CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE HOW BRAVE AND CONFIDENT MC IS
*Contains Episode 1 SPOILERS*
I came in with the mind set that MC was going to be a super tropey reverse harem heroine. Kind of like Yui from Diabolik lovers where she isn’t even a person.
Just look at MC she looks like a super cute cinnamon roll but gurrrlllll you have some BALLS and I lived for every single second of her character in this episode.
She’s super determined to keep her show running and keep the same energy that her father brought to the show and I love that she’s running from place to place and hustling like a pimp.
One thing I can’t stress enough is that she speaks her goddamn mind.
You tell her MC! Finish her! Ref Anna on the side tho lol
Now don’t get me started when she went to go look for Victor when she found through Anna that he was withdrawing funding from her company.
She went up to receptionist of his company like “LET ME TALK TO HIM OR I WILL GO TO HIM” and she FUCKING DID
MY GIRL IS FROM THE MOTHAFUCKING HOOD!! FUCK YO RULES BIACH !
Remember when Vic walked into the building like it was his palace or some shit cuz he had to make an “emergency visit or whateva”?? All his employees started bowing down n shit but my GIRL didn’t
Then she met with the grand DICK himself my boo Victor
She be like hey why you cutting my funding bruh?? I need it! Then he was like cuz is just as I thought…. TRASH.
It hurt my girl for like a second but then she started thinking of her hommies from the hood in Loveland and then she pulled up a OOHH Hell NOO and was like Aight you GONNA Pay fo dat shit
If we make it big don’t bring yo lil bitch ass running to me cuz it gonna be late as fuck. You Good?
MC told him infront of every single one of his employees!! Every single one!! the shameeeeee on his cow tho
I FUCKING DIED. I was dead. ☠️ ☠️ ☠️ just like every single one of his employees
Then my boii was so amused and so intrigued by hood rat MC that he looked at her like FUCKING TRY ME with that sexy ass smile of his
MC looked at him like I’m ready BITCHH bring IT.
Them death stares got me like OOOOHHH is gonna get good.
If Anime MC is like this then I’m in for a treat with RENEGADE MC. I’m living so much for her bad bitch energy that I honestly forgot that Gavin didn’t even have enough screen time and that’s coming from one of his #1 hoe’s.
I think I might up just developed a big ASS crush for MC.
Anyway, Good Job MAPPA so far I’m hooked.
Still a low blow for naming her “Watashi” tho when she has more personality than Yui
Idk why Expensive by Todrick Hall reminded me sooooo much of Victor. Anyway Enjoy it. Like always, I don’t own the music nor the CGS. Just Fun shit I do in my spare time as a thirsty otome hoe lol
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How are you? Have you been doing well?
A lot has happened since I last checked in but you know, there is this one constant that’s been hanging on to me ever since I have met them and yes, it’s the same dummy I have been telling you about, Mother.
How should I put this? For some reason her presence around me had become something that I continuously look forward to. I didn’t know when it started but lately, all that I could think about is how I wanted to revel in the time and effort she had given me throughout the years of knowing each other.
I want to cherish her, Mother. I want her to know just how much she means to me and I think… I’m getting there.
You kept saying that I should open my heart more and let people know just how much they mean to me and she… she taught me how to. She keep on teaching me ways to express myself more and I couldn’t be any more glad that she did.
She even came up with another silly surprise just for today. All because she wanted me to feel cherished and loved on my special day.
You’d like her, mom. Maybe even love her the way you love me.
And uh. She’s calling me now. Something about making another wish of some sort. I’ll talk to you again soon, Mother. Take care.
Have we come to a full circle with the birthday prompts? Yes. Yes we did. You know what that means right? I think I’m reaching an anniversary with these prompts.
Started somewhere in feb or march I think. lol. Wow. What a journey this has been. Do I want to continue? Of course.
Anyway, Happiest Birthday to you my beloved Victor.
“Do you know that sometimes… I worry about you, you know?” her voice muffled by the sweet sound of lull, sleepiness trying to take over her. “I worry a lot about you… and maybe even scared for you.”
