NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Tower
Even with Teddy's revelation the conversation has continued, the boys careful not to pry. It was quickly established that even without her connection with her mother her business and connections were enough to put her in a similar bracket as her mother even as a disowned child. They still needed a plan and Teddy had agreed.
They had hoped for action, but it was still a surprise when the very next morning they were gathered by a panda-eyed Teddy. Jin let an undignified huff at the unintentional pun of the thoughts in his mind.
"Ok, if we are doing this we are doing this right." Despite the evidenced lack of sleep and overall relaxed posture she still managed to cut a commanding image. The factual nature of her voice causing the seven men to straighten.
"I'll admit that I originally planned on keeping you guys out of my world. I'd let you live quiet lives hidden away. And I apologize for that, I didn't consider your opinions on the matter." Her voice solemn: regret heavy as she met their eyes one by one.
"You guys opened my eyes to the horrors our society subjects men to that it subjected you to and it terrified me. I saw a fraction of your hurts and wanted to slam the door on any more." Her gaze slipped to the floor. "I was naive."
The moment lapsed into a heavy silence. No one quite sure how to proceed.
"So what's the plan?" Yoongi asked. Seeing the olive branch for what it was Teddy perked up.
"Ok," Teddy said "First things first you guys have a lot of questionnaires to fill out, I'll be filling out my own too. Then we'll compile them to see what matches up so we can't start with basic rules, and preferences. Then we can pick out a few for each specific person."
"Smart," Namjoon commented. Teddy aimed a grin his way, it was smart what better way to present the image of not having a decent moral code than to have different expectations for each of her wards? Also depending on what the others put she could put enough variety to imply the depravity required.
"You also have questionnaires about hobbies and knowledge you are interested in learning. Make sure to list as many as you want." And maybe she imagined it but Jungkook's eyes seemed to be twinkling by the end of her statement. Worried she was getting him too excited she hurried to explain, "I'll start you guys out with different things we don't have much time. I want us to have as much overall knowledge as possible before then."
"After you guys can learn as much or as little as you want." She promised.
Getting an agreeable nod from each of the men she sent out the questionnaires she had created last night. They were extensive, knowledge is power and Teddy is anything but weak.
She plopped down on the floor, leaning over the coffee table to tap away at the projection from her bracelet. Answering the questions she had poured over was easy and she sped through them.
Finished she began editing and adjusting her list of potential tutors and online courses for the boys when they decided on what they wanted to study, a self-defense instructor at the top of her list.
With a glance, she saw the boys still absorbed in the paperwork. She was rather hands-off with her company, but she knew she needed to get as much of it out of the way because the next few weeks were going to be hectic enough as is.
There was no need to add the chaos from the company because she had been too lazy to clean up some spies from rival companies or contribute to the debut of her newest bracelet.
So she dove in, maybe a little too deep if the loud clearing of a throat and amused smiles from the boys was anything to go by. She powered down a blush.
"Take all the time you need Teddy, but we wanted to let you know that we were going to take a break for bre- well lunch now," Hoseok informed.
"You can join us if you want to?" Jungkook said, his voice tilting at the end to be a question his gaze flicking to the older males around him.
"I'd love to, give me one second to shoot off this email and save my progress," Teddy reassured. With a couple of minutes of furious typing, Teddy rose to make her way to the dining room where the boys had already gathered.
Seeing the steaming food on the table Teddy quickly sat down at the closest seat, licking her lips as she examined the food. Mentally she mapped out some combinations of unconventional, but potentially delicious food.
Soon everyone was diving in, passing dishes around. Small conversations dripping in, Teddy tried to stay out of it not wanting them to mistake her participation as displeasure or a desire to take control. But she didn't want to come off as disinterested because truth be told she was super interested.
Namjoon was talking about different birds he had seen out by the birdfeeders, peppering in interesting facts about each of them some of which even Teddy didn't know. Jin discussed the ingredients and methods he used to prepare lunch. Hoseok bubbled about everything he had discovered last night on his search of the internet. Taehyung joining him with his own discoveries.
Jimin and Yoongi seemed content to only add their own comments or anecdotes every once in and while. Teddy decided on a similar approach slipping in small encouragements and comments when the opportunity arises.
Halfway through, they seemed to find a rhythm: accepting and responding easily to Teddy's intrusion. And it was nice, the meal ended up lasting around an hour before everyone began to drift back towards the living room.
This time Hoseok and Jimin joined her on the floor. The meeting took on a circle rather than the parallel lines they had originally fallen into.
Dings sounded from Teddy's bracelet as all seven began to send in their questionnaires. Immediately Teddy entered the data into a program to start the "matching". It took a while even though she wasn't entering each question individually she still had to sort the different questionnaires, label them and drop each one into the appropriate program.
The conversation was sporadic, but still feel into easy silence. Teddy couldn't help but feel a curl of satisfaction even as the mountainous task ahead of her registered.