Chapter 35: (Not) A Date at All! (2)
When I tried them all together, I almost couldn’t believe my own reflection. The crimson dress set off my pale skin perfectly, and my dark, curly hair looked like it belonged on a magazine cover.
It looked perfect, so perfect that I wanted to scream and jump like a little kid. For the first time today, I felt genuinely happy with how I looked.
All the awful things I’d seen and gone through earlier just melted away the moment I saw my reflection.
Unfortunately, when it came time to pay, I couldn’t help but wince a little.
[Penny deducted $750 from Host’s balance: Luxury Hair & Makeup Package + Boutique Purchase.]
[Remaining Balance: $58,315]
I almost cried when I realized I had spent more than two thousand dollars in a single day. My poor balance! But fine, totally fine. I was going to get ten grand back for this, so it was worth it. Right?
[Host, Penny advises you not to take this quest lightly.]
[There’s a chance you might fail.]
I raised one eyebrow, feeling a little confused. "Fail? What are you talking about? How could any man look at me and not say I’m beautiful?" I swept my hand dramatically from my face down to my waist. "... Look at this!"
[Penny reminder: there are many words similar to ’beautiful’ and ’pretty,’ Host.]
I brushed off Penny’s warning, thinking she was being ridiculous. Honestly, what kind of man wouldn’t call me beautiful? Even random strangers on the street couldn’t help but compliment me!
But the moment I met Lando at the restaurant, I finally understood what Penny meant. We had agreed to come separately because going back home first would have been a waste of time, so I walked straight to the rooftop.
He was already there, sitting at our table. The soft glow of the evening lights framed him perfectly, but the instant his gaze landed on me, everything else seemed to fade.
"Helcia, you look ..." His eyes traveled slowly from my head to my heels, lingering on every detail as if memorizing me. "... stunning."
The smile on my face instantly froze the moment I heard his words.
S-stunning?! Seriously? Of all the words in the world, that was the first thing he thought of when he saw me?!
Now that I thought about it, I suddenly realized he had never, not even once, called me beautiful or pretty. When I got my hair done at the salon, all he said was that it "suited me.", and when I proudly showed him my photoshoot pictures, he looked at them like a professional critique, not like a man complimenting a woman.
Okay, fine. None of that was technically wrong. A man wasn’t obligated to shower a woman with compliments. Normally, I wouldn’t even care.
But this wasn’t a normal situation! Penny had thrown me into this ridiculous quest, and if I didn’t get that one magic word out of him, I could kiss my ten grand goodbye!
No way. I wasn’t going down without a fight! I still had six hours left, and I was going to make sure he called me beautiful!
[Reminder: If Host directly asks Lando to use that specific word, the quest will fail automatically and you’ll have to say bye-bye to your ten grand.]
My jaw dropped. Say bye-bye to my money?! I wouldn’t allow it!
"Helcia?" Lando’s voice instantly pulled me out of my internal scream. "Are you alright?"
I blinked a few times before forcing a bright smile. "I’m fine. Really, I’m fine." I walked over to our table, and just as I reached it, a waiter quickly stepped forward to pull the chair out for me. I sat down across from Lando, smoothing my dress as I did.
"I’m sorry." His sudden apology made me lift my head toward him. "I couldn’t be the one to pull the chair out for you myself."
Why was he apologizing for that? Of course, I would never see a man in a wheelchair as less of a gentleman just because he couldn’t stand and do something the waiter already did for me!
"Don’t say that." I reached out and patted his hand a few times. "I’m already happy just seeing you here. Besides, I should be the one apologizing because ..." I paused, glancing at the clock on the wall. "... I made you wait for more than fifteen minutes. Traffic was just unforgivable today."
Of course, that wasn’t the whole truth. The real reason was because I lost track of time while shopping for skincare and makeup. One quick stop turned into almost an hour, and I ended up dropping another three hundred bucks.
They weren’t even high-end products! Oh, my poor, poor wallet.
Lando held his breath for a moment, his gaze sweeping over me once more. "It’s alright." He looked away, almost shyly. "You were worth the wait."
[Lando’s favorability has increased to +5%]
I froze. Wait ... was that also his version of calling me beautiful?!
Sure, his choice of words still didn’t count for the quest. But honestly, wasn’t that even better than a simple beautiful or pretty? Earlier, he had called me stunning, and now he was saying I was worth every minute of his time.
This was Lando we were talking about, a man who valued time like it was gold. For someone that strict about every second, letting me waste fifteen whole minutes of his life was a huge privilege.
My husband was way too adorable that I almost wanted to cry right there at the table!
For a second, I thought maybe losing ten grand would be fine if he kept saying things like that—No! What was I thinking?! Hell no, I still wanted that ten grand!
While I was stressing over my quest, Lando asked the waiter to pour wine into our glasses. His movements were calm, his voice sounding gentle as he gave instructions, and for a moment I forgot all about the stupid word I was chasing.
I swallowed hard because I finally realized that he looked so breathtakingly handsome tonight!