Seeing the expressions he was making and how he must be feeling deep down she approached and said, "I understand that making things right is not going to happen instantly and I'm willing to do what it takes to get back to how we were. I just need you to give me that chance. I'm here because I want to prove that I mean it when I say I love you and with all my heart."

In the moment he wants to be furious, but he can't really bring himself to really go off on her. Ultimately he ends up caving in, "Fine....... But you're going to be the one sleeping on the couch. And don't you even get in your head that this means we're back together. It's going to take a lot to fix us."

Seeing that he did not get angry and start shouting for her to leave and never come back, Penelope took the ultimatum as a step towards her goal. She smiled and agreed, "Certainly. Thank you for not just...... Thanks August."

"It's not like it matters. I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow anyway. So you'll still be here in the house will be all yours," he clarified as he moved to sit down on the stool next to the kitchen counter.

She nervously corrected him, "Actually......... I'm going with you."

As Penelope rub the back of her head hoping that he wouldn't freak out, he ended up doing just that, "What?! Don't joke like that! Where I'm going only people who have the curse can follow and only at the invitation of the God of Games. Normal people like you can't just come along."

Penelope then slowly pulls up her character sheet. Seeing it he doesn't even read it at first as he's just surprised she was afflicted by the curse even though she wasn't even on the world at the time.

He then immediately stands up and starts reading her character sheet. To his surprise it says that her class is, Saint of Love. Looking over the information about it, it seems to be a class that is a type of healer. But they're healing is much more powerful when used on people that they care about. If they happen to be in love with the person that they were healing either romantically or in a parental kind of love the healing would be magnified nearly tenfold.

He asked her not really understanding how this is possible since she was in outer space away from their world by several million miles when the Player Plague had been spread across the world. He questioned, "How....? How is this possible? Explain. Now!"

Penelope put up her hands in reaction to seeing that he was definitely freaking out now to try and calm him down, "It's okay, August. I don't mind telling you. Just..... breathe first. You look like you're about to pop a blood vessel or two."

Realizing that he seems to have probably gone a little bit too far with his reaction he slowly starts to get his breathing under control. As he does he takes a seat back down in the stool. Once his heart is no longer racing a mile a minute from confusion and worry he ultimately starts to rub his face trying to think to himself.

Seeing this Penelope explains what had happened, "After you sent your reply to my text, I did what I said I did. I made a choice. I chose us over my job. So I immediately paid almost half of my life savings to get an express ticket back here. I guess since the God of Games has his eye on you that means he's probably got his eye on everyone around you. Maybe my devotion and sincerity caught his attention. Maybe it was just mind-boggling to him that I would throw away my opportunity for a relationship that was already over. Either way it went, no matter what caught his attention, something did. And he extended the offer. I would become afflicted with the Player Plague and in exchange I would also agree to go with you...... I didn't hesitate to say yes."

All Augustus could do was just take the story as an answer whether or not he believed it was true. Given the name of her class there must be at least a portion of the story that was true which made him relax a lot more. 

Not really knowing how to deal with this he just waved her off and stood up to go to his room. Cuddles having been in the kitchen the entire time watching the interaction didn't really know what to do as she was able to easily read both of them. She could tell that her owner was definitely in need of some affection, but she could also tell that the one who was once his mate desired comfort as well. Not knowing what to do, she simply laid down and stayed there hoping that they could try and work things out.

Augustus chose the only path that made sense to him in the moment which was to currently close the door to the bedroom and be left alone with his thoughts for a little bit. As he fell onto the bed just letting himself drown in all of the many thoughts that he had about everything going on currently in his life he almost fell asleep.

Right when sleep was about to take him, he heard a knock at his front door. He snapped his eyes open to look at the time, noticing that over half an hour had passed since he came into his bedroom.

Jumping out of bed, he realized his son was at the front door. So he quickly moved out of the bedroom to go and let Michael in. By the time he reached the living room, he saw that Penelope had already opened the door for Michael who was standing there with a smile on his face waving to her. Michael was unaware that his father and Penelope had a breakup in the first place. 

