Monday morning arrived without any consideration for whether anyone wanted it there in the first place. On the whole, most people considered Monday mornings a necessary part of life. It unified many people regardless of race, religion, or political creed by presenting them with something fully deserving of their united hatred. The only people who didn't hate it were the rare, possibly psychotic, portion of the population known as morning people.
Arthur was a morning person.
Usually, he woke up feeling eager and refreshed for the day. He would wake long before the sun as his alarm clock played him the song of its people: a sound that most people hated more than Monday mornings by themselves. Today, his alarm didn't go off. He'd forgotten to set it the night before. Still, he woke up in that familiar way a few minutes before his alarm went off. He could see the numbers telling him he had three minutes left before his alarm went off.
His arms felt heavy, and the air under his blanket was warm and cozy, with two naked bodies pressed against him, one on either side. Ji-Min, Mindy, was pressed into him on his left. Rani was on his right, snoring gently. He smiled to himself and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he had two minutes left before his alarm went off, but something about the clock looked weird. There was also a noise that wasn't part of his alarm. A dull thunk from the other room that his brain slowly realized was someone knocking on the door.
He looked at his clock again and realized: the minutes had increased by one. The hour had also increased by one.
"Oh shit." Arthur groaned. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."
"Hm?" Mindy lifted her head blearily and looked up at Arthur. "Shhhh." She said and gently put her hand over his face. "No talky."
"We're gonna be late for work." Arthur sighed.
"Hm?" Mindy asked again, looking up at the clock. It took her brain a second to register what the clock was telling her, but when she realized it, she groaned too.
"Hm?" Rani asked, lifting her head as Arthur's movement jostled her. Mindy got up first and moved out of his way as Arthur slid out of bed. His pants were on the floor, against the closet door. He fished his phone out of his pocket, but it was dead.
"Phone's dead." Arthur sighed. "Damn it."
Mindy lifted her phone up from the nightstand. She'd plugged it in the night before. She felt terrible for not plugging in Arthur's, but she hadn't thought about it then. Next time, Mindy swore she would be a better personal assistant.
Arthur plugged his phone in. Rani rolled back over and pulled the blanket over her head.
Mindy sighed. "I'm gonna miss my first class."
"I'm sorry." Arthur said. "I can drive you back to campus-"
"No, it's ok. I didn't have a quiz or anything. I can get notes from my roommate." Mindy shrugged. "I need a shower, though." She smiled. "And some fresh clothes. I really should have packed an overnight bag."
"Poor planning on your part." Arthur shook his head as his phone turned on.
"Was it?" Mindy giggled. "I technically do have a change of clothes...." She said as she glanced toward the kitchen. "Kind of. A skirt anyway."
Arthur smirked. "You'd certainly turn heads in that skirt with the suspenders and a pair of heels."
Rani came back out from under the covers and glared at them for having the audacity to get up when she was trying to sleep. "What time is it?"
"Later than expected." Arthur surmised.
"But it's still so dark?" Rani asked as she propped herself up with her elbows behind her.
"Ah... light blocking curtains." Arthur said as he reached over and turned on the light. "Sorry."
"Fuck." Rani fell back against the mattress. She looked at the clock and sighed. "Oh, I'm fine." She shrugged. "Got plenty of time."
There was a knock on the door again, heavier and more impatient this time. Arthur shook himself and headed into the living room.
"Someone's at the door?" Mindy asked.
"Who is at the door at this hour?" Rani moaned.
Arthur didn't know off the top of his head. He was still waking up. Hour-wise, he'd gotten decent sleep last night, but he was worn out. Sleep had recharged him, but his head was fuzzy, as though it needed something more to kick-start it.
When he reached it, he looked through the peephole to see Kat and Selene standing on the other side of it, looking up expectantly.
He opened the door without a second thought and let them in. Kat seemed surprised, but Selene seemed worried.
"Master, are you okay?" Selene asked. "You haven't answered any of my messages from last night or this morning, and I was-" She stopped as Mindy came out of the bedroom, smiling and just as naked as Arthur was.
"Oh." Selene's smile grew by megawatts as she looked at Mindy. "I see things went well?"
"Very well." Mindy assured her.
"Yay!" Selene was already hugging her, uncaring that she was naked while Selene was dressed in gym clothes, specifically barely-there yoga shorts that clung from their low waistband to just above the bottom of her butt and a sports bra.