Despite the silence permeating in the room, she dared continue, throwing her head back until the wall behind her supported her, pulling her knees up to her chin. “Sometimes, I get scared at the thought of leaving you be, all by yourself surrounded by your thoughts and emotions. Leaving you unguarded with that high fortress you built upon yourself.”
“Sometimes, I wonder if I am able to climb up- if I could even climb these immeasurable walls you built for yourself.”
Letting out a shaky breath as she turned her head to the side, lips dangerously close to the barrier between them. “But I want to try, you know? I am trying. So please… don’t shut yourself on me, okay?”
She shouldn’t. Oh god, she shouldn’t. But she couldn’t not stare at him.
The way his long sleeves were rolled up to his forearm, him being unaware at the way it highlights the veins decorating his forearms, his graceful movements as he glided through the kitchen as if he knew it from the back of his hand despite not being his own, and the way his face looked oddly at peace despite cutting some onions.
For some reason, these all felt domestic for her. Too domestic… andtoo unrealistic.
She shouldn’t. She couldn’t. But oh god, how she wished to at least revel in this moment.
“What is it now?” she hated how his voice can immediately break her reverie when not even her closest friend can do so. “You looked all too lost in your day dreams again, dummy.”
Letting out a small nervous laugh, she averted her gaze from him, trying to reign her rampaging feelings deep down.
“Nothing,” she answered all too quickly. “It’s nothing.”
She really need to shove all these emotions deep down.
Fun fact: Nandemonaiya is my favorite song in Kimi no Na Wa. There’s just so much pinning and angst in that song.
“Do you think…” her voice is quiet, almost blending into the night as she clutched her phone to her chest, wondering if she should even finish the sentence. Knowing him, and knowing what had just transpired, it would do her good to just outright say it- lest she wanted another round of raised voices and frustrated groans. “Do you think we’ll last?”
How can the silence between them become too unbearable? When had it stopped being so comfortable with him?
Maybe it’s the distance, her heart thumped. Maybe it’s because of the workload and the timing just don’t make sense.
Or, in another part of her brain, maybe it’s because life had gotten in the way and they had been all too consumed by everything they didn’t say.
Had they always been like this? When did the distance between them grew? How can they keep up with the silence stretched between them?
At the other side of the call, he let out a small sigh, making her heart shatter.
“I… don’t know,”
She could already imagined the half-dimmed hotel room, the scattered paper works he should’ve been looking at the moment.
She could feel him waning until all that’s left was a defeated shell of a man.
Hello there and welcome to Victor’s birthweek prompts. I’ll be dropping different prompts for Victor for seven days with the last prompt being birthday.
Anyway. I’m kinda having little to no energy with writing so there’s not really much activity in my blog so just expect me popping out of nowhere and then disappearing from time to time.
MC had volunteered to cook for dinner, while Victor prepared himself for the worst case scenario. How would this dinner for two turned out in the end?
Word Count: 2582 words
Constancy was a word that fitted Victor’s character, just like how spontaneity was part of the girl’s disposition.
Whenever Victor thought he had gotten used to the girl’s random and silly antics, she would prove him wrong by surprising him in one way or another.
Just like this time.
“Victor, leave tonight’s dinner preparation to me!”
That was what she had declared over the phone when he called over to discuss their plans after work. Victor had no idea what had gotten her so pumped up to volunteer to do the cooking for that night.
Nevertheless, he did have an inkling of the girl’s cooking skill based on the homemade pudding that she had made last time for the famous celebrity, Kiro. Not to mention, that was just a dessert,which didn’t involve as much preparation as needed for a main course. Therefore, Victor’s response to her declaration had been instantaneous.
“Definitely not.”
As expected, her voice was filled with indignation at hearing his answer.
“But why?!”
To prevent unwanted accidents, to avert getting food poisoning, to avoid wasting food…There were plenty of similar reasons that came to his mind. However, Victor knew that if he were to tell her any of those reasons, she would certainly throw a tantrum and they would end up in an argument. With this dinner being their first face-to-face meeting within the past few weeks, the last thing he wanted was to ruin this opportunity with his bluntness.
