He winked. A slow, brutal WINK right at Marcus. Then he blatantly reached down... right in front of EVERYONE and adjusted the front of his suit pants.

A slow, deliberate re-arranging of his package. He looked back winked at the giggling blushing girls even louder and then without a single care in the world he turned and climbed the stairs.

"Wait!" Marcus howled, his voice cracking in a high-pitched, pathetic squeal of pure, unadulterated panic. He lunged from behind the counter in a desperate move, but it was far too late.

Alex's infuriatingly well-dressed back had barely even vanished up the stairwell when the attack began.

The entire group of giggling, chattering girls swarmed the counter instantly, like a pack of adorable, bright-eyed, money-spending piranhas.

They were completely surrounding him, bombarding his senses, a non-stop, overlapping assault of perfume and demands.

"Shopkeeper! Hello! Show us where the trending chains are?" one of them chirped, tapping her long, painted nails on the dirty glass.

"Shopkeeper! Where's the pendants! I need a blue one! Do you have blue?" another one demanded, squeezing in.

"The rings, mister! Show us the rings! My friend Janine said you have the silver ones with the little stars!"

Marcus was trapped, barraged with so much high-pitched talking he couldn't even get a single word in! He couldn't even think! He had to get upstairs!

"Wait! We are closing the shop!" he finally shouted over the din, his voice frantic and desperate. "We're closed! Right now!"

His panicked eyes darted from the top of the stairs where that monster had just disappeared, down to the annoyingly cheerful faces of the girls, then back up to the stairs where his WIFE was! He needed to get out of here! He had to save his wife!

One of the girls, a tall one with an annoyingly smart-looking face, just tilted her head.

"But you are not closed yet, right?" she asked, her voice way too calm and logical. "The door was open. The 'Open' sign is still on. So, according to the Merchant Law, Article 2, if a shop is opened, the shopkeeper must tend to the customer if the said item is available. And, well," she gestured with a flourish "we can see plenty of things we are looking for."

"That's right, mister shopkeeper!" another girl chimed in instantly, pointing a finger at him. "Do you want your Merchant Licence to be revoked!"

They were relentless! They were horrible! They were tiny, giggling, law-quoting monsters! And Marcus could only bite his lips hard. His stomach just dropped right out of his body because what they said was true.

One complaint, one single, official complaint and that was it. He wouldn't be able to open any shop anywhere in this kingdom ever again.

That meant no money. That meant more debts. Endless, crushing, soul-destroying debts. He couldn't even afford the two-hundred-crown debt he had right now! And that debt, that one, had already extended all the way to his WIFE!

'Fuck!' he screamed inside his panicked, trapped little head. 'Okay. Okay. Calm down! I just need to be fast. I have to give them whatever they want, get their money, and kick them OUT. Then, THEN, I can run upstairs! Before that BASTARD tries anything at all with Lily!'

...

Marcus didn't have any choice but to tend to these annoying, giggling girls.

He was completely trapped. He was alone, after all, and if he had just gotten Lily to come down here with him, things would have been so much quicker. But no, he had to be the hero. He didn't call her, insisting to her that she must take her rest.

The entire plan, the real reason, was to avoid a situation where that bastard wouldn't be able to lay a single hand over Lily.

But it was all for nothing. His "genius" plan had backfired spectacularly. Now that bastard was gone, vanishing right upstairs where Lily was all alone, and he wasn't there to protect her at all. He was stuck down here, surrounded by jewelry-obsessed teenagers.

"Shopkeeper, hurry up!" one of the annoying girls' voices pulled him right out of his horrifying stupor.

"Yes, yes, coming!" he said frantically, his eyes darting back to the stairs one last time before turning to his new, unwanted customers.

He quickly began to work, his hands fumbling as he tried to diligently show them the cheap trinkets. And it hadn't even been two minutes since he last saw that guy, not even one-hundred-and-twenty seconds, when... it... started.

A loud, rhythmic sound of... something... moving. A thump... thump... thump... of a bedframe, his bedframe, slamming against the wall.

"What the? Is that... noise?" one of the girls asked, her head tilting upwards.

"Slurp!" Another girl, the one with the smart mouth, practically purred. She wetted her lips as she, too, looked up at the ceiling. "That's the sweet noise of sex. Hmm hmm... I knew when I saw that guy in the suit that he was dangerous. And I wasn't wrong."

It wasn't just the rhythmic thumping voice either, it was also accompanied by... small moans. Faint, but unmistakable moans of pleasure, drifting down through the floorboards.

"Damn, he sure is healthy!" a third girl whispered, her eyes wide.

"P-please stop talking about these matters, sister! It's embarrassing!" a shy girl in the group said, her entire face turning bright red from secondhand embarrassment.

Marcus had just closed his eyes, his head tilted back, looking up at the ceiling. He had failed. He had failed his mission, he had failed his wife, he had failed everything. And not just that, as the thumping got faster, he felt... something... stirring... shamefully... inside his own pants.

"Hey, shopkeeper, who's upstairs?" the smart-mouthed girl asked, her voice full of amusement. "Is it your tenants? Whoever they are, it seems like both of them really enjoy sex."

Marcus couldn't even speak. He had to let out a short, pathetic, broken chuckle. Then, as the moans got louder, he had to pathetically nod his head.

"I-indeed..."

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