"Ha! Lucky I didn't try that first," joked Daniel, laughing under his breath.
"That girl, Mia Osborn, she's like a guard dog. No one gets near Zoe Quinn with her around."
"Yeah," another guy muttered, "if I ever want a shot at Zoe, I'll have to deal with Mia first."
Just then, someone else stood up.
A tall, clean-cut boy with calm eyes and a faint smirk, Aiden James.
"Miss Quinn," he said casually, "I actually want your WeChat too."
The entire lecture hall froze.
A hundred heads turned.
A hundred jaws dropped.
Aiden James, the guy everyone remembered as Emily Rose's hopeless ex, was asking out Zoe Quinn.
The silence shattered into stunned whispers.
"Is he serious right now?"
"Did he not see what happened to Ethan?"
"Who gave him that kind of courage?
Even Zoe's best friend, narrowed her eyes.
Her tone was sharp, her presence commanding. "You trying to join the Student Union too?"
Aiden shook his head. "Nah. Not my thing."
"Then why do you want her WeChat?" she pressed.
Aiden grinned. "Because I want to get to know her."
"...What?"
The room erupted in a wave of shocked laughter and disbelief.
Even Mia, who was known for her composure, blinked in surprise.
She hadn't expected that kind of honesty.
The boy was insane or fearless.
Ding!
[System engagement initiated.]
Target: Zoe Quinn
Age: 20
Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
Weight: 108 lbs (49 kg)
Attractiveness Rating: 8.7 / 10
Current Favorability: 10 points
Binding Relationship #3 Activated:
When this girl's favorability exceeds 95 points, Counterattack is achieved, identity reverses, and the girl becomes your admirer.
Reward upon success:
10% of total money spent.
+25 Enhancement Points (boosts physical and mental stats, talent, strength, and perception)
Master-level Piano Proficiency unlocked
Aiden blinked.
Ten points? Already?
That was unexpected.
After all, Zoe Quinn wasn't the type to give away interest easily.
She had seen hundreds of guys try, some sneaky, some overly polite, all trying to approach her through excuses like "joining the Student Union" or "asking for advice."
But Aiden's directness was… different.
Maybe because he wasn't pretending.
He didn't try to act noble, shy, or desperate. He just said what everyone else was too afraid to.
And maybe, just maybe, Zoe found that honesty refreshing.
He didn't care what people thought anymore.
After all the humiliation he'd swallowed chasing Emily Rose, what pride did he have left?
Love, for him, was no longer about feelings, it was just another game of returns.
Every System Engagement mission was business.
And Zoe Quinn? She was his next investment.
"Alright," Zoe said softly.
The crowd gasped again.
She calmly took out her phone and scanned his code.
Aiden's name appeared on her WeChat contact list.
To her, it wasn't a big deal, she just disliked men who played games, pretending to be "just friends" or using fake reasons to talk to her.
If you wanted to flirt, at least be honest about it.
And Aiden James had been nothing if not honest.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket, calm and confident.
He didn't push for more conversation. The mission was complete.
From the back of the room, Emily Rose sat frozen.
"Sophia," she whispered to her friend, "what the hell's gotten into him?"
Sophia smirked. "I was about to ask you the same thing. Didn't he transfer you fifty grand just yesterday? Now he's out here asking Zoe Quinn for her contact? Are you sure he's not doing this to piss you off?"
"I… I don't know."
Emily's expression soured.
Her chest tightened, a mix of confusion, jealousy, and something she refused to name.
Yesterday, he was still her loyal little puppy, clinging to her every word.
Today, he looked like a completely different man, confident, bold, untouchable.
And worst of all… he'd succeeded.
He had done what no other guy in their class dared to do.
Right in front of her.
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"Are you doing this on purpose, Aiden?" she thought bitterly.
"Are you showing off… or do you really not care anymore?"
For the first time, Emily Rose felt something she hadn't felt in years, fear of losing him.
She hated that feeling.
But no matter how she tried to hide it, her eyes kept drifting back to the back of his head.
Aiden didn't look back once.
They say confidence can't be faked and people can always sense it.
Those who constantly try to please others often end up being overlooked.
That's why a truly charming man can't be controlled by anyone's expectations.
Right now, Aiden James's calm, indifferent attitude made him seem confident, generous, and effortlessly magnetic.
