Chapter 38: Starlight Echoes (Running Poll)

Nicole’s promotional speech died instantly inside her throat, her striking violet eyes dilating into absolute, wide-eyed shock as Leo's tall frame stepped out from the crowded pedestrian sidewalk. In less than a microsecond, her face violently painted itself in a deep, crimson blush. She let out a soft, panicked squeak, frantically lifting her stack of pink promotional pamphlets to completely hide her face from his view.

"L-Leo?!" Nicole stammered from behind the paper barrier, her voice trembling with intense, flustered tsundere friction. "What the heck are you doing here downtown on a Saturday afternoon?! Put your eyes somewhere else and stop staring at me!"

Leo offered a relaxed, effortless grin, his dark eyes tracing the delicate lace details of her halter-neck maid uniform. "I just came down to the central mall to do some shopping, but I got distracted. I saw a remarkably cute maid advertising a restaurant, so I had to come over and pay my compliments."

Nicole’s heart hammered violently against her ribs. Hearing him call her cute made her chest swell with a sudden, dizzying wave of shy happiness, but she immediately forced a defensive, annoyed pout to cover her extreme embarrassment. She stomped her thigh-high stockinged foot against the stone pathway. "Compliments?! I don't need your casual teasing! Go away right now! Can't you see I am incredibly busy managing this promotional block?!"

"Hey, Nicole!" a cheerful voice suddenly called out from the café entrance. Another waitress poked her head out, waving her hand. "The manager says the lobby rush has cleared out! You've been on your feet since morning, so you can go ahead and take your scheduled break now!"

Nicole's posture went completely rigid. She slammed her hand flat against her forehead in utter annoyance, groaning at the terrible timing, while Leo's grin widened into a playful, teasing smirk. "Looks like you're free, Nicole. Let's talk inside."

.....

The scene shifted quickly to the quiet, dimly lit employee staff room behind the café kitchen. Nicole sat on a leather chair directly opposite Leo, her arms crossed tightly over her frilly white lace apron as she tapped her foot nervously, trying to maintain her fierce pride.

"Alright, we are out of the crowd," Nicole snapped, her violet eyes flashing with a mix of anxiety and irritation as she stared at his handsome jawline. "What exactly do you want from me, Leo? I have to get back to my shift in twenty minutes."

Leo’s playful expression vanished, his posture turning entirely sincere and focused. He leaned forward across the small wooden table, his deep masculine voice dropping into a low, completely serious pitch. "I'm not here to play a joke on you, Nicole. I came here specifically to find you. I want to ask you out on a romantic date with me."

Nicole’s entire body locked rigid. A furious, blush instantly exploded across her cheeks, her breath catching sharply in her throat as she nervously gripped the fabric of her skirt. "W-What... what the heck are you saying?!" she stammered, her mind completely scrambling under his intense gaze. "A romantic date?! With me?! Did you hit your head?!"

"I'm completely serious," Leo repeated firmly, his dark-grey eyes locking dead onto hers with absolute, unyielding alpha authority. "I want to go out with you, Nicole. This Sunday."

Nicole stared at him, her chest heaving rapidly as she tried to process the weight of his words. Seeing that he wasn't laughing or breaking into a casual prank smirk, her defensive annoyance slowly faded, replaced by a sudden, heavy silence that settled over the small staff room. She looked down at the table, her violet eyes growing deeply melancholic.

"A date..." Nicole whispered softly, her voice dropping into a quiet, vulnerable tone. She paused for a long five seconds, before lifting her gaze back up to meet his eyes. "Fine. I will go out with you, Leo... on one condition. You have to answer a single question for me correctly."

Leo nodded smoothly. "Ask me."

Nicole leaned closer, her voice trembling slightly with a deep, hidden emotion. "Do you... do you actually remember me?"

Leo’s mind instantly stalled. A profound confusion rushed through his thoughts, his eyebrows furrowing as a wave of frustration hit his brain. Why does she always ask me that? Every single time we run into each other near, she asks this question.

He stayed completely silent, desperately searching his memory logs for any link, but nothing surfaced.