Still, that didn’t mean that he would yield on this matter.
“When was the last time you cooked?” Just when the girl was about to answer, Victor had interrupted her by saying, “Instant foods don’t count.”
Following that, there was a pregnant silence on the other end of the call, which caused the corner of Victor’s lips to perk up unconsciously. He could picture vividly in his mind the current expression on the girl’s face as she was thinking up a retort to his words. With furrowed brows and a childish pout, she must be grumbling about him in her mind.
“I don’t have time to cook, that’s all!” was her retort after a minute of silence.
“Not even on the weekends?”
“I have to work on the proposals for LFG over the weekends…”
“Hmm, so I am the one to blame for that?”
At this moment, there was a sudden change in the girl’s tone as she spoke enthusiastically, “Anyway, I really feel like cooking today! So, you just have to sit back and look forward to tonight’s dinner!”
Knowing that she was trying to divert the topic, Victor chose to let her have her way. Even though he still felt uneasy about letting her cook, it would be pointless to try to change her mind now when she was already so determined and enthusiastic about it.
It was not that he was worried about whether he will be starving or getting food poisoning tonight. Even if she ended up making an inedible dinner, Victor could just cook up something simple with whatever ingredients that were available at the moment to make up for it. If that was not possible, they could go out to a nearby restaurant for dinner at the last minute.
So, what Victor was worried about the most was the girl, who was unused to working in the kitchen, hurting herself when cooking on her own. Still, Victor would never tell her that and he doubted that she was even aware of his concern for her. With a deep sigh, he replied reluctantly.
“Fine…”
“Great! Then, see you later!”
After ending the call, Victor glanced at the time. There were at least three hours left before their dinner appointment, which was more than enough time for him to go through his last agenda of the day. Nonetheless, after a brief moment of contemplation, the CEO of LFG had tapped on the button of the intercom phone on his desk. After a beeping tone, a flustered young male voice had answered from the other end of the intercom.
“Goldman speaking.”
“Goldman, bring forward the company meeting that was supposed to be an hour later, inform the departments involved to be ready within fifteen minutes.”
“Noted, sir!”
After a resounding beep from the intercom, silence returned to Victor’s office.
With this, he should be able to finish up his work and meet up with the girl earlier.
Hopefully, nothing had happened by then.
Hopefully.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After ending the call with Victor, she breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the cooking ingredients that she had laid out over the kitchen counters. The recipes of the two dishes that she had intended to make were stuck to the surface of the top cabinet for her to view them easily during the preparation process.
Since she had taken a day off from work today, she had spent the whole night scouring the internet for the most straightforward recipes for these two dishes yesterday. The step-by-step instructions seemed simple enough and she had brought the exact ingredients that were stated in the recipe at the market this morning. So, nothing should go wrong if she follows the recipe completely.
It should be fine…I think.
Even though she had been insistent on personally preparing tonight’s dinner, she was actually doubting if she could pull it off well. It had certainly been a long time since the last time she had done any actual cooking. Still, it wouldn’t be fair for her to one-sidedly enjoy Victor’s cooking, to be the only one on the receiving end.
She didn’t remember when or where she had heard it, but there was a mention somewhere that cooking a meal for someone is a genuine expression of affection and care towards the other party.
This made her think of all the times that Victor had cooked for her, either as a reward for completing her tasks well or on his own whim. Even though she was certain that Victor was busy with his own share of work as the CEO of LFG, he had never complained and would still make time to cook for her when she asked for Souvenir’s meals as her reward. As for herself, she had done nothing but eating to her fill all these times, much to her belated embarrassment.
That was why, at least once, she wanted to let Victor have a taste of her cooking.
Please let this turn out well.
With that thought, she rolled up her sleeves and pumped herself up before starting with the preparations.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Victor rang the doorbell of the girl’s apartment unit, there was thirty minutes left before the appointed time. Even though he had brought forward a meeting in order to leave the company earlier, something unexpected came up at the last minute and it took a longer time to resolve than he would have preferred. Therefore, as soon as he was done with that matter, he had headed straight to the girl’s place without even stopping by his home for a change of clothes.
