You can rely on the old man's money, you can rely on the old man's money

Vivian was the kind of woman who knew how to go with the flow. Sure, she had a sharp mind that planned things out when necessary, but she didn’t schedule every second of her life down in her day planner.

No, if there was one thing that mattered to Vivian, more than anything else, it was the freedom to enjoy herself. Unbound by the wishes of her parents or the stern, reproachful eyes of her butler, Octavia.

In many ways, even marriage to Nick was just a means to that end. Another way for Vivian to be free.

If I have to marry someone, it might as well be him. He’s a nice enough guy. And he likes horses, too! I’m so glad that he agreed to go horseback riding with me. If he didn’t, I may have had to call this entire relationship off!

Of course, Vivian knew that it wouldn’t be so simple. She’d read the contract when she’d agreed to come onto this show. There was no backing out, no changing her mind. She and Nick were going to be something, and it was up to the both of them to define what that something would be.

Friends? Mutual beneficiaries? Partners in crime?

…Lovers?

As Vivian walked ahead of Nick, making sure that each step highlighted her beauty as if she were on the catwalk, she couldn’t help but think about him in that context. The two had been dancing around the issue with playful laughs and jokes.

Jab. Thrust. Parry. It was all a game, a game they played while circling around each other, slowly drawing closer like planes caught in a maelstrom.

When they finally collided…

…Nope. She just couldn’t picture it. Vivian had managed to summon up the courage in the heat of the moment after being brought up to the Master’s Suite with Carly, and somehow she’d even managed to coax enough votes for a single Victory Point out of the audience while hardly doing anything with Nick herself.

But that couldn’t last.

We’ve got 24 hours here. We’re probably going to… at least once, right? If I want to keep him interested in me, I can only play hard to get for so long. Agh, if only I’d had more time to prepare! But I was planning on going to Dream Alley with him next round! Why did I say yes!? Why did I have to use that silly pass?!

“So what do you think of this painting, Nick?” Vivian asked, stopping beside a spotty painting of a gorgeous lake framed by two fields of wildflowers. “It was painted in pointillism style.”

“That’s when you make a painting using tiny dots of paint on the canvas to make a complete image, right?” Nick admired the work thoughtfully. “It’s very nice. It seems so… delicate.”

Vivian whistled in approval. “Well, well, well, a man of culture I see!”

Nick laughed. “I’m not a total philistine, I know a little bit.”

“Ah, then I’m sure you must know which two artists developed pointillism as a style, right?” Vivian called his bluff with a sly grin.

“…No.” Dani would probably know, but he wasn’t exactly a student of art history.

“Georges-Pierre Seurat and Paul Signac,” Vivian answered. “We have a few Seurats in our gallery, but I prefer this work myself.”

“Oh?” Nick took another look at the painting. “Who painted this one?”

Vivian laughed. “You don’t even know Seurat, what makes you think you’d recognize the name if I told you?”

Nick’s cheeks reddened. “W-well, you never know!” Of course, they both knew that was a total lie, to preserve his ego.

Vivian smirked, happy to take him up on the offer. “This was painted by the artist Mathew Sylvestry.”

“…Okay, you’re right, I’ve never heard of him before,” Nick admitted.

“I should think not. He’s an amateur painter whose work has never even been shown in a gallery before,” Vivian pointed out, holding back her amused laughter while Nick seethed at her.

“You-!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping a fake tear from her eye. “I just couldn’t help myself. But yes, in the old days, it was not uncommon for the wealthy to patronize no-name artists whose skills had not been recognized. I find that a rather romantic notion, don’t you?” She asked, looking back at the painting. She reached up and ran her hand along the frame. “This one, I spotted it hanging up in a coffee shop a couple years ago, one of those trendy places that allow local artists to display their work? I bought it right away, and commissioned another work afterwards.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Really?” He was surprised and a little in awe of Vivian’s actions. It was very easy to picture a starving artist scraping by at some dead-end job while using what spare money and time he had to work out paintings. And for Vivian to use her money to support someone like that… “…That’s really nice of you, Vivian.”

“Oh come now,” Vivian scoffed, her voice raising a little as she highlighted the lilt of her soft accent, knowing how much Nick liked it. “It was motivated entirely by self-interest.”

