Chapter 102
The doorbell kept ringing nonstop.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
"What the hell is this girl doing... so fucking loud, damn it," Ray muttered under his breath.
His bladder was about to explode, his head was pounding, and every last bit of his stamina had been drained from that crazy shit in the mall bathroom earlier. On top of that, the doorbell getting slammed over and over made the vein in Ray’s temple feel like it was about to burst.
Breathing hard and face twisted in pure anger, Ray finally grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
Click!
"Can you fucking chill?! My place ain’t gonna run away, Julia!" Ray snapped right away, even before the door was fully open.
In front of the door, Julia stood with her posture deliberately a little hunched. That sweet, exotic face of hers put on the most pitiful expression possible. Eyes glassy, lips slightly trembling — top-tier acting that if you rated it from one to ten was a straight-up ten.
"Ray..." Julia’s voice came out soft, loaded with guilt. "Please, just hear me out first. I... I know I fucked up."
Ray just leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest with a cold look. ’Ah, bullshit,’ Ray thought. He already knew exactly that the girl in front of him was just putting on an act. All those accidental lies Kevin spilled about Ray giving some "enlightenment" were definitely gonna get used, and Julia was playing her role right now to trap him.
"I just realized I’ve been misunderstanding you this whole time," Julia continued with that fake regretful tone. Her hand lifted like she wanted to touch Ray’s arm, but she held herself back. "Kevin’s a real piece of shit. He lied to me. He used your name. I’m genuinely sorry for accusing you of all that random crap, Ray..."
"Done? Storytime over?" Ray cut in flat, zero expression on his face.
Julia flinched a little, not expecting him to respond that cold. "Ray, I’m serious... I just wanna vent. I’m so fucking tired today. I just need someone to listen to my story, that’s it. Please, give me five minutes..."
Ray snorted roughly and shook his head. Julia really thought he’d melt just from that pitiful face and soft voice? Bullshit. He was about to piss himself, his body ached all over, and his brain was already fried from dealing with drama all day.
"Don’t care," Ray shot back sharply. "I don’t have time to listen to your drama. I’m tired, I wanna rest. Now get the hell out of here."
He grabbed the edge of the door, ready to shove it shut.
"Eh, wait! Hold on, Ray!" Julia blocked the door with her palm, face looking a bit panicked because her plan wasn’t going smoothly. "Okay, okay, if you don’t wanna listen here... how about we step out for a bit? Just hang out downstairs real quick, get some air? Might even improve your mood a little."
Ray stared at Julia’s hand holding the door, then at her face with a clear "are you out of your mind?" look.
"Go out? You don’t know my face is viral everywhere right now?" Ray scoffed coldly. "I’d get mobbed the second I step out of the lobby."
Julia jumped in fast, forcing a thin smile onto her face. "You can just wear a mask, Ray! Throw on a hat or a hoodie too. Nobody’s gonna recognize you, I swear. Just for a bit, please..."
Ray rolled his eyes, completely done. He genuinely had zero energy left to entertain this girl’s bullshit. Julia’s lies were way too transparent, and he was way too sick of pretending he didn’t know.
"No. Not interested," Ray said firmly, voice rising a notch right through Julia’s confusion.
"Ray, but—"
"I said goodbye, Julia."
Without giving her another chance to interrupt, Ray shoved the apartment door hard.
BAM!
The door slammed shut right in Julia’s face. The automatic lock beeped *bleep*, locking it from the inside.
Ray leaned his back against the door, letting out a long, heavy breath. He closed his eyes for a second, listening to the faint sound of Julia’s footsteps finally walking away from his door while she muttered under her breath.
"Fuck... today was exhausting as hell," Ray mumbled to himself.
He didn’t give a shit anymore about the federal agents’ CCTV, didn’t care about the daily mission he failed, and didn’t care about all the girl drama around him. All he wanted right now was one thing: finish his business in the toilet, then crash on his soft bed with nobody bothering him.
Ray let out a relieved breath when he finally heard Julia’s footsteps completely fade and leave the hallway.
’Crazy-ass girl,’ Ray thought while shaking his head.
