Chapter 14 : The second event and the beginning of the show
New York, Queens – Wendy's POV
I'm glad school is finally finished for the day. I haven't been able to focus on anything since this morning's event.
My brother, the person I love most in the world, the love of my life, fainted this morning moments after I went to wake him up.
And what a surprise: when I went to wake him up, he was already standing but completely naked. What a sight—his athletic body had just the right amount of muscle. Not to mention his massive morning wood, which I only had time to notice before my brain screamed the evidence: 'Ahh! You're naked!'
I just hope he didn't see me ogling him before I blushed and ran out of his bedroom.
I spent the day with his image in my mind, unable to stop thinking about it. All I want now is to take a good shower and a masturbation session to get the image of his body out of my mind.
I finally came home. No sound in the apartment. My brother is probably still unconscious or he must have gone out, which is perfect for me and my project. I rapidly went to my room, which is opposite my brother's room.
I got into my underwear, grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom.
The moment I entered the bathroom, I realized that Alex was neither out nor in his bed. He is right before me. Coming out of the shower, naked, his body still wet and dripping. And I just freeze.
Alex's POV
Just as I finished my shower and was about to grab a towel, a beautiful young girl in underwear entered the bathroom.
I recognized her immediately — it was Wendy, my little sister in this life.
Young, beautiful, and in her underwear, which was surprising but quite a sight.
This time I react first. "I hope that you walking into a room and finding me naked doesn't become a habit." I say with humor.
It takes her several seconds to react, which I used to observe her carefully, fair skin, perky boob, a really beautiful young woman. When she finally reacts she blushes intensely.
She mutters something that I don't quite understand before running out of the room.
I hope that her running every time she sees me is not gonna be a habit.
The steam still clung to my skin as I stepped out of the bathroom, a towel hanging loosely around my neck. The shower had done its job — the fog in my head had lifted, the noise in my thoughts had quieted. For the first time today, I could think straight.
When I walked back into my room, the sunlight had already shifted, casting long golden streaks across the floor. After the second "naked event" I can tell Wendy is home. Which meant Mom wouldn't be far behind. Mom never liked leaving us alone for long.
I let out a slow breath.
Time to start acting normal.
For all the powers I'd just awakened, this — this — was the real test. Pretending to be the same Alex they knew. The same guy who had passed out this morning, who lived an ordinary life, who hadn't woken up with two templates, six abilities, and the creeping awareness that his world was sitting on the edge of a Marvel-level explosion.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, staring at my reflection in the darkened screen of my laptop. My eyes looked the same. Maybe a little sharper, more focused. But there was no glow, no telltale sign of something supernatural. Just me. Or the version of me this world expected to see.
I'd have to keep it that way.
At least for now.
The hard part wasn't hiding my powers — it was hiding my change. The way I looked at things now. The way I thought. One wrong word, one off expression, and they'd know something was off.
Especially Mom. She was too perceptive for her own good.
I needed a believable excuse for what happened this morning — for the "collapse." Something simple, human, boring.
Overwork? Maybe.
Lack of sleep? Plausible.
Stress from exams? Perfect.
Yeah. That would work. Mom would scold me about studying too much, Wendy would tease me about acting like an old man, and life would move on.
I glanced around my room — textbooks stacked neatly on the desk, a half-empty coffee cup by the window, the faint smell of soap and laundry still in the air. Every detail matched the life of the Alex Orzat they remembered.
It was strange, really.
These things, this space — they felt both alien and familiar. Like I'd been living here for years and only just woken up inside the role.
But as I sat there, letting my eyes wander across the room, a realization crept in.
I didn't have to play a role. Not entirely.
People didn't notice change when it came slowly — when it slipped into the edges of what they already expected. If I shifted little by little, day by day, I could blend who I was now with who they remembered. And with Mind Whisper, I had an even subtler advantage.
The ability didn't just let me feel thoughts — it let me nudge them, gently, like steering a current rather than fighting it. A tone of voice here, a reassuring smile there… it wouldn't take much for them to accept any difference in me as natural growth.
That was the beauty of influence — not forcing, just guiding.
So maybe I didn't need to wear a mask.
Maybe I could rewrite it, piece by piece, until the mask and the man behind it became one and the same.
I leaned back, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.
If I played this right, I could adapt to this world without anyone suspecting how much I'd changed.
Not deception — strategy.
And maybe, for the first time today, I didn't feel like an imposter at all.