Chapter 48: Friendly Blackmail Isn’t So Friendly
Adrian stared for a beat. "Well, when you put it like that, how do you even expect me to say no?"
Rose’s smile widened as she pressed her chest closer. "How do you switch from being so sweet to being so pervy this quickly?"
"When you spend enough time around someone as beautiful as you, you pick up a few skills."
She held his gaze, clearly unconvinced.
"So tell me," He added as his hands drifted beneath her hips, "what exactly do you have for me? Or should I guess?"
She shook her head and kissed him once, brief and unhurried. She pulled back.
"I made something for you."
"What’s that?"
"Mushroom-and-chocolate brownies."
Adrian blinked. "You made them for me?"
"Yeah. You put mushrooms in my baked pasta and said it was sweet, so I figured you liked them."
She said it like it was nothing. That was what caught him. She remembered things like that. Little things he hadn’t even realized he’d told her were important.
Adrian felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
"Don’t make that face," Rose added.
"What face?"
"The smug look you always get."
He almost denied it.
Instead, she kissed him again before he could. Then she stepped away and began getting dressed.
Rose didn’t make a production of it. She simply gathered what she needed, then paused when she reached for her clothes. A moment later, she turned and held out her white lace panties.
"Hold onto this till I get back."
Her cheeks colored slightly. Adrian looked at the panties, then at her. "Trust me..."
She gave him a skeptical look.
"That," he said, "won’t be a problem."
Rose stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.
"Dear God... how did I fall in love with a hentai?"
Adrian’s expression froze.
Rose continued before he could say anything.
"You better not sniff them or do anything weird with them."
Fall in love? He was still processing the first part when Rose tossed the underwear at him.
He caught it. Honorably.
"No need to worry," he said with a grin. "My senses are heightened. I already have all the information I need."
Rose pressed her lips together, clearly fighting a laugh.
"I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere."
She grabbed her phone, slipped it into her pocket, and left.
The door clicked shut.
Adrian remained where he was. He looked down at her panties. Then toward the door.
...she loves me.
The realization settled somewhere warm in his chest. He almost smiled again. Almost.
Then he set the underwear aside, pulled on his boxers, and reached for his phone to check on Jenna.
A notification appeared before he could open her contact.
DAILY TASKS COMPLETED: Claim rewards?
Adrian stopped.
Oh. Yesterday’s tasks. Almost forgot about them.
He tapped it.
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DAILY TASKS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
☑️ Eat one proper meal. Preferably in the company of another person. ⓘ
☑️ Maintain personal hygiene. ⓘ
☑️ Accumulate 90 minutes of physical activity.
☑️ Get at least 7 hours of sleep. ⓘ
☑️ Have at least one meaningful social interaction. ⓘ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Reward: +500 Billionaire Points.
Bonus; Sexual Conquest with verified target ×2: +$1,000 × 2
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Adrian’s eyebrows rose.
Apparently, the system had decided his morning deserved a financial bonus.
He tapped CLAIM.
500 Billionaire Points acquired.
$2,000 has been deposited into the Host’s account.
He opened his banking app. The balance was already there; another $2,000.
Two days ago, that kind of unexpected money would’ve had him checking the numbers three times. Now he merely smiled and moved on. That was the weirdest part.
He scrolled lower, his eyes sighting another notification.
NEW DAY. NEW MISSION
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DAILY TASKS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
☐ Eat one proper meal. Preferably in the company of another person. ⓘ
☐ Maintain personal hygiene. ⓘ
☑️ Accumulate 90 minutes of physical activity.
☐ Get at least 7 hours of sleep. ⓘ
☐ Have at least one meaningful social interaction. ⓘ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adrian stared at the completed task.
Ninety minutes complete? How?
He ran through his morning. Waking up, finding his phone... then Rose.
It seems sex counted as exercise too. A grin crept onto his face.
He scrolled farther.
Recent Physical Activity Detected.
Calculating Physical Development.
Calculation Complete. ✅
Growth Enhancement Applied.
Adrian waited for something else to happen. Nothing, just like before. Then a new notification popped up.
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NEW MISSION ACQUIRED: ACQUIRE A NEW TARGET
Objective: Successfully register eligible Target #2.
Time Limit: 72 Hours ⏳
Reward: Surprise Package! 🎁
Penalty: -$20,000 from player’s account.
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Adrian’s amusement disappeared.
The fuck?
Twenty thousand dollars. That was more than he even had in his account.
So what? If I fail, I’ll owe the system money?
