Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 10 Bright Night Approaching

And finally we have arrived at the last chapter of the first arc of the storyline. I knew this was going to be a long chapter and hopefully we will have some answers after all of this. Spoilers ahead!

You had another dream – of a place with high walls and maze like corridors. You kept running but your body suddenly felt light and drifted off. You awoke, not being able to recollect your dream before it faded away. You were lying on the couch in your apartment and it was morning. How long had you been asleep? You looked at your phone and was surprised to see multiple messages from Gavin, Anna, Kiki and even Victor. You found to your surprise that it was already Thursday. Apparently you slept the entire Wednesday away after your excursion with Lucien on Tuesday. No wonder everyone was worried.

You were particularly apprehensive about having not replied Victor’s messages and he didn’t take too kindly to the non-response. You decided to apologise and then asked when you could meet him to present the company’s report. Anna called you to inform you that HBS, one of the world’s most renowned reality show producer was impressed by your feature on Key and would like to work with you on their latest production. The  business meeting was scheduled for this afternoon.

After you got dressed for work, you received a call from Gavin. He sounded worried that you hadn’t answered his calls and told you to get dressed and come downstairs. You hurried down and was happy to see him again after that period of absence. Finally Gavin has a change of clothes! Gavin asked if you were in a good mood and you quickly shared about the good news with HBS.

After rambling on about how excited you were with the offer, Gavin smiled and commented that sounded less afraid of him. You explained this was because all the misconceptions had cleared up. He was happy to hear that and told you that you could always tell him however you felt anytime. He then took off his jacket and clasped it on you despite your objections. He also handed you a new helmet (did he buy one specially for you?). As you hopped onto his bike, he moved your hands around his waist, then zipped off to your office. It feels to me that Gavin’s advances have progressed and he has suddenly turned very boyfriend-like. Was he more comfortable now that he knew you could be interested in him?

After dropping you off, he asked why you were urgently looking for him. You told him about Black Swan and all that had happened in the secret underground room. Gavin tensed up after listening to you but refused to tell you more, assuring you that he would look into it. There he goes again, keeping everything to himself and not telling me anything!

The meeting with HBS representative was underway and discussions were smooth sailing. The representative however presented you with one challenge, which was to invite Victor to be the guest participant for the debut episode. Though you weren’t too confident that he would agree, you didn’t want to pass up on the golden opportunity to be working on such a big project either. HBS agrees to give you three days to accomplish the task. Back at office, you mulled over how you were going to convince Victor to participate in the show, given your no-show two days ago. Just then you checked your phone and realised you had a missed call from Victor. You hurriedly returned call and arranged to meet him at his office later.

You received a call from Lucien. He was worried that you hadn’t picked up his call after the outing. You explained that you had been so tired and slept the whole day away. You also apologised for always sleeping when out with him. He admitted that he had used hypnosis on you to help you better understand your sleeping issues and dreams. However the process went awry and he said he would need to improve on his skills. You asked him if dreams were not real but based of reality, could one get hurt in the dream, i.e. the cut you experienced. He said it was only possible if it was someone else’s dream. He told you not to think about it further for now. Before he hung up, he told you to trust your intuition when in trouble and also your intuition about him. Hmm, my intuition tells me you’re trouble… and who goes around using hypnosis on people without their permission?! And it wasn’t the first time either. He had someone put you to sleep when he brought you to the lake to watch fireworks. Gosh, imagine all the things he can do to you if he was indeed psychotic.

Meanwhile, we learnt that Victor had sent Goldman to learn more about HBS and spy on you. When Goldman asked if LFG should step in to help, Victor said that you would be able to handle it on your own. He also asked Goldman to cancel his appointments for the rest of the afternoon. As Victor scanned some files on his laptop, we learnt that Lucien Research had sent an update to Victor on the progress of his experiments on Evol stimulation.

You rushed down to LFG to meet with Victor, with a battle plan formulated in your head on how you would convince him to participate in the show. Upon hearing your proposal, Victor flatly rejected your invitation. You pressed on with the request, reminding him of the promise he made to you when he first agreed to fund your studio. Victor smiled but this was quickly replaced with his usual stern look. He said he was open to negotiating further and asked that you returned the next day with a plan to convince him.

