All good things must come to an end.
Jennifer felt very sorry when the POOD came to inform them that the PIT CAM—or whatever PISS was—was over and she could go home.
Rolly had been so super nice the entire time in the hotel suite. He cut fruit for her. And made her warm sweet tea to help with the shock. Every time Jennifer sniffled—she wasn't doing it on purpose, honest! Her nose was just still running from the backflow of tears from just now—Rolly would stop whatever he was doing and pat her back with a woeful expression that made her heart melt.
Not the kind of brain-melt dysfunction or brain-freeze instant swoon effect the men in her webnovels gave her, but a totally heart-tugging, how could such a man exist? He is so cute I am so lucky kind of feeling that Jennifer didn't have the word for.
And he wasn't even Ronan the Dragon when they were alone. He was just Rolly. Rolly Polly. Rolly whose smile always came with a twinkle in his eyes. God! She loved that man.
Wait. No.
Wth. Was she saying?
No. Love was not… Jennifer had been in love once, and it was nothing like this.
And while he cut fruit and handed her tea, Jennifer realized that there were many things about Rolly that didn't change, no matter which form he took. Whether the big round Rolly from her neighborhood or the larger-than-life hero, Ronan the Dragon:
The sound of his quiet laugh.
The way his eyes crinkled at the sides when he smiled.
His hands that were large and calloused.
"How did you get these?" Jennifer asked when Rolly sat next to her to feed her sliced apples.
Rolly opened his palm to look at the callouses across the base of his fingers and frowned. "Pull-ups?"
There were more along his fingers and one side of his thumb.
"Training, like bladework," he added.
Jennifer took advantage of the opportunity—yes, again—to touch his hand, tracing the rough patches with her finger. It was warm and large and heavy in hers. She turned it around.
"And these?"
Rolly clenched his fist to show her. "Punching."
He pulled up his fists and made a play punch. Jennifer laughed. He was so cute doing that in his Rolly form.
Actually, that was another thing that was the same. Rolly and Ronan the Dragon moved the same. They both walked with the same amble. And they both shrugged with their right shoulder. They were also both the same height so they looked at her at the same angle with the same gentle expression a lot.
"What are you thinking?" Jennifer asked when he was just looking at her like that again.
"Ah," Rolly startled, and then he smiled and tried to shrug it off. "Nothing."
"Really?" Jennifer pretended to be offended. "You were looking at me and thinking nothing?"
Woah. Jennifer had never realized how coy she could be until today.
"Ah, no." Rolly looked mildly panicked, and then embarrassed. "I was just thinking…" He folded his hands together and said quietly, "You're really pretty. I mean, I'm really lucky. I feel like I must be dreaming."
Yeah. Jennifer felt exactly like that too.
But that was the problem with dreams. Like all good things, they ended. And reality saw Jennifer hailing a ride back home to her parents, packing her luggage, making a hasty, "Don't worry, I'm okay. No, I can't stay an extra night, I have work tomorrow morning, bye bye," to her family, and then taking the last flight home—all on her own.
And now, here she was. At home. On her own. Exactly like she had been for the last twenty years.
Usually, when she found herself alone at home on a quiet night, she would relax and feel freed to do her own thing—laundry, late-night snacking, checking webnovel stats, or whatever her heart or inbuilt sense of responsibility ordered.
She usually turned in early on Sunday nights because Monday was the start of the school week. But she couldn't sleep.
Tonight, the shadows felt longer, and Jennifer couldn't help but remember the portal that had opened in front of her earlier in the day—and worry that it might happen again.
What if Micah knew she was the goddess?
Or worse, what if Micah knew her address?
So Jennifer did what any grown single woman would do when feeling overwhelmed, terrified, guilty, and possibly PMS-ing: she read webnovels.
Specifically, she read her own webnovels, because they were her familiar comfort place—and also because they had been writing themselves lately—and Jennifer really needed to know what was going on.
There were quite a number of new chapters. Jennifer quickly clicked and skimmed through the titles.
It looked like everyone was settling in, making friends, and of course, her MLs were high-potential Awakener Cadets. Jennifer felt very proud of them. That must be what a proud mother felt like—to watch your children grow up and write their own lives.
Except that Jennifer had also written some chained cosmic beast that was about to devour Earth—and possibly the universe around it.
So the world was going to end, and everyone was going to die. The end.
Which, in Jennifer's POV, was a terrible way to end a story. Jennifer was the kind of author that liked to end her stories with and they all lived happily ever after.
It wasn't that Jennifer had ever completed any of her webnovels, but she had always worked hard for the happy ending.
But it just occurred to Jennifer that in real life, maybe the happiest ending was when there was no "The End."
She also remembered the Pandora Corps president, and wondered what she had read in her memories. She hoped it wasn't anything weird. Like, off the top of her head: "I am naming this species of alien monsters Shilem because he has the same vibe as my ex. Yes, the senator."
Or that she was secretly enjoying the attention of Pandora Corps' top ranker and legendary hero, Ronan the Dragon, as he fussed over her and held her close. Oh man… what the heck was she thinking?
But suddenly, Jennifer wished Rolly was around. Then she wouldn't have to be afraid of a portal opening up in her room right now.
Which was, FYI, a really real fear at the back of her mind.
Especially since she knew that Adrian, with his identity-reading ability, had labeled her "goddess." She appreciated that he didn't just blurt out, "She's the goddess. Let's throw her into the portal."
She had no idea why he was covering for her, but Micah was still out there.
And shouldn't the goddess do something? (Especially since she was also the one who created him.)
Sigh… let's just keep reading…
Jennifer clicked on the next chapter from PANDORA BOX UNLEASHED. She was about to read it like someone opening the newspaper for the news. And she didn't feel crazy at all.