Chapter 56: Acquiring Target #2
The café had quieted down since lunch.
Adrian dropped back into his seat and reached for his drink. Dina sat down a moment later, placing her phone beside her glass before settling into the conversation like she’d never left.
Adrian glanced at her.
That was it?
No awkward silence. No pointed look. She simply picked up her drink and took a sip.
It probably didn’t mean she’d forgiven him. But at least she wasn’t treating him like a problem anymore.
He could work with that.
"So, where were we?" Dina asked, looking around the table.
"Arguing about how horrible Northgate is at killing social lives," Drew said.
"Drew..." Jenna replied. "How about you state your case after orientation tomorrow?"
Drew kept talking anyway, but Adrian’s attention had already drifted. His phone was in his hand beneath the table before he even consciously reached for it.
He opened the System and went straight to the Regret Investment missions. His thumb stopped at the mission page.
TARGET REGISTRATION
Time Remaining: 59:14:32
He frowned.
Shit. Almost forgot about that.
A waiter appeared beside the table before Adrian’s thoughts had fully settled, clearing the empty glasses from earlier.
"Everything alright here?"
Drew nodded. "Yeah. We’re good."
"Can I bring the bill?"
Adrian glanced around the table. Most of the plates were empty.
His eyes dropped to his own drink.
Black coffee. Five ninety-nine.
’Robbery.’
"Yeah. Go ahead."
The waiter nodded and walked away.
Adrian lowered his phone again.
A second target.
The problem wasn’t getting Jenna interested in him. At least, he didn’t think that part would be impossible.
The problem was doing it without making it obvious that he was trying.
The last thing he needed was Jenna looking at him like some scumbag who’d suddenly decided to build a harem.
He paused.
’Well...’
When he put it like that, she wouldn’t exactly be wrong.
Adrian glanced at her.
She was listening to Drew again, completely relaxed.
So, don’t force it.
Fine. But then what?
He couldn’t exactly sit her down and explain that she was his second target. That conversation would probably end with a drink in his face, and considering how much he’d paid for this one, he wasn’t interested in wasting another.
He’d have to find something she actually wanted.
Something he could help with.
The waiter returned with the bill and placed it on the table.
Adrian reached for it before Drew could.
"I’ve got it."
Drew looked at him. "You sure?"
"Yeah."
He caught Dina watching him for a second. Adrian ignored it, pulled out his card, and handed it to the waiter.
One problem solved.
He took another sip of his coffee. Black. Strong. Still absolutely terrible. Adrian forced himself to swallow before spitting the rest back into the cup.
Yuck.
His phone buzzed almost immediately. He checked it.
Debit: -$211.87
Adrian stared at the number for a second. Compared to seven grand that was barely a dent. He shrugged and slid the phone back into his pocket.
At least one problem is solved.
Then Dina’s phone buzzed. She checked it and immediately reached for her bag.
"Oh my god." She turned to Marianne. "It’s park... He’s at the administrative building. He wants to meet."
Adrian raised a brow. Park? Who’s that?
Marianne was already reaching for her things. "Shit. That’s great news. I’ll come with you."
Dina nodded. "Sure."
As Marianne stood, she glanced at Drew. "You wanna come too?"
Drew blinked.
His eyes flicked briefly toward Adrian before he pushed himself out of his chair.
"Umm. Yeah. Sure."
He reached for his wallet. Adrian looked at him. "I’ve got it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Go."
Drew hesitated, then nodded. "Thanks."
He followed Marianne and Dina out.
Adrian turned back.
Jenna was still sitting across from him, watching the door close behind them.
"So..."
Adrian leaned back. This was probably his best chance to actually talk to her.
"You heading back?"
"I wasn’t planning on it." She looked at him. "Unless you are."
"Nah." Adrian glanced at the empty chairs. "I wanted to catch up. We haven’t talked properly in a while."
Jenna studied him for a second before settling back into her chair. "Okay."