Is she done cooking?
Did she cut herself while prepping?
Did she burn down the kitchen?
Those thoughts were on his mind throughout his journey to the girl’s place. Even now, as he stood waiting before the closed door of the girl’s home, Victor wondered if he would be greeted by a strong burnt scent and the sight of billowing black smoke when the girl opened the door. Fortunately, that scenario didn’t come true. When the door was pulled aside, all it revealed was the girl wearing clean casual home attires and with her hair tied up into a ponytail, smiling nervously at the sight of him.
“Oh, why are you here so early?”
It was only after noticing that there hadn’t been any wounds on her hands or anywhere else for that matter that Victor was finally able to relax.
Of course, he would never admit this to her.
“To supervise the cooking progress of a certain dummy.”
The girl had instantly pouted when hearing the word “dummy”, but she didn’t say anything else. Instead, she stepped aside and welcomed him into her home. Now that Victor thought about it, this was actually the first time he had visited her place, even though he had driven her back from work countless times in the past. Whenever they meet up, it has always been either at LFG, Souvenir or any other public places. In fact, she had even been to Victor’s place before, albeit rarely.
Nonetheless, the moment he stepped foot into the apartment unit, it was evident that the place belonged to her. It wasn’t due to the cute plush dolls that adorned the top of the shelves, the framed photographs of the girl’s youth that hung on the wall or the pile of stacked-up papers and folders on the coffee table at the living room, but because the place gave off a cozy and welcoming presence, much like its owner.
“Victor.”
As he shifted his attention back towards the girl, she said, “Actually, I just finished preparing dinner a little while ago.”
Having arrived earlier than the appointed time, Victor didn’t expect dinner to be ready. So, he was slightly impressed that the girl was already done. However, she seemed uneasy when mentioning about the dinner.
Was it because the final outcome was worse than what she had intended? Anyhow, since there wasn’t any burnt smell in the vicinity, Victor believed that the situation shouldn’t be too bad.
“So, why don’t you take a seat over at the table,” the girl had gestured towards an empty square table, “while I brought out the dishes.”
Having said that, the girl had headed straight towards the kitchen before Victor could respond. Not one to sit and wait to be served, he also went to the kitchen with the intention of taking out the tableware to help set up the table.
The first thing that caught his attention the moment he entered the kitchen was the sight of the messy kitchen counters that were littered with remnants of sliced vegetable ingredients and the piled-up cooking utensils in the kitchen sink. Still, the mess wasn’t as bad as he had expected.
Just when he had looked away from the mess, he locked eyes with the girl who was on her way out while holding one plate of food in each hand. She instinctively looked away from him when meeting his gaze, as though she was embarrassed.
But for what reason?
To Victor, she had actually done better than he expected and he even felt a little bad for having underestimated her culinary skill so much. For someone who rarely cooks, she actually managed to cook up two edible-looking dishes for dinner. There was just one thing, though.
“So,” Victor looked at the two plates in the girl’s hands, “It’s a vegetarian dinner tonight.”
With the two dishes being stir-fried Bok Choy and pan-fried sesame garlic tofu, there was no meat being served at all. Hence, Victor had called it a “vegetarian dinner”.
“Actually, the first thing I tried making was pan-fried fish,” said the girl in a softer voice, “but it didn’t turn out well.”
With a nervous chuckle, she then looked up to meet Victor’s gaze. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn about cooking dinner myself.”
Victor merely sighed.
“What’s there to apologize about?”
She mustn’t have expected him to say that as she stared at him with those bright brown eyes of hers. So, Victor elaborated further by saying, “After all, you had prepared dinner, as promised.”
He reached out and took the two plates from her hands.
“So, let’s sit down and have dinner before the food gets colder.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
An awkward silence was hanging in the air throughout the entire dinner session. Unable to tell from Victor’s poker face on whether or not he was displeased with the meal, the girl can’t help feeling so anxious that she couldn’t really taste what she was eating.