As the saying goes: "The higher your standards, the broader your reach."
If Aiden could casually talk to the school's most admired girl, then Emily Rose his ex, wasn't as untouchable as she once seemed.
Emily Rose: +5 Favorability
Emily Rose: +5 Favorability
Aiden turned slightly, catching Emily's expression from the corner of his eye.
To his surprise, the faint number floating above her head had jumped by another ten points.
"What… seriously?" he muttered, bewildered.
He couldn't wrap his head around it.
Aiden hadn't flirted with Zoe to impress anyone. Part of it was impulse, part of it was a small, private act of rebellion.
If Emily could be coy with other boys and keep them dangling, why couldn't he chase the school beauty for once? It was half spite, half test, he wanted to see what would happen if he stopped being the one who always begged.
He had expected a backlash. He imagined Emily's favorability would tumble, that she'd be offended or furious. Instead, she did something he didn't understand at all: she warmed toward him.
Her favorability ticked upward.
Aiden stared at the little number pulsing above her head as if it might offer an explanation. He felt stupidly bewildered.
You said you hated flirting men, he thought, you said you wanted devotion, so I did everything you told me a man should be. And you rejected me. Then I finally act like I don't care, and your opinion of me improves? What am I missing?
The contradiction annoyed him more than he cared to admit. He lacked the patience to decode the shifting logic of people's hearts, especially when it seemed so inconsistent.
"Man, you're different now," Daniel said, grinning. "You actually asked Zoe for her WeChat. That's bold."
"Bold?" Aiden scoffed, though a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Call it whatever you like. If you want it, go get it yourself."
"Come on, don't be like that," Daniel urged, half begging, half jesting. "We're brothers, remember all the crap we've gone through? This is our territory. At least share the victory."
"Sorry," Aiden replied, shaking his head. "Not this time. If you want something, you earn it."
Around them the classroom hummed with gossip and amusement. Two lectures had come and gone, and as the last bell rang a soft, excited murmur followed Aiden out into the hall. He hadn't expected what happened next.
Ivy appeared almost as if she'd stepped out of a fashion spread, waves in her hair, a Chanel dress that somehow felt effortless on her. She had kept her distance yesterday; today she walked up with purpose.
"You're here," she said, offering a small sketchpad. "I drew this this morning. It's for you."
Aiden blinked. The portrait was striking, capturing him with uncanny accuracy, catching the angle he'd never even noticed himself in.
Around them the classroom crowd watched with an audible intake of breath. Whispers turned into astonished chatter as students tried to make sense of how this suddenly ordinary boy had become the center of so much attention.
"Wait, that's Ivy Mae, right? She actually went up to him?" someone murmured.
"How did he get so lucky?" another asked.
"Seriously, this isn't fair."
Aiden only glanced at the faces around him and felt a quiet, private amusement. Whatever game he was playing had shifted on him; the stakes were changing, and suddenly the field looked a lot more crowded.
"What's going on? Did Ivy Mae just walk up to him?"
A murmur spread through the hall like wildfire.
"No way,, that's Ivy Mae from the Art Academy, right? The one who won the City Sketching Award last year?"
"Yeah, that's her! And… wait, did she just hand Aiden a gift?"
A cluster of students leaned in, whispering in disbelief.
"Is that a portrait of him? That looks exactly like Aiden. Don't tell me she actually drew him from memory?"
The buzz grew louder, full of envy and confusion.
"This doesn't make sense," someone muttered under their breath. "I mean, look at him. He's not the tallest, not the flashiest, not even the top of the class. Meanwhile, Ivy's practically the star of the Art Academy and Zoe, the school's social media queen, added him on WeChat too?"
Ethan, the self-proclaimed "campus heartthrob," frowned. He had spent years building his image, style, confidence, athletic talent, charm. And yet, none of it seemed to matter today.
"How?" he whispered, half to himself. "In what world does this guy, Aiden James, end up with two of the most sought-after girls in the school paying attention to him?"
He couldn't wrap his head around it. The rules he'd always believed in, the ones about looks, money, and popularity, didn't seem to apply anymore.
Meanwhile, Aiden simply stood there, expression calm and unreadable, the sketchpad in his hand like it weighed nothing. The whispers around him didn't touch him; if anything, they only made the faint, knowing curve at the corner of his lips a little deeper.