Her brown eyes gleamed as she admired the sunset cast over the spotty water. “This painting is an investment. I have a good feeling about Sylvestry’s work. Not many modern artists ever reach a level where their paintings are worth real money, but I’ve got a sense about this one…”

She shrugged. “And if I’m wrong, at least I still helped someone, right? So the way I see it, everyone’s a winner here.”

Nick could agree with that estimation. While he took another look at the painting, he didn’t notice Vivian was looking at him.

Their pleasant conversation completely masked the mental dilemma swirling in Vivian’s mind as she contemplated how the rest of today would go. After all, this absolutely wasn’t part of her plan.

I wanted to get closer to him this round, so that when we finally made it to Dream Alley next round, the two of us being together would be like slipping on a glove. But of course that witch had to **** my hand. What was I going to do, turn down a free trip to Dream Alley? That would have signaled to every woman there that I was unprepared and hesitant about being with him, and that simply won’t do. No, that wouldn’t at all.

Behind her amused smile, Vivian was kicking to stay afloat.

I have to handle his delicately. Nick isn’t after a transactional relationship, he’s a romantic. Unfortunately for Vivian, that was the hardest kind of person to handle. While no stranger to sincerity herself- she wasn’t a monster, after all- romance was about as foreign to Vivian as a high society fundraising banquet was to Nick. Something she’d seen plenty of times in the movies, but when it came to her own position…

“So are there any other paintings you like?” Nick asked, turning back to the contemplating heiress. Those brown eyes of his were so big and round, he seemed so genuinely eager.

Ah, if only he wasn’t so cute! Like a little puppy! It was hard for Vivian to develop contingencies and rework her plans when all she wanted to do was pat the silly guy on the head for trying his gosh darn best.

But that probably wouldn’t win her any points in the girlfriend category.

How do I get him to take me seriously as a romantic prospect? He’s already got a wife he loves. And there are plenty of other women who hold strong feelings for him. And in comparison, I… …Haaah… what a troublesome situation I’ve gotten myself tied up in!

If Vivian had been aware back then of what she knew now, she would have been far more hesitant to come on this show. Nick was a nice guy, sure, but there were plenty of nice guys she could have twisted around her finger to get what she needed. It didn’t have to be him.

One positive though, he’s already got someone to do her “wifely duties” for him, and half a dozen mistresses on the side- and that number’s only going up. So it’s not like I’d have to do too much of that. And Mary is really just a darling woman, I’d love to show her around someday.

While the emotional side of Vivian had her complaints about this arrangement, that didn’t stop the calculating side of her from already making plans for the future. She and Nick were going to be something, and when that happened, Mary and the others would come along for the ride, too.

Now, Vivian just had to figure out what exactly the two of them were going to be. And that was easier said than done.

---

“Vivian, are you enjoying yourself?” Nick asked as the two of them walked out onto the patio overlooking the mansion’s grounds.

“Hmm? Why would you ask such a silly question?” Vivian laughed. “I love this place. It’s my home, after all.”

“You said that the island was your home,” Nick reminded her.

Vivian laughed again. “…Fair enough. I suppose home is wherever I can kick my feet up and relax, then!” She plopped down on a patio chair and gazed out over the lake in her backyard. “I have to admit, seeing a sight like this every day, it’s nice, but… a little variety isn’t so bad, either.”

Nick could sense Vivian was holding something back. She was probably holding back a lot, knowing her. The longer he spent in this place, the more he remembered their initial conversation about the transactional nature of their relationship. He really liked getting to know Vivian as a person. Behind the jokes and the flirting he could tell there was a real soul there, like he’d seen on their last date. If only he could coax it out and get to know the real person underneath, and not… the person she was showing off to him.

He only had one idea of how he could do that.

“Hey, Vivian, I had an idea,” Nick said, sitting on the other patio chair and turning to face her. She glanced over at him with a curious expression on her face.

“Mm?”

“I was wondering, um… would you like to go horseback riding?” He offered. “You said last time that your family had a lot of riding trails on your estate, and last time I was here, I didn’t really get the chance to enjoy them myself, because…”

“Because you were copping a feel, if memory serves,” Vivian teased, sitting up in her chair.

