System returns

Chapter 47 - System returns

The SUV rolled to a smooth stop in front of a five-star hotel. Bright lights washed over the wide entrance, reflecting off the polished stone steps and the glass doors. Coach Durren climbed out first and tossed the keys to a waiting valet, who took them with a quick nod before heading toward the parking area.

Mike stepped onto the pavement and paused. He looked up at the towering facade, the spotless windows glowing against the night sky. This was not the quiet meeting with Mia he had pictured on the drive over. He had expected a simple conversation, maybe somewhere private and low-key. Instead, Durren had brought him here. Whatever waited inside, it was clearly something far bigger than Mike had imagined.

At the front doors a woman in a black dress waited. The dress had no sleeves and left her shoulders bare. A high cut ran from her waist down the left side all the way to her toes, showing her whole right leg with every small shift of her weight. The fabric clung tight enough to highlight the curve of her ass. The neckline dipped low and left a deep valley of cleavage open to view. It was Vanessa.

Vanessa stepped to greet them with an easy smile. She looked straight at Mike, letting her gaze linger for a beat longer than necessary before walking over.

“Mike,” she said, her voice warm and playful. “You finally made it.”

She stopped close enough that Mike caught her perfume and gave him a slow once-over, as though she were checking whether the fighter she'd heard about matched the man standing in front of her.

Mike blinked.

He hadn't expected that kind of welcome, especially with Durren standing right beside him. He glanced at his coach, waiting for some sign that he had noticed.

Durren merely adjusted his jacket and looked toward the hotel entrance.

Mike frowned.

Apparently, whatever Vanessa was doing, his coach had no intention of commenting on it.

Vanessa took Mike’s arm, and wrapped both hands around it. She guided his hand upward until it rested against the soft curve of her breast and pressed it there. Then she led the way inside. Mike walked with her, still off-balance from the open display.

A table had been reserved for them in a quiet corner of the hotel restaurant. Three places were already set, with polished cutlery, folded napkins, and glasses catching the warm light overhead. The first dishes arrived almost as soon as they sat down. One plate followed another, each arranged with the kind of care Mike was more used to seeing in photographs than on his own dinner table.

For the first few minutes, they kept the conversation casual. Mike answered Vanessa's small talk while Durren picked at his food, but curiosity finally got the better of him. Mike set down his fork and looked at his coach.

“Can someone tell me why I’m here?”

Durren leaned back in his chair. “You really want to know?”

“I drove across the city for dinner at a five-star hotel. So, yeah.”

Vanessa smiled into her glass, clearly amused.

Durren chuckled. “Fair enough. The short version? You’re making noise, Mike. The good kind.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “Noise?”

“Attention,” Durren clarified. “Your performances have been strong, people are talking about you, and that attention is starting to reflect well on the S-Uni sports department. Hell, I even got a promotion out of it.”

Mike stared at him. “You got promoted because I can box?”

“Because you can box and hook peoples attention as well.” Durren pointed his fork at him. “That matters. For once, the department has something positive to talk about.”

He shook his head with a grin.

“Usually, we make headlines for the wrong reasons. Remember Sam?”

Mike groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“The idiot who punched a referee?”

“He didn't just punch him. He knocked him over.”

“Exactly.” Durren laughed. “That’s the kind of publicity we’re used to. You, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. You win your fights, you keep your head, and people actually like watching you.”

Vanessa leaned forward, resting her chin lightly against her hand.

“And,” she added with a teasing smile, “you photograph very well.”

Mike glanced at her.

Durren kept talking, filling the air with more details about the department and upcoming events.

While the words continued, Mike felt something brush against his crotch under the table. He looked straight across at Vanessa. Her leg was extended and she was rubbing the hard length of him through his pants with slow, deliberate pressure.

Mike sat rigidly in his chair, painfully aware of the restaurant around them and of Durren sitting only a few feet away. He kept his expression neutral and focused on his plate, refusing to give Vanessa the reaction she seemed determined to get from him. When he finally looked up, she was already watching him. A faint smile touched her lips before she gave him a quick, knowing wink.

A few minutes later, Vanessa dabbed her mouth with her napkin and pushed back her chair. “Excuse me for a moment,” she said casually before disappearing toward the restrooms.

Mike let out a slow breath. Whatever game she was playing, he had no interest in becoming part of it. His thoughts drifted back to Mia, and the disappointment he'd been carrying all evening settled heavily in his chest. Then his phone vibrated on the table. Vanessa's name appeared on the screen. He answered, expecting some harmless excuse.

“Come to the restroom,” she said, her voice low and unmistakably playful.

Mike frowned. “No.”

There was a brief silence.

“Mike—”

“I'm not doing this.”

He ended the call and placed the phone facedown beside his plate. For a moment, everything went quiet again.

Then—

Ding.

A strange sound echoed inside his head.

Mike froze.

That wasn't his phone.

The system window appeared after a full week of silence.

Mike stared at it, shocked. He tried asking questions in his mind—why it had gone quiet, what was happening with Mia—but no answers came. The only text that stayed on the screen was a new quest.

[Quest: Fulfill Vanessa’s fantasies.]

Mike read the word carefully. Fantasies. Plural. More than one thing. Then he saw the reward line beneath it.

[Reward: Information about Mia’s current status or Eve’s.]

The choice hung there. Mike pushed his chair back, muttered an excuse about the toilet to Durren, and stood. He walked toward the restrooms where Vanessa waited.

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