Chương 107: Ten Thousand Calories

Meno lay on his terrible bed with a very naked Oxy sprawled on top of him, her head resting on his chest after what had been an excellent start to the day. She shifted once.

"Your bed sucks. Big time."

"Yeah," Meno said.

"Everything about this place sucks."

"You should move. You don't need to keep the broke streamer image going anymore. You're too big now. Nobody cares."

"Uhm, I wasn't maintaining an image. I just didn't have time." Oxy hummed, clearly unconvinced.

"Veyrath is exploding, by the way. Stream numbers are up across the board. Also, thanks for the restreams. Best gift ever." Meno looked at the ceiling.

"I saw. You're still holding above a million?"

"Usually." She sounded pleased and tired at the same time.

"Big time."

"Uhm," Meno said.

"About gifts." Oxy lifted her head.

"I want to give you the legendary shield I found, but people told me I shouldn't. So I am really not sure what to do."

"Who said that?"

"My sister's husband. He said people might start saying I am carrying you." Oxy stared at him.

"They are sooo wrong."

"Really?"

"I do not care if people cry about handouts." Oxy poked his chest.

"Gimme. Gimme, gimme. I want it." Meno laughed despite himself.

"He said people would give me credit when you succeed and blame you when you fail."

"Nah." She rested her chin on him, smiling from dangerously close.

"I am both shameless and really good. Menooo, don't tell me you saw my pretty face up close, smelled my skin that definitely reminds you of roses, and forgot I have been top ten from the start." Meno lifted his head and took a dramatic sniff.

"Definitely roses. You are right." Oxy giggled.

"I was in such a rush I might have skipped the shower."

"Pretty face is still a check."

"Good recovery."

"Okay," Meno said.

"Once I figure out how to get the shield to you, it's yours." Brad's name lit up on the phone as it rang from the nightstand. Meno glanced at it, put it back down, and chose the current moment instead. Oxy placed his hand on the phone.

"Take it." Meno sighed and answered.

"Good news, Meno," Brad said.

"Very good news. We landed your first big sponsorship."

"Hey, Brad. Please tell me it's not another talk show. I have had enough panels for a while." Oxy smiled against his chest.

"Whyyy? That panel was sooo funny." Brad went quiet for a beat.

"Oh. You are not alone. Do you want me to call later?"

"No, it's fine. Tell me."

"You sure? This might be better in private, especially if the person you are with is who I think it is." Meno glanced down at Oxy.

"It's fine. Just tell me." Brad exhaled through his nose.

"Fine. You asked for it. Sorell Motorsports. Half a million for a commercial shoot. They want you driving their new car on a racetrack. Theme is 'fastest,' for obvious reasons." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Meno should have been ecstatic. Half a million credits for one day's work was absurd, and the deal would push his sponsorship story in exactly the direction Morlando had told him to build. The problem was Sorell Motorsports.

That meant Aurelia's father's company, and Meno knew basically nothing about cars. Oxy lifted her head.

"Isn't that your ex-girlfriend's company?" Of course she knew. Calling Aurelia his ex-girlfriend felt like a stretch in Meno's head. They had never reached that point. More like he got dumped after the third date because he had gotten carried away and scared her off. He focused on Brad instead.

"Brad, I am clueless about cars. A racetrack is so far beyond my skillset that you might as well ask me to become an astronaut for an ad."

"You have your driver's license, right?" Brad asked.

"Please don't tell me you don't. That would be embarrassing even for you."

"I have it. But I never had my own car. The last thing I drove was my mother's, and that car is the size of my capsule with top speed in double digits."

"All good. You will figure it out for five hundred thousand, I am sure."

"Brad."

"They know you are not a race driver. You will have professional help. My guy will pick you up Sunday morning with the contract and take you there, so three days." Meno rubbed his face.

"Pretend it is a raid boss," Brad said, "or whatever mental gimmick helps you."

"Yeah, but it's not VR. It's real driving. That is dangerous."

"Same thing. Keep it on the track and try not to die. I have to bounce, big board meeting. Bye. My best wishes to your lady friend as well." Brad hung up, leaving Meno staring at the phone. The sponsorship and the setup were both extremely problematic. The money was also too good to reject for one day's work. Five hundred thousand credits would cover a Soma XPro entirely, or bring him much closer to the XApex at two million without making him go broke instantly. Oxy watched him carefully.

"Are you nervous because of Aurelia?" Meno looked down at her.

"Do we need to talk about this?"

"Don't be silly. Of course we do." She drew a lazy circle on his chest.