“That didn’t happen.” Nick felt his face get hot in spite of his protests. “But I’m serious, Vivian. It could be fun, you know?”

Vivian nodded thoughtfully and tapped her chin. “Well, you know me, I’m always ready for a good ride, but… not right now.”

That came as a surprise. Nick expected her to jump at the chance to go horseback riding again, especially since they would be riding on her own horses. He remembered how proud she was, showing off… what was her horse’s name last time? Hazelnut?

Vivian’s lips curled up into a sly smile as she basked in the confused glow of her date’s flustered face. Seeing him trying to figure out why she turned him down, it was just so precious!

After about a minute of his struggles, though, she decided to let him off the hook.

“I love horses Nick, no question,” she said, hopping to her feet and leaning over to get a better look at that flustered face of his. “But we went for a riding date last time, remember? I can’t just do the same thing again! You’d be frightfully bored of me!”

Vivian cupped his cheek and gave it a few playful pats. “And if you did, that would just break my heart right in two!” She crooned.

Nick blushed, not sure how to react to that. Vivian was a lot of things, vivacious, engaging, playful, frenetic, and, in a strangely wholesome way, almost seductive in the way she lived her life by no one else’s rules but her own.

But boring?

That was a word he never would have imagined associating with her.

Nick was so taken aback by her statement he didn’t even register the way she was caressing his cheek, or how close her face was to his.

Practically the second he realized it, his date’s plump lips curled up into a teasing smirk and she pulled back, giving him a knowing look.

“I think we can find something a little more exciting for you, even if we’ll have to go on a bit of a trip,” Vivian said, straightening up and clasping her hands behind her back. “Tell me Nick, have you ever flown in a private jet before?”

“Uh… no, never,” Nick said, shaking his head. He braced himself for the inevitable shift in their surroundings as Vivian whisked him away to somewhere else with the power of Dream Alley, but… that never happened.

“Would you like to?” She asked instead.

It took him a second to register the question.

“Wait, are… are you asking me?” He stammered, looking at the heiress in surprise.

“Is that so strange?” Vivian tilted her head to the side. “What, did you expect me to just snap my fingers and you end up several thousand miles in the air?”

“W-well, uh…” It definitely wouldn’t be the first time someone had used Dream Alley in such a haphazard way.

“This is our date, Nick,” Vivian said, shaking her head. She pouted like she was hurt by the insinuation, but he could tell that there was nothing serious behind it. “I wouldn’t do something like that without your permission! I want you to have as much fun as you can! Whatever you’d like, I’d be happy to share it with you!”

She pulled back her lips into a dazzling smile that showed off her perfect teeth. “You made my whole world on our last date when you agreed to try horseback riding with me. So today, I’m ready to do anything you want.”

Nick’s heart skipped a beat. Vivian really was a lovely woman, and what she was saying… it was touching. The exact kind of relationship he was looking for.

Which was why what he said next hurt so much.

“That’s part of your plan, right?” He **** past his lips. “To win me over and make me like you?”

It was a cruel accusation. One that Nick never should have made. But… he had to make it.

And the look of stunned surprise on the heiress’s face was exactly why.

If Nick had said something like that to Mary, she would have burst into tears. Rose would have gotten indignant, frustrated, and ultimately ****, trying to prove that her feelings were genuine. Kim very likely would have broken his jaw out of disgust that he would ever question the sincerity of her feelings like that.

Vivian did none of those things. Her eyes widened like a deer caught in the headlights, and she reddened slightly like a little kid whose parents had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.

It only lasted a moment. And then the hurt look came. “How… how could you say that?” She asked. “I really want you… to have a good time.”

She was good. She was really good. But she couldn’t make him forget the way her mask had slipped for a second there, no matter how sincere her feelings may have been.

Nick stood up so they were looking eye to eye. “Vivian, I know you want me to have a good time, and I want that too. But this isn’t how I want our relationship to go, if we end up having one.”

She shifted awkwardly in place while keeping a composed look on her face- one filled with pained emotions that he hoped and feared were genuine.

