Free Web NovelChapter 19: New Home
Chrome saw the way Lana cried and panicked.
’This is bad...’
It was already drawing out their new neighbors from the surrounding luxurious houses.
Curious heads popped out from behind manicured hedges and elegant curtains. Most of these neighbors were old ladies or women with strict, judgmental faces. They watched Lana sob, and within seconds, every single one of them directed a lethal death glare right at Chrome.
"Hey! Did you make that poor girl cry?!"
One elderly lady shouted from across the street.
She looked ready to pull out her shotgun and blow his head clean off right then and there.
Chrome felt immensely uncomfortable.
He stepped closer, awkwardly patting Lana on her shoulder as he hissed under his breath:
"Lana, please, don’t cry. Come on."
Instead of stopping, Lana threw her arms around him and buried her pretty, red face into his red sweater as she cried even harder.
"Waaah! This is just so sweet of you!"
"I know, honey, but don’t cry here pl—"
"How dare you tell a woman how to feel?!"
Another woman shouted from a nearby balcony.
Chrome sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck as he gently begged the girl in his arms.
"Honey, can you please stop crying? Or I’m literally gonna die out here."
"Oh, and now he’s making it all about himself!"
Another female neighbor chimed in.
"Men are the worst!"
"He doesn’t even care that she’s crying!"
"He just cares about himself! Shameless!"
Chrome looked immensely frustrated as Lana continued to sob against his chest.
He glared at the pavement, thinking to himself:
’These women are pain in the ass. In my past life, hitting a woman could have you sent to jail... but maybe it’s worth the risk here...’
His face soured a little at the thought.
Deciding he’d enough of them, Chrome gently led Lana away from the gate and up the driveway, stroking her hair as her tears finally began to reduce.
Once they were closer to the house, he let out a massive sigh of relief.
"Phew... you almost got me killed back there."
Lana, who was still tucked against his chest, looked up at him. She suddenly giggled, stuck out her pink tongue and gave him a playful look.
"You looked so scared, tee-hee!"
Chrome’s brows furrowed. "The crying was fake?"
Lana hugged him closely, holding her chin up high with a proud smirk.
"Well, the first part was real! But after that, I just wanted to get a little dramatic and rile up our new neighbors a bit."
"Why would you do that?"
"So I could see all the women living around here, silly! Now that I’ve seen them, I don’t have to worry about you getting snatched. They’re all old hags, muhahaha!"
She laughed like your average evil alien queen plotting world domination.
Chrome gave her a light chop on the head. freёwebnovel.com
"Not funny, y’know..."
"Huuu!"
Lana rubbed the top of her head gently.
"You didn’t use to be this much taller than me, and now you are! You better not bully me with your height!"
Chrome chuckled. "I’ll try not to."
They were still walking through the front yard, which featured beautifully manicured green grass and even a small, vibrant flower garden to the side.
Lana batted her eyes charmingly at him.
"Psssh, you’d never make fun of me anyway. My dad would kill you! And besides..."
She leaned in closer, batting her lashes even more.
"You love me too much to do that."
Chrome gave her a dry look.
"I’m highly reconsidering that right now."
Lana playfully punched his chest. "HEY!"
They finally reached the front door.
Chrome opened it with a quick fingerprint scan.
Lana saw the lock flash green and gasped.
"Honey, what sorcery is this?!"
Chrome felt a little proud of himself for surprising her like that. He slipped his hands back into his tailored pant pockets and puffed his chest out a bit.
"Hmph. It’s just one of the few advanced techs in the house. There are still a lot more features it has to offer, like the high-definition security cameras and even the defense systems I installed for a few hundred thousand dollars."
He adjusted the crisp collar of his dress shirt and paused in anticipation of some high praise from his girl.
But Lana wasn’t even in his arms anymore.
She was captivated by the smart door and ignored all that gibberish he was saying. She eagerly pressed her own tiny thumb against the scanner.
[BEEP! Access Denied!]
