New Novel
Chapter 27: A New Form Of Investment

Chapter 27: A New Form Of Investment

[ACCEPT OBJECTIVE?]

[ YES ] [ NO ]

Adrian paused for a moment, thumb hovering over NO before he’d even finished reading the reward line a second time.

He didn’t want Maya back. That part wasn’t complicated.

But watching her like that, treating their two years together like it was nothing, had landed wrong in his chest. Not longing. Closer to a bruise someone had pressed on without warning.

His eyes drifted back to the number.

$10,000.

He stared at it a while longer than the moment probably warranted. Apparently making an ex regret something came with a genuinely generous incentive attached.

He almost laughed, mostly at himself for how quickly the number had gotten his attention despite everything else going on in his chest at the same time.

He didn’t press anything yet. Then.

His phone buzzed severally. He viewed the text.

Drew

A bunch of texts from him, asking him if he was okay and why he’d left his girlfriend alone and a whole other wall of texts he wasn’t ready to read.

Then, another message popped up.

Jenna: You just left early. Are you good?

He read it, then looked away. He wasn’t ready to talk with anyone right now. Then came another buzz.

Jenna: Did you get home?

He stared at it, then typed back something shorter, mostly because ignoring a reasonable text felt worse than answering at this point.

Adrian: Not yet.

He watched her three dots come out and then came her text.

Jenna: Where are you?

Adrian: I’m good, Jenna.

A short pause passed and then.

Jenna: You sure?

He typed something: I’m fine. Then deleted it, it didn’t feel right. Then he typed again.

Adrian: just needed some space.

Jenna: Okay.

Her reply sat there a second before he pocketed the phone. It buzzed immediately after.

Jenna: just don’t disappear on me again. Alright?

Adrian stared at the text for a beat. He leaned back against the headrest, some of the tension in his shoulders easing off without his permission.

Adrian: I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.

Jenna: Okay. I’m here if you need anything.

He held onto that one a beat longer than he needed to. For a few seconds his head wasn’t circling Maya’s name at all.

He set the phone down, then picked it back up almost immediately, eyes landing on the objective still sitting open behind the text thread.

MAKE MAYA REGRET HER DECISION.

He read it again. It still sounded as absurd as before. How exactly was he supposed to do that.

He hadn’t expected an answer. The system had never responded to a thought that wasn’t typed or tapped directly at it before. This time, the screen lit up anyway, unprompted.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

REGRET MUST ORIGINATE FROM THE TARGET’S OWN REALIZATION.

FORCED EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION DOES NOT QUALIFY.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He read it twice.

So this wasn’t a make-her-jealous quest. He couldn’t fake a relationship in front of her, and collect the reward for the performance. If Maya ever actually regretted leaving him, it had to be real.

That, weirdly, made the whole thing easier to sit with.

It wasn’t as ugly an objective as he’d first assumed. But he still didn’t love what it could turn into if he let it.

He wasn’t going to spend the next few weeks checking Maya’s face for signs that she’d changed her mind. That sounded exhausting. And, more importantly, pathetic.

He had other things going on now. Drew and Jenna. Even Rose, his fake-girlfriend who he’d just ditched without an explanation.

Damn.

That probably wasn’t the best call. Maybe an apology would be due. But whether he wished to appreciate it or not, a life had started forming around him without much help from him at all.

He wasn’t spending the next several weeks watching Maya’s face for signs of regret.

You already started something new down there. Don’t let something old undo it.

His mom was right. This was a mission for him. Not for Maya.

That settled it.

If Maya regretted it someday, fine. Her problem, her timeline, none of his business how long it took her to get there. He had better things to spend his energy on than waiting around for it.

He pressed YES.

The screen shifted without ceremony.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

◆ REGRET INVESTMENT MODULE INITIATED ◆

INITIAL INVESTMENT TARGET GENERATED.

Target: Rose

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He blinked, genuinely thrown in a way none of this morning’s other revelations had managed.

...Rose?

Why Rose of all people. Rose had nothing directly to do with Maya. She was the girl he met at the dumpster who’d fed him at two in the morning and used him in ways he honestly didn’t mind in under a day. Perhaps it was the kiss. Was that why the system recommended her?

The system didn’t explain the selection. Just left her name sitting there, unadorned, which left him with a question instead of an answer, and no obvious way to go looking for one.

He started the car eventually. Drove without much direction, thoughts circling around whether he had fucked up things with Rose.

He probably had.

Not that it mattered, he didn’t want anything from her beyond what they’d already agreed on.

He didn’t believe that either, not entirely, but it was easier to say than to sit with the alternative.

His building came up on the right. He slowed instinctively, already halfway into the turn toward the lot.

Then he didn’t finish it.

He didn’t actually want to go inside. Too much had happened today. The fight over a single System daily tasks, the reunion in a group chat he’d nearly not been a part of, Rose’s massage room, and... Maya.

If he went upstairs now he’d just sit in there, alone, replaying all of it on a loop with nothing else to distract him from doing the math on it.

He didn’t need that right now.

So he drove past. Nothing dramatic in the decision, just a small, quiet choice to keep the wheels turning a little longer.

That was until somewhere in particular came to mind.