Although Victor had brushed off her apology in the kitchen, she was still worried that her cooking might be unpalatable for Victor, whose taste in food was much refined and cooking was far superior than her. It would be worse if he was forcing himself to eat this because the other option would be to starve himself. Perhaps, she really shouldn’t have insisted on cooking when she wasn’t even good at it.
While she was mulling over her own thoughts, she didn’t realize that she had cleared her plate and it was at this moment that Victor decided to break the silence between them.
“The bok choy was slightly overcooked, which caused it to be less crunchy. As for the tofu, you should have left it on the pan a little longer for it to be crispier.”
Hearing his sudden comments on her cooking, the startled girl didn’t know what to say and just nodded fervently. At the same time, she also braced herself for any impending harsh critiques that would come from the owner and chef of Souvenir.
“Overall, it was a decent meal and a good effort for someone who only cooks once in a blue moon.”
The girl blinked her eyes once … and then twice.
Did she hear Victor correctly?
He was praising her, right?
As that realization sunk in, a bright grin gradually adorned her once grim face, as though she had received the highest acclamation in the world. Well, Victor doesn’t simply praise people after all. Moreover, his words had also meant that her efforts for this entire afternoon hadn’t been a waste after all. Nonetheless, she didn’t get to relish in her sense of accomplishment for long as Victor had spoken.
“Now, can you tell me what exactly made you want to cook all of a sudden?”
The question caused the girl to stiffen for a moment. There wasn’t any reason to not answer Victor. So, she decided to be honest about it, in spite of the awkwardness she was feeling in revealing the truth.
“Well, you have always been the one cooking for me, while all I did was just eat.”
Feeling very embarrassed at this point, she looked down at her lap as she continued, “So, I thought I should do the same as well, you know, to show my gratitude.”
There was a moment of silence before she heard Victor speak.
“Dummy.”
She smiled as she already expected him to say that. However, what she hadn’t expected was to look up to see Victor smiling gently at her. That faint smile that was filled with tenderness was strangely nostalgic to the girl… but why?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To be honest, Victor hadn’t expected that to be the reason for the girl’s sudden enthusiasm in wanting to personally cook. After all, he had merely cooked for her because he wanted to and he had never expected anything else from her in return.
“That’s unnecessary. As long as you sincerely enjoy my cooking, that is all that I need as gratitude.”
After all, back in the past, it was that bright smile of a certain silly little girl at the first bite of his first attempt of a homemade pudding and her genuine exclamation of said pudding being delicious, that got him interested in cooking in the first place.
So, as long as his cooking could bring a certain dummy happiness and contentment, that would be rewarding enough for him.
If there were any other options, she would have asked anyone but Victor to accompany her for this. Since this was the only way, she could only put on a forced smile and steel herself in enduring the CEO’s scowling face and sharp-tongued remarks… However, the actual situation turned out to be not as terrible as she had expected?
POV:MC (Third POV)
Words:2092 words
“So…this is your idea of fun?”
Victor maintained a deadpan expression as he spoke, but he still couldn’t hide the hint of sarcasm in his tone. He was examining the horror-themed posters that were displayed on the wall next to the entrance of the establishment. With a hand on his chin, he seemed to be thinking about something.
In response to his remark, the girl could only chuckle nervously.
To be honest, she had expected this kind of reaction from Victor after she revealed that day’s main event to him. Having prepared herself for Victor’s onslaught of snide remarks for dragging him into this, she had decided that she wouldn’t back out until she had completed what she had set out to do today.
“Since you haven’t participated in such an activity before,” said the girl as she stood next to him and pretended to examine the posters on the wall. Sneakily, she glanced at Victor through the corner of her eyes to read his expression. However, the man had suddenly turned to frown at her, which caused her to quickly avert her gaze back towards the posters and continued talking enthusiastically, “This will be a first experience for both of us! So, I am sure it will be fun and exciting!”
Receiving no response from Victor, she reluctantly turned away from the posters to look at him with a forced smile. Just as she expected, the expression on Victor’s face was one of complete skepticism, with the silent question of “Are you serious?” being conveyed clearly by his narrowed eyes. On a normal working day, she might be wary of offending Victor’s mood…but not today!
