Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 11 Final Peace

Chapter 11 starts a new arc of the main storyline entitled The Darkest Hour. It was first released on the SEA server on Apr 30 2020. The climb from level 45 to level 50 is getting harder as it takes about 3 days now to increase 2 levels. I managed to finally unlock this chapter after about 1 week of daily quests and events.

Spoilers ahead!

You awoke in a hospital bed to the sound of heartbeat monitor and gurgle of IV drip. Though initially a little disoriented, you gradually recalled the events leading up to the searing pain before you blacked out. Instinctively you called out to Victor. He appeared at the doorway, shocked to see you finally awake. When you saw his face, memories flooded back about how both of you tried to escape as children and then a younger Victor saving you from the oncoming car when you were five years old. Emotions welled up within you. Victor approached your bed tentatively, not daring to believe that you are conscious. After making an abrupt comment, he quickly left the room to call the doctor, when in fact he needed the space to collect himself.

You twitched in pain as a team of doctors examined you. Victor told you that the wound you suffered was deep and that you would need to stay in hospital for two weeks. You also learnt that you had been unconscious for a week, with him watching over you all this while. You felt apologetic that a busy man like him had to do that. Though originally unwilling, Victor finally relented after you pestered him to tell you what happened since that day. Victor matter-of-factly reported that HBS had made a huge misstep with the production. They had since fired all their local staff and left the country for good. You asked about the white light and he quickly brushed it off saying that something like this would never happen again. While you wanted to ask further, you knew he wasn’t going to tell you more except to rest. You are puzzled as to how HBS was able to design the set to look so creepily similar to your childhood memories.

Considering that both of you finally reunited after all these years and that chapter 10 ended in an almost tragedy, I would have thought that Victor would become a lot more personable. However it appears to me that he continues to be quite stoic and not very good in expressing his feelings to anyone at all. I’m also a little cheesed off about how he refused to let you in on what exactly is going on, behaving just like Gavin in keeping the truth from you. I also feel that as the MC after going through such a trauma, that you should probably be a bit more concerned about your wounds and any repercussions on your future lifestyle, than being apologetic about the CEO spending his time watching over you.

As you got accustomed to your surroundings, you found that you were hospitalised in the top floor of a private hospital and the only patient on this level. Victor had set up his work desk next to you and you imagined he must have been working day in day out by your side all this time. As you stared at his face, wondering about this, he got conscious about your staring and teased you about it. Changing the subject, you told him you were hungry. Apparently good ole Victor had already gone one step ahead and gotten Mr Mills to deliver ingredients to the hospital so he could cook for you. It was a delicious blend of porridge, potatoes and blueberries. As you could not move your arms without hurting your back, Victor fed you awkwardly all the way. Awwwww…

Later, you received a call from Kiro apologising that he cannot come see you at the hospital as he is filming in Northern Europe. While discussing what kind of souvenir to get for you, you sensed something off with him. He told you that he had to make a big decision and this decision could hurt some people. However he felt it was necessary so that he can protect the things he want. He wasn’t sure if you would still be able to accept him. You assured him you would always be his biggest fan.

The next morning, you were surprised to get a visit from Lucien. He looked pain and rather conflicted seeing you. As he placed the flowers he brought next to you, you commented that bellflowers were out of season and it must be fate that it was just growing outside his window. He told you that it was fate and a miracle. To which you thought he was going to say accident. He quickly corrected you that there are no accidents in this world and everything happens for a reason. When you said you didn’t understand, he replied that you would.

Victor entered the room and both men meet finally. You noted a chilly reception between the two and surmised they knew each other. Lucien told you to get a good rest and left. Victor followed after him. Outside the room, Lucien asked Victor if it was really the best course of action to keep the truth from you. Victor replied fiercely that he would determine the course of this world, to which Lucien calmly replied that no one can ever know how the cat will get out of the bag and walked off. Victor saw him off with a raging power swirling within him, not realising that where he stood, a small black space seemed to have been ripped apart before closing again.

This has got to be the best scene I have read in this game thus far and I actually read it over and over again several times. The BGM is also one of my favorite building up towards a climatic finish. The tension and contrast between Victor’s fierce power and Lucien’s calm confidence was awesome. I was rather sad that Lucien left so soon and also agreed with the perspective that it was pointless keeping the truth from the MC. Victor seemed overly confident that he would be able to control the future. The last part about the crack in in space was quite an unexpected twist. I am beginning to wonder how much of this Loveland City is real and how much of it is actually a dimension created by some being, which could be Victor, since he was so confident he could control the course of the world.

