Chapter 155: For a light afternoon

Tom accepted the side mission.

He was no longer surprised by the System’s methods. By now he understood the pattern well enough. If he wanted the reward, he had to put in at least some real effort. Sitting in a hospital bed and waiting for healing to fall on him was never going to be enough.

He looked at Bree and said; "There’s something I need to do before I’m discharged."

Bree’s attention sharpened at that; "What is it?"

"I need to do it myself but you can follow me if you want."

Tom got up from the bed. Bree immediately shifted closer, ready to support him if his weight failed. Tom noticed and gave a small smile.

"Didn’t you say I shouldn’t give them what they want?" he asked. "I’m not going to lean on people and look helpless."

Bree’s mouth curved in a short, satisfied smile. "Good."

He walked out of the hospital room with careful control and Bree followed without trying to take his arm again.

Tom started looking around the corridor, his eyes moving over staff movement, waiting areas, and the quieter corners of the ward where people without urgency or importance were easy to overlook. It did not take long to find what the mission needed.

Near the far end of a side waiting section, an older man sat half-slumped in a chair with a young woman beside him, likely his daughter. His breathing was rough, his skin too pale, and every few minutes she tried to stop a passing nurse. Each time she received the same rushed answer: someone would come, they were short-staffed, he was not next. The man’s condition was not dramatic enough to force panic, and not connected enough to force priority. He was simply being left to wait in visible distress.

Tom walked over.

"How long has he been like this?" he asked the young woman.

She looked up quickly, surprised that anyone had stopped. "Over an hour. They keep saying they’re coming. He already saw one doctor earlier, but the pain got worse again and now nobody is taking him seriously."

Tom glanced at the man’s hands, the shallow pull of his chest, the way he kept pressing against his side. Then he turned toward the nurses’ station.

The first staff member tried to dismiss him with the same tired line about queues and pressure. Tom did not raise his voice, but he also did not move aside. He asked for the person in charge of the section, asked what evaluation had been done, and made it clear that the man was deteriorating in full view of the ward while being treated as an inconvenience. When that still produced only delay, he used money the same way other people in the building used status. He offered to cover the immediate charge for proper reassessment and told them he wanted the patient seen now, not after another round of empty promises.

That changed the pace.

A doctor was pulled over. The older man was taken back in for urgent review. The daughter kept thanking Tom in a shaken voice while they wheeled her father away, and only then did the tight pressure of the mission ease from his chest.

Bree had watched the whole thing without interrupting. When Tom finally turned back from the counter, she studied him for a second and simply said, "You didn’t have to do that."

"I did," Tom replied simply.

~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, Tom was in a cab with Bree, already discharged from the hospital.

The System dinged and opened its panel.

```

[SIDE MISSION COMPLETE]

Help a neglected patient obtain immediate medical attention.

Reward ready.

Activate now?

```

Tom selected yes.

The effect hit immediately. The deep pull of pain under the dressing faded, then vanished completely. His foot felt whole again, as if the glass and stitches had never belonged to him.

[Advice,] the System began;

[Host should keep faking incomplete recovery. Leave the dressing on. Walk normally enough to function, but not so freely that people become suspicious.]

"I understand," Tom muttered inwardly.

The cab stopped in front of Sienna’s house. Bree started around to open his door, but Tom was already stepping down. She noticed from there that he moved with much less strain than before. Her eyes flicked to his foot, then to his face. She blinked, but she did not ask. She believed he was definitely in pain but trying not to show it.

Then they both saw Stella.

She was waiting at the front of the house in her car. The moment the cab arrived, she stepped out. Large glasses and a face cap disguised most of her features, but her posture was still unmistakable. When her eyes landed on Tom’s wrapped foot, surprise broke across her face.

"What happened?" she asked quickly.

"Just a small accident at work," Tom said.

Bree took her leave at that moment. She knew that without being told. Tom nodded when she mumbled she was leaving and she walked away.

Stella’s concern deepened as she looked him over. "I’ve been calling you."

"My phone was on silence during training."

She studied him for a second longer, then said, "I came to pick you up so we can get the car sorted." Her gaze dropped to his foot again. "But you just got back from the hospital. Can you even go like this?"

Tom read her body language carefully. Beneath the concern was something tighter. Doubt and Guilt. The quiet fear that his silence earlier had not been about training at all, that he was already pulling away because of Adrian’s attack the previous day.

Before he could answer her, the System opened a new panel.

```

[MAIN MISSION]

Follow Stella and keep her happy.

Reward:

Significant increase in Stella’s Affection, Stability, and Loyalty

Penalty for failure:

-20% Loyalty

[SYSTEM ADVICE]

Stella should be informed about the club.

Host will gain meaningful support and connection from her.

```

Tom read it through once and made the decision immediately.

"Since you came all the way," he said, "I’ll go with you."

Relief and pleasure moved across Stella’s face so clearly she could not fully hide them under the glasses and cap. She exhaled sharply. Then She nodded and opened the back door for him.

"Get in."

Tom settled into the back seat. Stella walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and started the car. As she drove away from the house, the tension she had been carrying in her shoulders began to ease. He had not rejected her and had not even used the injury as an excuse to send her off.

In her mind, she began planning how to pamper him.

He was wounded. That meant no rough plans, no demanding outings, nothing that would strain him. She would handle the car matter carefully, keep the day light, and find a way to pamper him properly; good food, a comfortable place to sit, quiet attention, anything that would make him feel looked after without making him feel weak. After everything Adrian had done, and after the scare of nearly losing him, she wanted this day to settle something softer between them.

She kept her eyes on the road, but the happiness stayed on her face as the car carried them forward.