You spent the night working through your plan of attack – deciding to show how being represented on this show would help improve the numbers for LFG and also showcase how Victor was someone who could overcome any challenge faced. The next day you hurried to LFG office to present your proposal to Victor only to find that he was not in. You tried calling him to no avail. Thinking about where Victor might be, you had a sudden epiphany and made a trip down to Souvenir. Though Victor had never explicitly told you he owned the place, you somehow ended up here. Coincidentally you saw Mr Mills just opening up the place for dinner. After receiving instructions from the owner, Mr Mills left to purchase ingredients and asked you to help watch the place.

While waiting, you received a call from Kiro. He told you how happy he was with the feature video you did on Key and both of you gushed over the success. You told him about your current obstacle in trying to convince Victor to come onto your show. He suggested that you use sincerity to convince him. After that incident with the hackers summit, I am kind of liking Kiro a lot more. He can be cute and goofy at times, and also surprisingly mature and dependable at other times.

After the call, you entered the kitchen to take a look around. While trying to picture Victor in the kitchen, you blurted that it was easier to get struck by lightning than to see him bending over an oven. You were shocked to hear Victor’s voice behind you, asking you how you would feel getting struck by lightning. Both of you exchanged the usual banter. When Mr Mills arrived with the ingredients, you hurriedly retreated out of the kitchen to await your meal. Victor found the documents you had prepared to convince him to be part of the show, and though it wasn’t a great job, he found himself smiling. He also called Goldman to bring the brown paper bag to the restaurant.

After another delicious dinner served up by Victor, you received your bill. This time instead of cleaning up the kitchen, you were tasked to address all the online reviews of Souvenir. Mr Mills also returned the documents you had prepared to show Victor. As you set about to complete your payment, you realised that there were a ton more negative reviews than positive ones and it was going to take time to address them all. By the time you were done, you realised that the kitchen lights were still on.

Victor appeared and asked why you were still here. You replied that you have completed the task and asked why he had tasked you with it. Angry that he decided to waste your time over such trivial matters, he told you to check the clock which had not moved. Victor had stopped time for you. Yah, while time had stopped, fact is I put in energy into the task! He finally admitted that you were probably better at this than him. Having cleared that up, you asked if he had read your proposal. You waited in anticipation for his answer. While he pointed out quite a few mistakes in the proposal, he agreed to be part of the show. You couldn’t believe your ears and asked if there was any strings attached to this. His only reply was idiot but his tone was gentler than usual.

After locking up the place, Victor offered you a ride home. While in the car, you kept smiling to yourself over having convinced Victor to join the show. Victor asked you to keep your emotions in check, to which you replied that at least you were honest with your feelings, unlike him who refused to admit he was smiling. You both continued to exchange a pleasant banter that was starting to feel more personal than professional. After he dropped you off, Victor also handed you the paper bag. It contained a souvenir – a gold-plated camel he had bought for you when he was in Dubai. You originally didn’t want to accept the expensive gift but agreed to keep it later and thanked him for it.

Before Victor left, he told you he was only 28 years old, 6 years older than you hence there was no need for you to call him ‘sir’. I laughed. Back home, Victor received a message from you, thanking him for the gift and telling him how much you liked it. Victor found himself smiling again, something he wasn’t used to see. He looked back at some documents on the table. The private investigators had not found the right ‘target’. He sighed, wondering if he would ever find the girl. Duh! She’s been staring at you all this time.

On the day of the filming, you arrived at a mega huge set. A crew member guided you around the set, informing you there were 3 stages in the challenge and that the whole place was fitted out with Go-Pro cameras so that the crew would not get in the way. As part of onboarding you as a co-producer, you were required to experience the whole challenge in person. Without further information, he led you into a room and locked the door behind you.

You found yourself locked in a room that looked like a cell and there was no phone signal. Thinking that this was the start to the obstacle, you tried to figure a way to get out. As time passed and no closer to finding a way out, you started to feel creeped out. The familiar cell conjured up old memories which you can’t quite pin down. As fear continued to well within you, you decided to call out to Victor for help. As a fellow participant, he should also be nearby. You were relieved when you heard his familiar voice.

With a swift strong kick, Victor knocked open the door to the cell and you were finally free. His appearance in the midst of your fear was overwhelming and you were extremely glad to see him. Despite his crude remarks, he was obviously worried about you. You commented that you had no idea what the script was as HBS had kept it confidential. Victor said he must have been crazy to agree to be part of the show. He then held your hand and guided you forward. You flustered and lingered, worried that these interactions would be captured on camera and affect his reputation. However he didn’t seem fazed. He asked why you had called out to him for help instead of the production crew. You confessed that you didn’t want to lose face before them but was actually more comfortable losing face before him which elicited another smile from him.

