Autumn & Winter (A Villains & Monsters Novella)

Chapter 5

Things get a bit heatedddddd *wink wink* Love you - Rae

He never minded staying the night in his old room at his family's place from time to time.

The morning sunlight woke Simon up early, and he sat up from his bed and stretched. When he checked his phone, he saw that it was a little before seven in the morning.

It was going to be a long, long day.

Not only did he have a few lengthy meetings of his own, OpalSpace was prepared for Valerie's panel, and it was sure to last a while. Getting up from bed, he made his way to his spacious bathroom and took a shower, brushed his teeth and got dressed for the day.

He dreamt of lavender again. It was starting to get weird.

Once he was ready, he left his room and went to the kitchen, smiling at the baby twins sitting at the table and his dad over the stove. Also at the table was his mom and sister, both sipping coffee, formally dressed and typing away on their laptops.

"Morning, everyone," he said as he started preparing a protein shake.

"Morning," Caesar called to him as he flipped a pancake over. "Guess what time your sister went to sleep?"

He turned towards Sierra and sighed, "Hmm, judging by her second yawn in the last minute, I want to say that she didn't sleep at all."

"I did sleep," she defended herself before muttering, "For two hours."

Valerie looked up from her laptop to face her. "Sweetheart, seriously, if you want Gina to take over interviewing for today-"

"I got it, Mom, really," she cut her off before she could finish and gave her a smile. "I've watched you, my team, and many others do this a million times. Oh, Simon, since I'm going to be super busy, I told Tony to take over today in the lab. He'll be there most of the day."

"Understood."

"And what are you going to be doing today? You seem in a hurry," Valerie now faced Simon.

"A couple of meetings regarding new plans and such, but I'll be at headquarters with Austin and Luca before your panel starts, also, I'll check in with Sisi so she doesn't exert herself."

"Glad to hear it. Could you cut the kids' pancakes before you leave? I have a few emails to get back to right now."

He nodded, "Sure thing," before starting with Silas, ruffling his already-messy hair and asking him. "How'd you sleep, silly?"

"Good. Dad said that we're going to the zoo this morning," he said before he drank some of his apple juice. "I hope we see zebras."

"I want to see the elephants," Sasha chimed in. "Also the turtles."

"Take some photos so I can see them later," Simon said, and when he finished cutting their pancakes, he said goodbye and left the manor.

-----

"Long" was a nicer way to describe his morning.

Right after the meetings, he couldn't take a break. He immediately was back in his car and on his way to headquarters. Once he arrived, he went to the crowded auditorium and towards the back to find Luca and Austin.

"Hey, thanks for being here," he said once he found them.

"No problem," Luca said, and once they were alone in a back room, Austin crossed his arms. "I have a question."

"Go for it."

"Wylan said you pushed back the whole, "Annihilate the heroes and take over Kunross" plan for the meantime. Are you okay? Because you were so fidgety over this before."