“The plain-in-sight troubles can be easily solved, but the anonymous threats are the hardest to fight with. You can’t take this risk! Don’t be foolish!” The four elderly men tried to talk Charmine out of her decision. The adamant Charmine merely offered a small smile. “Don’t worry. However foolish I may be, I’ll still be able to protect myself. Even if I can’t, I still have you all, as well as Kay and his men!” It was apparent, with what she said, that she chose Anthony. “Charmine Jordan!” Uncle Pop called out her full name with a serious tone. “Alright, alright,” ushered Charmine, “I know what I’m doing. It’s getting late, though. I’m only twenty-three, and I’m not getting married till I’m at least thirty! It’s getting late; go and get some rest. There are guest rooms upstairs.” “Charmine, we need to talk to you—” Uncle Larry wanted to continue. Charmine looked at the time and said, “It’s already one in the morning. How am I supposed to fight Uji Quin later on if this p
Chris was a young boy, and if she told him about her gaming, it might have a negative effect on him. She had considered Chris as her actual child to raise and teach. Meanwhile, a deep and magnetic voice came from the phone, “Momo was last year’s Lord of Eternal.” Wait, what? “Really?” blurted Charmine. Although she knew Chris was a smart kid, Lord of Honors was quite a complex game, and there were less than 200 players who earned the ‘Lord of Eternal’ title. Chris nodded, and it strangely resembled that of a pecking chick. “Yes, yes! I’m rather impressive myself, huh Mommy? But I haven’t met any challenge for some time and it got too boring for me, so that’s why I quit for almost a year now.” Haven’t met any challenge… Any challenge… Too boring… Cough! Cough! This kid! “That’s incredible! No wonder you’re Mommy’s little gem!” Charmine praised Chris as she tried to pinch the screen, as if she could pinch his cheek. Charmine decided to come clean as she confessed,
Charmine stood up to open the door. “He’s online? Waiting?” she spoke to the four elderly men at her door. “Hmph! More than just that. They’re being so pompous! Go to the computer room and look at it!” whined Uncle Larry as he pulled her by the arm and walked to the computer room. The entire Esports community went wild overnight. Everyone caught wind of how someone challenged Uji Quin with a whole billion! Everyone waited behind their screens as they anticipated the duel. Charmine sat at the computer table and saw that Uji Quin was posting on his feed. Uji Quin: [Didn’t you try to challenge me? Why did you run away once I came online?] Uji Quin: [If you had the guts to challenge someone, you should come online!] The netizens agreed as they commented: [Hahaha! Perhaps this person got too scared that they peed in their pants?] [Maybe he clicked on the challenge button by accident?] [Haha! Maybe he’s just trying to make a name for himself, throwing cash to gain fame. N
Uncle Larry sat behind Charmine as he instructed, “Choose the Warrior, Charmine. It’s the strongest! You have to, or the Assassin will kill you in seconds!” The unperturbed Charmine merely offered a small smile in silence as she clicked on the Dancer instead. The Dancer was a beautiful sniper heroine that used a crossbow as her weapon. Her pick fueled everyone’s bewilderment. [Is Boss making a joke? Did Boss just choose the Dancer against the Assassin?] [While the Dancer is deadly, she’s too weak! The Assassin will kill her in a matter of seconds!] [The Dancer needs Warriors and Nurses to protect her in fights, yet Boss chose to use Dancer for the duel with that Assassin?] [Boss, please change into another character! For Burlington’s sake and the sake of your one hundred million, please change into another character!] Even Uncle Larry grabbed Charmine’s arm and shook her vigorously. “Charmine, are you crazy? Change it right now! The Dancer is no match for the Assassin
Uji Quin: [Hahaha! This is hilarious! Look, newbie, why don’t you leave the game now, and I’ll let you pick a different character? I don’t want you to lose too badly.] Charmine: [Cut the bullsh*t. Bring it on!] Uji Quin: [!!!] With that, both of them entered Lord of Honors’ dual-mode. The dual-platform was a set with a rectangular design and a crystal castle for both players. A character would not be able to enter their opponent’s castle; the castle would kill them should they attempt to. The game was designed in a way that there were two ways to win the round. The first method was to kill the enemy right as they leave the castle, or before they could make it back in their own castle. The second way was to destroy the enemy’s castle from the outside. Uncle Larry saw how Uji Quin ran toward Charmine’s castle to attack, thus he nervously blurted, “Charmine, be careful. Be careful! We can’t lose! We can’t afford to lose!” The entire Burlington would be ashamed if she lost
What speed! That was the Assassin’s best feature: He could move far away from his opponent after attacking them, giving them no chance to counter-attack. Had it been anyone else, the Assassin could have ended them swiftly, and all they could do was watch as the Assassin moved away without being able to fight back. However, it was Charmine that went up against him...and she merely lost 20 percent of her health bar. A weaker character was able to use Immunity to survive the Assassin’s attack, and she had so many health points left to boot! Uncle Larry let out the breath he held onto as he watched the Assassin flee, but he then anxiously warned, “Hurry, Charmine, go back to your castle and heal up. Best to keep it a hundred percent full, just to be safe!” Charmine’s lips curled. “Oh, heck no! I said I’d kill him in one minute.” Instead of returning to her castle, Charmine’s Dancer ran toward the Assassin! Everyone cried out in shock. Was she crazy?! Despite his 40 percent h
