When Dylan arrived home, he sat at the dining table. Across from him, Aaron and Clara sat side-by-side, heads bowed, staring at the table as if it held the answers to the questions in their heads. Ellie, Maya, Lena, and Amy, all wearing Dylan's hoodies which they seemed to have stolen from his room, stood behind Aaron and Clara, their arms crossed over their chests. The atmosphere was tense and silent because no one spoke.

[Just go ahead, sir.]

"Haaah... never mind. What's done is done. After some thought at the house we're renovating, I'm not mad because I don't have the right to be. I'm way worse than you guys," Dylan said, glancing at Ellie, Maya, Lena, and Amy, who smiled and nodded back at him.

"Yes, Brother... but Clara and I still feel bad," Aaron replied.

"Y-yes, Brother, I'm sorry," Clara added.

"But I'm curious, what exactly happened?" Dylan asked.

Aaron was silent. He turned to look at Clara, who seemed confused about how to tell the story. Dylan glanced at Ellie, Lena, Maya, and Amy, who apparently hadn't heard the full story either. After a moment, Clara finally started talking. It turned out that without Clara's knowledge, Melissa, Clara's mother, had a close male friend who was also recently divorced from his wife. They talked often, and sometimes the man came over to the house.

Clara initially thought her mother just needed someone to talk to, so it seemed normal. But last night, they suddenly announced they were engaged during dinner, and Aaron happened to be at Clara's house too. Shocked, and knowing that the previous divorce hadn't even been finalized, Clara got angry at her mother and said she wasn't ready. However, Melissa just cried, saying she was lonely, confused, and so on.

Annoyed, Clara decided to run away with Aaron and went home to Ellie's house, where only Fiona and Iris were present because Dylan, Ellie, Lena, Maya, and Amy were at Lena's grandmother's house, staying overnight.

"Okay, I get it. So your mom wants to get married again, and you don't want a new dad, is that it... I can understand how you feel because I'm just like you," Maya said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Clara.

"It's fine, don't worry about it anymore. You're here now. You can sleep with one of us," Ellie said, also pulling up a chair.

"Our family just got bigger. We two have been family since the start, haven't we," Amy said, pulling up a chair and sitting behind Clara, massaging her shoulders.

"You can sleep with Aaron too, though, hehe," Lena added, sitting next to Dylan.

"Huh... W-what are you saying, Sister?" Aaron asked, looking down with a red face from embarrassment.

"Dling," a message came in on Lena's smartphone. She looked at it immediately, and her face suddenly grew furious. She then put her smartphone on the table and slid it over to Dylan.

"Read this, babe," Lena said.

Dylan read the message on Lena's smartphone. It was from Mitch, using a different number, expressing condolences for the death of her grandmother. But then he asked about the inheritance and offered to manage Lena's finances while also presenting a business proposal to her. Dylan put the smartphone on the table and slid it back toward Lena. As the smartphone was being pushed, Clara suddenly snatched it and looked at Mitch's profile picture.

Clara's face changed completely. She showed the photo to Aaron, whose face also immediately changed. Then Aaron turned to look at Lena.

"Sister, do you know this man?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, why?" Lena asked, confused.

"This is the man who got engaged to Mom last night... his name is Trevor," Clara replied.

"Huh... seriously?" Dylan asked, shocked.

"He's the husband of one of the dentists where I work... his name is Mitch," Lena said, standing up.

"Wow... is this a coincidence?" Maya asked.

To make sure, Clara took out her smartphone and opened it. She opened her gallery, then showed a screenshot of a social media profile for a man named Trevor who worked as a trainer at a gym. In the photo, he was showing off his muscles in a mirror. Clara showed the photo to Dylan, Lena, Ellie, Maya, and Amy. Of course, everyone was surprised because Mitch's and Trevor's faces were exactly the same.

"Mom met him when she used to train at the gym. Even when Mom was still married, he was often with her," Clara said.

"So you mean your mom was cheating on your dad with him while she was still married?" Ellie asked.

Clara didn't answer but nodded. Immediately, everyone understood why Clara was angry at her mother, who was dating a much younger man. Clara also explained that when she still lived in the apartment and came home from school, she sometimes saw her mother and Trevor in the living room, sitting close together on the sofa. The man named Trevor also sometimes looked at Clara weirdly, making Clara uncomfortable.

While Clara was telling her story and the others were listening, Dylan used his hacking skill and typed on a holographic keyboard under the table. His eyes were fixed on the holographic screen that no one else could see, and he appeared to be listening to Clara's story. Suddenly, the screen split into three screens in front of Dylan, and a profile appeared on each screen.

"Hmm... so he has three names... this guy is a fraud, apparently. His real name is probably Steve, and on that profile, he has a family in another state. The Mitchell profile is specifically for his wife, and Trevor is for luring rich women with business ideas and romance scams... Come to think of it, Aunt Melissa got a large amount from her divorce because her husband was arrested," Dylan muttered in his head.

[That is correct, sir. And one more thing: this person works for someone we know.]

"Huh... that's right. When he's Mitchell, he works in Alex's office... Okay, we'll deal with this guy... We're moving tonight, CATS," Dylan said in his head.

[Understood.]

Feeling watched, Dylan looked up. He saw Ellie, Maya, Lena, Amy, and Aaron—who was embracing Clara, who had her head down and seemed to have finished her story—staring at him. Their faces looked as if they were asking him, "What are you going to do?" Dylan just smiled and winked, and immediately, Ellie, Maya, Lena, Amy, and Aaron looked a little relieved. Then Dylan noticed that Ellie, Maya, Lena, and Amy were all wearing his hoodies.

"Hey... why are you wearing my clothes?" Dylan asked.

"Because ours are being washed," Ellie replied, sniffing her hoodie.

"Borrowing it," Amy added, smelling her hoodie.

"We don't have any other clothes. We used them all yesterday when cleaning up at Lena's house," Maya added, also sniffing the sleeve of her hoodie.

"Yup, they were being washed just now and aren't dry yet, so... relax. Besides, you like my scent, right?" Lena said, sniffing her hoodie.

"Haaah... fine, whatever," Dylan replied. "What am I going to wear when I take action tonight, though," Dylan muttered to himself.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.