Noah’s fidgeting form abruptly stiffened, blood rushed into his head, and he couldn’t help but indignantly glare at Levi, looking like a kitten with his fur puffed up. Unfortunately, the warning admonishment within his wide watery eyes, coupled with his flushed cheeks, turned into allure in the eyes of a certain wolf. The already nonexistent threat was further diminished by the fact that he couldn’t hold Levi’s gaze for long.

Ah, how could the little baby Noah compare with this shameless tease? Especially when the mentioned tease looked especially radiant today with even his eyes smiling? Baby Noah couldn’t even look at him straight without feeling like his little heart would jump out of his chest!

Levi chuckled again and adoringly ruffled his kitten’s raised fur. The indignant kitten huffed and puffed but made no moves to avoid his hand.

“When…” the kitten Noah grumbled under his breath.

“When is what?” wolf Levi hummed, “Dinner? Up to you. My stomach always has room for…” Levi ambiguously eyed his baby, “…dessert.”

Noah’s jaw fell open, and he nearly jumped out of the chair in agitation. How did he never realize how thick-skinned Levi could be?! And so…! So…! So… bad, ah! (⁄ ⁄> □

“Not that!” Noah snapped. “And what dessert?!” To further demonstrate his displeasure, he smacked Levi’s naughty paw away from his head, his wide eyes glaring holes into Levi.

“My mistake,” Levi cooed, “Not a dessert. Very filling and nutritious. Can’t be anything less than a full course meal.”

“You–you–you…!” Noah choked, his entire face turning hot enough to fry an egg, “Full course your sister! I meant…” His trembling voice rose an octave, “I meant, when did you and my sister break up?!”

Levi’s smile momentarily cracked.

Ah, he couldn’t say yesterday, could he? Wouldn’t his baby think he was frivolous and had rebounded too fast?!

“A while ago…” It was now Levi’s turn to avoid Noah’s eyes.

Noah’s eyebrows jumped, but he didn’t press Levi further. Now that he looked back on the previous days, there were indeed many signs of their breakup.

His sister and Levi had been avoiding each other for days now. Even back then, when he had taken his sister’s place in welcoming Levi, the entire situation had been off. Levi didn’t seem disappointed that his sister couldn’t make it, and his sister, too, flung Levi to him far too easily. Her message back then had even been in good humor, as if she was getting rid of a hot potato.

The only thing that didn’t make sense was why his sister had kept quiet about the breakup.

And what about the wedding? Levi claimed he wouldn’t be marrying his sister, but if there would be no wedding, why were the wedding preparations still ongoing?

Wait…! If there would be no wedding, wouldn’t this bachelor party be considered a big joke?? OAO

Then how come Levi was looking forward to it so much??

There was definitely something fishy going on here!

He needed to talk to his sister ASAP!

Speaking of his sister… why did he have a feeling like he had forgotten something?

“Ah!” Noah finally remembered! “Brother, sis called you last night, but your communicator was set to do-not-disturb!”

“Mn,” Levi’s deadpanned, “Saw the missed calls.”

Noah speechlessly eyed Levi, who seemed totally unconcerned. Looking conflicted, Noah opened his mouth to say something, but he was yet to utter a word when, as if on cue, a call came in on Levi’s communicator. Levi glanced at the caller’s id, and seeing it was his ex-fiancée, he, without so much as a blink, declined the call.

Noah, “…” (°△°|||)

Levi turned his attention back to his baby, but a few moments later, his communicator rang once again with the same caller id. This time, the annoyed Levi directly added the caller id to his blocked list. Hmph! The party was about to start; he had no time or patience right now for unrelated people and things!

Noah’s eyelid twitched, “Maybe it’s important?”

“More important than our current operation?”

Noah, “…” ‘…Alright, brother. You win.’

…

In hindsight, they really should have picked up that call.

***

This suspenseful game that initially started with 8 players was finally drawing to a close.

