All Chapters of Perfect Player: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

ELLIE You know that phase in life where it seems like all your friends are happy and have achieved everything there is to achieve? That was the phase I was going through. It seemed like all my friends had achieved professional success, found the perfect partner, and were getting married or planning to have children. And I was the outlier in this story. At twenty-seven, I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck, even though I'm happy with my work as a scientist and researcher and extremely happy for my friends, I couldn't help feeling unhappy with my love life. It was hard not to feel a little jealous of each couple's story in my large group of friends. Bennett or simply Ben, and Zoe, two cretins who fell in love before they could kill each other, I don't know how they were still alive, maybe because they took out all their anger on each other in sex. Anna, my best friend, and William or Will, former jerk and tattooed nerd, the most handsome and hottest I had ever met. I was still trying

ELLIE On Tuesday, we agreed to have lunch together. When I arrived at the bar with Anna, Zoe and Ben were waiting with Will, already seated at a table in the corner. Anna leaned in to kiss Will without any shame as we approached. I greeted everyone with a general 'hi.' "Is everything okay, El?" Will asked after a few minutes, noticing my silence while they talked. My mood was terrible this week, probably PMS. "Just a headache." "Maybe my gift can make that better," Zoe said, leaning down and returning with two bags from Victoria's Secret. She then handed one to Anna and one to me. "It's not my birthday or anything..." Anna said, not understanding as she opened the bag. "But thank you." She took out the box and put it on the table as I thanked her. "Wow! It's... pink," Anna said after opening the box and unwrapping a tiny lingerie with lace and bows in baby pink. It hardly covered any skin. Zoe laughed from the other side of the table. Will had a naughty smile and Bennett shook

ETHAN I dropped by my brother's apartment for breakfast on Monday. I missed New York, it was good to be back. After six years of living in London, I had already acquired enough English customs. But I knew that soon I would start missing it, the people and their polite and reserved behavior that made me feel good and aligned with my ideal of a peaceful life without disturbances and commotion. "I'm leaving, honey," Zoe approached to kiss my brother. If someone asked me, I would vehemently deny that a part of me deep down envied what they had. Zoe entered my brother's life like a hurricane. I still remembered how he had gone crazy when he met her, more stressed and grumpy because he couldn't stand her and, at the same time, felt attracted to her. Bennett went through hell. That thought reminded me of a certain mad scientist who was spending more time in my head than I would like to admit. I pushed the thought away. "Goodbye, Ethan, we'll finish that conversation later," she smiled at

ELLIEHatred was what I was feeling when I returned to my office. This couldn't be happening. At my workplace? It couldn't be just a mere coincidence. He could bother me anywhere else, but not at my job. I could tolerate his teasing, but I wouldn't let him take it to this extent. Son of a bitch. How did he not know that Anna and I work here? Was it true? And where was Anna? It should already be lunchtime. Was she going to be out all day? I needed to talk to her. Maybe she could help me understand. Why didn't Will mention this? It must be a lie from that jerk Morgan.Anna only showed up in the late afternoon. She stopped at my door, holding a cup of coffee. She coordinated another department and also taught at the university sometimes."Where have you been?" I asked when she sat in front of me and placed the cup of coffee on my desk."I had to take care of some matters at Columbia. I brought coffee, strong as you like it. What happened?""You have no idea who showed up here. Or rather,

ETHANThe next day, I worked hard to gather all the information I would need to start organizing the finances of the Columbia laboratory. There was a part of me deep down that was hoping for missing information about the research department. Just so I could have an excuse to see her. And realizing that made me fucking irritated.I managed to make a list of all the missing information before lunch. I asked my assistant to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Anderson. She could only meet with me at the end of the day, and I accepted. I tried to convince myself that all the anxiety was because of work and not because of her. But I knew that in any other situation, I would have postponed the meeting to the next day.I arrived punctually at the laboratory, the meeting was scheduled for five in the afternoon. I spent the next forty minutes with Alice in her office, explaining everything I would need, in addition to what she had already told me. When we reached the last items on the list, regarding