Chapter 46: Meeting Nadia Again

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Meeting Nadia Again

"LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

Victor threw a fistful of bills into the air, and the club erupted. Music pounded through the floor, lights strobing red and gold, and for the first time in his life, nobody here knew him as the broke fat kid.

Here, he was just a guy with enough money to buy himself all the pleasure he ever wanted.

"VIP TABLE’S THIS WAY, HANDSOME." A woman with huge bosom, in a sequined dress looped her arm through his, steering him toward a booth that probably cost more per hour than his entire rent.

Another one with just a bikini appeared with a bottle already sweating condensation, waving it like a trophy.

"Buy me this bottle and I’ll make it worth your while mister~" Victor’s eyes fell on her chest so close to his face that her perfume drowned the smell of alcohol in the air.

"How much?"

"Five thousand Gil."

Victor didn’t even blink. Once upon a time, he might have fainted at the sound of such cash Tonight, he just grinned.

"Get me four." He dove his face into her cleavage.

"Oh, mister." She gave a shy laughter.

The table erupted in cheers loud enough to turn heads from across the room.

Someone’s bra landed on his face from somewhere in the crowd.

He peeled it off, laughing so hard his ribs hurt, waving it over his head like a flag while the booth around him dissolved into noise and color and more good-natured chaos than he’d ever experienced.

This. This was the life. Nobody judging him for his body, no money worries, and no girl breaking his heart.

Just bad decisions and worse music and —

BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT.

His phone buzzed violently against his leg.

Victor frowned, fishing it out mid-laugh, squinting at the screen through the strobing lights.

[REMINDER: Date w/ Nadia — 8:00 PM]

The noise around him seemed to drop away all at once.

"Oh, SHIT." Victor shot upright so fast he nearly knocked the table over. "I’ve been here all day!"

—

Star Cafe lived up to its name.

Crystal chandeliers hung low over marble floors polished to a mirror shine, waitstaff moving between tables with the silent precision of people trained never to be seen rushing.

Politicians traded quiet words over espresso in one corner. A pair of actors Victor would vaguely recognized from billboards sat two tables over, sunglasses on indoors, pretending not to notice the attention they were getting.

This was not a place that let just anyone through the door.

At a private table near the window, Nadia sat like she belonged there more than the building itself did.

Her long black hair fell over one shoulder, catching the light every time she moved. Her skin was flawless, her eyes sharp and roaming, flicking across the room with the practiced awareness of a person used to being looked at and making sure she was always looking better than everyone looking back.

Her outfit showed exactly enough, nothing more, nothing less, every inch of it calculated to arrest attention.

One glance and anyone in the room could tell she was a model.

Behind her stood Fernando. His suit was immaculate, his posture perfect. He carried the kind of silent presence that existed entirely to make her look even more important by comparison.

Nadia checked her watch again. Her frown deepened.

"This idiot. I’ve been sitting here for over an hour.

What kind of man makes a Ranker celebrity like myself wait like this? The worse part is that it’s just a mere stupid gamer."

Fernando leaned in slightly. "Miss Nadia, if I may. Perhaps the Star Cafe was... ambitious, for a gaming personality. These types tend to lack basic etiquette. For all we know, he may not even have the means to get past the entrance."

She considered that, lips pressing thin.

That was true. The fee into this place was several thousand gils.

"Even so," she continued, "The forums say he’s held the number one spot in Dungeon Conquest for nearly a decade. He must have accumulated something by now." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "And if sponsors start circling him before I lock this in, I lose the advantage. This is exactly the kind of of love story that pushes a modeling career forward. I’m not letting it slip."

Fernando nodded, saying nothing further.

She pulled out her phone, opening the private chat, fingers moving fast.

Nadia:darling, I’ve been waiting an hour. when are you coming???

Three dots appeared. It took another five minutes. Then:

Milkshake22: Something came up. I’m busy.

Nadia’s face twisted, her elegant composure cracking instantly into something far less photogenic.

"Ugh, THIS BASTARD!"

Half the cafe turned toward her table. Fernando leaned down immediately, murmuring something low, and Nadia caught herself, lowering her voice to a hiss instead.

"Can you believe this?"

Fernando’s frown deepened. "If only we didn’t need his seat secured for the gala that Dungeon Conquest’s parent company is hosting it in two weeks to celebrate their share price surge.

If you’d met him today, you’d have had far more time to work your usual charm before then and properly wrap him around your fingers."

She nodded, "Then again, this is on the assumption that he is of class. If it’s one of those fat losers sitting in their mother’s basement, I can make him my fool in under an hour."

She sighed. "I could just message him again through the forum," she offered.

"We’re already pressed for time as it is." He adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps one more reschedule. Just the one."

Nadia exhaled sharply, nodding. "Fine. One more."

"In the meantime," Fernando added carefully, "there’s still Leon’s invitation. You remember? Leon of the Skyfall Group."

Her lip curled. "Leon is a disgusting pig who uses women and discards them. He just wants to get into my pants as boast about it. I’m not spending an evening with him unless he’s actually accomplishes something worth my time."

Then something shifted behind her eyes, calculating, almost playful.

"...Although. Maybe I’ll go tease him a little."

She rose from the table, smoothing her outfit, and started toward the exit, Fernando trailing a step behind.

He paused mid-stride near a corner table, glancing down at a hooded figure sipping milk through a straw. His eyes lingered a beat too long before he adjusted his glasses and kept walking, catching up as Nadia called his name without turning around.

Victor watched them go from beneath his hood.

Yes. It was him.

He’d come here fully intending to meet her, but then he thought to know if she was still the same asshole he knew from his past.

He’d gotten more than enough confirmation that nothing about her had changed at all.

Honestly, he was almost grateful. It made what came next easier to justify. And that Fernando. The same man that watched him die in the pool of his own blood.

"I’ll make both of you pay."

A slow, slightly unsettling smile crept across his face.

Then the waiter set the bill down in front of him.

Victor nearly choked. "Six thousand gil? For ONE glass of milk?"

That was more than a bottle of champagne at the club. A glass of milk anywhere else in the city would’ve run him fifty, maybe a hundred gil at most.

He could afford it. That didn’t make it hurt any less. He paid, muttering a silent promise to make Nadia regret this specific line item personally, and stood to leave.

That was when a familiar scent drifted past him.

He looked up, and there, walking out the front entrance arm in arm, were Mira and Tobi.

Were they not broken up?