The Affection Multiplier - Ch. 249 & Ch. 250. (Patreon)

Chapter 249: Finally some respite.

After a week full of work, you got eighteen texts translated and approved by QA. The pay you’ll get in a few days for all that work, combined with what you got from your brother, will give you a solid footing to buy the rings you’ll need, though you’ll still need to find good deals. It’s not like your budget is all that high. It’s just barely enough.

But today, with the start of a new week and with only one left until the trip, you’ll allow yourself some much needed rest. Of course, that means pampering your girls, who seems to become needier with each day you can’t see them. To you, it’s only proof that you belong with each other that you find so much bliss in pampering them as they wish.

Having made plans to go out with your schoolmates later today and the older women tomorrow, you go see your teachers during recess.

Mia locks the door to her office and gives you a tender hug, sweetly kissing your lips before she looks into your eyes as if trying to read your whole week of work in them.

“Have you had enough sleep?” she asks you with a tone that says she’ll scold you if the answer is no, but that you’ll be worse off lying to her.

“I did last night,” you answer and rest your head on her chest, “though that doesn’t stop be from wanting to rest here for a bit more.”

She chuckles. “I can make arrangements and stay at your place tomorrow.”

“Let’s do that, then.”

You kiss Mia again as if fearful that you’ll ever forget what her lips taste like.

“Sweetie,” she gasps, giving you a small, regretful smile. “You know how much I love this, but we better save it for tomorrow.”

“Can’t we just lock ourselves in your restroom? We have some time,” you say with an obviously suggestive tone.

“Don’t tempt me, mister. It won’t take much for me to say yes and we both know that’s bad.” She suddenly pinches your butt, giggling as she sees you flinch. She then leans in and whispers in your ear “You can fuck me all you want tomorrow. I’ll be thinking of you tonight. I’ll send you a picture.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Now go see the others. I’m not the only one with a dire David deficiency.”

Leaving Mia’s office always leaves you feeling regretful, but knowing you’re heading to Emma’s office renews the vigor in your step. You knock on the door to her office, but it takes her a moment to answer. It’s almost a full minute before she lets you in. She’s sitting behind her desk, and seeing her eyes light up when she sees you always makes you fall for her all over again.

“Lock the door!” she whispers as she stands from her seat.

You do as told, and the moment you turn back to her she tackles you into a tight, loving embrace. You hug her back, enjoying having her body against yours and smelling the coconut scent of her creams and shampoo again. She doesn’t say anything, and the hug goes for longer than you’d expect, which raises a red flag.

“Emma? What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing’s wrong. Why would anything be wrong? I have you here now,” she says with a big grin and kissing you.

You reciprocate, since you crave for Emma just as much as she craves for you. But the moment she pulls away, you insist.

“Emma, I know you. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just really missed you,” she insists. But her eyes are telling you another story.

“Okay. You want to tell me, but can’t.”

“Guh,” she flinches in your embrace. She laughs nervously, which is all the proof you need you hit the nail in the head.

“Is it something bad?”

“Not bad per se…” she sighs, resigned. “It’s just… ridiculously overwhelming.”

“And you really can’t tell me?” you ask her, worried.

“You know I wish I could, but nothing’s sure yet and I was asked to keep quiet until everything was official.”

“It’s work related then?”

“You’re not allowed to guess, either!” she pouts and pinches your nose. “Change of topic. You’re going out with the girls this evening, right?”

“Yeah. We’re just going for a walk around the park, though.”

“And then back to your place for some hot and heavy bonding?” she giggles.

“Here’s hoping,” you chuckle, but then give her a wry smile. “I keep wishing you could be there too.”

“You know we can’t risk it. Which is why we’re going on a trip next week, right?”

“Right.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have so much fun the week will go by in a flash!”

“I’d rather it felt like an eternity.”

“We can’t have everything,” she sighs. She presses her forehead against yours and your noses touch. “We just need to be patient. We all still have a lot ahead of us. We’ll become family before you know it.”

“Officially, you mean.”

“Officially,” Emma repeats with a giggle. Her smile is radiant and her eyes shine, and seeing her so happy makes you fear her mind will go back to her worries the moment you leave.

“I love you,” you tell her, kissing her forehead. “No matter what happens, we’ll be there with you. Come to us when you’re ready, okay?”

“And not a moment later,” she nods. “Believe me, you’ll be the firsts to know.”

That sets your heart at ease for the moment. At any rate, Emma said it wasn’t anything bad, so there might not be much to worry about at all.

After also visiting Julia and Anzu, you go back to class when the bell rings.

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Chapter 250 - Intermission 21: Jessica Ramirez.

They walked around the park for a good while before they decided to sit down on a patch of grass to relax. The huge group of girls surrounding a single guy is getting a lot of people looking, more than a few of them men whose eyes are burning with jealousy in the same way Jessica would look upon happy couples when she was single. She bets all those guys are only thinking of how lucky David is, but are not thinking of how much effort it takes on his part to keep everyone happy. But of course they can’t think about that when the guy in question is laying on the grass, resting his head on Sophia’s lap while Megan lays beside him, snuggling comfortably.

“You really got all your work done?” Sophia asks him, twirling his hair with her fingers.

“All that was sent to me,” he says. “I’m hoping there’s more eventually. The money was good.”

“But you were at it for a whole week,” Megan groans with her face against his chest. “we only got to hang out at school.”

