Dinner

Scott's ex-wife was a typical domestically minded woman, a little snobbish and a little vain.

She had no career ambitions, either. Her family and daughter were her whole world.

When her husband told her that the "actor" really was the Apocalypse King, she refused to believe it.

Only when Cassie's stepfather's police chief turned up like an eager lapdog, laden with bags of gifts and desperate to see the portrait personally presented by the Apocalypse King, did she finally believe it all.

Yet she was forbidden from telling anyone such an enormous secret, so she could only vent her "joy" through screams.

She practically floated wherever she went.

When her friends boasted about their children, husbands, jewelry, and the like, she began looking down on their narrow horizons with an unprecedented sense of superiority.

Her daughter had received a personal inscription from the Apocalypse King. Which of her friends could possibly match that prestige?

The scholarship fund the Apocalypse King had given her alone was worth more than money could measure.

If she had to put a price on it, the portrait by her daughter's bedside was worth over ten million dollars.

And that was before even considering the handwritten inscription.

Her poor friends were still showing off a piece of jewelry or a nice car.

Now that Apocalypse was visiting again, however, Cassie's mother panicked.

She had spent these past few days floating on air, never once considering that the Apocalypse King might visit again, let alone preparing for it.

From the moment she received the call arranging the visit, she had been screaming nonstop.

Cassie rushed out first and threw herself into Scott's arms. "Daddy, have you and the Apocalypse King finished fighting the bad guys?"

"Yes. We came especially to see you."

Cassie asked again, "Apocalypse King,