[Shout out to michael, TheFuzzySamurai, Apathetic Loner, Hyuga Tobirama, and DreuxX!]

Chapter 48

Before noon came, Roman and his cousins already returned. They were carrying their loot after a successful caroling. It seemed that they earned a lot considering that they were grinning.

Even for Roman who was usually quiet, he was talking well with his cousins. He approached us and found that Sophia was glaring at him hatefully.

"Sophia? Why are you mad?"

"Humph! Bwother bad! Bad! Bad!"

She said three times, emphasizing that her brother was bad...

"What did I do?"

"Humph! I hate bwother! I don't wuv you anymore!" She scoffed and hugged her mother.

"Only Mommy wuv me!" She stated.

'Hey! What about me? I promised you another toy, why don't you love me then?'

I know that using money to buy love was bad but I didn't have a choice, or else my daughter will not love me.

Ah, the perks of being a father-- stress, work, and not being loved and appreciated by your children.

"Okay then," Roman answered without any problem. He entered the room and started putting out his earnings.

"What? Mommy, wwuuuu wuuuu, bwother doesn't wuv me!"

Realizing that her snobbish attitude didn't work on her brother, Sophia decided to use her greatest weapon-- tattle on her mother.

"Baby, your brother is just joking."

"Wuuuu wuuuu--!"

While Sophia was being a drama queen, Roman put all of his earnings on the bed. He started counting them, he didn't even look at teary Sophia... My son might be a heartless person. I can't believe that he ignored his sister just like that.

"123, 124... 131."

Roman finished counting his money. It seemed that he had more than 100 pesos in his hand.

"That's kinda small..." I muttered.

"What do you mean Dad? I never have had 100 pesos in my entire life. This is big money."

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Indeed. Maybe for the kids, this amount was already big.

'Well, this a small village, and most families were farmers. They can't give a lot. Their buying power is smaller compared to people in the city.'

Well, 100 pesos is still a lot. I can buy three kilograms of rice with that amount.

"Waaahhh--! Bwother bad! Very bad! Very bad!"

This time, Sophia emphasized that Roman was 'very' bad. It means one thing, Roman was very bad...

"Why didn't you take me with you? You don't love me anymore!" She cried and clutched her mother's dress while glaring at Roman.

"You're still asleep at that time. Besides, you are too young to join us. Can't you see that we're all 5 years old and older? You have to be older before going outside." Roman explained it well and his reason was understandable.

"Still..." Sophia's eyes reddened because she already cried earlier. My poor princess.

"Here, I'll give you half of my earnings," Roman said and gave Sophia 50 pesos cash.

"Bwother I wuv you!"

'What? Just like that and you already forgave him? Where's the fairness? Where's the righteousness? What about me then?'

Because Roman soothed his little sister by giving her money, I decided to do the same.

I reached for my pocket and pulled out a thousand pesos. However, I realized that my wife was staring at me with her deep crimson eyes. I instinctively pulled a hundred pesos instead.

"Here's for my daughter! Merry Christmas sweetheart."

"Thanks Dajjy! I wuv you!" She giggled and crumpled both cash as if she didn't know what to do with them.

"Here's for you, Roman."

Of course I didn't forget my son. I always make sure that both kids received something. They were my treasure and I want to give them everything they want.

"Thanks, Dad." Roman nodded.

The two kids were happy. For them, having 100 pesos was already big, as if they could buy whatever they want.

"Kids, what do you want to buy will your money?" Penelope joined in while Sophia was in her arms.

"Mommy, I want cake!" Sophia waved her hands excitedly.

"Hm, me too."

"Then I'll talk to brother Simeon later. Maybe we can go to the city again."

"Yay!"

The two kids celebrate.

"Dad, where's the gifts for my cousins? I talked to them earlier and I said that we have gifts for them."

"Here."

For the boys, we bought Yo-yos. As for the girls, we bought fake phones, the ones that sing "I'm a barbie girl~ In the barbie world~".

"Then, I'll go meet them."

"Don't go somewhere far. If you want to play, be sure to be near the house."

"Yes, Mom."

Roman came out of the room with Yo-yos and fake phones. We chuckled seeing his reaction, Roman was still a kid after all.

"What about you sweetie? Do you want to join them?"

"Mommy, I'm still too small. I can't stand for too long, I think I will stay here instead. I have my toys with me anyway." She said very cutely.

"Aww, my sweet baby. Don't worry, Mommy will play with you."

"Yay!"

The mother and daughter started bonding. While they were playing, I decided to exercise.

(Current Points: 2)

I didn't exercise these last two days so naturally my points didn't increase. Thankfully, exercising every day didn't have a penalty. This mission restart every day and I could accomplish it without a problem.

'It's killing two birds with one stone. Exercise gets me healthy while earning points. Perhaps that was the purpose of the [Grind System], to make me a better person.'

Stay hard! Keep grinding!

I encouraged myself and started doing push-ups. Now that I was taking things seriously, I want to make sure that my body would be fit. Perhaps it would only take two to three months before I could have abs.

'I will burn my belly fat!'

While doing exercise, I didn't know that my wife was actually glancing at me every few other seconds.

I was sweating but I kept pushing myself, I have to finish the 30-minute exercise.

[Author's Note: I'm at the funeral right now, I'll stay here for a week and my update schedule might be inconsistent. Still, I will update everyday.]