Infinite Choice System

Chapter Seven

“If it ain't fishy Fisher!" Derek spread his arms wide as he approached, his smile stretched across his lips exposing his perfect white teeth. "You actually came fish! I wasn't sure you'd have the balls to…”

Derek stopped mid sentence as he finally caught the attention of Nelson's attire. The crispy suit had little obsidian buttons that blinged depending on the amount of light that hit it, and the watch fitted perfectly on his wrist as well giving him a fitting attire that screamed he belonged amongst the elite.

"Ohh… is that a Sprite Breitling!? That watch cost a little over ten thousand dollars…" Derek said this time with a more hushed tone. Derek stared at Nelson inquisitively, not expecting this version of the boy he just stole his girlfriend Derek was taken back and forced to look for a new means to humiliation.

"Everyone, this is Nelson! My most determined classmate. The man who never gives up, no matter how many times life tells him no!”

Laughter rippled through the crowd, polite and cruel. This finally got the attention of Claire and she stepped forward, her hands immediately proceeding to rest on Derek's chest and her eyes fixated on Nelson's with deliberate malice.

“Isn't he a poor thing," she said, Nelson could tell she was coming from a place of false sympathy. “Still chasing dreams that are too big for him. Some… boys just never learn their place”.

Nelson raised an eyebrow to her reaction, he was a bit surprised that she wasn't even the tiniest bit impressed with his dressing, she didn't even care.

He rolled his eyes slightly as more silent laughter filled the space. He could feel the bearing weight of a hundred eyes pressing against his skin, for a moment old shame tried to crawl up his throat like bile, but a sound rang in his ears immediately reminding him that things have changed with the ball now in his court.

[Ding!]

He knew the sound was most likely silent to everyone but him but his confidence rose back up like a thermometer reading as the blue screen flashed into existence before his eyes, translucent, floating in the air like a ghost only he could see.

[New Choice's available]

[Choice A: Accept the corner seat and endure the humiliation. Reward: $500]

[Choice B: Throw your champagne in Derek's face. Reward: $50,000]

[Choice C: Propose a counter toast, compliment Derek's sister by name, and invite her to dance. Reward: A luxury apartment in the city center]

Nelson read the options twice and his eyes shot back to the woman by the balcony doors again.

‘Option A is almost laughable, is the system just throwing in random things with shitty rewards for the sake of options? The last option is pretty much the very reason I came here, if anything I'd love to move out of my parents house… But option B though…not only would that give me great personal satisfaction,it would also give this idiot a taste of his own medicine…’

Nelson thought to himself, still maintaining visual lock on Derek's sister with the corner of his eye.

‘Huh… system, I'm conflicted. All the more, I'm incredibly tired of being the joke’.

His eyes flashed as he spotted a waiter pass by with a silver tray of champagne flutes. He immediately grabbed one, the glass was cold against his palm and the liquid inside had a golden shine.

He swung his arm, raising the glass high in the air.

“To Derek," Nelson said, his voice cutting through the laughter, causing the room to immediately go silent.

He waited a few more seconds to allow everyone's attention to settle in. People's heads turned, the waiters stopped walking around and Derek's smile faltered.

“To Derek," Nelson repeated with an even louder voice, “for introducing me to the most captivating woman in this room. His sister, whose name I've heard spoken with nothing but admiration."

He spun around, causing his drink to spill slightly over the rim of the flute and onto his shoes.

The woman by the balcony straightened as she noticed everyone beginning to look towards her direction. She tried to take a sip of her drink, but then her champagne flute stopped half way to her lips.

For the first that evening, something like surprise crossed her face. Nelson noticed it, and just as quickly as it came it was gone and replaced by her usual dead pan look.

Nelson sat his glass down on a standing waiter’s tray. He walked across the room, feeling every eye tracking his movement like high tech lasers.

He stopped just about three feet from her and extended his hand. “If the lady would honor me with a dance?"

Her eyes moved over his face with a slow deliberate drag, cataloging every detail. She raised her eyebrows as she noticed the cheap suit that seemed to fit too well, then the watch that cost more than Derek's car, the calmness that shouldn't belong to a man who had been ridiculed a few seconds ago.

"You don't know my name so you?,” she said.

Nelson opened his mouth to respond to her question…

“It was a rhetorical question… if you don't know my name…” she said with a stern but still somehow intrigued face. "... Then you definitely don't know what you've just gotten yourself into.”

Nelson smiled briefly, doing his best to maintain eye contact even though his eyes were really dry and would need a blink or two.

"Well, probably not,” he said. "But I was tired of being the punchline.”

A thin smile quietly stretched across her face as something changed in her expression. She set her champagne down on the balcony railing with a soft clink.

“You don't know how to dance?" She asked as she placed her palm onto Nelson’s outstretched hand.

Nelson tried to respond to her as manly as possible, “Well…”

“It was a rhetorical question… One dance," she said, wrapping her hands around his.

Nelson felt the stimulus of her cool and firm grip and it almost gave him an orgasmic feeling to his nervous system.

“Either you're really brave or simply foolish, but I think I'll find out soon enough."

The string quartet struck up a waltz, as if in cue. Nelson on the other hand had no idea how to waltz. He knew the basic steps from movies, the one two three rhythming, but his body felt wooden and his feet were too large.

He didn't have to do much luckily, upon walking to the center of the room, he simply followed her lead, watching her as she set up the queue.

Her hand settled on his shoulder while her other hand gripped his with surprising strength. She moved and he followed, he missed a few steps one and twice then found the rhythm again.

Nelson looked down at her using his incredible height, he was several inches taller than her but he felt as if she towered over everyone in the room.

“Your heart is beating way too fast,” she murmured, her voice low enough for only him to hear.

"How can it not, I'm dancing with a stranger who could destroy me with a phone call,” Nelson said. "I'd be worried if it wasn't.”

She actually laughed this time, a brief and genuine sound that surprised them both.

Nelson immediately looked at an empty space above him hoping the systems interface would manifest letting him know that he had accomplished his mission. But to his surprise, it was empty, he just stared at the crystal chandeliers hoping it'd show up.

Completing Option C would automatically give him the luxury apartment he wanted but there's no use having a luxury apartment without knowing the location.

He looked back down to see the lady staring straight at him like she was studying him further, "Are the chandeliers suddenly much more dangerous than I am?” She asked with a serious tone.

Nelson, realizing he had messed up a bit, smiled at and moved his hand to her waist while her hand rested in his chest, "No they're not, I was checking to see which was brighter… The chandeliers or your eyes.”

She smiled and dragged her face away from him immediately, "Vivian… My name is Vivian Thompson. And you're either the most interesting man I've met this year or the best liar."

“Nelson Fisher. And I'm definitely not a good liar. My sister tells me I have a terrible poker face."

“The mystery deepens then…”

Derek stood at the edge of the dance floor watching everything unfold, his face the colour of old ash and his hands clenched at his sides.

Nelson didn't care to notice him or Claire that was standing beside him. He was looking at Vivian.

Before long, the duo came to a stop as the music ended, it was only then Nelson caught hold of his surroundings and how Derek squeezed his face like an unripe lime.

Applause started, Vivian stepped back, releasing her hand but still maintaining eye contact.

"Twenty-four hours,” she said, reaching into her clutch. She withdrew a custom silver pen, took his hand and wrote a number across his palm in smooth, precise strokes. "Call me within twenty four hours. After that, I forget faces.”

Nelson watched as she returned her pen, turned and walked towards the balcony doors.

Nelson looked at the number on his palm, then he looked up and the sight in front of him caused him to have something damn near to a heart attack.

Derek was in his face.