All eyes were on the last two men who remained standing. Metaphorically. Noah wasn’t really standing. He sat leaning back in his chair with a coy smirk, his cards down on the table and his fingers intertwined in front of him.

Across from him sat his last remaining opponent. The man, who had an appearance of a football coach, wiped off the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Real money was at stake here.

He would either strike it big or lose it all.

It all came down to this one last card.

The man took in a deep breath and shakily reached for the top card of the deck. Huge beads of sweat slid down the sides of his face, but he had no mind to wipe it off.

Everyone held their breaths.

The card of destiny was flipped.

Take a walk on the Boardwalk.

“Ooooooooooh!” The exclamations of schadenfreude and hisses of disappointment erupted throughout the room.

Noah’s smirk turned into a big grin, and he reached out his hand towards his foe in a cute yet infuriating manner. “Rent. Pay up, yo!”

With manly tears in his eyes, the man grudgingly smacked his entire remaining stack of dollar bills in front of Noah, this landlord who had been waiting through this entire game of Monopoly for some unfortunate bloke to step onto his Boardwalk.

“Heh, heh,” Noah, the champion, eyed the thick stack of dollar bills in front of him.

Levi couldn’t take it anymore. He covered his eyes with his hand.

Ah, ah, his baby was just too cute!! ❤❤❤❤ He dared not look at him any further!

His darling thought his current pose was that of a domineering landlord, but actually, he, with his large glittering eyes, was so fucking adorable Levi thought his heart would stop any second!

Ah, ah! If Levi was a girl, he’d be letting out high-pitched squeals right now. (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄

But, wait, wait, wait! Rollback! Monopoly?? What?? What the hell happened to Noah’s glorious plans of playing strip poker???

Of course, it was vetoed by Levi.

What strip poker?! Not allowed! His baby could only strip in front of him, Levi!

“Fine… I won’t play,” Noah had pouted, “I’ll… I’ll be the card dealer!”

Levi, (≖ ‸ ≖)ノ “No.”

Rejected, rejected, rejected! The only person his baby was allowed to see stripping was him, Levi!

(ꐦ ≖ ‸ ≖)

Blackie, who was trying his hardest to concentrate on his monitoring instead of laughing himself to death, ‘This is why grooms don’t invite their brides to their bachelor party!’

Alright, alright, so strip poker was out. But what happened to the billiards and dart tournament?

The dart tournament couldn’t be held. The security personnel confiscated the darts as dangerous equipment.

Of course, Levi could have worked something out, but… ah, would a person who didn’t even dare throw snowballs himself allow someone else to throw darts in the vicinity of his baby?

Yeah, no.

Alright, alright. But how did pool earn Levi’s ire?

Actually, it didn’t. Astar Levi was very thrilled with the idea of teaching his baby how to play pool! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Noah, this pure little cookie raised by a nun, had never been anywhere near a pool table. And Aris, this little Soother, couldn’t play pool to save his life.

As soon as Levi realized his baby didn’t even know how to hold the cue stick properly, he very enthusiastically insisted he taught him personally. Never mind the fact that the times he himself had played pool could be counted on the fingers of two hands… heh, his baby didn’t know that.

Although being taught by Levi was a bit embarrassing, in the end, Noah decided to give Levi face in front of his peers. Just look at his excitement, just look at that fervor! Noah simply didn’t have the heart to rain on his parade.

If Levi wanted to show off his pool skills, then he’d look in awe. If Levi wanted to teach, then he would earnestly learn. Besides, it’s not like he wasn’t interested in learning.

Author Note

Alright, my kid is back in school, and my husband back to work. It is time for me to start seriously writing again. Until I make up for all the chapters I’ve missed releasing, I won’t be going back to a fixed release schedule. I’ll just release chapters as they are finished writing. Expect them to come at a random time of the day. Naturally, since I am making up for lost chapters, the release rate should be more than one chapter per two days, otherwise, I wouldn’t be making up for the lost chapters.