“Then why…?”

“Vivian, I already like you just fine.”

If Vivian looked like a deer caught in the headlights last time, this time she looked like the deer that had actually been hit by the truck. She nearly toppled over as she stared incredulously at him.

This time, she was too shocked to even pretend.

…For a minute, anyway.

“W-well, of course you like me,” she preened, tucking a lock of her chocolate brown hair behind her ear and puffing her chest out. “I did try my best. …And you’re right, Nick. I’ve been working you all morning. But that’s the game, right?”

She turned on her heel and walked to the edge of the balcony, hands clasped behind her back. When she got to the railing she turned back to face him, smile framed by the morning sun.

“We’re tied together in your harem, after all,” she pointed out in the matter-of-fact tone of a lawyer debriefing a client. “We need to have a good working relationship. That means me trying to do what makes you happy. As for me, seeing you get all cute and flustered from one of my pranks, well, that’s good enough.”

She let out a deep, freeing breath and clapped her hands together. “Whew! You were right, Nick, it’s good to be honest. Freeing, you know? So what else would you like us to do, then? Now that we aren’t keeping secrets?”

Vivian’s coy wink didn’t faze Nick in the slightest.

“I’m serious, I really do like you,” he repeated, taking a step closer to her.

Vivian flinched, and her eyes flickered slightly as a wave of discomfort passed through her. Nick could see she was getting agitated as he approached her, but he had to if there was any hope of having another date like their last.

“This doesn’t need to be some deal or contract or whatever you think is going on here,” he said seriously. “You don’t need to do a bunch of stuff for me. I really had fun on our last date. And it wasn’t because of the horses, or getting to show you video games, or anything like that, I had fun because for a moment there, I got to see the real you. Not someone trying to make me like them, but someone who was really and genuinely happy about doing something. That’s the part of you I like best. The real you, Vivian.”

Vivian’s lips trembled. For a second, Nick wondered if she was going to cry, but… no, it looked deeper than that somehow.

Then she let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“And what exactly am I supposed to do about that, huh?”

Nick blinked. “…What?”

The heiress stormed forward and jammed her finger into his chest. “Just so you know, it’s a little rude, saying I’m not ‘the real me’ or whatever bollocks you’re spitting!” She snapped. “I’ve been real all morning, just so you know!”

Nick still didn’t have a good response for that. Was Vivian… angry? It seemed like it, but at the same time…

“I mean, yes, I’m acknowledging the very obvious fact that our relationship is a transactional one,” the heiress continued. “It’s far from being a traditional relationship, obviously. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still 100% genuine Vivian Carrington.”

“I-I didn’t mean to imply you weren’t!” Nick protested. “All I’m trying to say is that if you want me to like you, it doesn’t need to be some transaction! I don’t want the physical things, the fancy things, Vivian, I just want to get to know you better!”

“Well isn’t that what we’re doing right now?!” Vivian was getting confused herself.

“…Maybe?” That was the only thing Nick could say as a response, and it was a pretty pathetic one.

Vivian bit her lip and scratched her head. “Look… I’m 100% about my intentions here, Nick. I want you to like me, so you’ll marry me, so I can get full access to my trust fund. …And also because you’re very cute when you’re freaking out. Less so when you’re being all grumpy,” she added with a sniff.

“I get that,” Nick nodded. “But… if any of that is going to happen, I want it to be because we’re in love, Vivian. That’s what I need for this relationship to be real for me.”

Vivian sucked in another sigh and looked wistfully at him. “…Why couldn’t you just be after my money?” She groaned, rubbing her temples. “It’d be so much more convenient.”

Nick wasn’t sure how to respond to THAT. “…Sorry for not being a gold digger, I guess?”

She scrunched up her face into a scowl. “Oh, you’re going to be sorry,” she promised him with a glare, poking him in the chest. “You have no idea how sorry you’re going to be! When I’m done making you fall in love with me, you’re going to wish you got off easily with just being my pampered little trophy husband!”

“Uh… yeah? Well, bring it on!” Nick said, not backing down. “Because the only way I’m falling in love with you is if you fall in love with me!”

Vivian sniffed. “Well, fine!”

“Double fine!”