Not tonight

I made breakfast the next morning. I tried to wait for Tessa to come out, but she never did. As it approached near 10AM I decided to open the door and... she was gone. The window was open. So she jumped out the window even when her body was hurt. Why though?

I went to eat breakfast with Clara. "She seemed so hurt," I said. "I thought Samuel wouldn't cause of physical pain?"

"He isn't the type to do that," Clara said as she enjoyed the waffles I made. Seeing that made me smile. "And if nothing else, Samuel is a consistent man. He likely did something that is putting the choice on Tessa."

"That's... well I guess this game was never designed to be fair," I said.

I decided I would visit Samuel. Clara said he was taking days off from class because of his damaged PC. So I went to his home. When I arrived, he was sitting near his desk with a PC. "Hi, sorry if I am disturbing you."

"Oh hey. I am popular today it would seem," he said. "Lisa just texted saying she is on her way. Not sure if that matters to you, but I figured you should know."

"Thank you," I said. I didn't know why he would mention that. I had no issue with Lisa. "I am wondering if it is possible you would explain what you did to Tessa?"

"She won't tell you?" he asked.

"She seems to be avoiding me today," I said.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I doubt she will hide from you all day. But you have been a good sport. So sure. Why not. She is compelled to either play with Clara or workout daily as a punishment for what she did to me and-"

"What are you doing here!" Lisa shouted!

I let out a yipe.

"Speak of the devil," he said. "Lisa, she doesn't know what happened yet."

"Tessa, did something bad didn't she?" I asked.

"She involved my girlfriend in the game because she was angry at me for not helping. She tried to mind control me too!" Lisa said seething.

I just looked down. "I'm sorry. I.. I don't know what to do."

Lisa seemed to calm down as she looked at me, "You didn't do anything. Tessa is the one that needs to learn the lesson here."

I guess I couldn't deny that. I knew better than to ask for her freedom, it would be ignored. But, I felt tears welling up inside me. "Please. I understand what your saying but I want to help soften the impact if I can."

"So adorable," Samuel said. "Look, I wanna help you and by extension her but tears and words aren't enough. What are you willing to do to prove it?"

Samuel. He was a chess player. He valued intellect. Strategy, pacifism. Rule manipulation... that was it! "I propose a battle of wits!"

"You have caught my interest," he said.

I picked up a PC part. "I will hide this within your apartment. If you cannot find it within 24 hours. Then I win. But you are not allowed to use help in any way nor are you allowed to use destructive means in assisting your search."

"If you win, I allow you to help Tessa? If you lose, what do I get?" he asked.

"Anything within my power. Just 1 thing but beyond that, no limits. Deal?" I asked.

He offered his hand. "Deal," he said.

"Give me 1 hour to hide it without you here?" I asked.

"That's fair. Plus me and Lisa needed to discuss some stuff anyhow. Just lock the door when you leave," he said as he guided Lisa outside.

Once he drove away, I got to work. I grabbed the screwdriver and began peeling off his doorknob. I was good at this stuff, even better after my recent practice. Plus I was motivated by my feelings of love. Once the lock was free, I began rearranging the pins, effectively making his key ineffective. I continued this process on every lock in the house. Including the internal locks. I made sure all the windows were locked. All the doors were locked. Oh, and I guess I should still hide the computer part.

I opened up the PC he had closed and inserted the piece into the proper location inside the PC. I returned it how it looked before I touched it. When I saw no sign of his car, I was quick to make a mess in some drawers and tossed around blankets and towels to make it look like I was masking what I had moved. I then left and closed and locked the front door. I took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. "Breaking a window or calling a locksmith would violate the rules."

I had no idea if this would work. But... I wanted to believe this was a skill he didn't have!