28. Car race...
"No... No... No... No... Don't hit my car!!"
"Then move out of the way!" He retorted.
"I'm trying to, but you keep hitting me! Stop hitting my car!!" She rebutted, almost in tears.
"Well, stay in your lane and you won't get hit!" He wasn't showing her mercy, nor was he behaving as reserved and unwilling as she had expected.
Instead, it was almost like she had unlocked the childish competitiveness in him.
...
*Some days ago*
In a small apartment, that was nicely and neatly decorated in the most girlish fashion, with pink wallpapers, a shelf with neatly arranged books of different kinds, from romance novels to horror, and educational study books. It was moderately stocked.
The wide terrace window, at one side, allows proper Illumination and ventilation to fill the place, on a sofa sat Erina, legs crossed in a meditation pose, with her laptop on her lap.
Roxy walks out of the bathroom with a towel around her chest, and another wrapped around her head. Noticing her friend's seriousness, Roxy tiptoes behind her, trying to see what had her focus.
"I know you're behind me Roxy, I can hear the mushy sound of water on your skin," Erina announces, and Roxy slaps her on the head lightly, and Erina just laughs.
"List of Dating ideas, slash, things to do on a date?" Roxy reads out aloud as Erina continues typing seriously.
"Gaming Arcade?" It was the first on her list, and Roxy could see the long sublists under it. "That's your choice for a date with a man like him?" Her nose cringed and her lips rose mockingly.
"What? You think it's too much?" Erina cranes her neck backward, resting her head on the top of the sofa as she looked up at Roxy who still stood behind her.
"I don't know," Roxy shrugs, "but he's a businessman, do you think he would even understand the fun of games? Maybe something about numbers would do, but..." She leans in closer, pointing at the sublists, "car race, shooter games, basketball hoops, claw machine, laser... Ah, Erina, I don't think someone like him would have time to know or learn about any of these."
"But that's the point, don't you watch movies? A girl like me with a guy like him, and she teaches him everything he doesn't know about fun stuff. That's how it always is in movies." Roxy could only shake her head. Her friend was too simple for this world. Just too simple.
"I want to teach him, these simple fun things." she smiles to herself.
"I just don't want him dumping you because of your bad dating methods, because he might just not be interested." Erina throws her hand over her head to slap her friend's arm as she didn't like those words.
"He enjoyed spending time at mama and papa's, and I'm sure after I teach him properly he'll come to enjoy these things too." She nods strongly.
" You know, sometimes I think this world is not for you, you're meant to be in a place where unicorns exist, and dogs fly, a world of fairies and flowers, a perfect fantasy. Because this world is just too hard for you." Roxy bumps her finger on Erina's nose causing her to giggle.
Roxy said he wouldn't be interested in such activities, and Erina was sure he wouldn't know how to effectively play the games, so she could teach him, and it'd be romantic as she'd seen it in movies.
But both ladies were wrong.
...
*Back to the present*
Kids and adults alike surrounded them, as the competition was nothing as they'd ever seen. She had lost over and over again, and over and over she had asked for a rematch, and every single time he had won.
The bystanders were split into two categories. The first category of onlookers were the ones who were next in line to play the game and wondered why security had not already moved the crazy couple out of the way.
And the other onlookers were those who had taken it upon themselves to be the cheerleading club. Somehow, someway, there were two teams. Team Erina was slowly losing teammates, and team Reuel had fangirls aplenty cheering and edging him on, and more joining from the opposing team.
"VICTORY, END OF RACE!" Once again, he emerged winner, and Erina stamps her feet angrily on the brakes of the driving cockpit that she comfortably sat in.
This was nothing like she imagined! He was a CEO, a businessman for crying out loud! How in the world is he beating her in arcade games??
She was supposed to be teaching him, he wasn't supposed to even want to try them out, he should have behaved adamantly, and it would have been her, cutely persuading him to do it, at least that was how she had pictured it in her head.
"Seems like you lost again, White!... EEk!" He flinched as she turned and glared at him, in a manner he had never seen on her face. But then almost instantaneously, a wide, wild smile played on her face...
"It's because you're a good driver, I'm naturally not a good driver, so those wins were expected. But I know it now, One more, just one more," Her hands in front of her chest, rubbing together earnestly.
You could hear the murmuring of people around them, people who wanted to play the game, and the ones who were tired of watching her lose.
"Alright, White... Just one last time, after this round, when I win again, we're moving on to something else agreed?" He asks, and he could swear she just eyed him wickedly, and it made him chuckle.
This place was allowing him to discover a lot of sides of her. She was always cute and innocent around him, but these games were now letting him know she also knew how to be angry, and she could be a pouting princess too.
*PLAYERS READY... DRIVE!!*
With all her might Erina instantly stepped on the accelerator pedal like her life depended on it.
So much determination in her face and body. He turned to glance at her, and he could see her brows crease, her eyes focused on the huge screen in front of them, her hands firmly clenching the wheel, her whole body was bent forward, and her chest was almost touching the wheel.
``She's the worse driver.`` He thought, as he looked at the screen again, he was far ahead of her. One glance at her again, ``This much cuteness is definitely contagious,`` he thought to himself again. He was just some feet away from the finish line, and she was way back behind him, but she didn't lose spirit, her determination was still there.
``She'd probably sulk and pout if she loses this round again,`` He sighs, and with his eyes on her, and with nothing but her in his head, he crashes his car into a pole.
"Ahh!!" She gasped happily, he had no idea she could look even more determined than before, her body pressed closer to the wheel again, her eyes focusing on nothing but the screen.
It took five seconds for a crashed car to respawn, so when his car respawns, he crashed it into another block.
"YES!" She cheered happily, and he almost laughed out loud. Now, she was almost close to him, so as soon as he respawns again, he crashes the car into another obstacle, and by the time the five seconds were over...
"YES!!!" She yelled as she passed him, stepping on the accelerator like she could make it go faster than it was already going.
So with her car ahead of his own, he followed at a lighter pace behind her... He was going to let her have this one... That's what a good boyfriend would do, right?
"oh my gosh... Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm almost there!!!" He could see the anxiety on her face, the tension, the joy, the gleeful expression was nothing as he'd ever seen.
Entrancing and bewitching, so much so that he would give anything to see that every time.
"OH MY GOSH!!! I WON!!!" She jumped, and there was a mighty uproar from the onlookers. Even those who were in line to play the game chanted and cheered for her victory. It was a long-awaited one.
He watched as she jumped and went around giving high-fives to almost every kid that was cheering for her victory. And the curve at the corner of his lips could not be missed.
"This is unfair, there was something wrong with my wheel, I want a rematch!" He stated, and she just walked over to him, playfully leaning closer to his face, causing him to take in a sharp breath, as she'd never done this before, neither was he expecting her to do something like this.
But what was more unexpected was his heart's reaction to her little actions.
"I'm going to relive this victory in my heart!" She places a hand over her chest. "There's no way I'm playing another round," She, chortles, and sticks out her tongue to him, instantly bouncing away as Victor.
It was a weird situation because even though he'd won her more than ten times, her first and last win had turned her into the Victor of the game.
And she was even winning something else, something he didn't want anyone to win... Something he'd successfully guarded and ruled over for years... Something she wasn't supposed to win...