Three whole hours passed before Benny finally managed to clean most of the apartment.

Although he wasn’t some professional cleaner, surviving alone as a 996 office worker until nearly forty in his previous life had at least taught him how to maintain a proper living environment.

After all, when you live all alone, nobody was going to clean up after you.

Sweeping floors, organizing clutter, washing dishes and doing the laundry.

Those were all basic survival skills for adults who were living alone.

Still.. as Benny wiped down the table one last time, his gaze unconsciously drifted toward Selena’s bedroom door.

Ironically, most of his habit of keeping things tidy had actually come from her.

Back in his previous life, after dragging himself home from endless overtime work, he would usually collapse onto the bed without caring about anything else.

Clothes tossed onto chairs, empty instant noodle cups left on the desk.

His apartment had often looked barely more livable than Selena’s current one.

Then once every month, Selena would come visit him.

And every single time, she would immediately start complaining while cleaning up the place for him.

At first, she scolded him seriously.

Later on, she seemed to realize that lecturing him was useless, so she simply cleaned while nagging endlessly beside him.

"You’re already thirty years old, can you stop living like a homeless man?"

"How hard is it to throw garbage into the trash can?"

"If you keep eating instant noodles like this, one day you’ll die in your office and nobody will even notice!"

At the time, Benny had mostly laughed it off.

But over the years, those habits had unknowingly rubbed off onto him.

Which was why seeing Selena’s apartment in such catastrophic condition earlier had genuinely shocked him.

But then again...

That was the Selena from the future.

The current Selena was still young, yet already buried beneath endless work and responsibilities.

Teaching during the day, giving tuition classes afterward.

She was carrying the family debt on her shoulders.

And unlike the future version of herself, she didn’t have anyone here (her future husband, his brother in law) constantly reminding her to rest properly.

After finishing the living room, Benny moved on toward the kitchen.

The kitchen itself actually wasn’t heavily used which honestly made things even worse.

Unused utensils gathered dust, pots left sitting too long developed strange smells as well.

Benny silently rolled up his sleeves higher before taking everything down one by one and washing them carefully.

After finishing the utensils, he moved on to the laundry.

Unfortunately.... there wasn’t even a washing machine so he could only wash everything by hand.

By the time he finally wrung out the last piece of clothing and hung it up to dry, the sky outside had already darkened completely.

Benny stretched his sore back before letting out a long exhausted breath.

"Hah..."

For some reason, he suddenly felt a little emotional.

So is this what she felt whenever she cleaned my apartment after visiting me?

Thinking about it now, he really had been far too carefree because of her indulgence.

No matter how messy his life became, some part of him had always subconsciously believed that Selena would eventually show up and nag him while cleaning everything back into order.

Benny chuckled softly at himself before walking into the now spotless kitchen.

Then he tied an apron around his waist and began preparing dinner.

Rinsing the rice carefully before pouring it into the rice cooker and pressing the switch down.

At least she owns a rice cooker, he thought to himself.

Soon, the quiet sound of boiling soup began filling the kitchen.

Benny chopped onions skillfully before tossing them into the pot, followed by tomatoes and beaten eggs.

As he cooked, faint noises suddenly drifted out from Selena’s room.

Benny paused briefly as he muttered to himself, is she awake? Just in time, the dinner is nearly done.

He turned slightly toward the closed bedroom door while continuing to slice vegetables.

Soon he heard rustling noises and occasional thumps.

The sounds were too unclear for him to understand what exactly was happening inside but atleast it confirmed she was still alive.

Thirty minutes later, the rice was finally done.

Benny reached over and switched the rice cooker from Cook to Warm before lifting the lid slightly.

Steam instantly rose into the air along with the familiar fragrance of freshly cooked rice.

Still... Selena hadn’t come out of her room.

Benny frowned slightly while glancing toward the bedroom again.

The noises inside still continued intermittently.

"What is she even doing in there...?" he muttered under his breath.

For a brief moment, he even wondered if she had somehow woken up only to continue working again inside her room.

In the end, Benny decided to check on her personally.

After all, dinner was already done, yet Selena still hadn’t come out even once.

As he approached the bedroom door, he raised his hand, preparing to knock.

But just before his fingers touched the door Selena’s excited voice suddenly rang out from inside.

"Thank you for the ten gifted subs! Now just watch! I’ll definitely get that duck dinner this round!"

Benny froze mid-step.

"...Huh?"

For a moment, he genuinely suspected he had walked to the wrong room.

Curiosity instantly rose within him.

Quietly, Benny leaned closer before carefully peeking through the slightly opened gap of the door.

And thats when he saw Selena sitting in front of her computer wearing a headphone while intensely staring at the screen.

The usually gentle and mature university lecturer now looked completely different.

One hand rapidly clicked the mouse while the other against the keyboard.

The room glowed dimly under the computer monitor’s light, and the usually proper Selena was currently curled up in her chair wearing loose pajamas while fiercely shooting down entities on the screen.

Benny stared blankly.

This...

This was absolutely nothing like the Selena he remembered.

The future Selena always carried herself like a mature and dependable sister.

Yet the current version of her....

"...Wow," Benny muttered inwardly in genuine amazement.

Guess even the people closest to you still had secrets.

And just as he was still processing the scene Selena suddenly turned her head and looked straight through the gap at her door.

When their eyes met directly, the smile on Selena’s face instantly froze.