Chapter 101: Slow Day.

Max woke up the next morning later than usual. The faint gray light of early morning filtered through the curtains, giving the bedroom a soft, quiet glow. His phone was vibrating somewhere near the bedside table, the steady buzzing slowly pulling him out of sleep.

Still groggy, he shifted slightly, but Jennifer’s arm was draped loosely across his face, her hand resting over his eyes like she had claimed the space without realizing it.

Max exhaled quietly and lifted her hand gently, careful not to wake her. Jennifer barely reacted, only murmuring something softly in her sleep as he moved her arm aside.

After the sex last night she had fallen asleep almost instantly, and now she was sprawled across the bed in a messy sleeping position, the blanket half tangled around her legs and her hair scattered across the pillow. For someone who carried herself so calmly during the day, she was a surprisingly chaotic sleeper.

Max watched her for a second, noticing how deeply asleep she still was, he picked up her hand again and moved it carefully to the side of the pillow so it wouldn’t fall back onto his face. Jennifer only shifted slightly, still completely lost in sleep.

The phone continued vibrating on the bedside table.

Max finally reached over, grabbed it, and looked at the screen while sitting up slowly on the edge of the bed, the quiet apartment still wrapped in the calm of early morning.

It was Josefina on the other side, and the time on the screen read 08:17 in the morning.

Max stared at the phone for a moment, his mind still half asleep, before he quickly silenced the vibration so it wouldn’t wake Jennifer. The room remained quiet except for her slow breathing beside him.

He took a slow breath, rubbing a hand lightly across his face to wake himself up, then finally answered the call.

” Hello? ”

The word came out deep and rough.

Max’s voice had already become deeper after the system’s modification, but early in the morning it carried an even heavier tone, the kind of deep resonance that came from just waking up. It filled the quiet room softly as he spoke into the phone, careful to keep his voice low so Jennifer could continue sleeping beside him.

” Max, I haven’t seen you in the gym today. Where are you? Are you slacking off? ”

Josefina’s voice came through the phone with her usual sharp energy, lively and direct. In the background Max could clearly hear the steady hum of treadmills running and the faint echo of people moving around.

She was most likely already inside the gym, probably walking around her class while talking to him, keeping an eye on everyone even while she made the call.

Max leaned slightly back against the headboard, keeping his voice low so Jennifer wouldn’t wake up beside him.

” I… yeah. I slacked off today. ”

For a moment he had considered giving some excuse — something simple about being busy, or having something important to handle. But the thought faded almost immediately. The truth was simpler.

He had slept longer than usual, last night had been long, heavy with decisions, sex and tension, and sometime after returning home he had allowed himself to simply rest.

It wasn’t physical exhaustion that had caught him — his body could handle far more now — but something quieter, a mental pause that he might have needed more than he realized.

Still, Max knew how he lived his life, breaks like that were rare for men who carried responsibility.

People depended on him now. Jennifer, Machina, even the path he was building forward demanded discipline. Taking a step back for too long would only slow everything down.

So instead of dressing the situation with excuses, he simply admitted it as it was.

” I knew it. Don’t be late tomorrow. I’ll come by the apartment in the afternoon, when you’re done with your classes. ”

Josefina said it with a small smile in her voice, the background noise of the gym still alive behind her — the steady rhythm of treadmills, the faint clank of weights, and the occasional call of someone pushing through their training.

Hearing Max admit he had slacked off was rare.

For as long as she had known him, he was always moving — training, studying, solving problems, running from one responsibility to the next without slowing down. Even last night, after everything that had happened, he had still carried himself like a man who had already moved on to the next step.

Josefina found it almost funny, his was the same man who had once been too busy to even to have sex with her. She had tried to seduce him before, but the truth was obvious — Max lived like someone who didn’t allow himself much space to relax.

A man that busy rarely admitted weakness, even something as small as oversleeping, that was why hearing him say it so plainly made her smile on the other side of the phone.

” Yes, Ma’am. ”

Max replied with a faint smile, his voice still low from the early morning quiet. There was a trace of amusement in his tone as he said it, the kind that came naturally when speaking to someone like Josefina who liked to keep him on his toes.

A second later he ended the call then cracked his neck slowly as he sat up from the edge of the bed, the stiffness from sleep fading as his body adjusted to being awake. The room was still warm and quiet, Jennifer still deep in sleep behind him, her breathing soft and steady under the blanket.

He ran a hand through his hair and walked toward the washroom, a few minutes later the shower started, warm water rushing down over his shoulders as he stood under it. The heat loosened the tension that had built up from the previous day — the long dinner, the planning, almost sleepless night with heavy sex and the constant planning that had occupied his mind.

The shower didn’t last long, about ten minutes later he turned the water off, steam still lingering around the small bathroom as he stepped out and grabbed a towel, for once, he didn’t feel the need to rush into the next task, today felt slower.

Max realized something simple as he dried his hair and looked at himself in the mirror. Discipline didn’t always mean moving at full speed. Sometimes discipline also meant knowing when to slow down, when to breathe, when to allow the mind a moment of quiet before stepping back into the storm.

And today, a little slower pace wouldn’t hurt.

After finishing his shower, Max returned to the bedroom and dressed quickly. He pulled on a casual T-shirt and a pair of jeans, simple enough for a university day but comfortable after the long night before. The apartment was quiet again, the morning light slipping through the curtains and resting across the bed.

Jennifer was still lying there under the blanket, completely tangled in it, her hair messy across the pillow. She was wearing nothing with her white pinkish back showing and looked like she hadn’t moved at all since they fell asleep.

Max stepped closer to the bed and gently nudged her shoulder.

” Wake up. You’ll be late. ”

Jennifer barely reacted at first, her eyes struggling to open as if the effort itself was unfair.

Last night she was going crazy… look at my tired kitten.

Max watched her with a small smile, her face looked ridiculously cute as she forced her eyes open halfway, blinking slowly at the light. The moment she recognized him standing beside the bed, she made a small pout and dragged herself closer to the edge of the mattress.

Without saying anything, she leaned forward and rested her head against his thigh, Jennifer’s pout wasn’t anger or annoyance. It was simply her quiet protest against being forced to wake up and Max knew it.

She could complain to him like this because he never treated her the way most people did. Even though she was nearly thirty, Max never spoke to her like she had to behave like a proper adult every second of the day.

Around him, she could be lazy, childish, spoiled if she wanted to be and Jennifer had clearly grown used to that.

” Wake up, you sleepy head. You’ll miss your classes. ”

Max said it quietly as he sat down beside the bed. Jennifer barely moved at first, her body still heavy with sleep. He gently lifted her head and placed it properly on his thigh, letting his leg act like a pillow.

His fingers moved slowly through her hair, brushing the strands away from her face in a calm, steady rhythm.

From where he sat he could clearly see her side profile resting on his lap — her cheek lightly pressed against his jeans, her eyes still half closed. The moment she felt his hand moving through her hair, a small content smile appeared on her lips.

Jennifer let out a quiet breath and shifted slightly, relaxing deeper against him as if she had decided that waking up could wait for another minute.

” I love you. ”

She said it softly, but clearly. The words came without hesitation, her voice warm now that she was enjoying the gentle attention. She didn’t sound half asleep anymore.

Max’s hand continued moving through her hair while his other hand rested lightly on her back. With his fingers he traced slow, absent-minded lines along her naked skin, the gesture calm and familiar.

” I love you more. ”

Max whispered in return, the words low and steady as the quiet morning sunlight filled the room around them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep