Animal Whisperer: Take Back My Life and Love Chapter 81: The Adoptable CEO

He gave the towel one final pat, leaving it draped loosely over her head like a hood.

"That’s the towel I use to dry Star's head," he said, his tone entirely flat.

Nancy: "..."

She yanked the towel off and glared at him. "Barry, did you do that on purpose?"

The man looked down at her, his voice low and cool. "What, are you picky?"

He turned toward Star and said in a slow, deliberate voice, "See that, Star? She thinks you're beneath her."

Star said, "Oh no… My fweewings hurts!"

Nancy immediately shot back, "I'm not being picky, I'm angry! You just dried my head like I was a dog!"

She adjusted her posture and squinted at him. "And what's this about being 'surrounded'? Explain yourself."

Star interjected, "Miss Nancy, Jorgan saw you surrounded by groups of muscular young men at the pool."

"The swim team was just thanking me!" she insisted.

Barry let out a short, mocking laugh. "That’s a very... unique way of showing gratitude."

Nancy was speechless. "I’m done talking to you. I’m going to go shower."

The numbness in her legs had finally faded. She stood up, and noticing Barry’s disheveled state, she hesitated.

"The staff dormitory has public showers. Do you want to wash up?"

"I think we have some spare staff uniforms you could change into," she added.

Barry initially wanted to refuse, but the smell of blood on his clothes was heavy and stifling. "Fine."

Having spent years working in war zones, he wasn't particularly fastidious about his surroundings.

Nancy found a set of clothes for him. Since Barry traveled frequently, he already had spare undergarments in his car.

Barry took the clothes and headed toward the showers.

Star stood at the entrance of the shower block, tugging at Nancy's pant leg and trying his best to pull her inside. "Miss Nancy, my owner's muscles are pretty awesome too. Would you like to have a look? Even his muscles feel hard to my paws! Its firm and very toned!"

Nancy’s face turned bright red. She scrambled back a few steps. "No, no, no! I’m going back to my own room to shower!"

She fled toward the director’s quarters as if her life depended on it.

Once she finished showering and drying her hair, she found Barry standing outside her door.

His face was a mask of cold fury. "Nancy, are you messing with me?"

The moment Nancy saw him, she burst into a fit of laughter so sudden she nearly choked.

The T-shirt she had given him was unsold stock from a joint promotion between Loren Zoo and a local pet adoption agency.

The front featured a round-faced kitten tilting its head cutely, accompanied by a line of bubbly pink text: "Adopt me! I'm a great bed-warmer!"

Worse still, a plush, stuffed tail was sewn into the back of the shirt, which swayed back and forth with every step.

The original design was meant for pet owners to wear while playing with their animals, made of durable, bite-resistant fabric.

The moment Star saw that plush tail, his ears shot up. His eyes sparkled as he launched a "predatory" strike, pouncing on the swaying tail so hard he nearly hiked the hem of the shirt over Barry's head. "A tail! My owner has a tail tooo!"

Barry held the shirt down with a darkened expression, but Star thought they were playing a game of tag. Even more excited, the dog began doing "zoomies" around him, snapping his jaws at the tail.

Nancy laughed until her stomach hurt. "I'm... I'm so sorry! But that was literally the only shirt in the warehouse that fit your size!"

She wiped a tear from her eye. "You're just too big for the regular ones."

Barry pinned Star’s head down and ground his teeth. "Where are the scissors?"

"What?" Nancy gave a dramatic yawn. "I'm so tired, I can't hear a thing."

She turned and stepped into her room, leaving him with a final remark: "Goodnight, Dr. Barry!"

The door slammed shut.

"Nancy!" Barry growled. "You expect me to go back to my hotel wearing this?"

Star wagged his tail. "You can sleep in the staff's dorms too? It's just next to Miss Nancy's room!"

He bit onto Barry's "tail" and tried to pull him toward the single dorm room.

Barry gave the dog a sharp tap on the head. "This is all your fault for faking that illness today."

The next morning.

Nancy woke up early. Now that she had her phone back, her first habit was to scroll through videos.

The very first video the algorithm pushed to her made her snap wide awake.

It was Ginnie’s apology video.

The rumors about Loren Zoo had been debunked, but Ginnie’s "Cuties Petting Zoo" hadn't suffered much from the fallout. Lawyers had requested the identity of the original poster from the platform, only to find it was a student.

The poster had come forward to apologize, admitting he was a fanatic fan of Ginnie. To drive traffic to his idol, he had targeted a struggling zoo to make Ginnie look better by comparison.

Now, Nancy was watching Ginnie give a tearful apology.

In the video, Ginnie looked solemn. "I never imagined things would escalate like this. An idol must take responsibility for their fans' actions. I sincerely apologize to Loren Zoo."

"I hope everyone will support Loren Zoo more in the future."

The comment section was filled with netizens comforting her.

"Ginnie was a victim of her fans' actions, too. She can't control what other people do."

"Seeing Ginnie cry breaks my heart. It's not easy for a young girl to start a business; she’s so unlucky to deal with this."