Infinite Choice System

Chapter Eight

Nelson felt frightened for the first time all night but it didn't dare show across his face, he watched Derek's hand shoot out and clutch onto his arm right above the elbow.

Fingers digging in hard enough to bruise but the padding of the suit Nelson wore seemed to provide enough protection.

Nelson's nose twitched involuntarily as the smell of bourbon oozed out of Derek's breath, "Stay away from my sister," Derek hissed with a low and vicious voice. “She doesn't associate with trash,she was merely humoring you, nothing more.”

Nelson looked down at the hand clasped around his arm. The he looked up at Derek's face, noticing the veins pulsing in his forehead, at the desperation leaking through the arrogance.

“Last thing you need right now… Derek, is to draw unwanted attention to yourself because you can't handle seeing your sister who's her own adult by the way dancing with a loser like me. It's a fancy evening, let's keep it that way…” Nelson said, ever so loudly that only Derek could hear.

Then, he removed Derek's hand with a slow, deliberate motion, one finger at a time until they stood apart.

“More over, she didn't seem to mind,” he finished as he saw Derek's face twist into a hot grimace and his fist clenched. For a moment, Nelson thought he might actually swing, but someone called his name from across the room— a business associate, a family friend and Derek forced his expression back into place, smoothing out his jacket with shaking hands.

“This ain't over fish, you think you're smart, well I got resources you could never dream of having, and I could make sure you don't graduate!” Derek whispered.

"Great to know… erm your guest is walking over here, might wanna put on a smile," Nelson replied.

He turned and walked towards the exit, he didn't need to stay any longer. He watched Derek's perfect evening crack down the middle and that was enough.

***

The lobby was quieter now, the initial rush of arrivals settled into the party above. Nelson walked past the doorman, who bowed slightly, and stepped out into the night air.

Reporters and paparazzi people lingered near the red carpet with cameras hung around their necks.

“Sir sir, who are you? Which family are you from?"

Nelson ignored them and kept walking, his eyes burned with the constant flashes of camera lights that instantly sounded him. Another flash came and simultaneously, the chime of the system rang in his ears and the flash was replaced by the systems interface.

[Congratulations to the host for completing Option C]

[Reward: A luxury apartment in the city center has been transferred to your name and portfolio]

[Address: 447 Skyline Tower, Penthouse Suite, keys available at concierge]

Nelson stared at the screen while walking towards his Corvette. Then he got in and turned the car toward the city center and the towers that scraped the clouds.

***

On arrival, Nelson could barely see the top of the building, it stood forty stories into the night, all glass and angles.

Walking into the entrance, he could see that the entire place was framed by fountains that caught the street lights and threw them back in shattered patterns.

He approached the front desk who had a man in a charcoal uniform stationed. Nelson admired the mans suit and looked down at his own, there was an incredibly noticeable difference in quality.

“Mr. Fisher," the man said, as if he had been expecting him for years. “Welcome back to the skyline tower."

Nelson raised a confused eyebrow as he accepted the card in the man's outstretched hand.

‘Welcome back? I certainly haven't been here before…’ Nelson thought to himself, he knew nothing about how the systems mechanics worked or how it made things happen as a result of his choices.

He went up the elevator and found the penthouse door, he pressed the key card against the sensor and the door opened with a soft click.

“Huh! It's amazing" Nelson gasped as he walked into the luxury apartment. “It has that new car smell!"

The space was vast, floor to ceiling windows wrapped around three sides, the city spread out bekie like a circuit board, pulsing with life. The furniture was minimal, modern and expensive in it's restraint.

A kitchen of black marble and stainless steel. A bedroom he couldn't see the of and a balcony the jutted out over empty air.

Nelson walked to the window. He pressed his palm against the glass. He could feel the cool solid surface and for some reason felt like licking it but suddenly he got distracted by the sudden buzz of his cellphone.

Nelson pulled out his phone and read the message three times, it was from his sister Irene.

“I suppose she's right, although I haven't really thought about it. The system said no one would find anything weird with my sudden wealth but that's only officially… what about unofficially; people on the streets, my neighbors, some journalist with a little too much curiosity… thieves, scammers… there's really a whole lot of categories log people that could bring trouble…”

Nelson looked at the glass again one more time, "Fuck for some reason Id really love to lick this glass… is moving here really the best decision right now? Everything is happening so fast it's literally hard to stop and think".

He read the message one more time.

Irene: “Mom's asking a lot more questions than before. The neighbors saw the Covette. Someone called asking about ‘Nelson Fisher's sudden wealth’. Be careful bro”.

Nelson replied the message with a few taps of the keyboard on his new Iphone.

You: “It's spelt Corvette*... Who called?”

He set his phone down on the kitchen counter, the sound echoed in the empty space as he let out a huge sigh.

“I have school tomorrow…"