Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Chad chuckled, "I never studied that stuff."

"So how did you figure out they were cooking their books if you didn't investigate their company?" Molly probed.

Chad shrugged, "That's the auditor's job, not mine."

Molly pressed on, "Don't you even glance at their tax returns?"

Chad replied, "That's for the tax folks, not me."

Molly sighed dramatically, "So that kiss earlier was all for nothing, huh?"

Chad pulled her into a hug, laughing, "I can help you dig up some references."

When Mia learned her best friend's plan had also hit a dead end, she sighed, "Mine's a total flop too. Andre's playing dumb about it now. Let's head back to the old house and pick our topics together." The day they chose their topics, the sisters dusted off their ancient laptops and sat at the dining table, opening a group chat with Leo.

"Leo, what's the site for picking our topics?" Mia asked.

Leo sent over a link, and Mia meticulously typed it in.

Andre stood behind his wife, holding their son, while Chad lounged beside Molly.

Logging into the site, the sisters exchanged a look, simultaneously asking, "What's the password again?"

They had so many passwords that they often mixed them up, so they decided to use the same one. If one forgot, she could always ask the other.

So, before picking their topics, they had a bit of a password crisis.

Listening in, Leo smacked his forehead in his apartment, "Just recover your password already."

Anya watched Chad, who was clearly frustrated but had nowhere to vent. She quietly jotted down all her account passwords in a notebook. Leo noticed but kept his comments to himself. Andre suddenly asked, "Mia, is this system's password the same as the one you used for your last exam?" remembering when his pregnant sweetheart dragged him along as her exam buddy. Mia nodded, "You remember, honey."

Andre rattled off a series of numbers, "Try eight eights, then the pinyin for 'warm' and 'foam'."

The sisters typed it in and, sure enough, they logged in.

"You're amazing, honey," Mia exclaimed, beaming.

As Leo talked them through choosing a professor, the sisters followed his guidance step by step.

With the system overloaded, the sisters hollered again, "Leo, hack us in!"

Leo quipped, "Jade, is your husband with you?"

"Yep."

Suddenly, silence.

Molly realized and awkwardly coughed a bit, nudging Chad under the table, "Chad, maybe step out for a bit. We're about to do something kind of, well, illegal, and it's hard to focus with you here." Officer Chad grinned, "I'm staying right here today, curious to see how bold you three are."

After endless refreshing, Leo finally tweaked the network and got in, selecting a professor's topic.

Then, on his own computer, he logged into the sisters' accounts using their student IDs from Anya's notebook. "Jade, Mia, which topics do you want?"

Mia said, "I'll take the easiest one."

Molly echoed, "Same here."

Leo teased, "Leaving it to fate, are we?"

He scanned the topics and picked two he thought seemed straightforward.

When everyone else struggled to secure a topic, Leo managed to snag ones for all three of them.

The sisters refreshed their pages and saw their topics were set.

"The subprime mortgage crisis?" Mia looked at her topic and turned to Andre.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Andre, holding their child, met her eyes, "I've got work at the office."

Molly checked her topic, "Financial derivatives?"

She also turned to Chad, who said, "I've got stuff at the station."

So, the sisters turned to Leo for help.

The phone buzzed with chatter until Leo decisively ended the call and shut off his phone. "Ms. Anya, come here, log into all your social media accounts, and change your passwords to match mine." "Chad-"

Leo advised, "Write down your passwords. What if you lose that notebook one day? Gonna call the cops?"

Anya hid a smile.

Leo had already logged into Anya's accounts, "What's the password?"

Anya was shy to admit it.

Leo persisted, "Come on, don't be coy. Couple passwords and you're not stepping up?"

"The password is Chad's birthday."

Leo smirked, "Girls these days, all heart-eyed. The Ms. Anya I know is a classic case."

He updated the password, "Now it's the pinyin for 'I like Chad"."

"And yours, Chad?"

Leo handed the computer to Anya, "You try it, guess."

Anya tried thrice and on the fourth, she typed "I also like Anya ya," and it worked.

Anya spun around, surprised, meeting Leo's intense gaze, "Sweetheart..."

Leo pulled her close, kissing her deeply.

With topics chosen, the sisters started digging for references and drafting their research proposals.

Leo took charge of school stuff, adding the two women to a group their professor had set up.

Before break, Leo drove to his place to pick up the three ladies.

He took the two "elders" to school, met the professor, chatted about their ideas, and confirmed their direction. The professor was shocked to see Molly's pregnancy and nearly dropped his cup when he saw Mia.

The women were also nervous, unsure how to discuss their thesis with the professor.

Leaving, Leo asked the sisters, "Where are you headed?"

"Where are you going?" Mia echoed.

The same question, but they knew who each meant.

Leo said, "We're going on a date, don't bug us."

With Anya's exams done, she'd be leaving soon.

Mia suggested, "Let's hit the mall, it's almost New Year's, and we need to get Henry some new clothes."

Molly, itching for some shopping, agreed, "I need a few things too."

Mia teased, "Didn't you just buy 8 maternity outfits?"

Molly paused, "Did I?"

Anya, in the front seat, turned to clarify, "Auntie, you bought 12. After you got back to Maplewood Estates, we received 4 more packages." Molly too lazy to pick them up herself, used her dad's number for

deliveries.

This led Hansen to rush to the door with each notification, eagerly opening packages, only to exclaim, "Molly!"

Another package, another "Molly!"

...

Because of this, Hansen had to "persuade" his daughter back to the Byrne family.

Molly reflected, "... How is online shopping even real shopping? Those clothes aren't real, they're just pixels. Besides, who doesn't get new outfits for New Year's? I haven't bought mine yet."

She hopped out, lining up with her sister, "Shall we?"

"Let's go."

The sisters headed into the mall.

Anya glanced back at her boyfriend.