering a quiet, subdued nod. "Thank you."

Tina didn't elaborate on her subsequent talks with Cat later that morning, so I didn't push or pry into their business. I simply told the girls to go enjoy their lunch without me, since I had already promised to help Vicky clear out her massive mountain of backlogs.

During computer class, Kim was practically vibrating in her seat, excitedly asking all about my two-week vacation and wanting to know what I thought after meeting more Americans. When I described their casual dressing style, she nodded her head in total agreement, noting that her home country's traditional wardrobe was a bit exotic compared to the way we dress in Eurasia.

She pouted heavily when I explained that I couldn't stay behind to help troubleshoot her hardware issues until much later in the day due to my lunch obligations, though her mood instantly brightened when she heard that Hana would be attending the university next school year.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, the office door swung open to reveal a delivery person with vibrant maroon hair and red-framed glasses. Yes, Lucy had intentionally come to bother my quiet, alone time with Vicky. I only forgave her sudden intrusion because she was carrying a fresh, steaming Big Burger Combo that my stomach had been desperately missing for two whole weeks.

Both women sat across from me as we began to eat, clearly enjoying the pure, satisfied smile on my face while I got my junk food fix, until Vicky finally aired her burning curiosity.

"Dear, why do you love eating at Big Burger so much?"

I paused mid-bite, the wrapper halfway to my mouth as I genuinely pondered that tough and complicated question.

"My father would bring me there on occasion, for boys-day-out. Dad never talked about Sally Tang to me growing up, but... He told me my birth mother really loved this place... I had only found out from uncle Tang, that this was my mother's first business, and that is why my father always brought me there."

I looked down at the burger in my hands, staring at it as if I were looking directly into the past. The two women remained completely silent, letting the heavy nostalgia settle over the office as I continued.

"Father worked long hours, so when I was around nine and responsible, he would let me go alone to the corner Big Burger once a week as my Big-Man's Outing to eat for him. And now after he is gone, I eat there still, to help me remember his lessons in life. I even met lots of wonderful people in the Big Burger restaurant when I was there."

I let out a soft smile, looking up to meet their intent gazes.

"James and I met there too, and he would join me every week till we became brothers, sharing the same hobbies. I even had my first date there with an older woman when I was ten, ha-ha!"

Vicky's eyes widened in total shock, her hands coming up to pause her meal. "Wait, wait, wait! You went on a date with an older woman at ten years old?!"

My cheeks flushed with a bit of a shame as I sheepishly admitted the truth.

"No, it was not that kind of date. She was a nice woman that bought me my combo for about four weeks. We would meet up and eat, but when I told my dad about her, I never saw her again. I have even forgotten her name. I just remember she was very kind and pretty. We talked about all kinds of things, like movies and the like. But when she stopped coming, I was kinda sad."

Lucy leaned forward, a genuinely kind, knowing smile gracing her lips. "So the reason you seem to be attracted to older women, was because of your meetings with that lady? And what did your father say about meeting that kind lady?"

I thoroughly considered the thought, realizing I had never actually looked at it that way before. Maybe sharing meals with a mature woman at such an impressionable age really had skewed my view, teaching me to admire older, sophisticated women.

"Hmm? It might be possible that that may have skewed my view on attractive women. Thinking back on it, this might be part of it. Oh, and my dad told me that nice lady was a scary-woman, and not to trust beautiful women so easily. He grounded me from going there for a month, sigh, so unfair!"

I was so caught up in the memory that I didn't even notice Lucy's eyebrow twitch violently at my words.

Vicky tilted her head, leaning her chin on her palm. "So what do you remember about her?"

I racked my brain to pull up the decades-old memory, because I was only ten at the time. When you meet someone briefly and it isn't a dangerous, high-stakes situation like the time with my tree, the human brain tends to blur the finer details, but I recounted what remained.

"She was probably like twenty, a university student or something. She had short-black-hair and blue-eyes, and her figure was very attractive, but we sat in a booth most of the time, so I only noticed her next to me."

Vicky just stared at me blankly, her expression perfectly flat. "You were ten and sitting next to a strange older woman, you did not really know well, and you did not notice anything odd about it?"

I gave a simple shrug, thoroughly defending my younger self.