That was easier than expected. Adrian let the silence sit for a moment.
Then he looked at her. "So... what have you been up to?"
She gave him a sideways look. "Um. I’ve mostly been hiding from a guy’s girlfriend on a fire escape."
Adrian smiled. "I meant since I got busy with Maya. What’ve you been up to?"
Jenna’s expression softened.
"Actually, a lot." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But if I had to pick one thing... I’ve been trying to become an idol."
Adrian blinked. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Since when?"
"Recently." She smiled. "Auditions, training, all of it. I’m still at the stage where I spend money just to have people tell me no."
Adrian snorted. "Sounds like a terrible business model."
"It is. Unfortunately, it’s mine."
He straightened slightly.
"That’s actually pretty cool. I never knew you were into that kind of stuff."
"Honestly?" Jenna shrugged. "Money."
Adrian raised an eyebrow. "That’s honest."
"No, wait." She chuckled faintly, waving a hand playfully. "That sounded terrible."
"A little."
Her smile faded into something more thoughtful. "I just want enough that I don’t have to worry about it anymore. For me. For my family."
Adrian watched her for a moment.
"I want them comfortable."
Adrian went quiet. That wasn’t the answer he’d expected.
"Being an idol is a lot, though. There’s the fame factor too."
Jenna shook her head.
"Fame is useful." She smiled faintly. "But money is the point."
Adrian stared at her for a moment. The corner of his mouth curved.
"What if I could give it to you?"
She looked over. "Give me what?"
"The opportunity."
"To be an idol?"
"To actually chase it. Properly." Adrian rested his forearm on the table. "Training. Auditions. Whatever you need. If money’s the thing holding you back, I can fix that."
Jenna blinked.
"You’d do that?"
"Yeah."
She studied him. "Why?"
Fair question.
Adrian didn’t have a clever answer for it.
"Because I want you in my life."
Jenna stared at him. She didn’t answer.
For once, she didn’t have a joke ready.
Her eyes searched his face, and Adrian resisted the urge to fill the silence.
After a few seconds, her cheeks slowly turned pink.
"You really mean that?"
"I do."
She looked away. "That’s honestly really sweet."
Then she glanced back at him. "If you’re actually serious..."
"I am."
Jenna studied him for another second, as if checking whether he’d change his mind. Then. "Okay. Then yes."
Adrian smiled.
No dramatic reaction he’d expected. Just a simple yes.
Somehow, that made it feel more real.
===
The drive to Jenna’s hostel passed easily, filled with talk about Northgate, her auditions, and Drew’s painfully obvious attempt to impress Marianne.
In time, they arrived at the hostel.
The silence stretched in the car for a brief moment. Then Jenna opened the door.
"Um. I’ll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." Adrian smiled. "Tomorrow."
She stepped out, then closed the door.
Adrian watched her walk a few steps before she turned around.
She waved.
He smiled and waved back.
Once she disappeared into the hostel, he reached for his phone.
The target registration page loaded.
He tapped on it, waiting for his reward.
Instead...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TARGET REGISTRATION
Target #2
Status: Unregistered
Time Remaining: 58:42:17
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adrian stared at the screen.
That was wrong.
He read it again.
It didn’t change.
"...The fuck?"
He refreshed the page. Same number.
Adrian frowned and refreshed it again. Still there.
"She agreed to be with me." He stared at the notification. "That doesn’t count?"
Another notification appeared.
❗️Error❗️Acquisition Protocol Not Met ⓘ
Adrian frowned.
"What the hell is an acquisition protocol?"
He tapped the information icon.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ACQUISITION PROTOCOL
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TARGET #2: UNREGISTERED
Consent condition not met.
Monetary agreement detected. Financial transactions do not qualify as relational consent.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adrian stared at it. Then at the hostel entrance.
Jenna was already gone.
He looked back at the screen.
"So all that work didn’t count?" The System remained silent. Adrian leaned his head against the seat. "Fantastic."