“Well, this is part of the reward you promised me. So, no backing out now!”
If this was a message conversation, she would be receiving a “…” reply from Victor by now. Instead, Victor had merely stared at her for a moment before sighing softly.
“Childish.”
For some reason, instead of being offended, she felt a sense of triumph and her lips had tugged upward unconsciously at hearing that single word.
After spending months trying to turn around the financial situation of her company, things were starting to improve and becoming more manageable than when she first took over as the head of her father’s media company. It was during a rare leisure moment in the company that one of her employees had brought up a topic that she had completely forgotten about amidst her hectic schedules.
The company’s team building event.
It was something that was held by most companies to foster teamwork and better communications among their employees. For her, the main purpose of having such an event was for everyone in her company to unwind and have fun after a hectic period of endless projects. Moreover, Willow and Kiki were more than willing to be in charge of organizing the event, which prevented her from having to stress herself out in thinking up a plan for the event.
The only problem was the activity that had been decided for this year’s event was an escape game, something that she hadn’t tried out before. Of course, she had heard about it sometime ago since it was a trending activity. She had even considered it interesting and had planned to try it out herself, if she ever had the chance to take a day-off from work in the future. However, never had she expected the opportunity would come to her so soon and in the form of a company event.
While she doubted anyone would fault her for being completely ignorant about the escape game, she didn’t want to ruin everyone’s fun on that day. Besides, she also had her pride as a boss to maintain among her employees, even if this was a non-formal event. In other words, those were her personal concerns and the best way to resolve them would be for her to gain experience by participating in an escape game before the company event itself.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t join the escape game by herself since it required a minimum of at least two participants for a game session and she was also embarrassed to ask anyone who will be joining the team building event to accompany her. With Gavin being away on a mission, Lucien having a conference out of the city and Kiro being caught up in filming for a popular TV drama recently, she was left with only one choice, that was Victor.
Even when she had reached that conclusion, she couldn’t help but to reconsider her options over and over again. It wasn’t because she disliked Victor…well, maybe a little. Yes, to be honest, she just disliked him a little, and that was only because he was always being mean to her, by calling her names and finding fault with every little thing that she did.
Not to mention, when she pointed out the inconsistencies in his actions, he would retaliate with either a snide remark or by bringing forward the deadline of her proposals. What a tyrant! If LFG wasn’t the main sponsor of her company, which indirectly made Victor her superior, she would have flipped out and given him an earful long ago.
Anyway, after much consideration, she decided to ask Victor to join in on an escape game with her since she believed Victor wouldn’t have participated in such an activity himself, considering his temperament. He might even consider it a waste of time to participate in such an activity. However, she wasn’t worried about her invitation being rejected by the CEO of LFG since she still held a trump card. Victor still owed her the reward for successfully completing a project earlier and he had stated that he would fulfill any one of her demands as long as it was within bounds.
Although she trusted Victor to be a man of his words, she didn’t reveal to him that he would be joining an escape game until he had arrived at the venue. All she told him was that she would like for him to accompany her for the day. Thus, that was how they both ended up being in front of the reception counter of the establishment that hosted countless sessions of escape games.
The moment they made their appearance before the counter, a bespectacled young man had greeted them with a friendly smile.
“Good afternoon. How may I help the both of you?”
“We would like to try out a game.”
“May I know if you have joined other game sessions before this?”
“Actually, this is our first time.”
“If that’s the case, I would recommend trying out these two scenarios,” said the staff while taking out two leaflets from under the counter and placing them before Victor and herself.
One of the leaflets was depicting a black-and-white image of a hospital room with bloodstains on the wall and the word “Memories” was printed in red as its header, while the other leaflet showed a dark prison-like room with iron bars and had the word “Retribution” printed boldly in white as its header. The images were simple and typical of a horror theme, but they successfully instilled a sense of fear in the girl.
“These scenarios are more suited for beginners to familiarize themselves with the game settings,” explained the staff with the smile still on his face.
