章節 9: Caught red-handed

"Are you okay, Annette?" Full of concern, her worried female colleague tapped her shoulder in distress.

Annette bit her lips enduring the throbbing headache. She didn't have a clue of what's gotten into her. The excruciating pain akin to thousands needles pricking her scalp just came so suddenly, catching her off guard, along with screeching machine noises same as those when TVs suddenly lose signal. "It's nothing."

Her colleague didn't believe her a bit. "Why don't you take a day off? I'll tell the manager. "

Annette grabbed her colleague's arm. She didn't want to waste time resting. She needed money for supplies and there were plenty of low star targets visiting this cafe contributing to her vault of affection points. She managed to exchange a vial of ability inhibitor for the Villainess just from few hours of flirting and this will be her gift for Arianne's birthday banquet. The ability inhibitor will deemed Arianne unable to awaken an ability. She will just be an ordinary person without the opportunity to be a supernaturalist for the rest of her life. The pain in her head lessened at the thought. "I'm really alright. It's probably because I stayed up studying too late last night."

Her perseverance despite having a pained look arouse pity from the colleague's heart. "If you really can't continue. Leave me and get some rest."

Annette nodded and send her a lovely smile.

Ting-

The bell struck signifying a customer was coming. The servers in charge of leading the guests was dumfounded when Arianne and Ryett came in. Ryett had always been high profiled and the staffs in the mall knew him including the servers but his female companion was a new face. Ryett would socialized with females at school but he never mixed business with private matters so his employees never saw him together with a lady, except this moment. Full of curiosity and spirit of gossip, each were whirled with thoughts of guessing the President's relationship with the girl but none dared to show anything on their faces.

Meanwhile, those male guests dining in and having a frivolous conversations with the female servers fixated their burning gazes on the two, particularly Arianne. If Ryett evoked a blithesome atmosphere to the store, Arianne's arrival caused a fervid sensation. The two looked like a celebrity couple on a date and Ryett who sensed the thoughts in their eyes was a bit elated. He didn't mind their misunderstanding.

Annette resting on the counter didn't have the jubilant, curious, or nervous expressions like the other people in the cafe. She only have a blank look. There was no system warning at all. She recognized Ryett from game company's poster. Isn't he a very important NPC? So why didn't the system announced his arrival? In addition, the main red headed antagonist Arianne is also here, while her gaming system remained silent. She tried to call out the system in her mind but it did not reply.

'System? Are you there? I'm requesting basic scan.'

'System? Come out quickly!'

'System? Talk to me!'

'System? Don't joke around! I will sue your gaming company!'

'Game moderator? Or Anyone around monitoring the participants? The game interface won't appear!'

No matter how much she called out, no one came to answer her. The deathly silence doused over her like cold water. Her instincts told her something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

Annette immediately panicked and tried to slip inside the mini kitchen but Arianne who's determined to settle some scores with her wouldn't let her escape so easily. Ryett was off limits for now but the system didn't say anything for Annette.

"Annette?" The ravishing red headed beauty unhurriedly strode towards the counter. Her long flowing hair slightly bounced at each step she took. The onlookers almost mistaken some red roses were blooming under the soles of her doll shoes.

Ryett followed her behind observing the friend Arianne was talking about.

Knowing she couldn't getaway, Annette quickly put a veil on her true thoughts and greeted Arianne with a smile, albeit it's a little crook.

Arianne was very pleased with her crooked smile. Arianne knew Annette is probably ballistic over her system's loss and as a 'friend', it's only right for Arianne to be worried about her case. She wrapped her fingers around Annette's delicate wrist and bent her lips into a captivating smile . "I'm glad to see you." She really appeared to miss Annette, although deep inside she wanted to break the delicate bones in her grasp.

"Nice to see you too." Annette grabbed Arianne's hand and squeezed out a reply. Her face was stiff unable to maintain the usual naivety.

Arianne's calmness made her performance flawless but Annette who was anxious to the core, couldn't mask her feelings very well. Ryett could sense some negative emotions slipping out her micro movements and it was actually directed to the oblivious Arianne. Ryett was instantly dissatisfied with Annette. He had initial intentions to befriend her in order to solidify some relationship with the red headed beauty but that plan already flown out of his head.

