Chapter 43

Mia’s POV

“No, that’s unfair. I’ll only take half.”

—They’d be the ones talking to customers and preparing materials. I’d just be moving a needle. How could I take it all?

Ann waved her hand like it was nothing. “You take eighty percent; we take twenty percent. Done.”

“Alright.” I nodded.

Then she dug a thick wad of cash out of her pocket. She didn’t even count it. Just shoved it into my hand like she was afraid I’d run.

“Here’s your deposit. Don’t you dare bail on us at the last second.”

I looked down at the heavy stack of green bills in my palm, rubbing the rough paper with my fingertips.

My wolf licked its fangs and chuckled.

“Prey walks right up to me. Why would I ever run?”

I pocketed the money without a hint of hesitation. I even lifted it toward the camera with a smile.

“Everyone’s watching. I won’t run.”

Ann was amused by my bluntness, smiling with squinted eyes. “Good! A girl this pretty doesn’t look like the type to trick people.”

Then she suddenly remembered something and asked, “Oh, what’s your name, honey?”

“Mia.”

“Good. I’ll remember.” Ann pointed at the other two women. “These are my sisters, Anna, and Annie. Call whichever name you can remember.”

I nodded, hugged the empty jugs, and headed for the door. “I’m going to finish the deliveries first. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Aww, that mouth is so sweet!” Ann beamed and rummaged in a cabinet, stuffing a bag of fruit into my arms. “Take this to eat! And once you finish this run, don’t go doing more hard labor.”

Reddit

【Ann? Anna? Annie? I’m already dizzy. 】

【LMAO it’s Ann with an E! 】

【Is the production team doing this on purpose? These names are confusing. 】

【Over in Jevon’s livestream, Grandma’s so mad she can’t even speak. Over here Mia just secured a $500 deposit. 】

【??? What happened—I'm going to watch! 】

Jevon’s POV

At the same time, at Nydia’s house.

This was the first time she’d been this close to me. The little girl looked nervous.

She carefully fussed through the kitchen cabinets and fridge, then put chips, cookies, candy and two cans of soda onto the coffee table.

“Jevon, Lilith, help yourselves!” she said with a stiff smile, trying hard to be welcoming.

The coffee table was instantly buried in snacks.

Lilith pressed her lips together. After hesitating for a long moment, she finally reached out, picked up an apple, and took a dainty bite.

I could tell at one glance she was unhappy—her expression was way too familiar.

In the Simith family, she was used to juicy, sweet apples handpicked straight from their orchard, not this bland, nothing-special supermarket kind.

She fought the urge to spit it out. Slowly, she forced that bite down, but her gaze immediately darted to a bag of Lay’s on the table.

Probably because the name sounded familiar so she assumed it couldn’t be that bad. She put on a show of pleasant surprise, tore the bag open, pinched a chip between her fingers, and held it to my mouth.

“Jevon, this is your favorite, right?”

My chest tightened.

A werewolf’s sense of smell and taste is a hundred times sharper than a human’s. The oil in this kind of cheap fried junk is basically poison to my stomach.

And on top of that, I have a stomach condition. I’ve always kept my diet brutally strict. I never touch stuff like this.

But this was Lilith. In werewolf society, refusing food offered by your own kind is an insult.

So, I could only steel myself, open my mouth, chew twice, and force it down. I even squeezed out a look like I was enjoying it.

“Mm… not bad.”

Lilith’s eyes lit up. She immediately stuffed a few into her own mouth.

Probably she thought it was acceptable. After a couple bites, she set it down, then excitedly ripped open another bag.

She’d been spoiled rotten in the Simith family. At their table, it was always venison and steak with red wine or whiskey.

She had no concept of food shouldn’t be wasted. In her world, if you got tired of something, you tossed it. No big deal.

To me, it was normal enough. But in an ordinary family, that kind of behavior was glaringly out of place.

Nydia clearly frowned for a split second, then quickly smoothed her expression, probably thinking, as long as Jevon’s happy, those were just some snacks. Worst case, she would run to the store again.

Reddit

【Oh my god, Lilith opened all the snacks? 】

【That whole table had to cost a lot. The little fan’s family is obviously not well-off. This is way too wasteful. 】

【If I were her parents, I’d have already lost it. 】

【She just looked down on Grandma’s rice cakes, and now she’s wasting an entire table of snacks. Such a hypocrite. 】

【I’m done. I can’t stand people who waste food. 】

【And Jevon didn’t even stop her. Guess the siblings are the same. 】

【Maybe they’ll finish it all later? 】

Lilith didn’t touch the snacks again. She just left the bags gaping open on the table, then casually grabbed a book from the shelf and started flipping through it at lightning speed, flip, flip, flip.

Nydia couldn’t help sneaking glances at her over and over, her posture growing more and more stiff.

Then the director’s voice came through my earpiece:

“Jevon, don’t forget you’re here as a tutor. The livestream audience is watching.”

I jolted back to myself. Immediately, I reined in my presence, turned to Nydia, and softened my tone.

“Alright. Let’s start. Get your textbook out.”

Nydia obediently hugged an 11th-grade algebra textbook over to the table.

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me.” As I spoke, I nudged up the gold frames on my nose, no lenses, but they made me look more refined, more scholarly, more… teacher-like.

The livestream chat exploded instantly:

【His vibe changed! The pressure is insane! 】

【Please act as a modern drama teacher. I’m begging, I can’t take it! 】

【If my math teacher looked like this, I’d be top of the class. 】

Nydia was obviously nervous—she even stuttered a little. Her finger lightly tapped an example problem on the page.

“This… I don’t get this one.”

I followed her finger and froze.

What the hell was this?

Was human math this hard now?

I forced my face to stay calm and took the book from her. Thank God the example problem came with an answer. I secretly breathed out.

—As long as I understood the approach, I could teach it.

However, ten minutes passed, and I still didn’t understand it.

Found the area of the shaded region?

Please. Someone found the shaded region inside my mind first.

Back in school, I wasn’t bad at math but that was werewolf school. The geometry we did was usually about calculating hunting-ground distributions, lunar phase trajectories, territorial coordinates.

Back then, I could quickly estimate a deer’s escape radius.

I just never expected I’d get wrecked by a single human geometry problem.

As an adult, my life became scripts, acting, and pack business.

Math?

It got thrown to the winds years ago.

But behind that camera, countless eyes were on me.

I had to solve it.