EROS CASHBACK SYSTEM: You Can't Fake the Interest

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: His Decision

Garrett sat on the edge of his bed, hair still damp from the shower, a towel slung over one shoulder.

The apartment was quiet now, Jacey gone, the plate from dinner rinsed and left in the rack. Just him and the same problem that had been sitting in his head since this morning.

He exhaled and pulled up the system.

[MINOR TASK: ESTABLISH A GENUINE ROMANTIC CONNECTION WITH FREYA HUGHES]

[TIME LIMIT: 8 DAYS]

[TIME REMAINING: 7 DAYS, 14 HOURS, 22 MINUTES]

He stared at it for a moment.

Seven days.

Not eight.

’So it’s already counting. Doesn’t reset just because I haven’t started.’

He should have expected that, really. Nothing about the system had ever worked in his favor by accident.

He leaned back against the headboard, eyes still on the numbers ticking somewhere he couldn’t quite pin down. Seven days and change to make something real happen with someone he barely knew, while keeping everything else in his life from falling apart in the process.

His mind drifted backward without him meaning it.

Before the system, he’d been counting coins for the bus, splitting instant noodles into smaller portions to make them last, sleeping in a place with a landlord who didn’t fix anything. That version of him wouldn’t have recognized this apartment. Wouldn’t have recognized Emiliana, either, or any of what his life looked like now.

He didn’t like being pushed around by a voice in his head that handed out tasks like assignments. But he wasn’t stupid enough to pretend none of it had helped him.

The system had already given him more than money. It had changed the direction of his life, whether he liked how it did it or not. Walking away now without knowing what refusing would cost him wasn’t a risk he could afford to take.

’And if I say no?’

He turned that over for a while.

He didn’t know what happened if he refused. Nobody had told him, and the system certainly wasn’t going to volunteer it. Maybe nothing. Maybe something worse than anything it had asked of him so far.

That not knowing sat heavier than the task itself.

At some point, Garrett stopped trying to find the answer that made everyone safe.

There wasn’t one. He’d turned it over enough times now to be sure of that much.

He couldn’t promise the task wouldn’t hurt someone. He couldn’t promise refusing it wouldn’t either, not without knowing what refusing actually cost him.

But he could decide how he went into it.

He wasn’t going to chase Freya down between classes or manufacture reasons to run into her. He wasn’t going to fake feelings he didn’t have just to satisfy a countdown. He wasn’t going to let this become something that hurt Emiliana, not deliberately, not carelessly either. And he wasn’t going to treat Freya like a task to be checked off, like she was nothing more than a name on a screen.

If the system wanted something genuine, then genuine was the only way he knew how to do it. Actually get to know her. See what was there, if anything was there at all.

And if nothing came of it, he’d deal with that when it happened. Not before.

He looked at the timer again.

[TIME REMAINING: 7 DAYS, 14 HOURS, 19 MINUTES]

"Fine," he said, quiet, mostly to himself.

He wasn’t going to spend another day circling the same thoughts. He’d already lost hours to them, and the timer had kept moving the entire time. Waiting longer wouldn’t make the situation clearer. It would only leave him with less time to deal with whatever came next.

Today, then.

Garrett sat with the problem for a minute before it occurred to him how limited his options actually were.

He didn’t have her number. Getting it through Daniel meant Daniel would ask questions, and Garrett didn’t have answers he was willing to give yet. He definitely wasn’t about to walk up and open with the truth.

’Hey, a system in my head picked you for a romantic quest. Mind grabbing coffee.’

Yeah. No.

There was one option left that didn’t require any of that.

She lived two doors down. He’d known that for a while now, had passed her in the corridor more times than he could count,he had helped her complete her project at his flat, nodded at her the way you nod at someone you technically know but have never actually talked to.

Simple enough, then. He could just talk to her.

Garrett grabbed his key, stepped out, and pulled the door shut behind him.

The corridor was empty, the overhead light humming faintly the way it always did. It had seemed a lot more straightforward sitting on his sofa, working it out in his head. Standing outside her actual door made it feel like a different problem entirely.

He stopped a few feet from it, considering, for half a second, just turning around and figuring out a version of this that felt less like showing up out of nowhere.

’No. Today.’

He knocked before he could talk himself into leaving.

A few seconds passed. Then the door opened.

Freya stood there, clearly not expecting him, her expression shifting through surprise before settling into something more measured.

Garrett gave her a small nod. "Hey."

"...Hey." She studied him for a beat, like she was trying to figure out what would bring him to her door when they hadn’t really spoken since he’d helped her out with that favor. "This is unexpected."

"I need to ask you something," Garrett said.

Freya’s eyebrows lifted slightly. "What is it?"

"I missed part of today’s joint lecture." Garrett glanced briefly toward the stairwell. "You attended the class, right?"

"Yeah I did"

"Great, I was hoping you could send me the notes when you get a chance. I don’t want to spend the evening trying to figure out what I missed from someone else’s notes."

Freya looked at him for a moment.

"That’s what you came here for?"

"Partly."

"Partly?"

Garrett paused.

He hadn’t really thought beyond getting to her door. Now that he was standing there, he realized he had no good explanation for why he’d chosen to ask her instead of someone else.

"You live two doors down," he said simply. "Seemed easier."

Freya stared at him for a second before a small smile appeared.

"Fair enough."

She stepped aside, holding the door open a little wider.

"Come in. I can show you what you missed."

Garrett hesitated briefly before stepping inside.

"Thanks."

The door clicked shut behind him.

For the first time since the system had selected her, Garrett was actually alone with Freya.

And now he had to figure out how to have a normal conversation with her.

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