Likewise, Katerine was dressed in gym clothes but wore a stretchy tank top that covered her sports bra and most of her cleavage down to a pair of curve-hugging yoga pants, both black. It looked good on her, hugging her curves and showing off her body in ways that Arthur appreciated, but it showed no skin other than her arms.
"What's all this?" Kat asked, gesturing to the bags at the bottom end of the kitchen table. "Did you guys go on a shopping spree last night?"
"I got a little carried away." Arthur admitted. "I bought a bunch of things from the mall that he thought might be fun. But it's fine." He waved away any concern. "Nothing you won't thank me for later."
Kat looked curious, but she stopped when Rani stumbled out of the bedroom, barely awake and hardly registering that other people were there, except that she had a sheet from Arthur's bed wrapped around her otherwise naked body. After all, most of her clothes were in crumpled piles on the living room floor.
"Um..." Kat looked at Rani, Mindy, Selene, and Arthur in an equal measure of shock before looking back at Rani. "Who the fuck are you?"
Selene's smile grew by another factor of ten. Arthur worried it might break her face to smile any more than she was now. She was practically dancing on the balls of her feet as she squeezed Mindy's hands in hers.
"This is Rani." Arthur made the introductions. "Rani, this is Selene, and Kat." He said, gesturing to each. "Rani is a girl from school we ran into last night, and Mindy invited her along."
"Another potential addition to the harem." Mindy said happily as she let go of Selene's hands and took one of Rani's hands to lead her forward. Rani kept her other hand above her breasts to keep the sheet covering her at least a little bit. Mindy didn't seem to mind that she was nude in front of Kat and Selene, but this was Rani's first introduction.
"Welcome!" Selene chirped happily. She hugged Rani just as she'd hugged Mindy a moment ago, not caring about their various states of undress. Rani went a little rigid but let Selene hug her and then let her bounce away.
"Um... Excuse me?" Kat glared at Selene, then at Arthur. "You slept with her?"
"Uh... well, yeah." Arthur said, both confused and a little guilty. He wasn't sure if he felt guilty for it or if he felt guilty as a response to Kat's tone, but it was clear to him she was unhappy.
"He's our Master." Selene chided her sister, Kat. "He can sleep with whoever he wants."
"Whomever." Kat retorted automatically.
"That too." Selene smirked.
"That's not what I-" Kat cut herself off and huffed.
Selene shook her head and then looked at Rani. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You're beautiful... have I seen you around campus?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. I go to school with you guys. I'm an Engineering major." Rani answered.
"Oh, okay." Selene nodded.
Kat seemed to get even more frigid and crossed her arms over her chest. She stood there looking between them. She looked properly chastised, but her gaze turned into a glare whenever she looked at Arthur, so she looked at Mindy instead, who was still holding Rani's hand.
"So, what happened last night?" Kat asked.
"Let's talk about it over breakfast." Arthur suggested. "We can all catch each other up."
"I should... get back to campus." Rani said, glancing at Kat.
"And we're supposed to go to the gym, remember?" Selene prompted Arthur. "Can you catch us up at the gym?"
Arthur glanced at Rani and Mindy and shook his head, chuckling slightly. "It's... not really gym talk." He admitted. "I'll make scrambled eggs, and I think I still have a pack of bacon in there." He gestured toward the kitchen.
"Do you have coffee?" Mindy asked. "Nice, strong coffee?"
"No..." Arthur admitted. He mostly drank water and didn't go in for caffeine beyond tea, except occasionally. He drank coffee so infrequently that he didn't mind spending cafe prices on it when he wanted it.
"Let's go eat breakfast on campus." Selene suggested. "That way, Mindy can get her coffee, and we can sit somewhere private and talk, the five of us."
"I need to hit the dorm first and at least change clothes and shower." Rani shook her head. "Why don't you guys do your gym thing, and Mindy and I will meet you at the cafeteria afterward?"
"That works." Kat agreed quickly.
Arthur looked at her but nodded. "Okay. I have to text Beth." Arthur sighed.
"Another girlfriend?" Rani asked, surprised.
"Our boss." He gestured to himself and Mindy who stood next to Rani with one arm crossed under her chest to support her breasts and her other still holding Rani's hand.
"I thought he was your boss?" Rani asked Mindy.
"She calls me boss. I'm not actually-" Arthur started.
"Right, right." Rani nodded. "I remember. Sorry. I need coffee too."
"I was supposed to meet Kelly at the gym this morning." Arthur sighed. "And take you guys there."