"At ten years old, I was mature and confident, not like my high-school days. Find me a preteen boy that is offered to sit with a mature big-sister and not do it?!"

"Ufufu, Victoria, I think Rick must have had his first crush with her, so don't bust his chops. So Rick, if you met that woman again, what would you do?"

After finishing the last bite of my burger, I licked my fingers clean of the stray sauce and pulled a sanitizer wet-nap from the bag to thoroughly wipe my hands down before looking straight at Lucy.

"Listen to my father and run!"

The exact moment the words left my mouth, I could have sworn I saw a sudden flash of sharp agitation ripple across her smiling face. I quickly dismissed it, assuming I was just imagining things, especially when Victoria burst out into a loud laugh at my expense.

"Ha-ha, Well Rick, that definitely was not me. But I wish it was."

I let out a slow sigh, the mood shifting back toward a more serious weight as I stared at the empty wrapper.

"Just after I was grounded and never saw that lady again, my father took me and my family on a road-trip to see my Grandfather. I was in such a bad mood from being grounded, that I snapped at my cold-grandpa. I blamed him for everything my dad suffered. I told that bastard how my dad struggled to take care of us all, and he told me it was none of my concern."

I reached for my cup, taking a slow sip of the crisp soda as the old family feud replayed vividly in my mind.

"I told that grumpy bastard, my dad did not need a shit family that abandoned their own, even when I was born. So I have no love for Lee. Who abandons a good man that gives everything and only wants love?"

Lucy's expression softened into something slightly downcast, her voice dropping a fraction. "Do you think there is more to it than you knew? Maybe your grandpa had no choice? And why did your father take you there?"

"My grandfather was stepping down from being the head of his Lee family or something, and wanted to bring my father back. But when my father heard my words, he smiled and told my grandpa, 'My son is right, I am no longer a Lee, so tell those backstabbers to keep their charity!'"

Both Lucy and Victoria sat there with their mouths half-open, completely stunned by the sudden revelation of my family history.

"So my dad put us all right back in the car, and we came back to Star City. When I thought my father would scold me, he instead said to me, 'Son, it is better to live a happy life as a commoner than live the life as a slave noble. You reminded me who I am, and I won't let you live in that prison. Be free my son, even if the world hates you for it.'"

I finished the last of my drink, setting the empty plastic cup down firmly on the desk as I looked at the two women.

"When my father died, my connection to Lee died as well. That is why I consider my grandfather dead. When I became a Tang, I wanted to abandon my Lee name, but it reminded me of my father. We are both Rick Lee. But now I am Rick Lee-Tang. The world cannot forget my father as long as I live."

Out of nowhere, Lucy reached over from my right and forcefully pulled my head straight into a tight hug, patting my hair with a soft chuckle.

"You did not collect your hugs I owed you as payment, Rick! So for being a good son, here take this one, Ufufu."

Even though the sudden warmth of her embrace felt incredibly nice, I quickly scrambled to pull myself out of the restrictive, tight hold before things got out of hand. "Hey, your Boss and my wife is sitting right here, crazy lady! Geez."

Before this incredibly clingy woman could get me into any real trouble with Vicky, I pushed myself out of the chair and stood up straight, eager to make a quick exit. "I am off to Kung-Fu Club, I need to be there for the tournament training for my school team, see you tomorrow Vicky, mwah."

Victoria only grinned knowingly as I leaned down to plant a quick kiss on her lips before completely bolting from the quiet office.

Lucy watched the door click shut, most of the playful joy instantly draining from her face as she leaned back with a quiet sigh. "He was forced to become a man too soon in life, sigh. I am glad he is doing better now."

Victoria shifted in her seat, her eyes squinting suspiciously at Lucy as she tapped her fingers against the desk. "You are not planning on cheating on your husband and seducing mine, are you?"

Lucy adjusted her red-framed glasses, a perfectly innocent, unbothered smile spreading across her face. "I promise, I will never cheat on my husband, fufu."

Hearing the direct reassurance, Victoria visibly relaxed and prematurely lowered her defensive guard.

Technically, Lucy hadn't lied to her at all, mostly because a specific thought was currently running through her head. I would need a husband to cheat on him!