Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 18: Big Chest

"Ms. Townsend, the Grahams and Shepherds tried to cause trouble several times today, but we drove them off," Chandler reported.

"Woof!" Lucky stood proudly, chest out.

Chandler had no choice but to add, "Lucky performed excellently. We've already rewarded him with a drumstick."

Mariella smiled in approval. "You all did well."

She glanced at the lined-up bodyguards and noticed the roster had grown.

After counting, she realized that, including Chandler, there were now 16 bodyguards, hitting full capacity.

But four were women among the five new bodyguards.

Apparently, Bruce had first tested the waters with three female bodyguards. Seeing that Mariella didn't object, he added four more.

Employers usually preferred male bodyguards, and female bodyguards generally earned less.

The reason was simple. Female bodyguards typically lacked the same strength and combat power as male bodyguards.

Mariella treated salaries equally, so Bruce had gotten a bargain by sending seven women to fill the roster.

Anyway, the contract only required them to be loners with no family ties. It didn't specify any particular gender.

Mostly, it was because male bodyguard loners were hard to find, so Bruce filled the spots with female bodyguards who were often overlooked.

Mariella didn't express dissatisfaction. She assigned numbers to all the bodyguards on the spot.

Aside from Chandler, the 15 others were numbered one to 15 according to body weight.

The stronger, bulkier men were at the front; the women were at the back.

"Today, we're numbering by weight. In five days, you'll undergo an assessment, and we'll re-number based on real skills. The bottom five will be eliminated." Mariella scrutinized all 15 bodyguards, and her gaze rested on Number One.

Number One looked uncomfortable and asked nervously, "Ms. Townsend, is there a problem?"

Mariella exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, your chest is larger than all the female bodyguards!"

She swore she didn't mean anything else by it.

Whether male or female, a larger chest was often more attractive. She was just expressing admiration.

The most muscular Number One instantly blushed, unsure how to respond.

The other savvy bodyguards quickly caught on. They assumed their boss liked well-built chests.

Number Two wasn't about to be outdone. He stripped off his shirt, proudly flexing his large chest and defined muscles. "Ms. Townsend, I've got a big chest too."

He struck a few standard bodybuilding poses, showcasing his physique from every angle, confident in his body.

One act of showing off sparked a chain reaction. Several bodyguards began to pose and show themselves off, throwing flirtatious glances at Mariella.

Seeing the male bodyguards show off one by one, the female bodyguards got nervous since they couldn't take their tops off.

The salary for the first month alone was 200,000! And every month after that, the pay could double!

They couldn't afford to be outdone, because it meant being eliminated.

"Ms. Townsend, take a look! I actually have a pretty full chest too!" one of the female bodyguards said, blushing as she pushed her chest forward.

Mariella was dumbfounded.

Oh my god, is there some kind of misunderstanding here?

She instinctively glanced at Chandler's reaction.

His mouth twitched slightly; his look toward her was hard to describe.

Mariella was speechless.

Forget it. She wasn't explaining.

The apocalypse was coming soon anyway. Who still cared about reputation?

It wasn't like reputation could feed her.

...

Mariella was on her way back to her room to rest when Chandler stopped her.

"Ms. Townsend, the diesel, gasoline, and propane tanks you asked me to stockpile are all done."

Her eyes lit up, clearly impressed with how effective he was. "You always get things done. I can trust you."

He was really useful.

Chandler couldn't help but remind her, "Stockpiling this much fuel is dangerous and doesn't comply with safety regulations."

"Safety regulations only matter if they actually keep you safe," Mariella said, shrugging helplessly. She lowered her voice with a half-joking tone. "I have connections. I heard this world is about to become unsafe! There's an advantage to stockpiling diesel."

He was speechless.

Mariella could read the same complicated look in his eyes as before. But when it came to executing her orders, he never half-assed it.

Forget it. He wasn't a robot. Everyone had little moods sometimes.

He could question her all he wanted. She was his boss, and he had to obey.

...

Back in her room, Mariella first took a hot shower.

Wrapped in a towel, she dried her hair.

Feeling a little thirsty, she grabbed a glass of lemonade from her storage space and drank half of it in one go.

Having a storage space was incredibly convenient, though unfortunately, its capacity was limited.

Mariella tried to stay calm about that. Good things couldn't all belong to one person. She should be satisfied.

Not feeling sleepy right after the shower, she started searching through the living quarters in her storage space for the gold, silver, and gemstone jewelry she'd spent millions on. She wanted to pick out a few pieces to try on.