That sounded more like a threat at this point. He rubbed his face. He’d finally sorted things out with Rose. He’d gotten a real girlfriend.
And the system’s response was apparently: Congratulations. Now get another one or else.
The idea of building a harem was still strangely appealing. The problem was the actual execution.
He couldn’t force someone into it. That wasn’t how the system worked, and it also hadn’t given him any convenient shortcut.
Seventy-two hours. A second target. Who could it be.
A beat passed. He looked down at his phone, the notification above still displaying.
❌1 Missed Call=> Jenna
Hmm... Jenna. He raised a brow. She had been his first choice anyway. Maybe if-
"Ahem."
He froze. Slowly, he turned around.
Jenna stood in the bedroom doorway, her arms folded as she leaned against the frame.
Adrian’s stomach dropped.
Jenna? Please don’t tell me she’s been in here the whole time.
"Uh... Jenna." He scratched the back of his head. "I was just about to call you. How long have you been standing there?"
"A while."
She glanced around the room.
"Before you ask." The corner of her mouth lifted. "Yes. I heard everything."
Adrian said nothing. Jenna waited. He could practically see her enjoying this.
"Everything?" he finally asked.
"Every scream." A beat. "And moan."
His face tightened.
"I thought you two were done?"
"We worked it out."
Something flickered across her expression, but vanished before Adrian could make anything out of it.
"Well," Jenna said, pushing herself away from the doorway, "I had to hide in your fire escape for you. So you definitely owe me."
"I know. I’m sorry I made you wait."
"Today."
Adrian blinked. "Today?"
"The date’s today. Otherwise, I walk downstairs and reintroduce myself to your girlfriend."
She smiled.
"And mention that I slept here last night."
Adrian stared at her. "That’s blackmail."
"Friendly blackmail." Her smile widened. "There’s a difference."
He had no idea what the difference was. But arguing about it definitely wasn’t getting him anywhere.
Adrian sighed. "Fine. Tonight."
The satisfaction in Jenna’s smile told Adrian he’d just agreed to something he probably should’ve negotiated harder.
"I probably should get going." she glanced toward the bedroom. "I’ll get dressed in a bit."
"Where did you hide them anyway?"
"I took them with me." She gave him an unimpressed look. "I wasn’t taking any chances."
He smiled. Of course she wasn’t.
Jenna disappeared into the bedroom and returned a few minutes later in her white shirt and trousers. Adrian’s eyes followed her without permission.
The outfit wasn’t anything special. On her, somehow, it was. He caught himself and looked away. Too late. Jenna’s mouth curved, but she didn’t say anything. Somehow, that was worse.
Adrian spotted her bra on the chair and picked it up.
"You forgot this."
Jenna glanced at it. "Keep it."
He frowned. "Why?"
"It’ll look strange if your girlfriend notices your mom’s bra suddenly disappeared."
Adrian looked at the bra in his hand. "That’s your excuse?"
"It’s a perfectly reasonable excuse."
She stepped closer, lowering her voice just enough to make the next part sound far from casual.
"Besides, now you have a reason to let me come back."
Adrian’s response caught somewhere between his brain and his mouth.
Jenna noticed that too.
"See? Already working."
He held her gaze. "You’re enjoying this way too much."
"You accuse me of too much." He laughed softly.
"Remember, you and me, tonight. Pick me up at eight sharp." She added as she took a step closer. "Oh. And don’t disappear on me this time,"
"I won’t."
"Good. Because if you do, I’m deleting your number."
"You won’t."
Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I won’t."
They both laughed.
She crossed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him. Adrian’s hands hovered for half a second before settling lightly against her back.
It was only a hug.
But Jenna didn’t release him immediately. Neither did he. She drew her lips to his ear. "I really missed you Adrian."
He paused for a beat. "I missed you too Jenna."
Neither of them spoke. Then she finally stepped back, her eyes remained on him.
She smiled.
She reached up and touched his cheek, her thumb brushing lightly across it.
Neither moved.
Jenna’s hand remained against his cheek for another second before she finally pulled it away.
Then her usual mischievous expression returned.
"You should probably get nude before that slut gets back."
Adrian’s eyes widened. She’d heard that too.
Jenna laughed under her breath.
"Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me." She backed toward the door. "See you tonight?"
This was definitely blackmail now. "Yeah. See you tonight."
The door clicked shut behind her. Adrian remained still.
The room suddenly felt quieter as his eyes dropped to the bra in his hand. Then to the mission still glowing on his phone.
ACQUIRE A NEW TARGET.
TARGET #2.
His eyes narrowed.
I think I just found Target #2.