When Victor returned to the room, you asked if he knew Lucien. He said yes then clammed up, signaling no intention to answer you further. He coaxed you to sleep and you pretended to, all along spying his actions with half-opened eyes. He picked up a set of documents on his desk and looked really tensed upon reading its content. When he caught you peeking, he left the room with the document.

After four days since you awoke, you started to feel restless so you asked Victor when you might be discharged. He told you that you would probably need to be hospitalised for another half a month. You negotiated with him and he agreed that you could discharge in 10 days provided the doctors gave the go-ahead. You wondered since when did Victor call the shots on your personal matters. He also agreed to let you ease back into work to pass the time so it became a rhythm of both of you working together in the room. It was soon the weekend and you requested for your colleagues to visit. The next morning you awoke with a start and found your colleagues staring at you. You learnt from Anna that Victor had arranged for the visit and that he had personally been running your studio in your absence. Thinking about how busy he is already and going the extra mile for you, you felt very touched.

After they left, you walked over to Victor’s table to get a pen to make notes on a draft. You accidentally bumped into the documents causing a pile to fall to the floor. As you picked them up, you saw a document with the words HBS printed on it. Curiosity got the better of you and you read it, learning that the biggest investor in HBS is none other than Black Swan. As you tried to piece the information together, Victor entered the room and you hurriedly buried the documents back into his pile. Victor eyed you suspiciously and you quickly explained that you were just looking for a pen. After some thought you decided to come forward and ask Victor if there was something he was keeping from you. He answered yes but quickly side-stepped it by saying you have terrible sleeping habits. As you go back to your work, you noticed that he had now locked away that document into his drawer.  Victor must have his reasons for keeping this from you and you can only trust his judgment and wait for the right time for him to explain the matter to you.

One week passed and it was now two days before your discharge. Victor had continued to personally see to your well- being, taking care of his company and investigating the whole matter of your assailants. You realised he was looking more and more tired so you insisted that starting from tomorrow, he needn’t come visit you anymore. That night as you were tossing and turning in your bed, you suddenly heard an unusual rustling sound outside your room. You also felt the tingle of electricity crackling. You pressed the help button rapidly but no one responded. You crept up to your door with the heaviest folder you can find. Suddenly the lights went out and you felt the pull of gravity which sent you falling, just as the windows burst open sending a gust of wind into your room. The heaviness in the atmosphere felt like someone crushing you. Just as you felt you were going to lose consciousness, everything stopped. You were grabbed by a pair of hands and you screamed, only to hear Victor’s voice.

Victor held you close and asked if everything was alright. When you finally opened your eyes, you realised that everything in the room was frozen in place by Victor’s power. You asked him what happened and he said it was just a power outage and that everything was fine as long as he is there. Seriously? You were on the brink of being assaulted again by Black Swan operatives and all Victor can say is that it was a power outage. How much of a dummy did he really take you for? In any case, rather than pursuing the matter, you were puzzled that he was still around in the middle of the night and he admitted that he was just in the next room. When you told him that you couldn’t sleep after all this excitement, he passed you a jacket and asked you to follow him.

Victor led you to the balcony of the room and you were mesmerised by the beauty of the city lights below. Victor told you his method of relieving stress was to stare down at the city beneath him. How very like him. You were puzzled that a guy as calm and composed as him could have anxieties too. He told you that work and life usually doesn’t bother him but there was someone that he couldn’t stop worrying about. You told him that he seemed more approachable now though still rather assertive over what you can or cannot do. You also asked him if he was taking care of you now because he felt guilty about you saving him, to which he replied not entirely. You decided to press on if it was about the incident as children and he said you were really young then. It seemed that he didn’t want to give a direct answer so you changed the topic. You told him that you didn’t want to be protected and sheltered all the time and to be told the truth so that you can make decisions for yourself.

Not too long after, drowsiness overtook you and you fell asleep. As you slept next to Victor, he whispered softly that he had felt nothing but only guilt and regret towards the childhood you. He also vowed to protect you from whatever is out there and that you needed to behave until the time is right. I felt a little disappointed hearing that Victor only felt guilt towards you but perhaps he didn’t quite finish his sentence either. What does he feel for the adult you now then?