"Mr. Andrews, this is Annette Williams, the friend I'm referring to." Arianne introduced Annette to Ryett hoping to elicit some reactions from him. "Annette, this is Mr. Ryett Andrews."

Annette was very annoyed at first but when the Villainess presented an opportunity to get acquainted with a high star target, Annette secretly adjusted her appearance hoping to leave him a good impression. She slowly extended her hand for Ryett. Her expression was bashful, as her cheeks reddened under his gaze like a juicy apple. "Hi, nice to meet you Ryett. I wanted to invite Arianne for shopping just this morning but she said she was not feeling good so I went to work. I was very worried of her health but seeing her so lively now, I can rest assured. Thank you for accompanying Arianne in my place."

He only nodded and didn't plan to associate himself with the female extending her hand. Ryett was not some fool, he could sense some complaints in her statement aiming to smear Arianne's name. The latter, however, didn't seem to detect Annette's malicious intentions and continued to smile warmly. In addition, he didn't like the pretentious fellow's way of addressing himself. Ryett combed his blonde hair hiding the dangerous flint in his deep blue orbs. "It's Mr. Andrews." He enunciated every words without politeness.

"I'm sorry Mr. Andrews." Annette was embarrassed at this point. The blonde didn't give her face at all. She retrieved her hand while muttering some curses inside.

"Actually, I wanted to surprise you, Annette. My apologies if you're upset." Arianne was laughing inside. She really like the way they are now. She really hope the wild wolf Ryett would reward his past tamer Mistress a big bite- a big life-changing bite. How wonderful of a show would it be!

Small fires were threatening to spew on Annette's eyes wanting to burn Arianne to ashes. "It's alright."

Her not-so-innocent glower was caught by Ryett. He grew up in competitive environment and such looks were not uncommon. He perceived Annette's unkindly intentions and decided to warn Arianne later.

The stalemate between continued for five seconds. Arianne broke the ice . "Annette, the cakes in your cafe looks very delicious. How about we three get together for a dessert?" Her eyes roamed over the delicacies presented on the shelves. The variety of shortcakes, puddings, mousses, creme brulee and other sweet pastries made her appetite wet. These exquisite snacks will not be produced anymore after the doomsday, Arianne didn't want to pass the opportunity to taste them. The palette that had been dulled from consuming bland biscuits over the past two years was craving for these delectable desserts.

"But..." Annette didn't have the mood for a snacks at all. She prefer to go home and find out what's going on with her system.

Her hesitation was very evident.

The female colleague thought Annette was worried that she would be scolded if she agreed to the beautiful customer's request. Remembering her pale face awhile ago, she steeled herself and intervened their conversation, "Annette, it's alright. I'll watch the counter on your behalf. You can eat with with them."

Annette wanted to refute at first but the vial of ability inhibitor came to her mind. "Alright, since Arianne insisted I will comply, but let me serve the desserts."

Arianne nodded and followed the servers to the vacant table.

Ryett was a second late to react and Arianne was already quite a distance. He took big strides to close the gap. Upon reaching her, he couldn't help but comment, "What a great friend you have Miss Arianne."

Arianne lifted the corner of her lips and ignored the hidden sarcasm in his false flattery. "Indeed. Annette is the only friend I have."

Ryett was unsettled. Ryett's thoughts circled around Annette's expression. He had an inkling she had some sort of scheme up in her sleeves. "Excuse me." He stood up and went back to the counter.

Arianne gazed at his back meaningfully. The system had tip her that Annette was plotting something. She looked forward to the two's performance.

Annette waited for the two to settle on their seats before executing her plan. She slid inside the mini kitchen and while her colleague was not paying her attention, she took three ceramic cups from the drawers and filled them with milk tea. She took out the vial of ability inhibitor from her pocket and poured all the contents in the middle cup. The liquid quickly integrated with the tea resuming it's harmless look. Annette's heart was beating fast like a drums and she was very excited.

Unbeknownst to her, Ryett had arrived the moment she poured out a the vial on the cup. His countenance turned frosty.

"What are you doing?"