Nicole tracked his absolute silence, a sharp flash of painful disappointment cutting through her violet eyes. She bit her lower lip, instantly standing up from the leather chair and turning her back to him. "That’s what I thought. Your silence is always the exact same answer." She walked straight to the staff room door, her hand gripping the handle as she spoke coldly over her shoulder. "Leave, Leo. Get out of the café right now. I don't want to see your face for the rest of the day."

....

A short while later, Leo was walking down the busy pedestrian street, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He looked up at the cloudy sky, noticing the sun was already setting into a deep, amber evening twilight. His system digital clock was counting down rapidly, and he had less than forty-eight hours left before his penalty triggered. Nicole's melancholic question kept lingering inside his head, refusing to let him rest.

System, Leo thought sharply, accessing his internal interface in deep irritation. 'You're the one who generated this death-penalty quest. Give me a break. Is there any data file or tracking index that can explain why she's acting like this?'

Ding!

A straightforward, golden system notification box snapped open across his field of vision.

[SYSTEM HINT: OPTIMAL DATA CORE DETECTED]

[ADVICE: USER SHOULD IMMEDIATELY SEARCH FOR CLUES INSIDE HIS RESIDENTIAL STORAGE AREA]

Leo blinked in total confusion, his jaw tightening. 'My residential storage? My studio apartment closet? System, you are becoming entirely too moody nowadays. It honestly feels like you're actively setting me up to die.'

The golden interface silently dissolved into transparent pixels, offering zero additional text. Leo let out an irritated sigh, accelerated his pace, and caught the next transit line straight back to his apartment block.

The second he unlocked his door, he aggressively began searching through his storage spaces. He pulled down old textbook crates, shifted his desk folders, and cleared out the dusty bottom shelves of his wardrobe, his chest heaving with exhaustion as the hours began to bleed away.

"System, what the hell am I even looking for out here?" Leo demanded firmly inside his mind.

Silence. The system rendered absolute zero replies. After three long, grueling hours of tearing his apartment apart, Leo finally gave up, his body completely worn out. He let out an exhausted sigh, turning on his heel to walk back toward the kitchenette to grab a glass of water.

SHRRRRT.

His combat boot suddenly caught on a slick, plastic object hidden beneath the edge of his low bed frame. Losing his balance for a fraction of a second, Leo slipped heavily across the floor, his frame hitting the linoleum with a dull thud. He gritted his teeth, turning his head to look at what had caused his fall.

It was an old, dusty leather-bound photo album that had been wedged deep behind the structural paneling of his mattress block for years.

Leo sat up on the floor, his large fingers brushing the layer of dust off the cover. As he slowly opened the binding, a single, faded physical photograph slipped loose from the plastic sleeves, fluttering down face-up onto his lap. Leo picked up the paper, his dark grey eyes locking onto the image, and his entire body instantly went completely cold in absolute, breathtaking shock.

Leo didn't waste another microsecond. He surged off the floor boards, grabbed his jacket, and sprinted out of his apartment door at maximum physical speed, heading straight back toward the downtown sector.

....

The night air was cool and crisp by the time Leo arrived back at the commercial crossroads. The Royal Ribbon Café’s neon signs had officially turned off, the weekend shifts completely closed.

Nicole stepped out from the employee exit alleyway, now fully changed into her normal clothes, the tight white crop top and comfortable light blue jeans that accentuated her extreme hourglass curves. She slung her dark navy bag over her bare shoulder, her face still carrying a trace of sadness as she prepared to walk toward the subway transit lines alone.

"Hey! Nicky!" Leo’s deep, resonant masculine voice suddenly boomed through the quiet evening street.

Nicole stopped dead in her tracks, her entire body locking into absolute stone. Her violet eyes dilated into profound, shattering shock. Nicky. It was a beautiful, secret childhood nickname that absolutely nobody knew, a private name that only a specific young boy had used to call her years ago during those warm summer nights before they were separated.

She slowly turned her body around on the pavement, her hands trembling as she looked up at Leo’s panting, standing beneath the amber glow of the streetlamp. As her gaze locked onto his intense, knowing dark eyes, a soft, incredibly sad smile traced across her lips, and two heavy, glistening tears silently rolled down her beautifully blushing cheeks.

(I am currently running the poll to decide the Date Outfit of Nicole, Check out my patreon and join for free to choose her sexy outfit, the poll will end tomorrow)