The Heart System

Chapter 729: Chapter 729

Aw, come on. Come on. Come on.

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REPUTATION SYSTEM

VILLAIN░░░░░░░█░░░░░░░░ HERO

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Current Reputation: Neutral

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Damn it.

I knew my reputation would drop if I had sex with Carrie. That woman was impossible to resist. Every time I saw her, all I wanted to do was ruin her like the slut she acted like. At the same time, I understood why she was doing everything she did. She was trying to protect her son.

Even knowing that, I still couldn’t let go of the anger.

"Great," I muttered, shaking my head. "Just great."

The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped into the hallway. A second later, I realized I’d forgotten my keycard inside. Hoping Minne was home instead of visiting her mother, I walked over and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, footsteps approached before the door opened.

It wasn’t Minne.

It was Emma.

Her short hair was tied into a messy bun, with a few loose strands hanging around her face. She wore an oversized T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, looking far more comfortable than I’d expected.

"Oh." She smiled. "The man of the house is back."

"Evan?" Kayla called from the kitchen. "Is that him, Emma?"

"Yep."

I stepped inside, glancing between them. "So you guys already met?"

Emma nodded. "We did."

"Hey, handsome," Kim called while mopping the kitchen floor. "And don’t ask why I’m mopping the floor. Definitely not because I dropped flour everywhere."

"Right. I won’t."

"Good."

I walked into the living room and dropped onto one of the couches, rolling my shoulders before cracking my neck.

My attention drifted back to Emma.

She was one of Nala’s friends. The two of them were always into cosplay and conventions together. Seeing her here during work hours, when Nala should’ve been buried in paperwork at the company, felt a little strange.

Kayla leaned the mop against the refrigerator and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

A moment later, Minne hurried into the room wearing a pair of thick cleaning gloves. She carefully knelt down and picked up another shard of broken glass from the floor.

"What happened?"

Minne jumped slightly before turning toward me. "Oh, Master. I didn’t notice you came in. Sorry."

"What happened?" I repeated.

Kayla pointed toward the hallway. "Ask that little monster over there."

I followed her finger.

Mik was sound asleep near the hallway entrance without a care in the world. There was white flour all over her fur, making her look like she’d rolled through a bakery.

"She licked Mrs. Kayla’s leg," Minne explained with a small smile. "Mrs. Kayla got startled and dropped the bag of flour... and the glass she was holding."

I sighed. "Mik."

The cat didn’t even twitch.

"You little troublemaker."

She remained completely asleep.

Honestly, the flour and the broken glass weren’t what had my attention. It was Emma. She was standing behind my couch with both hands resting on her waist, looking like she’d been waiting for the right moment to say something.

I looked up at her. "So, Emma. Is there something you needed?"

"There is, actually." She smiled. "Could we talk out on the balcony?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh... sure."

She clapped her hands. "Sweet-o."

We walked out onto the balcony.

I stepped outside last and slid the glass door shut behind me, muffling the sounds coming from the apartment.

Emma stretched her arms over her head before letting out a lazy yawn. She wandered over to one of the sunbeds and dropped onto it, looking like she didn’t have a single worry in the world.

I took the other one across from her.

"So," she began, her half-lidded eyes settling on me, "you don’t have any tattoos, do you?"

I blinked. "No... but why?"

A faint smirk spread across her face. "Because tattoos make people easy to recognize."

"Recognized by whom?" I frowned. "What are you talking about, Emma?"

She shifted onto her side, resting her head against her hand. "My work."

"Your work?"

"My business partner moved to Florida a couple of weeks ago. He’s married now, so he wanted to start a different Chapter of his life. It wasn’t anything dramatic. We just worked together, and now he’s gone."

She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

"So now I’m looking for someone else."

"I’m still not following."

Emma laughed.

"Right. I guess Nala never told you exactly what I do."

"No, no. I kind of know what you’re doing but... explain to me, sure."

"I’m a streamer and a cosplayer. I wear masks during my broadcasts so nobody recognizes me in public. Most of my income comes from adult subscription platforms and... mmh, private livestreams. I also sell cosplay photo sets, themed content, and even stupid things like feet pictures because, believe it or not, people actually pay for that."

She rolled her eyes.

"The internet is a weird place."

I stared at her for a second.

"Okay."

"My old partner helped me with the livestreams," she continued. "Sometimes he handled the cameras, sometimes he helped with production, and sometimes we’d make content together. It was business, nothing more. Now that he’s gone, I need someone I can trust."

I pointed at myself. "And... where do I come into this?"

"Like I said, I need somebody to fill his spot."

"This is..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "A pretty weird request, Emma."

"I know." She laughed. "Believe me, I know how it sounds."

She looked over at me with a more serious expression.

"I’ve talked to Nala about you a lot. She trusts you, and that’s a pretty big deal to me. If she trusts someone, I’m willing to trust them too."

She paused before smiling again.

"To be honest, I also thought you were forcing Minne into all of... this. Even after you told me otherwise, I wasn’t convinced."

"You thought I was forcing her?"

"I did."

I let out a tired sigh. "Jeez, Emma. I’m not forcing anyone."

"I know that now." She nodded. "I talked to Minne myself. The way she defended you, you’d think you were her entire world. Whatever you’ve done, she’s genuinely happy here."

I leaned back against the sunbed. "Well... I’m glad you figured that out."

"So that’s my offer." Emma smiled. "Think about it and let me know. There’s no pressure."

I scratched my cheek. "I... yeah. Sure. I’ll think about it."

"Perfect." She stood up. "You can get my number from Minne whenever you want."

"Uh-huh."

Emma flashed me one last lazy smile before opening the balcony door and heading back inside the apartment, leaving me alone to process one of the strangest job offers I’d ever received.