"But currently I am more jelly about that crazy deal. Most of my off-stream sponsorships are photoshoots, and they do not pay those numbers."

"I'm sure you saw my idiotic clips about her."

"Some."

"Before Brad's party, she told me she doesn't want to talk to me anymore. That's all." Oxy's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeaaah. But you still want to talk to her?" Meno considered it for about one second before gently flipping Oxy beneath him and leaning in to kiss her. Oxy caught his face in one hand and pushed his head back a little.

"So you do." Meno stayed above her, caught.

"I won't lie to you. The way she rejected me still stings, and it feels unresolved." Oxy's expression changed.

"So yeah," Meno said.

"Talk, maybe. But that's all." For once, she did not turn it into a joke.

"Meno, what do you think about marriage?" His brain short-circuited.

"Uhm." Oxy waited.

"I really don't think about it at all."

"Hey. What's that look?" Meno finally looked at her properly. She seemed vulnerable now, and that made the room harder to navigate than any raid mechanic. He did not know the right answer. He did not even know the wrong answer that would do the least damage.

"Do not freak out on me," Oxy said.

"I knew you would say that. I am not asking you to marry me. That would be waaay too soon."

"I really feel like I am in a trap and about to wipe." She chuckled, but her eyes stayed serious.

"We just need to decide if this is serious or if we are having fun. I am twenty-eight. I wasn't kidding when I told you I wanted a husband soon, back when we first talked and you tried to pawn me off to Chadculator." Meno searched for a response and found nothing but bad answers. If he said serious, she might think he was saying it only to escape the uncomfortable topic. If he said fun, she would probably get hurt. The truth was he had no idea. It needed time. Oxy bopped him on the nose.

"Sooo wise. Don't say anything now. Think about it." Meno swallowed, but Oxy kept going before he could assemble the wrong answer.

"If we keep doing this, we need to make it more official. You are too popular now, and idiots are already writing gossip that I am buying views with my body. I really don't like that." When his phone rang again, Meno grabbed it like a rope thrown into a pit, and Grandpa's gruff voice came through the line.

"Get ready. Pickup in two minutes. Time-sensitive simulation." Meno sat up.

"Now? Why the hell is it time-sensitive? I am busy."

"You should know better than to ask that over the phone." The call ended, leaving Oxy staring at him suspiciously.

"What was that, Meno?" Meno got out of bed fast and went to the still-unpacked boxes of clothes in the corner. He started dressing as quickly as possible. Shirt. Pants. One sock inside out. Fixed badly. Oxy watched him, confused now in a way that made his chest tighten. He had no good words again.

"Sorry. I gotta go." The knock came before two minutes had passed. Meno looked back at Oxy.

"Cover yourself." She pulled the sheet up while he crossed the room and opened the door with his shirt still unbuttoned. Two of Morlando's security people stood outside in AR glasses, and they entered without waiting for permission. One caught Meno by the arm.

"Go, go, go." Meno twisted back toward the bed.

"I'll leave the key for you. Uhm, I don't know how long this will take. Just take it, and I'll talk to you later." Oxy's expression changed, fear cutting through her confusion for one second.

"Meno? What is this?" Anger hit him fast. Morlando had handled this like Meno was a test sample in storage, not a person with a life, a door, and somebody in his bed. Meno met Oxy's eyes.

"It's all good. No time to explain. Work stuff. I will call you later, okay? Please do not worry." The guard dragged him into the hall, let the door close behind them, and shoved Meno down the stairs.

"What the hell was that?" he snapped.

"Did you not see I was not alone?"

"I don't know anything," the guard said.

"We are delivering you to the site." The other guard handed him a tube that looked like toothpaste.

"Eat this. Your vitals are a mess." Meno looked at it.

"What is this?"

"Nutrient paste. Ten thousand calories. Eat now. You will need it. If you don't start, we are authorized to force-feed it to you."

"That's just great." Meno twisted the cap off and squeezed the paste into his mouth. It tasted like nothing, but it hit his empty stomach almost immediately, dense and heavy, like his body had been tricked into believing breakfast, lunch, and dinner had happened all at once. They reached a large black minivan parked on the street, its windows dark from both sides so Meno would not see where they were going.

He climbed into the back, the door shut behind him, and the vehicle started moving before a voice came through the speakers.

"Push the button in the side panel. There is an auto-injector there. Press it into your right thigh and push the trigger. It needs time to settle in your bloodstream." Meno stared at the panel.

"Seriously?"