Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy

Chapter 165 - 166 | A Real Boy

I turned to face her fully, studying the lines of her face in the dim light. She was beautiful in that effortless way that made everything else seem like a pale imitation. Silver hair and golden eyes and skin that seemed to glow from within. The original protagonist’s destined love interest.

The girl I was supposed to steal.

"What do you want, Aurora?"

"I don’t know."

"Try again."

"I want—" She stopped. Started over. "When you kissed me, I felt something. Something I’ve never felt with Nolan, not in three years of dating. Something that scared me."

"What did you feel?"

"Alive." The word was almost a whisper. "Like I’d been sleepwalking through my own life and suddenly woke up."

The drain pulsed harder. I kept it closed through sheer force of will.

"That’s not the kiss," I said. "That’s you finally admitting what you actually want."

"And what do I want?"

"You tell me."

She stared at me for a long moment. Then she stepped closer, close enough that I could smell her perfume. Something floral with vanilla undertones. Close enough that I could see the way her pulse jumped in her throat.

"I want to know if it was real," she said. "The connection. The feeling. Or if it was just adrenaline and proximity and bad decision-making."

"Only one way to find out."

"Rome—"

"I’m not going to kiss you."

She blinked, clearly not expecting that. "What?"

"You have a boyfriend. A man who just got put in the infirmary partly because of me. If something happens between us, it needs to be your choice. Not mine."

"That’s surprisingly noble of you."

"Don’t get used to it."

She almost smiled. Almost. "So what, I’m supposed to just decide? Right now?"

"No. You’re supposed to think about it. Figure out what you actually want. And when you know, you come find me."

"And if what I want is to pretend none of this ever happened?"

"Then we pretend. I go back to being the rich kid everyone tolerates, you go back to being Nolan’s perfect girlfriend, and we both spend the rest of our lives wondering."

"Wondering what?"

"What could have been."

The words hung between us like a physical thing. She searched my face for something. Deception, maybe. Manipulation. Some sign that this was all a game.

She wouldn’t find it.

Because it wasn’t.

"You’ve changed," she said finally. "The Rome I remember from before the transfer would never have waited. Would never have given me a choice."

"That Rome was an idiot."

"Maybe." She reached up and touched my face, her fingers cool against my cheek. "But at least I understood him."

"Do you want to understand me?"

"I want—" She stopped herself. Dropped her hand. Stepped back. "I need time."

"Take all the time you need."

"You mean that?"

"Yeah."

She studied me for another long moment. Then she turned and walked toward the stairwell, pausing at the door to look back.

"Rome?"

"Yeah?"

"If I decide I want this—whatever this is—what happens to Nolan?"

"That’s not my call."

"But you have an opinion."

I did. I had a lot of opinions about Nolan Traore. Most of them involved him getting the hell out of the way so I could have what I wanted. But this wasn’t about what I wanted.

"He deserves the truth," I said. "Whatever that is. Whatever you decide."

She nodded once, something shifting in her expression. Then she disappeared through the door, leaving me alone on the observation deck with nothing but the city lights and the taste of her Essentia still lingering in the air.

I stood there for a while, thinking.

The system wanted me to claim seven heroines. Aurora was number seven. The final piece of the puzzle, the key to completing the quest that would either save my life or end it. Every instinct I had screamed at me to push harder, move faster, close the deal before something went wrong.

But I hadn’t.

I’d given her space. Given her a choice. Let her walk away without trying to pull her back.

Why?

Because she deserved better than being another conquest. Because the kiss we’d shared had meant something, even if neither of us could name it yet. Because somewhere along the way, this had stopped being purely transactional.

I was actually starting to care about these people.

Which was either the most dangerous thing that could happen or exactly what the system wanted all along.

My phone buzzed.

CHEON: Are you coming home tonight?

ROME: On my way.

MERA: Bring food. Panda ate everything in the fridge.

CHEON: I did not eat everything. I ate a reasonable amount for a person who exercises.

MERA: She ate an entire rotisserie chicken by herself.

CHEON: It was a small chicken.

MERA: It was HUGE.

I smiled despite myself. Pocketed the phone and headed for the stairs.

Home.

Weird how natural that word felt now.

The penthouse was chaos when I arrived.

Mera had commandeered the living room couch, sprawled across it in nothing but one of my shirts with her tail draped over the armrest. Cheon sat at the kitchen island with her laptop open, probably organizing something that didn’t need organizing. Both of them looked up when I walked in.

"You’re late," Cheon said.

"Got held up."

"With Aurora?"

I set the bag of takeout on the counter. "How’d you know?"

"She texted me asking where you’d be tonight. I told her the observation deck was empty after eight."

"You set that up?"

"I facilitated." She closed her laptop with a decisive click. "What happened?"

"We talked."

"Just talked?"

"Just talked."

Mera’s head appeared over the back of the couch. "You were alone with the single most attractive woman in the academy and you just talked?"

"She has a boyfriend."

"Since when has that stopped you?"

"Since now." I grabbed plates from the cabinet and started unpacking the food. Thai. The good place near campus that delivered until midnight. "She needs time to figure out what she wants."

"And you’re giving it to her." Cheon’s voice was carefully neutral. "That’s surprisingly mature."

"Don’t sound so shocked."

"I’m not shocked. I’m concerned."

"About what?"

"You." She stood and walked around the island, stopping close enough to touch. "You’ve claimed five heroines in less than two weeks. Your protagonist percentage is climbing. Everything is going according to whatever insane plan the system has for you. And now suddenly you’re being patient?"

"Would you prefer I wasn’t?"

"I’d prefer to understand what you’re thinking."

I looked at her. Really looked. Cheon Hae-Won, the class representative, the girl who organized her entire life around efficiency and control. The girl who signed a contract to share me with other women because she wanted to be close to me that badly.

The girl who deserved more honesty than I usually gave.

"I’m thinking," I said slowly, "that I’ve spent so long treating this like a game that I forgot it was real."

"Real how?"

"Real people. Real feelings. Real consequences." I reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You and Mera aren’t just numbers on a quest log. Noel isn’t just another conquest. Laurana isn’t just a research subject. You’re all... you’re all actually important to me."

Cheon’s eyes widened slightly. "You’re serious."

"Yeah."

"That’s—" She stopped. Started over. "That’s terrifying."

"Tell me about it."

Mera appeared beside us, materializing like she always did when something interesting was happening. "So let me get this straight. Our resident sociopath is developing feelings?"

"I’m not a sociopath."

"Functional sociopath."

"That’s not better."

She grinned, sharp and delighted. "This is amazing. You’re becoming a real boy."