Chapter 18
Elijah looked at Frank's hands on his collar. The system screen was still there, hovering at the edge of his vision, the quest waiting for his answer. Ten points and Ten experience from just Walking away.
He reached up and removed Frank's hands. Not rough. Just steady, deliberate, pulling each finger back until Frank's grip loosened.
"I don't care what you think about me," Elijah said.
Frank's face went still. Then something behind his eyes shifted—surprise, maybe, or confusion. This wasn't the Elijah who stood there and took it. This wasn't the Elijah who waited for Kai to show up and make things right.
[Quest Complete: 10 System Points | 10 EXP]
Elijah turned and started walking toward the exit. His footsteps echoed down the empty hall. He made it three steps before something hard hit the back of his head.
The book bounced off his skull and clattered to the floor. Pain flared across his scalp, sharp and immediate. He stopped walking.
"Who told you to leave?" Frank's voice was low, dangerous. "I'll show you how to care."
Elijah touched the back of his head. His fingers came away clean. No blood. But the anger was there now, rising up from somewhere deep, somewhere that had been quiet since the party.
He turned around.
Frank was standing in the middle of the hallway, his fists clenched, his face red. He looked like he was barely holding himself back, like he was waiting for Elijah to run so he could chase.
The system screen appeared again.
[Quest: You respected yourself, but he disrespected you. Show him the amount of respect you have for yourself in one hit.]
[Reward: 50 System Points | 50 EXP]
[Punishment: Intense pain for 10 hours]
[Disrespect cannot be overlooked.]
Elijah read the screen. Fifty points and Fifty experience was good but the Ten hours of pain if he failed. The system wasn't asking him to walk away this time. It was asking him to prove something.
He looked at Frank. At the bruise still fading on his jaw. At the fists clenched at his sides. At the anger that had been building for years, looking for someone to take it out on.
Frank took a step forward. "You think you're something now? Because you got lucky at a party? Because you had your friend there to back you up?"
Elijah didn't answer. He let the warmth build in his chest.
Frank took another step. "I've been waiting for this. Waiting for you to be alone. Without Kai. Without anyone." He raised his fists. "I'm going to put you in the hospital. And when you wake up, you're going to remember who you are."
Elijah breathed.
In, Hold.
The warmth exploded through him. His muscles tightened. His senses sharpened. The hallway became a grid of angles and distances, Frank's weight on his left foot, his right hand held lower than his left, the opening Elijah needed.
[Ki Circulation (Level 1) - Active]
[Strength: 15 → 22.5]
[Endurance: 14 → 21]
[Defense: 13 → 19.5]
Frank swung.
Elijah moved. His body was faster than it had ever been, lighter, stronger. He stepped inside Frank's punch, felt the wind of it pass his ear, and pivoted on his left foot. His right leg came up, driven by the power surging through him, and connected with Frank's head.
The impact was clean, Perfect even. The side of Elijah's foot caught Frank square on the temple, and Frank's eyes went wide, then blank, then closed. His body folded sideways and hit the floor hard, his arms splaying out across the linoleum.
Elijah stood over him for a moment, his leg still raised, the warmth flickering in his chest. Frank didn't move. His chest rose and fell, slow and steady. He was breathing, Just unconscious.
The warmth faded.
[Quest Complete: 50 System Points | 50 EXP]
Elijah lowered his leg. He looked down at Frank one more time, then turned and walked toward the exit. His footsteps were steady on the linoleum. The hallway was silent behind him.
He pushed through the doors into the morning light. The parking lot was half-empty, his car sitting where he'd left it, black paint gleaming in the sun.
He was reaching for the door handle when he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned.
Lisa was walking toward him, her hands in the pockets of her jacket, her dark hair pulled back from her face. She was wearing jeans and a sweater, nothing fancy, but she moved like she knew how to be looked at. Her eyes found his, and she smiled.
"There you are," she said. "I've been looking for you."
Elijah's hand dropped from the door handle. "Derek said."
"Derek said." She stopped a few feet away, close enough to talk, far enough to leave space. "He also said you were being weird about the car."
Elijah glanced at his car. "It's just a car."
"It's a car you didn't have three days ago." She tilted her head, studying him. "A lot changed three days ago."
"You could say that."
"You kissed me." She said it like she was stating a fact, not asking a question. "At the party. You came up to me like you'd known me your whole life and kissed me like you'd been waiting to do it for years."
Elijah remembered. Not the kiss itself—that part was still blurry. But the feeling. The confidence. The other Elijah, moving through the world like it belonged to him.
"I don't remember all of it," he said.
Lisa's smile widened. "You remember enough. You found me later. After the fight. We talked for an hour. You told me things."
Elijah's stomach tightened. "What things?"
"Things you should tell me yourself." She stepped closer, close enough that he could smell whatever she'd put in her hair, something floral, something warm.
The system screen appeared.
[Quest: Your woman wants your attention. Set a time to meet in the next three days.]
[Reward: 50 System Points | 50 EXP]
[Punishment: Your dick won't work for a month.]
Elijah stared at the screen. His eye twitched.
Are you serious?
[The system does not joke about matters of succession.]
"I'm going to kill this thing," Elijah muttered.
Lisa raised an eyebrow. "What thing?"
"Nothing." He closed the screen and looked at her. "Do you want to get food tomorrow?"
Lisa's smile turned into something softer. "Tomorrow works. There's a place on 5th Street. Good food, quiet. I'll text you the address."
Elijah nodded. "Tomorrow then."
Neither of them moved. The morning light caught her face, made her eyes look darker, deeper. Elijah felt something pull in his chest, something that wasn't Ki.
The system screen appeared again.
[Quest: I just want to do what you desire. Kiss her, you idiot.]
[Reward: 10 System Points | 10 EXP]
[Punishment: None]
Elijah almost laughed. He looked at Lisa's face, at the way she was watching him, waiting.
"I missed you," he said.
He stepped forward, closed the distance, and kissed her.
It was different from the party. Slower. Realer. Her lips were soft, and for a moment her hands came up to his chest, not pushing, just resting there. When he pulled back, her eyes were still closed.
She opened them. "That was good"
"Yeah."
She smiled, stepped back, and shoved her hands back in her pockets. "Tomorrow, 7pm. Don't be late."
"I won't."
She turned and walked back toward the building, her footsteps light on the pavement. She didn't look back.
Elijah watched her go until she disappeared through the doors. Then he opened his car door and slid into the driver's seat. His hands were steady on the wheel. His heart was pounding.
[Quest Complete: 10 System Points | 10 EXP]
[Total System Points: 170]