She rushed into the living room—and suddenly froze when she saw Dexter turning his head to look at her.
Fiona's steps faltered. She stopped short, completely stunned, unable to figure out why Dexter was here.
"Hey, long time no see," Dexter said with a smile, casually greeting her.
Fiona snapped back to her senses. "Hi. What are you doing here?"
"I came to hang out with Kevin," Dexter replied with a grin.
The words had barely left his mouth when Veronica, having heard Fiona's voice, came out of the kitchen.
"Huh? Fiona, what's up?"
Seeing Veronica, Fiona immediately stopped paying attention to Dexter and got straight to the point. "Carl and Debbie and I have to go to the hospital. Can you help watch Liam for a bit?"
"Sure, just set him down," Veronica agreed without hesitation.
"Thanks," Fiona said, smiling gratefully at her. Then she walked over to the sofa beside Dexter and gently laid Liam down.
Dexter was still smiling as he watched her.
Seeing this—
Ding.
Veronica suddenly had a brilliant idea. She quickly hurried over to Fiona, looped her arm through Fiona's, and introduced him brightly.
"Fiona, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Dexter—Kevin's new friend. He came over as a guest tonight."
Then she turned to Dexter with a mischievous grin. "Mr. Ding, this is my best friend, Fiona Gallagher. Pretty, right? Oh, and by the way—she's single."
The moment Fiona heard that, she immediately understood what Veronica was trying to do and felt helpless.
"…"
Dexter, however, stayed perfectly calm. He nodded at Veronica and said matter-of-factly, "We've met once before. And yes, she's very beautiful."
"Oh? You've already met?" Veronica looked surprised, then turned to Fiona with a teasing smile. "Even better. You two should hang out more."
Fiona gave a helpless, wry smile. "I'm in a hurry. Carl and Debbie are still waiting for me. We'll talk some other time."
Then she turned to Dexter. "Mr. Ding, thank you for the tip earlier."
"No problem," Dexter replied simply.
Fiona turned and hurried out.
As soon as she left the house, Veronica's curiosity kicked in. "Mr. Ding, a tip? What was that about?"
"I bought lunch at the burger place where she works and left her a tip," Dexter explained. "That's all."
"Oh, I see." Veronica laughed. "You seem kind of interested though. Want me to play matchmaker?"
"We'll see," Dexter replied vaguely.
Fiona Gallagher was a very… casual woman.
Sleeping with Fiona would actually be easy.
The problem was—
With the entire Gallagher family dragging along behind her, sleeping with Fiona would seriously interfere with completing the main quest. At least for now, and for quite a while into the future, those Gallagher kids were everything to her.
And Fiona, deep down, loved excitement—cheating, messy relationships, all that stuff was basically normal for her.
If he slept with her and things weren't handled properly, Fiona might stop working at his restaurant altogether.
And then the main quest would be completely screwed.
Not worth it.
"So why is she going to the hospital?" Dexter asked, pretending to be curious.
"Two of her brothers had some kind of accident yesterday evening," Veronica said, not going into detail. "She had to go check on them. My poor friend… it's not easy for her. Her dad's a total mess, her mom ran off years ago, and she's stuck taking care of four younger brothers and a sister. It's rough."
"Wow," Dexter said, putting on his best acting face. "That's really hard. Getting parents who are irresponsible and just keep having kids."
Veronica smiled and shook her head, about to say something—
"Veronica! The steak's about to burn!" Kevin shouted from the kitchen.
"Fxxk!" Veronica yelped and rushed back into the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Kevin glanced back toward the living room. After making sure Dexter wasn't paying attention, he leaned in close and whispered in Veronica's ear.
"Don't go playing matchmaker with Dexter and Fiona."
Veronica frowned. "Why not?"
Kevin's expression turned complicated. "Think about it. What if they really get together—and then Fiona cheats on him?"
Veronica: "…"
…Okay.
She got it.
She wanted to argue, but really—how could she?
Fiona was totally capable of doing something like that.
"Alright, I get it," Veronica nodded. "Let's just let things happen naturally."
"Mm," Kevin replied.
---
After messing around for over half an hour, the three of them finally sat down to eat.
The steak actually tasted pretty great, and after the wine had some time to breathe, it was really smooth.
They ate and chatted at the same time.
At one point, Dexter casually asked, "Hey, Veronica, what do you do for work?"
Veronica didn't feel ashamed of her job at all. She answered honestly, "I usually take whatever gigs I can find—kind of freelance stuff. When there's no work, I stream from home."
Dexter obviously knew what kind of streaming she meant, but he still put on a slightly surprised look. "Streaming? What kind of streams?"
"Topless streams," Veronica said with a grin. "I make money off thirsty guys. Pays pretty well."
Dexter immediately played along, putting on an exaggerated shocked expression.
"Σ(⊙▽⊙"a"
Well.
Since you put it that way—
I guess I've gotta take a good look at your… cafeteria.
Dexter looked.
Both Kevin and Veronica noticed immediately and exchanged a knowing smile.
Without hesitation, Veronica set her wine glass down and lifted her chest with both hands. "These things have made us a lot of money."
The scene was honestly kind of hilarious.
Dexter grinned and nodded in agreement. "I can imagine. Big waves—guys love that."
Then he turned to Kevin. "Kevin, you're a lucky man."
"Haha," Kevin laughed. "That's true."
Dexter didn't push the topic any further.
After all, he was a guest. Talking too much about the hostess's body wasn't exactly appropriate.
The three of them kept eating and drinking for a long time.
Then Fiona came back and knocked on the door.
Veronica was feeling a little buzzed and didn't move, just called out, "Come in."
Fiona pushed the door open and stepped into the living room, looking surprised. "You're still eating?"
"We've got nothing else to do—why rush?" Veronica waved her hand, then stood up and pulled Fiona over. "Since you're back, come on, come on. There's still steak in the kitchen. Have some food and a drink, relax a bit. Mr. Ding brought great wine and meat tonight."
As she spoke, Veronica grabbed the bottle of red wine on the coffee table and poured Fiona a glass.
"No, I should head back. It's pretty late…" Fiona was exhausted and honestly wanted a drink, but with a stranger like Dexter around, she hesitated and tried to refuse.
Veronica didn't give her a chance. "Fiona, you've had a long day. A little wine will help you sleep. Just have some."
Fiona hesitated for a moment. "Just one glass."
Dexter heard that and smiled faintly.
That line was way too familiar.
Every heavy drinker said the same thing.