It was finally day of discharge. Victor gave you a lift back and informed you that he would start to fetch you to and from work everyday. You tried to reject his offer to no avail. Back in office, you realised that the entire security team had been replaced due to some safety concerns in the area. After an incident with Minor that caused the guards nearby to overreact and tackle him, you finally realised that these are bodyguards who have been specially hired by Victor to watch over you. You confronted him and he finally told you that the investment company that funded HBS was an international tycoon who still had influence within the city so you still needed protection. You tried to get used to the new routine of Victor picking you up to and from work, his daily calls to check on you and also the bodyguards who have stopped trying to camouflage but are now blatantly following and watching you in the open. This has unnerved not just you but those you worked with as well.

Finally unable to take it any further, you decided to confront Victor about giving you personal space and trusting you to take care of yourself. He dismissed your concerns, citing safety first and wanted to hear no more of it. Fed up with his attitude, you raised your voice and said that he wasn’t like this previously. Now he was just this unreasonable and domineering person. Your words stung him and it showed on his face. You instantly regretted your words since Victor had been nothing but caring towards you all this while. After a long silence, Victor agreed that he will stop the rides and calls but the bodyguards will remain, watching you from a distance. He also told you that there has always only been one Victor.

That evening working late at your desk, you felt a sudden pang of regret. Meanwhile Victor watched you from his car outside your office before driving off. After this episode with Victor’s constant monitoring, I am beginning to feel rather creeped out by him. Personal space and freedom is very important to me and someone who cannot give me that or trusts me enough to take care of myself scores negatively in my books, especially if he’s doing it out of guilt and also treating you like some precious belonging rather than as a person.

Finally back into the groove of work, the team decided it was a good time to revisit old episodes of Miracle Finder and produce updates on interesting ones. The first Miracle Finder guest was someone who could glaze beautiful out of this world pottery pieces. As you studied the notes of the show, you realised that your dad had visited him just before his death. Knowing that this couldn’t be any coincidence, you paid him a visit at a lonely shack on a hill. Uncle Chuck didn’t allow any other visitors in so you had to call off your guards before you could speak with him. He shared with you about his special powers which was essentially the ability to create a space in another dimension that had unique glazing qualities.

As you spoke, he shared that it was your dad who taught him to embrace his powers rather than look upon himself as a freak. He added that the day of his death, your father had visited him to find something he had left in the special space but left hurriedly after a phone call. This brought back memories of how your dad was constantly fearing for your safety just like how Victor is now. He offered you a visit to this special dimension and handed you a cup with a picture of you. It was meant to be your birthday present from your dad. Inspired you decided to make a cup for Victor as an apology gift.

With the completed gift in your hand, you came out of the special dimension and found to your surprise, an anxiety filled Victor, pale and panting at the door of the house. Before you could say anything, Victor strode up to you and embraced you tightly. You felt caught up in the moment and apologised for all the mean things you had said about him. He also apologised for constraining you in the name of safety and that he would return to being the Victor you knew before. Before you left the house, Uncle Chuck told Victor that he still had time to change because time is the future. As you left the shack, you didn’t noticed that a rift in space above Uncle Chuck’s house was just closing up.

Back in the car, Victor told you that you had been away for 6 hours. When you shared that you were in the special dimension, he told that that time passed differently in those spaces and could be altered. You asked if time could be altered, could you not return to the past to find out the truth. Victor said you couldn’t as this was a different space time… You told him you were tired of running from the truth and it was time for you to be brave and face it. Back in the city as you approached your apartment, you saw many police cars parked nearby. After dropping you off, Victor was approached by a certain Special Task Force Commander Leto seeking Victor’s cooperation in matters of the future and to ensure your safety. Victor was not interested in any deal and drove away.

Meanwhile in a far far away barren land, Gavin was locked in a battle with an unknown person who had threatened your safety and life. After a fierce standoff, his attacker retreated claiming that he had already fulfilled his purpose of delaying Gavin. Gavin recalled the promise he made to you next to your hospital bed to find whoever did this to you and make them pay for it. Suddenly he felt an intense power in his chest threatening to burst forth. As the gale around him intensified into a black vortex, Gavin fell into its darkness.

In this latter part of the chapter, it became apparent to me that people with special powers were not actually hiding in secret. They were profiled through a show like Miracle Finder. That probably explains why you are not entirely shocked about coming into contact with them or learning that you had powers. What seemed to be unraveling though is this whole concept of different worlds and space dimensions where time flowed differently. It also appears that Victor’s powers was causing cracks in space, and Gavin’s power also seemed to be unstable. I wonder if there is a price to be paid for using Evol. Next chapter reveals at level 53. Thankfully since it’s becoming harder to level up now.