[OMG! This is crazy! We won!] [Boss actually won over Uji Quin! Boss won against the best player in Kansas!] [Hahaha! The best in Kansas is a mere loser!] [It took exactly one minute! Haha! Boss’ timing is impeccable!] [Ahhh, I’m in love with Boss! What a time to be alive!] [Uji Quin lost! Change your username! Change it! Change it!] The gamers started bombarding the comment section. It was, needless to say, a satisfying feeling to behold. Uji Quin smashed his keyboard and mouse with a loud smack. Never did he think he would live to see the day when an opponent could end him in one minute! He was already so quick. He was able to outrun his opponent, yet they were quicker! He was caught off-guard, and he still did not know what went wrong to have resulted in his defeat. As he glared at the comments pestering him to change his username, he directed his sharp gaze to his assistant. “Go and check up on this douche out right now. Find out who he is! I want to kill him!”
Delighted, the four elderly scrambled to be the first to send William’s contact number as they each gushed, “Add him now! Talk to him!” “Yeah, you youngsters need to communicate more!” “It’s okay to not know him yet. Relationships take time!” “Both of you are geniuses! The baby you’ll have will be a genius, too!” The four of them added onto one another as if they could not wait for them to get married. Charmine massaged her temples and said, “Don’t worry, I know what to do. If you don’t leave now, I’ll have no heart to plan what happens next.” “Alright, alright! Remember to contact him.” “Right, I brought you a chess manual. Do have a look when you have the time.” Uncle Zul placed a few books on her desk. Uncle Pop also handed in some research papers, while Uncle Max placed down a few building plans. Charmine looked at them as they left and sighed in relief. It was those men that trained her and provided her with so many resources all these years—they were the one
There was an unnoticeable glint in Sonia's eyes. She nestled herself further into Harry's arms as she added, "Let’s go to Pares. We'll come back after I give birth to the baby.""Alright."Harry stayed by Sonia's side as he watched over her, cared for her, and talked to her until she finally slept in his care.He stood up tiredly and walked out of the room to sit in the living room.Thuck!Something fell out of his pocket.He narrowed his eyes to the source of sound and spotted a USB.Since when did he have a USB in his pocket?With a small frown on his face, Harry curiously picked it up and noticed the front side of the USB glowing. Something was carved onto its surface, too.[Granger].Was it Dior’s USB? Why was her USB inside his pocket?Harry’s clear fingers held on the USB tightly. He thought for a moment before he took out a laptop, turned it on, and plugged in the USB.A moment later, the screen showed what seemed to be peculiar surveillance footage with a descriptio
Dior was still lost in her storm of thoughts when a shadowy figure zipped past her and ran toward Harry.When she spotted this familiar figure, she reacted quickly and held onto him."Let go of me!" growled Guy. "How dare he slap you and misunderstood you? I have to beat some sense into him!"Harry broke free and chased after Harry.Dior, despite having lost all hope and life in her, mustered the last strand of her will to chase after Guy and reeled him back. "Brother, don't," she muttered, "spare your energy…" Her sorrow clouded her eyes as she mumbled, "He’s the man I love. Even though he hates me, I won’t allow you to hurt him. As for the explanation…"Dior smiled ironically. "Whatever. That slap decimated every beautiful daydream I have about him, anyway."She no longer expected anything from him.He had no trust in her, so what would it matter if she finally got him? He did not even love her, and he did not trust her either.Dior smiled elegantly, but her eyes were fille
Dior looked forward to that new shift.She watched as Harry made his way into the restaurant silently, unable to deter her mind from the daydreams she had of him, of the new chapter of their story they would have.He would apologize to her, trying to redeem himself, and kiss her dearly as he embraced her. Later down the line, they would have a child of their own, too.Harry's long legs walked in strides, his dark gaze trained on Dior.The bright light shone on Dior’s delicately stunning face, and she also wore a red dress.He remembered her wearing this back in Mount Village.He could remember how alluring she looked back then, how they stayed in the same room, how she put down her ego to treat him with so much gentleness.Harry’s cold face mellowed down, but recalling a certain memory, the vague wistfulness in him vanished and he sat in front of her.Dior looked at him fondly, like she always would. "Long time no see."Her eyes burned brightly as if she wanted to drink in his
