The Heart System

Chapter 171: Chapter 171

I rubbed the back of my head, the café suddenly feeling ten degrees warmer. The laughter from a second ago evaporated. Jasmine toyed with her straw. Kim stared into her latte like it held the secrets of the universe. Tessa drummed her nails on the table, slow and deliberate. Nala tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Even Minne, half-hidden under her hood, went perfectly still.

Delilah’s gaze drifted from face to face, lingering on the way Minne’s fingers curled protectively around her hot-chocolate mug, on the matching keychains dangling from Jasmine’s and Tessa’s belts, on the identical faint hickeys peeking above Kim’s collar. A small, knowing smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Silence stretched, thick as the rain hammering the windows.

I clapped once, loud enough to make Minne jump. ”Well. Since we’re all here and the quiz is dead, let’s do something fun.”

Kim blinked. ”Like what?”

I jerked my chin toward the far corner where four college kids in Hogwarts robes were hunched over a battered card table, sleeves rolled, cards flying. ”That. Looks like Exploding Snap meets Uno on steroids. I wanna try.”

Jasmine was already sliding out of the booth. ”Might actually salvage this day.”

Hours slipped by in a blur of shouts, stolen fries, and rain that refused to quit. The café lights flicked to warmer tones. Someone swapped the playlist to lo-fi beats. The clock above the counter blinked 1:00 p.m. before anyone noticed.

”Break?” Jasmine finally suggested, stretching until her crop top rode high.

We scattered. I stepped outside under the awning for a cigarette, the cold biting my knuckles. Inside, Nala had commandeered a corner booth and was teaching Kim, Jasmine, and Tessa some CEO-level phone app that made them gasp every time a stock ticker flashed green. Minne hovered nearby, refilling cocoa like a silent ninja.

The bell jingled. Delilah stepped out, camel coat slung over one arm.

”Mind if I steal a drag?” she asked, voice low.

I offered the cigarette. She took it between two fingers, inhaled, exhaled slow. Smoke curled between us like a question.

”You’re not subtle, Evan,” she said finally.

I leaned against the brick wall. ”Never claimed to be.”

She passed the cigarette back. ”Five women. One penthouse. A damn maid who calls you Master.” A soft laugh. ”Most guys can’t keep a cactus alive.”

”Different kind of green thumb.”

Delilah studied me, rain drumming on the awning above us. ”And they’re all... okay with it?”

”More than okay,” I said. ”They chose it. Same way I chose them.”

She nodded once, slow. ”And where exactly do I fit in that picture?”

The quest pinged again in the corner of my vision, letters glowing.

”W-what do you mean?” I asked.

”Why did you call me here?” Delilah asked. ”To introduce me to your friends? And fuck, what kind of ’friends’ are they, Evan. Huh?”

”I...”

”Do you have sex with them?” she asked. ”What is this, some sort of cult or something?”

”Delilah...”

”Tell me the truth,” she said. ”I deserve it.”

Tell her the truth? Would this even work? Maybe she’d be okay with it? After all, she had shown me her side that she tried to hide her whole life. Vulnerable. In need of help. And I was there for her. Maybe... by some miracle... she’d be okay with it?

”Yes. I do. Not with Minne. But yes. Jasmine. Kim. Nala. Tessa.”

She froze, then dropped the cigarette on the ground and turned away. She stayed there for a second, hiding her face from me. I was anxious as hell, but still hopeful. I knew she was weighing her next move.

╭───────────╮

EVENT

===============

Delilah’s Interest -100

╰───────────╯

She spun back and slapped me across the cheek. My head snapped sideways, eyes wide. Tears already streaked her face.

”I’m pregnant,” she said. ”And you’re trying to add me to your little cult harem thing?”

Everything stopped. ”W-what... pregnant?”

”Fuck you, Evan,” she spat, shaking her head. ”You’re like every man I know. Only thinking with his dick.”

”Wait—”

She stormed off, hair bouncing with every furious step. I stood frozen. I got her pregnant. What the hell had I become? She was right. This fucking system had corrupted me. All I’d cared about at this convention was the quest, the points, the next girl. I hadn’t even tried to enjoy the day with the others.

