The night air sat between them. The burgundy dress. The loose hair. The contacts made her eyes do something they didn’t do behind glasses.

"Tonight was..." she started.

"Good," Xavier finished.

"Yeah." She pushed a strand of hair back. "Good."

Neither of them moved immediately.

Then Amira looked up at him with the expression she always kept controlled doing something slightly less controlled. She reached out and touched the centre of his chest lightly — just her fingers, just for a second and looked up at him with something in her eyes that wasn’t ambiguous.

Xavier felt the shift.

"Same here," he said quietly.

Amira held his gaze. "So."

"So," he said, and pulled out his phone.

"Let me get you a cab to the hostel."

"No." She said it simply. "Tonight I want to be with you."

Xavier looked at her for a moment. Was she joking or what, this surely felt like a dream better to not kill the vibes and go with the flow.

He then opened his phone and ordered for an Uber and selected premium because why not.

The car arrived in four minutes. They got in Amira first, Xavier after and the driver pulled out into the empty 2AM streets without asking where the energy in the back seat was coming from.

The city was quiet at this hour because obviously it was late at night. Street lights and closed storefronts and the occasional car passing the other way. Amira sat beside him with her heels back on and her bag in her lap, looking out the window with the particular stillness of someone who had made a decision and wasn’t walking it back.

Xavier didn’t say anything either.

Not because there was nothing to say. Just because the silence wasn’t uncomfortable and he saw no reason to fill it with words that weren’t needed.

The car stopped outside The Meridian Grand, the cleanest hotel on this side of the city. Not the most expensive in Kenvale but serious enough to have a dress code in the hotel and a doorman who nodded as they approached.

Xavier had picked it in under ten seconds on his phone. Some decisions were simple. He paid the driver and they both got down and headed towards the hotel.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $26 — Premium Uber

Base Multiplier (Tier 1): 2x

Total Return: $52

Credited in: 00:10:00

Cap Used: $426 of $10,000

[ Net Balance: $93,814.00 → $93,840.00 ]

Xavier pocketed his phone as they stepped out.

Almost a hundred thousand, he thought. And I’m not even close to done.

He wasn’t in a hurry anymore not the anxious, desperate kind of hurry that had driven his first few days when every dollar felt like it needed to be squeezed for everything it was worth. That energy made sense at $520. At $93,000 it was unnecessary. The cap would reset tomorrow. And the day after. The system wasn’t going anywhere.

Slow down, he told himself. You have upgrades coming. Better tiers. Higher caps. Stronger multipliers. The foundation is already there — now it’s about building properly instead of frantically.

He looked up at the hotel entrance as the doorman held the door open.

Two weeks ago I died with forty seven dollars and a broken engagement on a train platform, he thought. Now I’m walking into a hotel at 2AM with nearly a hundred thousand in my account and a girl in burgundy beside me.

He almost shook his head.

The world really does have mysteries ahead of you. You just have to stay alive long enough to find them.

They both stepped out and headed toward the hotel entrance. The doorman nodded as they approached and held the door without a word.

The lobby was the particular quiet of a place that took itself seriously at 2AM. Marble floors. Low lighting. A single receptionist behind the desk and a security guard near the entrance who glanced at them once and looked away.

The receptionist — young, professional, mildly surprised to have guests at this hour looked up as they approached.

"Good evening. How can I help?"

"Availability for tonight," Xavier said.

"Let me check." He typed something on his computer.

He then looked at the screen and typed something again. "I’m afraid sir we’re fully booked this night sir. We have a checkout at 7AM if you’d like to—"

"What if I double the rate?," Xavier said with an exceptionally serious face. Don’t come spoiling my night.

The receptionist stopped typing and looked up "double?".

Xavier held his gaze with the calm patience of someone who had already known the outcome of this conversation. With money all your problems are solved.

The receptionist glanced at his screen once more at the particular glance of someone running a quiet calculation — then backed up.

"Give us twenty minutes to prepare a room," he said.

"Take your time," Xavier said.

He turned and found a seating area near the lobby window — two low chairs and a small table with a decorative plant that had probably never been watered naturally in its life. He sat. Amira sat beside him, crossing one leg over the other and setting her bag on her knee.who would’ve guessed hotels don’t clock it at night.

The lobby clock on the wall read 2:14 AM.

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Then Amira said quietly "This is a really nice hotel."

"Yh had to pick the best for us," Xavier said. He threw an intriguing smile.

She glanced at him sideways. "Dumbass."

Not long after, the receptionist appeared at the desk.

"Your room is ready sir."

Xavier stood, settled the payment at the desk, and pocketed the key card.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $480 — Hotel Room

Base Multiplier (Tier 1): 2x

Total Return: $960

Credited in: 00:10:00

Cap Used: $906 of $10,000

[ Net Balance: $93,360.00 → $94,320.00 ]

The receptionist led them to their room, stopped at the door and handed Xavier the key card.

"If you need anything during the night just use the intercom beside the bed," he said.

"Have a good stay."

He gave a brief nod and headed back down the corridor.

Xavier pushed the door open and they stepped inside.

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