Her brown eyes glimmered with the pure wonder of a child discovering a new toy.
Right then, the front door swung fully open.
A professional-looking real estate lady walked out.
She held a neat stack of papers and smiled at Chrome.
"Here are the contract papers, sir. You wanted to buy this house so badly, and now it’s yours. The woman you did all this for must be the luckiest woman in the world."
Lana’s ears practically perked up like a dog’s when she heard those words. She quickly spun around and stared at Chrome with big, expectant brown eyes, waiting for him to praise "this woman" he did all this for.
Chrome just cleared his throat and nodded bluntly.
"Sure..."
The bluntness of his answer made Lana instantly pout.
The real estate lady raised an eyebrow at Chrome’s reaction.
"That’s all you have to say?"
Lana nodded rapidly in agreement with the lady.
The real estate lady looked at Lana and smiled.
"Young lady, you should’ve seen how he ran here this morning. He made such a big fuss about wanting to buy this exact place. If it wasn’t broad daylight, the neighbors would’ve thought he was the Cat Sisters and shot him! He had to persuade the previous owner to sell, even though she adamantly opposed selling to a man. He bought this place on the spot for $1.5 million."
Lana stood away from the door and smiled at him.
"Wow... that lady must be really special to you."
Chrome smiled back. "Maybe..."
"Gah! I want to go play with Lili a bit!"
Lana giggled excitedly, unable to hide her joy anymore as she rushed past him into the house.
The real estate lady handed Chrome a business card.
"Here is my card, sir. Please call me if you need any more properties bought or sold in the future."
Chrome took the card.
"Oh yeah... who are these ’Cat Sisters’ you said?"
The lady waved a dismissive hand, laughing lightly.
"Oh, don’t worry too much about them. They’re just some notorious burglars who’ve been stealing from wealthy people in the middle districts lately. That’s actually why I recommended those defense systems."
Chrome nodded understandingly.
"Okay, that makes sense."
Seeing that he still looked a little bothered by the security mention, the lady kindly patted his shoulder.
"You really don’t have to worry about it, sir. And if you’re still anxious, you can always join the Watchdogs."
Chrome blinked. "Huh? The Watchdogs?"
The lady nodded.
"This is the Greenfield Estate, and it’s very well protected because of the neighborhood watch team called the Watchdogs. They take their jobs very seriously."
Chrome smiled softly, shaking his head.
"I’m not interested in that. I just want to enjoy my time here with my girlfriend and my family."
"Understood. Have a wonderful evening."
The lady replied with a respectful nod before walking down the driveway.
Chrome let out a yawn and walked into the house.
The living room was beautifully furnished, but because they hadn’t unpacked their personal belongings yet, it still felt a bit empty to him. However, the empty space was currently being put to use.
Lana and Lili were already running around the room.
"The monster’s gonna get youuu, raaahhh!"
Lana shouted, holding her arms out stiffly like a zombie as she chased the little girl.
Lili ran at a deliberately slow pace, giggling softly as her new slides clopped against the polished floor.
"Noooo! Waahhh!"
Lana kept her dramatic zombie act up, shuffling sideways across the floor until her foot came down directly onto a world-ending, stray Lego cube.
CRACK.
Lana screeched, losing her balance and falling flat on her pretty face against the floor.
Lili stopped running and gasped.
"Big sis! Are you okay?!"
Lana painfully pushed herself up, rubbing her nose.
"Yeah, yeah... I’m fine..."
Chrome chuckled and walked over to help her up. But the moment he got a clear look at her face, he suddenly lost his footing and fell right onto his butt. He slapped a hand over his own mouth, smartly killing the gasp that tried to escape his throat.
Lana looked at him in total surprise.
"What’s wrong, honey?"
"Um, um..."
Chrome pointed at the glass center table.
Lana looked at her reflection.
Her lips were stained with a fresh smear of blood. And right in the front of her mouth... she was unluckily one of her middle teeth.
"KYAAAAHHHH!"