”Holy... fuck. Oh god. Oh, fuck. Oh no. No, no, no. No.”

❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎

I knocked on the door and waited. The echo of my knuckles against the wood sounded too light for the weight sitting in my chest.

Nothing.

The hallway smelled faintly of rain and dust. Somewhere below, a car passed, splashing through a puddle. I could hear it but couldn’t move. My hand rested on the door, fingers trembling just slightly.

”Delilah,” I said, voice hoarse. ”Please. Just open up. I need to talk to you.”

No answer.

I leaned forward until my forehead pressed against the door. The cold seeped into my skin. ”Delilah, I know you’re there.”

Inside, a faint rustle, a shift of weight. Then silence again.

I closed my eyes and spoke quieter. ”Please. You don’t have to say anything. Just listen.”

From inside came a muffled voice. ”Go away, Evan.”

”I can’t.”

”You should,” she said. ”You’ve done enough.”

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted metal. ”You’re right. I’ve done more than enough. But if I walk away now, I’ll never get the chance to tell you what you deserve to hear.”

Something scraped against the door. Maybe she had slid down to sit against it. I could picture her on the other side, arms around her knees, hair falling into her face. The thought made my stomach twist.

”I’m not here to ask for forgiveness,” I said. ”You’d be right not to give it. I just... I need to tell you the truth.”

Her voice came softer but sharp as glass. ”The truth? Now you care about that?”

”Yes,” I said. ”Because if I don’t say it now, I’ll never say it.”

She laughed quietly, bitter and tired. ”Say it then. I’m listening.”

I took a breath that hurt to hold. ”I ruined everything good that ever happened to me. I wanted too much. I thought I could help everyone, be there for everyone, and somehow that would make it right. But it wasn’t right. I was selfish, and I used people who trusted me. I used you most of all.”

The sound that left her was small but sharp, like a breath caught on pain.

”You got me pregnant,” she said quietly. ”You made me believe I was different. That what we had meant something. And then you went and slept with the others like it was nothing.”

The words hit harder than I was ready for. I closed my eyes, breathing through it. ”I know.”

”You don’t get to say that,” she said. ”You don’t get to sound calm. You don’t get to sound sorry like it’s some noble thing.”

”I’m not calm,” I said. ”I’m terrified. I don’t even know how to start fixing what I broke.”

”You can’t fix it.”

”Maybe not,” I said. ”But I can tell you what’s real.”

”I’m carrying your child, Evan,” she said, her voice cracking. ”Do you even realize that? I’m the one who has to live with it every day. I can’t just walk away from it like you walked away from us.”

”I haven’t walked away,” I said quickly. ”Not from you. Not from the baby.”

”Then from who?” she snapped.

My throat closed for a second. ”From the man I thought I was.”

For a moment, there was only the sound of rain outside. Then, softly, she said, ”You slept with them. All of them.”

”Yes.” The word barely made it out. ”I did.”

”You didn’t even try to lie.”

”What good would that do?” I said. ”You’d know anyway. You always saw through me.”

Her breathing trembled. ”You don’t get points for honesty now.”

”I know. But I’m done pretending. I cared about them, each of them, in ways I didn’t understand. They looked at me like I could save them, and I wanted to believe it. I wanted to be that person. I wanted to feel like I mattered.”

”And me?”

I swallowed hard. ”You were the one who made me want to be better. When I’m helping someone—that lady who dropped her grocery bags yesterday, I remember your face. You, making me soup when I was sick. You, cleaning my place when I was a wreck. You... It’s... always you. And I try to pay for this... I don’t know what to call it—maybe, uh, debt to the world by helping others. If it was the old Evan before meeting you, I don’t know where I’d be. I’d be a jackass. Selfish bastard.”

”And?”

”And... despite thinking like that... I still ruined it.”

She gave a quiet, broken laugh. ”You did.”

The silence stretched again. I could hear her moving on the other side, maybe brushing tears off her cheeks. The sound tore at me.