The moment that Tyler locked eyes with Olivia, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Before he could react,
[Ding!]
[A Quick Time Event has been triggered!]
Olivia froze in place.
The sound of leaves dancing with the wind disappeared at once, as the night breeze too, had been stopped.
Time froze before Tyler. He was completely aware of it.
'I... I can't move.' He thought, caught between relief and fear.
Being unable to move caused instant stress to the body. His heart rate quickly increased. Tyler took a deep breath to calm himself, and noticed that he could still breathe, blink, and move his pupils. His neck, unfortunately, was locked.
The relief, just like the stress, came from the fact that he couldn't move.
His mind had instantly come up with the worst scenarios that the System could suggest while time was stopped.
Fortunately, it wasn't that kind of wicked System.
[Your possible reactions are being analysed...]
'What's that supposed to mean?' Tyler asked telepathically.
[Reaction 1: Look away, ignore your neighbour, and continue walking down the street.]
[Probability: 80%.]
[Reaction 2: Hi.]
[Probability: 15%.]
Tyler gulped as the words appeared in front of him.
It was true. Had time not stopped, looking away and ignoring Olivia would have probably been his course of action.
Saying "Hi" or "Hello" awkwardly was also possible, as a way to make him seem less weird and threatening in the darkness and quietness of the night.
[Reaction 3: Were you woken up by the shouts as well?]
[Probability: Less than 5%.]
Gulp-
Tyler realized immediately that the third reaction would have been what he would have thought about doing after having ignored and walked away from Olivia.
'It's exactly the kind of thing that I would like to say, but feel too nervous to say... The kind of thing that haunts me while I take a shower.'
[Options are being generated...]
[Proceed with the reaction of your choosing carefully.]
[Reaction 1: Look away, ignore your neighbour, and continue walking down the street.]
[Temporary Reward: None.]
[Reaction 2: Hi.]
[Temporary Reward: Composure Stat +1.]
[Reaction 3: Were you woken up as well?]
[Temporary Reward: Composure Stat +5.]
'A temporary increase to my Composure Stat!' Tyler's eyes widened. 'Composure deals with nervous reflexes, doesn't it? That's exactly what I would need to have a good conversation with her!'
Indeed, nervous reflexes were the bane of Tyler's existence.
Even when he told himself that there was nothing to be nervous about, his body disagreed completely.
His heart would start beating out of his chest, his palms would get sweaty, the muscles of his eyebrows and nose would start twitching, his voice would break... A combination of these and half a dozen others seemed to always show up.
Because of these nervous reflexes, Tyler had gotten into the habit of ignoring people he thought would elicit such bodily reflexes in him.
The most frustrating part was that he was hyper-aware of these nervous reflexes all the time, and doubted whether they were even visible to other people.
This, unfortunately, only led to him getting further into his own head, which led to the nervousness increasing in intensity.
[Quick Time Event Limit: 10 seconds!]
Tyler didn't need 10 seconds to decide.
He knew exactly what he wanted to say.
As Tyler made the decision internally,
[Your Composure Stat Temporarily increases by 5!]
[Composure Stat: 8-->13!]
With 10 being the average for Charisma Stats, Tyler should have gone from below average to above average!
His lips parted, and the flow of time resumed.
"Were you woken up as well?" Tyler asked, maintaining eye contact, which wasn't hard to do since a dozen steps separated the two.
"Hm?" Olivia raised an eyebrow. She had just taken a step back into the building.
Her head peeked between the door and its frame.
"I heard shouting," Tyler said as he looked around. "Not sure where from, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Oh," Olivia blushed immediately, embarrassed. "It's, um... It's my fault, actually. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." He nodded. "Are you? Okay?"
She scratched her head and let out a sigh.
"Just... An asshole ex..." Olivia responded.
She had kept the word husband out of it without thinking.
"I see." Tyler chuckled. "You'll have to get used to that."
"Excuse me?" Olivia tilted her head.
"Well, a beautiful woman like you is bound to have some crazy exes, you know?"
"No?" She frowned. "I don't know."
"The frustration from having lost you must drive them crazy." Tyler chuckled with a shrug. "That's all I'm saying."
Olivia pursed her lips, gaze moving towards the door handle where her hand lay.
Her index finger stroked the edge of the handle for a moment.
"If a young guy like you thinks so..." She whispered. "That must be what it is." Olivia chuckled.