“And it’s not like we can do a lot at school,” Emily agrees.

“Here’s a crazy thought,” Olivia says, grinning. “Don’t go to law school, let us work and just be there to pamper us whenever we want.”

Jessica can’t help the snicker that escapes her, and David raises an incredulous eyebrow.

“He doesn’t seem to like the idea,” Lilian laughs.

“Thousands of men would kill for what we’re offering, you know?” Sophia adds, grinning down at David.

“I promised to make you happy,” he says. “I’ll be the one to offer you to not work if you don’t want to. I’ll earn enough.” His confident tone makes Jessica believe 100% that he’ll do it.

“Sorry. I’ve chosen my career path already,” Sophia tells him, poking his nose.

“Have you?” Katherine asks her with a sigh. “I’m still undecided.”

“I bet you could do whatever the hell you wanted,” Olivia tells her.

“Agreed,” David nods.

“Even if I could, I don’t know what I want,” Katherine groans. “I envy you who are already decided.” Her eyes meet Jessica’s as well. “By the way, how are online auditions going?”

“I sent a few recordings. I’m waiting for answers,” Jessica sighs heavily. “They said to wait at most two weeks, but I’m also worried because the microphone in my computer isn’t really good, so sound quality could get me rejected.”

“Let’s go browse for better microphones one of these days before the trip,” David tells her.

“Will it be a date?”

“Of course.”

“Yes!” Jessica does a small fist pump.

“Hey,” Emily says, looking behind her, “am I the only one who think the stares are getting kind of uncomfortable?”

Jessica looks around as well, and yes, people are still looking at them.

“Let them watch as much as they want,” Olivia shrugs. “Why should we care? We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I get that, but it’s awkward,” Emily says. “Besides, if we go back to David’s place we can do more than just talk.”

“Okay, now THAT’S a good argument,” Olivia nods.

“Dibs on the first time!” Megan says, laughing proudly at her quick reactions and getting off David.

“Do you want to go alone?” their boyfriend asks her, sitting up.

“You can pick whichever else you want. You know I don’t mind.”

“We’re a group of perverts,” Sophia lets out a soft, resigned sigh.

The whole group of perverts goes back to his place. Being in the park was nice, but there’s something undeniably comfortable about being in David’s room. The sense of belonging, despite this not being their home and being just an overly decorated shack, is heartwarming. Jessica sees Olivia sitting down on the bed, Emily going to the bathroom, Katherine and Lilian taking spots on the table and wondering if they should play a chess match, Sophia going to grab David’s laptop and Megan hungrily locking their boyfriend’s lips with hers. Everyone naturally takes a spot in the room, as if they’d done it millions of times. And somehow the time they spent together at the park along with watching all this unfold sparks an uncomfortable thought in Jessica’s mind.

She glances at the group. They’re all gorgeous and have their own quirks that make them special. That goes for the women not currently here, too. They all share some kind of interest with David as well. Emily, Megan and Julia work out with him and they can talk about sports they enjoy; Emma, Sophia and Katherine are avid readers, just like him; Lilian got into anime with him; Olivia got him interested in airsoft, which she’s low-key ecstatic about; Anzu plays video games with him and they get really competitive about it; and she’s overheard him having some very deep conversations with Mia, sometimes discussing something like the importance of semantics in conversations and other times arguing if character is determined by genes or the environment one’s raised in. That one got a little heated.

He shares something big with all of them. They’re all beautiful and love him so much it hurts not seeing him for a day. Jessica loves him just as much of course. But thinking all this makes her wonder…

…Why would David choose her over any of the others? She doesn’t question his affection for her, not in the slightest. He’s very interested in her, following her progress in deciding her future with great attention and encouragement. But it makes her realize that she has plenty of reasons to love him, but she doesn’t know why he loves her.

He knows and encourages her dream of becoming an actress, which was really the only thing Jessica really wanted from life before a future with all these people became a possibility. But… what does she share with him? She only ever reads books for school, not for herself; her own workouts consist mostly of aerobics to keep herself in shape; she tried and couldn’t get into anime or airsoft, the former because she just didn’t find it fun and the latter because she found it terrifying; she’s bad at video games, having never played them; and she doesn’t feel she can participate in the kind of high-brow conversations he and Mia have.

She swallows. She knows David well enough that she knows if she tells her this, he’ll come up with 101 reasons for why she’s worrying over nothing. But in the end, it just comes one, simple and selfish wish: she wants to share something unique with him. She wants something that’s only between the two of them.

She’s allowed to want that, right? To have something special with the man she loves; a shared interest they can invest themselves in and talk about at length. Well, one of the many perks of being in a relationship like this is that she has ten other girls she can ask for advice.

“Jessica? Why are you still standing there for?” David calls her, a curious look in his face as Olivia and Megan at his sides let him breathe for a moment.

“S-Sorry,” she laughs awkwardly, “I spaced out for a moment.”

“Then come here,” he tells her with a naughty grin.

He doesn’t need to say any else. Jessica skips excitedly towards him and joins the two other girls. She gives David a deep, wet and hungry kiss that takes him by surprise at first, but then reciprocates with some very welcomed groping of her boobs.

Yes, she wants to share something unique with him. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate every other second she spends with him and the others. She’s in love with this man, and all these other girls are now her close friends. She doesn’t need to rush. She’ll find something to share with him so long as she looks for it.