He knew exactly what type of girl Julia was. The second this whole "act pitiful and invite him out" plan flopped hard, she definitely wouldn’t just sit still. That girl would start cooking up some other weird, sneaky plan to trap Ray later. But for now, Ray truly didn’t care. He prioritized the relief and hurried to the toilet to finally deal with the urgent need he’d been holding in.
After finishing up in the bathroom, Ray dropped onto the soft couch for a bit. He grabbed his phone to reply to the message from Sonya that he’d left hanging.
> Ray:Sorry just now. Just finished showering. Yeah, you can come over now.
It didn’t take long before the apartment doorbell rang again. This time Ray didn’t even bother peeking suspiciously through the peephole. The moment he opened the door, Sonya was already standing there with that warm smile typical of a mature woman.
Sonya — his partner with that exotic brown skin and soft, curvy body — was carrying a bag of simple groceries.
"I brought some ingredients. Gonna cook Japanese-style fried rice for you," Sonya said warmly as she stepped inside and gave Ray a quick peck on the cheek.
"Sure, whatever you want," Ray answered briefly.
The atmosphere in the apartment that had been tense and frustrating instantly turned pretty warm. Even though in the back of Ray’s mind that weird fetish of Sonya’s — the one where she liked rubbing small objects against her pussy — briefly flashed, Ray chose to stay apathetic and not bother overthinking it. His stomach was growling hard, and the smell of the ingredients Sonya brought was enough to shut those wild thoughts down. He just let his partner take over the kitchen freely.
Long story short, the food got done. The two of them sat across from each other at the dining table, eating the Japanese-style fried rice Sonya made in a calm, normal atmosphere.
Between bites, they casually talked about Ray suddenly going viral online. Sonya listened and responded with full attention. Seeing the exhausted, stressed look on Ray’s face from all the drama that day, something in Sonya’s heart moved.
Gently, her warm hand rose and softly stroked Ray’s head.
That sensation felt so damn comfortable. Deep down, Ray actually wanted to act clingy as hell — lean into her soft chest, ask for a tight hug just to let the stress out. But the flash of those federal agents’ hidden cameras somewhere in the apartment instantly killed that idea. Knowing every move he made might be getting watched by secret agents made his head spin even more with paranoia.
Time moved fast. Around 9 p.m., Sonya got ready to leave.
Her pretty face wore a worried expression as she looked at Ray by the door. "You look really tired, Ray. If you feel sick or need any help, just tell me right away, okay?"
"Yeah, Sonya. Thanks," Ray replied.
After Sonya left, the apartment went quiet again. But weirdly, her presence earlier had managed to make Ray’s mind a lot calmer than before. He walked to the bedroom and dropped onto the bed.
The heavy exhaustion started eating away at his consciousness. Sleep hit hard. The clock on the wall already showed almost 10 p.m. His eyes were nearly fully closed when a sudden jolt of awareness slammed into his brain.
’Milady’s order!’
Ray’s eyes snapped wide open. "Shit... almost forgot!" he growled quietly. That witch had ordered him to put on a fireworks show tonight using the *global alter*.
In a hurry, Ray called up his system interface in his mind. A transparent blue screen immediately floated in front of his eyes. He navigated the menu until he found the Global Alter feature under the Common Sense Altering System.
Without wasting time, his mental fingers typed out the concept change:
[The way to set an alarm before bed is by lighting fireworks.]
Ray hit *Confirm* right away.
BZZZT!
The transparent screen flashed bright with a new notification:
[Global Alter Activated — 00:10:00]
[10 Alter Points consumed.]
Ray let out a long breath and leaned his head back against the pillow. The system started working.
A few minutes passed in the quiet of the night...
BOOM!
The first loud explosion tore through the night sky outside his apartment window, followed by colorful flashes lighting up the darkness.
BOOM! BOOM! CRACK! WHOOSH!
Not long after, more fireworks explosions started answering from all over the city. People who were about to sleep and planned to set their alarms for tomorrow morning, without realizing it, ended up lighting firecrackers and fireworks on their porches, balconies, and streets. The city night sky instantly turned into a loud, colorful fireworks stage.