[BONUS]
“Leo, are we a couple?”
Ren, Leonel, and Ragnar all gaped at Isolde.
Leonel blinked before he answered with an unsure voice. “Y-yeah?”
If he said no, he might hurt Isolde’s feelings, and her family would come after his throat. So it was better to say, ‘yes.’
Though Leonel was baffled as to why Isolde was asking that question, he still replied, “Why do you ask?” He thought that she already knew. Didn’t she like him?
It was Isolde’s turn to gape. “Egh? We are?”
Did Leonel like her and spread that they were dating? Did he even court her? Isolde couldn’t remember. But instead of feeling angry that Leonel might have spread that they were dating because he liked her, she only felt her heart racing.
Before her face then went serious. “Leo . . . I like you. But I have to be honest . . . I don’t like you that way. I’m sorry . . .”
Ren and Ragnar’s mouth dropped.
Leonel, on the other hand, was stunned. “W-wait . . . you don’t like me that way?”
Isolde shook her head. It was her policy to always be honest and not lead the other guy around.
Everyone was expecting that Leonel would cry tears of sadness for getting rejected and suffering an unexpected breakup. Still, against all odds, Leonel released a big breath of air as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulder.
“Oh, thank god!” He then patted Isolde’s shoulder and let out more sighs. “I thought that you liked me, and I had no choice but to be your boyfriend because your family might end my life if I didn’t. Good thing that everything is just a misunderstanding.”
“. . .”
“. . .”
Isolde froze. “Y-you . . . don’t like me?”
Leonel vehemently shook his head. “I don’t like you that way. I only see you as a friend! A girl, that’s one of the boys!” he said with a big smile. “Good thing that you felt the same thing as I do!”
p
But now that he was starting to get to know Isolde, he realized just how much fun it was to talk to her. She was always smiling and laughing, making him feel at ease. She was also dependable, and she knew a lot of things, which made their partnership in the game more convenient.
But regarding any romantic feelings, he wasn’t sure about them.
“. . .” Isolde looked down a little, and her long hair fell forward, partly covering her face. “I-I see . . . Ahahaha . . . it’s just a misunderstanding then . . . ?”
Leonel was about to confirm again when Isolde’s laugh took a turn, and her shoulders shook when the first tear slipped her eyes.
“I-I see . . . it’s just my . . . misunderstanding . . .” Isolde bit her lips as her fingers clutched her swimsuit tight. Fat tears fell down her cheeks, and she couldn’t even be more confused as to why she was crying right now.
All she knew was the fact that even Leonel didn’t like her as a woman. Her feelings now felt heavier, more so when she found out that Ren had someone he liked.
“Excuse me!” she shouted, and the others flinched as she did.
Before anyone could react, she had already turned and bolted out of the tent with her hand over her face.
“Ah! Wait! Isolde!” Leonel panicked and went after her, leaving Ren and Ragnar gaping at the event that had just transpired.
“. . .”
“. . .”
“What the hell just happened?” Ragnar asked after a while.
Ren shook his head and emptied his beer. “I don’t know either.”
Ren didn’t want to think of Leonel’s problems at the moment since he was already preoccupied with his own. Also, he saw them kiss before, so how could this be the ending? Or was he mistaken the whole time and that they weren’t actually kissing?
Ren shook his head to empty his thoughts. Leonel could take care of his own problems.
Ragnar ordered another shot. “It’s too early for this drama.”
“Agreed,” Ren ordered the same as Ragnar, and the latter gave out a warning.
“You sure you can hold that? It’s a hard drink.”
“If you can drink it, then so can I.”
Ragnar shook his head a little. “Suit yourself. Cheers.”
—-
When night fell, songs were played, and dancers performed to entertain everyone as they ate the mouth-watering dishes that were served on each table.
Ren ignored the other people’s glances, mostly from players who wanted to speak with him regarding COVENANT. There were plenty of them now that the Halloween Event was upon them.
Leonel and Isolde were nowhere to be found, and Ren didn’t receive any more news ever since that fiasco happened this afternoon. He left Leonel a message, checking how he was. To his surprise, for the first time, Leonel didn’t open the messages that came from him.
However, Ren wasn’t too concerned — not because he wasn’t worried or because he lacked emotion. It was simply because he was occupied.
He wasn’t even paying attention to anything at all. At this moment, he might as well be brain-dead with his eyes sticking to only one place — Evie’s direction.
Soon, all attention was stolen as gasps and whispers resonated in the fantasy-like setting beachfront when Silvia came out, accompanied by her father and Ragnar in each hand.
She looked stunning with her custom-made red floral and feather dress, matched with a flowery headpiece that made her look like the Phoenix Queen of the night.
Everyone applauded, but Trixie and her friends who realized that Silvia did not have just one dress. She had multiple dresses prepared for the night, so destroying the one they thought she was going to wear didn’t change anything.
In fact, Silvia was so prepared that she put hidden cameras in every dressing room she had. Trixie and her friends were caught by surveillance, destroying one of her diamond-encrusted ruby mermaid dresses.
But instead of getting angry or calling the cops. Silvia only mailed them the receipt for the dress.
Trixie couldn’t be any angrier at the price tag when she saw that.
However, she didn’t have a choice but to pay. Silvia was holding their video hostage!