I have to admit that the interaction between you and Victor puts a constant smile on my face. Deep down we probably suspect that Victor has a soft spot for you regardless of his rank, power or influence. It is helped further that he had no idea that you are the person he had been looking for, hence this was a genuine attraction that he had for this willful and possibly stubborn girl who keeps trying to challenge him with her best, even if it may never be quite there. You are also gradually melting that cold exterior of his as he finds himself smiling more with every exchange with you. You also seem to be growing in confidence in your interaction with Victor, hacking away at the CEO image to find the real man under that persona.

While roaming around the dark passageway, Victor spotted a figure in black. He called out to the fleeting shadow and chased after him, leading you into a room. The room looked creepily familiar – an operating room with beakers of substances and a table where you had recollection of a young girl lying on it. You started to get goosebumps and fumbled. Victor suddenly blurted that he regretted this. Not regretting participating in the show but actually allowing the HBS to get to you. As he questioned you about the contract with HBS, he started harbouring his suspicions. At this point, you spotted a figure approaching and wanted to call out to him. Victor hurriedly hushed you and both of you pressed against the wall to camouflage. In his a whisper, he told you that the person is not part of the production crew and that both of you need to leave now.

As you continued down the corridor, you came to a sudden realisation that this place looked like what you had seen on the screens at the hacker summit. Cold sweat started to pour from your palms as fear gripped you. When Victor asked you what’s wrong, you shared that this whole set felt like a déjà vu, as if you have been here before when you were young, running away from something, led down the corridor by a boy. When pressed further about your past, you told him of your earliest memory of being saved in a car accident and offered a pudding that tasted exactly like Victor’s. Victor’s eyes welled up in emotion as the sudden revelation gripped both of you. Before you could say anything else, you heard footsteps and voices from behind. Holding hands, both of you ran down the corridor, navigating through the maze like layout until you reached a final flight of steps that would lead you out. Having found the boy you’ve been searching for your whole life, suddenly things didn’t seem so frightening anymore.

The door opened out to a yard. It was then that Victor revealed that the reason he knew how to get out of the building was because he had been to a similar place before. He recounted that he was able to escape the place only because he was saved by a girl. A premonition or a past memory swept over you and you instinctively threw yourself before Victor to shield him from a bolt of lightning. Extreme pain coursed through your body as your consciousness faded and you fell into Victor’s arms. Victor’s heart sank.

He recollected the incident of 17 years ago when a young girl had did the exact same thing to save him as he was trying to escape. He had spent all these years hunting for her. Just when he finally found her again, he despaired that he would lose her in exactly the same way. History has a cruel way of repeating itself. Consumed with rage, Victor used his powers to twist the space around him, hurling his assailants on either side. Cradling you in his arms, he strode forcefully forward, promising to be your shield and never letting anyone hurt you again.

Lightning ravaged the landscape, thunder shrieked and a gale picked up as it threw the world into chaos. All around him, words flashed on the walls, ‘The Queen has awakened’ as a silhouette appeared behind Victor, exclaiming that they were just getting started.

Oh my gosh! What a cliffhanger ending!! Thankfully I will be able to learn what happens in a few more days. I cannot imagine how excruciating the wait must have been for the early players. It would have been at least a 1.5 months wait for the release of the new chapters about a year ago.

Anyway I like how the relationship between you and Victor progressed through the story. Victor was caring but he didn’t come on too strong like the other characters, i.e. Gavin and Lucien. He kept a professional distance. But when he found out that you were the girl from his past, I could almost feel his overwhelming emotion that he was desperately trying to keep in check. His search was finally over and know he could have his chance to pay her back for her sacrifice. His demeanour softened almost visibly. I wonder if Victor had been a sour puss all his life because he blamed himself for not doing better. Anyway as luck would have it, both of you didn’t have much time to reunite. Apparently, getting rid of you was key to awakening the Queen and the pre-cursor for some new world power. That figure who appeared at the last part – was that Lucien?

What puzzled me slightly in this story was that I knew Victor saved you and offered you pudding. But if Victor only met you in the orphanage as a captive here, then when did the traffic incident happen? Hopefully these bits and pieces of the story will be tied up in subsequent chapters. As a final thought, I suppose HBS wanting to partner with your studio was also another ruse set up by Black Swan to trap both you and Victor. I’m beginning to think that you’re quite gullible to always be tricked.