Dior examined the footage the moment she received it.True enough, it showed Sonia and George talking about their little deal. It also showed how Dior was telling the truth while they both ganged up on her.Dior’s frail heart felt as though it was rejuvenated once more, feeling as though blood was once more pumped into her heart. Her dull eyes devoid of hope regained their lost luster once more.Not thinking twice, she dialed Harry's number with this evidence, though he had to be busy, seeing as he did not pick up even after the phone rang for a long while.Just as she was about to hang up, Harry picked up the phone."What do you want?"On the other end of the call was the voice that she had missed for so long. His low, hoarse voice sounded so cold and emotionless.Hearing his voice brought Dior back to the image of his handsome face, and her heart skipped a beat.She tried her best to restrain her fluttering emotions as she tried to speak calmly, "Do you have time? I’d like to
At Mount Village…Inside the elegant bamboo house was Dior, dressed in a beige dress. She sat in the front yard as she took sips of her wine.The sunlight shone past the leaves and illuminated her, yet she exuded an air of loneliness.She swirled the glass and could not help recalling the moments she spent with Harry.In the beginning, she was attracted by his looks; he looked so gentle and elegant.She gave him money, kept him company, and continuously showed up around him in hopes of conquering him.Alas, she ended up in this state.The time she spent with him in Mount Village was the happiest time she had ever had. They had lived inside the bamboo house together, where he took care of her and claimed her to be his woman.They even laid inside the same room.Everything was so beautiful.Cursed was her luck, however, that it was just an illusion. He had been using her from the start, while he chose to stay with the woman who lied to him and even hurt him!No matter how mu
"Although Susan was unhappy, she should've voiced out her displeasure instead of bottling things. Cheating is wrong, regardless. Furthermore, if she wanted a career, she didn't have to stay home and depend on her husband."Grandma Bailey halted.Was that what Charmine truly thought of?Grandma Bailey thought Charmine would find Susan too aggressive unto herself.Charmine glanced at Susan again and apathetically commented, "She doesn't want to make money on her own, but she wants to be rich while complaining about her man not making time for her and taking care of her? If a woman has no ability of her own and also blames others for her miseries, all she's worth is to sit quietly at home and wait for her husband to come home. She also has no right to cheat! This is how the world works."Charmine patted Grandma Bailey’s shoulder and held Anthony’s hand, her words met with everyone's evidently surprised gazes and their silence.Grandma Bailey was shocked. Sure, Charmine sounded rathe
The colossal cruise started to drift away from the pier.Eric stood on the cruise and let the wind blow at him, loneliness and hatred still oozing from his being.He stared at the blue ocean ahead of him as Charmine's words rang in his mind unceasingly.'Will you really feel good after you've killed them?''You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?'"Forgive them and yourself.'Deliberating everything carefully, his lips curled into a bitter smile.It was true, after all, that Charmine understood him the most.Eric poured himself another drink and downed it with loneliness as he allowed the cruise to bring him wherever it would take him.…Susan was still inside the operating room when Charmine and the rest of the Baileys rushed into the hospital.Darryl stood before the room, his expression blank, his figure lonely and helpless.So many things had happened in half a day.He found out about his wife's inf
"No one's stopping you now. Eat!"Anthony clenched his hands tightly and took another glance at Charmine. He was more determined than before, and he was close to eating the pills in the bottle.Charmine, who was held hostage, gradually opened her eyes at that moment. Her gaze drifted toward Eric before she asked, her tone challenging, "Will you really feel good after you've killed them? You saw Susan suffering from a serious wound; would you still kill the one sibling you have left in the world?"Eric halted, and his eyes darkened.Charmine had just woken up, yet what she said…He cast a cold glance at Charmine. "It's my business, and it has nothing to do with you!"They were his family, and he did not want a family like this!Charmine looked squarely at him. "Eric, I don’t care if you used me or plotted against me all these years; I've treated you like a true friend, nothing more nor less. You were the only person who stayed by my side in the past five years, so I hope that you
Anthony's breath hitched when he saw Charmine.He clenched his fists and, without doubting himself, relented "I can agree to your terms, so let her go right away. This has nothing to do with her; you only hate me after all. As long as you let her go, I'll take the pill. Everything will end right away."Susan shook her head. "We'll die after eating the pill. I’m not taking that!"She had just reunited with Eric, and she did not want to die yet. She looked at Eric and begged, "Please let Anthony be, why don't you? He’s your brother, after all, and he doesn’t even know about your existence. If you’re really angry, just kill Charmine, and I'll make it up to you—"Anthony's expression contorted in sheer fury upon hearing Susan's plea, and he glared at her with murderous intent."This was all your fault, so what right do you have to make Charmine take your blame?!""What on earth are you going on about?" snapped Grandma Bailey. "Charmine has been kidnapped because of you, yet you want