Mrs. Miller has it too?

“Hey, David? Is everything alright? Your face got pale all of a sudden.” Emily asks with deep concern, cupping your cheek.

You hear the sound of a door opening. That’s either Julia or Mrs. Miller. You grimace as you look at Emily. “I’ll tell you later.”

Julia comes into the room groaning and with heavy, annoyed steps. “I can’t believe her! She turned my room into a gym! Why didn’t you tell me!?” She asks her sister.

“You can’t call that a gym! It has a total of three things: A stationary bicycle, a couple of dumbbells and a magazine rack. You put the rubber flooring before you left.” Emily answers. “Also, I use the bike.”

Soon after, Mrs. Miller walks into the room, looking straight at you with an unreadable expression.

“Mom, when were you gonna tell me about turning my room into a gym?”

“We’ll talk about that later, Julia.” She says, not taking her eyes off you. “Could the two of you leave us alone for a few minutes. I’d like to speak to Mr. Walker alone for a bit.”

“You’re not gonna pounce on him, are you?” Julia narrows her eyes. “You need permission from three other girls first.”

“Of course not, Julia. I just want to have a serious conversation with him about my youngest daughter.” She sits down.

Emily looks at you and you give her a nod. “I’d like to speak with you mother alone as well. It won’t take long.”

“Okay. If you say so.” Emily trusts you, but her eyes still glance back and forth between you and her mother.

“Fine. We’ll be in the GYM if you need us.” Julia says. Man, she’s sore about that.

It’s only when they leave and you hear the sound of a door closing that Mrs. Miller speaks.

“So you have the Affection Multiplier too?” She asks, leaning back on her seat. Hearing those words makes you feel a chill down your whole body.

“I do.” You nod, trying your best to at least look composed.

“How long have you had it?”

“…about three months.” You answer hesitantly. “You?”

“Five years. Since my husband died.” She tells you with a sigh.

It makes sense now. Emily told you some time ago that, since her father died, her mother had been having new boyfriends almost every month. If she had the Affection Multiplier, that would be easy.

“You’re the first other person I’ve met that has it. I was really surprised by the message. You saw it too, right?”

You nod slowly. You body feels very tense. “So you also have it on your phone?”

“Yes. It’s a handy thing to have isn’t it? You don’t have to worry about people disliking you or criticizing you anymore. You can finally live life how you want to.” She smiles, looking at her black phone screen. It seems she’s just looking at her phone, not the app.

“Still, I have to wonder how you got three girls to accept being with you at the same time.” She says, crossing her legs, leaning forward and resting her elbow on her knee.

…

Huh?

“I once cheated on a man who had an affection score of 50 and a love score of 47 with me. When he found out, his affection and love scores dropped by 30 each. That didn’t happen to you?”

You try your best not to audibly swallow. What are the best answers? What should you do about this? Something tells you you shouldn’t tell her everything. Another person with the Affection Multiplier, who is unaffected by it, somehow feels like a threat.

You hate thinking of your girlfriend’s mother that way, but you can’t help it. She realizes that having more than one girlfriend at a time is abnormal. That means your trait isn’t working on her.

“We… we talked about it before it all started.” You tell her before you stay quiet for too long. You need to think as you talk. “It was… fortunate. We are all comfortable with the arrangement.”

Half-truths for now. What can you gather from what she’s let on?

She got a drop in scores from cheating on someone. None of your scores with people have ever dropped. Not even a single point.

“Is that so? Boy, you really are lucky!” She grins. “Well, Emily did tell me she was dating Megan as well. Did you push them there?”

You shake your head. “No. They both told me they had feelings for one another for a long time. It was them who came up with the idea in the first place.”

“I see. Well, it’s really none of my business.” She says with a bit of disinterest.

You mentally flinch as that comment. The way she’s talking bothers you. Not only does she sound apathetic about you using the AMA on her daughter, but she’s also either freely telling you all she knows about the app or hiding a lot more than you know.

If it’s the first, then… is it a show of goodwill? Is she trusting you as her daughter’s boyfriend? Or is she just being careless?

If it’s the second, what things does she know? How can you ask without outright asking?

“You said this is handy to have, but it’s really difficult to use, isn’t it?” You say innocently. Or at least as innocently as you can manage, as you gently shake your phone in your hand.

“No kidding. Lust scores are easy, but I’ve never gotten an affection or love score past 50.” She admits with annoyance, scratching her head. “People are really difficult.”

…

How much of that can you believe? If she’s never gotten scores past 50, then it would make sense that she would leave a man for another. At least, if she got bored of them. It would also mean that she hasn’t unlocked the reward system for points and traits, which would explain why she doesn’t understand how you got your harem.

What if she’s lying? If she has unlocked the reward system, is she trying to hide it from you as you are from her?

“So, spill it. What’s Emily’s love score with you?” She asks, but not at all in the same tone she was using when her daughters were here. It’s almost like she cares more about knowing the score itself than what it means for Emily.

What to answer? If you tell her the truth and say all her scores are at 100 (save for lust, which just goes up and down as a person is feeling that day), will she ask if something happens then?

“It’s… 70.” You lie.

“I knew it! Hahaha!” Mrs. Miller laugh. “She’s head-over-heels for you! I knew you’d broken the 50-point barrier!”

Judging from her reaction, you are 80% sure she’s being honest here.

“Alright boy, here’s the thing.” She says, getting serious. “I know my daughter has told you about me and the boyfriends I’ve had. I don’t care. I like this way of living and I want to keep doing it for as long as I can.”

You just listen intently.

“I know what you’re thinking because I’m thinking the same. Another person with this app is dangerous.”

Okay. Common ground.

“So, tell you what. So long as you stay out of my business, I’ll stay out of yours. Emily’s an adult already, she can take care of herself. Hell, you could throw Julia into the mix and you wouldn’t hear me complaining. God knows that girl wants to settle down.”

Your heart skips a beat at her words.

“I keep doing my own thing and you do yours. We don’t even need to be tight mother and son-in-law. Julian was the family guy, not me. I’ve been wanting my girls to leave the nest for a long time now.”

Her words bother you, and it’s her words that make you even more certain she hasn’t unlocked the Affection Multiplier’s true potential. You get the feeling that, even with this magical help, she hasn’t been able to truly bond with someone.

…

Perhaps not even her daughters.

“Very well. I agree.” You nod. “I promise to take care of your daughters.” You tell her earnestly.

“Oh? Both of them?” She asks with a big, teasing grin.

“Yes. If you say you’re ready for them to leave the nest, I’ll gladly take both in.” You answer seriously.

“Okay then. Not my problem. They’re both grown up. If anything, I raised them to be able to make their own decisions.” She shrugs.

You feel… disgust. It’s like the conversation you had in front of her daughters was a façade. She either really doesn’t care about her daughters or truly doesn’t know that the full potential of the app, which could completely change a person.

…

You decide on something. You won’t reveal any more information about the app to Mrs. Miller. What’s more, you’ll try your best to make Julia a part of your harem. You don’t know if you want to get her away from her mother, closer to Emily, or if it’s just your dick doing the thinking once more, but you’ll try.

Her daughters return, and with them is Mrs. Miller’s façade of a caring mother. Why she showed her true colors in front of you, you don’t know, but you’re thankful for it.

You leave after a while, politely refusing Julia’s offer to drive you home and telling Emily that you’ll talk to her at school. You need to think if telling her about her mother having the same app as you is the right thing to do.