Penelope greeted him saying, "Well this is a pleasant surprise. I'm glad to see that you came over, Michael. You came in time for dinner as well. I'll make sure to fix you a plate."

"I knew I smelled something good cooking. Figured if it wasn't the old man, it had to be you in the kitchen. How you been Penny," Michael replied.

She answered genuinely happy to see him, "I've been well. Although maybe you could help with some issues. Your father and I had a bit of a falling out recently. We could use a mediator."

"Well I'd be happy to help. You and the old man's happiness means a lot. After all I don't want him ending up lonely when he gets old," Michael laughed in response.

That's when Augustus made his presence known and said, "Who are you talking about?! I'm not going to be some lonely hermit you know."

Michael retorted with a half smile giggling to himself, "I know pop. Now I heard the dinner was ready. Does that mean we can go and dig in?"

Augustus look to Penelope and he just let out a sigh, "I guess. Help Penny set the table will you? She's the one who cooked after all."

With that Michael and Penelope started to fix everyone food to eat. While Augustus looked at what was fixed and saw what was edible for Cuddles so she could have some nice cooked food too. It was only fair to feed her something nice as well.

Not long after the three of them said at the table while cuddles ate nearby Augustus. For the first 15 minutes of dinner it was a pure silence, and the tension between Augustus and Penelope was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. Michael ultimately chose to discuss a topic with his father to break the silence but also to inform him of something important.

Michael explained and then asked, "So dad, today while I was out training my abilities I saw some random animals passing by. I noticed that I could see something when I focused on them for long enough. Apparently even animals have character sheets and stats and stuff. Which means that Cuddles most likely has one too and we can see it if we focus on her for long enough. Since she spends almost all the time she can with you when she's not home by herself, do you know what her character she looks like?"

This was actually news to Augustus as he hadn't noticed anything like that before. But giving everything that has been going on over the last 2 days he didn't really make time to notice either. Instead he chose to just stare at Cuddles for a second to see if anything popped up.

To his amazement Cuddles did have a character sheet that appeared after roughly 30 seconds of staring at her. It said her level was 5. She had 400 HP and 25 AC. She was classified as an Omega Pokka which is seemingly a rare species with a great aptitude for elemental magic. 

Her stats read as follows:

Might- 20

Agility- 30

Endurance- 30

Charm- 30

Talent- 15

Brilliance- 25

Enlightenment- 10

Survival- 20

Augustus could only mutter a simple, "Well damn. That's new."

Michael seemed oddly surprised that this was the first time Augustus actually noticed. Then again he has been dealing with almost instantaneous fame and not to mention relationship issues and of course a near-death situation. As a result Michael cuts his dad some slack and doesn't even bother making a joke about it.

Penelope just remarked, "I guess that means she can level up like the rest of us. If that's the case it must mean that you might be able to actually bring her along with you August."

Not really having thought about whether or not he could take cuddles with him, the realization that he potentially might not have been able to before hits him. He becomes immediately a lot more appreciative that his son brought this to his attention, as he can gladly take his cute pokka with him. Not having Cuddles there as emotional support on an alien world would probably have made things a lot more difficult for him.

This actually gets Augustus to directly ask Penelope a question, "So what is your unique awakening skill?" 

Penelope a little surprised that he actually seems to want to talk to her after being silent for so long at the table took a moment to reply, "It is called Lover's Kiss. Unlike most people's skills mine was apparently not random as it was a gift for my unique way of being given the Player Plague. It's very simple though. Essentially whenever I give a kiss to people it can temporarily give them a stat boost. For normal people it'll only give them a +5 to all stats for roughly an hour. For someone that I truly love however the bonus instead is +25 for 10 minutes. It is a Mythic rank skill."

"Shit I can see why. From the research I've done a single step point increase already makes small noticeable differences and someone's overall capabilities. But a temporary +5 for an hour for normal people would be almost a double increase in their current skill set. Meanwhile if it's someone that you actually really love it's more of a quintuple increase in abilities," Michael blurted out in amazement.

Augustus nodded in agreement. It would be useful either way it went. 

Penelope asks him a question of her on, "Are you really okay with everything that is going on Augustus?"