“Is there any difference between the two?”
Surprisingly, Victor was the one who had asked that question.
As though he had been expecting that question, the staff readily explained the difference between the two scenarios.
“The “Retribution” scenario will begin with the players being confined separately in different rooms, while the “Memories” scenario will begin with the players being confined together in the same room. However, despite the different starting arrangements, both scenarios would still require teamwork and communication among the players to complete.”
“Uhm…”
This time, all eyes were on the girl and her partially-raised hand.
“There are no surprises or scary things appearing in the game session, right?”
Hearing that, the staff had chuckled lightly before assuring her that the game will only consist of puzzle-solving and hunting for hidden clues, while Victor was wearing the same frown that he had shown her back at the entrance.
Are you serious?
Well, she can’t help being worried about jump scares appearing during the game with the depictions shown by the horror-themed posters. She had purposely picked a different establishment from the one that Kiki had chosen for their company’s team-building event, in order to avoid spoiling the fun by knowing the puzzles beforehand, but she didn’t realize at that time that the games from this establishment would all be horror-themed, unlike the one chosen by Kiki which were more adventure-themed. She had only realized this when she saw the posters displayed on the wall, but it was already too late for her to back out by then.
Disregarding this hindsight, she needed to make a decision now.
“Victor, which one do you think we should choose?”
“You are the one who wants to try the game. You decide.”
While she wanted to be proud of herself for having anticipated that exact answer from Victor, she was actually more vexed by it since it didn’t really help her situation. Perhaps sensing the brewing storm beneath her forced smile, Victor had then added another statement.
“They are the same. Just randomly choose one.”
If it was that simple, would she have asked him in the first place?
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Victor, she suddenly thought of a way to make her choice.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“To rely on a coin toss to make a choice… I am reevaluating your decision-making skills.”
“Says the one who isn’t helping,” she grumbled under her breath.
“What’s that?”
“Still, we managed to make it out in time. That’s not too bad, right?”
By a coin toss, they had chosen to play the “Retribution” scenario. After being briefed by the staff about the rules and the backstory of the scenario, she and Victor were provided with modified phones by the staff as their only means of communication before being confined in different rooms. While it was disconcerting to be locked in a dark room on her own, the presence of the flashlight and the phone in her hands had done a lot in reassuring her.
At first, she didn’t have the confidence in completing the game within the allocated forty-five minutes since they were beginners who weren’t used to how the game works. However, as she and Victor gradually solved each of the puzzles, they started to get the hang of it. They continued exchanging information through the phones about the vague codes and clues that they had found in their respective rooms. By openly sharing their thoughts and ideas, the seemingly senseless alphabets and numbers became comprehensible messages to help them escape.
Moreover, Victor was unexpectedly encouraging when she became frustrated at being stuck at a puzzle. Although he would still direct jabbing remarks at her when she made a careless mistake in the game, he was still being less critical than when he was evaluating her proposals. This different and kind side of Victor during the game session did make her dislike him a little lesser…just a little.
“It’s an interesting experience.”
“Huh?”
As she couldn’t believe her ears, she instantly turned to look at Victor, who was walking next to her. However, she didn’t expect Victor to meet her eyes defiantly instead of looking away.
“What?”
Flustered by his intense gaze, she quickly looked away while saying, “I just wanted to say that I had fun today as well and thank you for willing to accompany me today.”
“Well, this is part of your promised reward.”
Why, this man…Would it kill him to speak kindly?
“Then, if I did well again for future projects, you wouldn’t mind accompanying me again for another game session?”
There was a moment of silence before an answer was heard.
“Well, if that’s what you want.”
“It’s a promise then,” said the girl before running a few steps ahead of Victor. After turning around to face the older man, she exclaimed with a bright grin, “No backing out, even if you do regret it in the future. If not, I will be telling the whole world that CEO Victor is not a man of his word!”
Seeing this, Victor merely smiled faintly.
“Dummy.”
Victor’s expression had seemed especially tender at that moment, which made the girl doubt her own eyes.
