Trust—Fri almost choked on the wine. Who was he to talk about trust? It should have been her saying these words, but she pushed those thoughts away. Also, who relaxes by doing this? Usually, when you're told to relax, you read a book or listen to music, meditate, or find a hobby. She looked at him dumbfounded. Just use him, she reminded herself. Push aside your anger.

“Last time you said you have insomnia?” she asked, trying a slice of steak. The moment the flavors hit her tongue, she couldn’t help but audibly moan, how she had missed eating real food. "Or something like that," she waved her fork.

"How do you survive?"

“They pump me with hormones that trick my body into thinking that I had slept. It helps but doesn’t remove the exhaustion, for which I had a chip installed to manipulate signals to my brain. Everything would be fine if the doctors didn’t say that it's detrimental to my health to be so riled up. Who would have guessed that with all this science and all this technology, we still can’t get around stress?” He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. His mahogany locks looked so silky that she wanted to reach out and run her fingers through them.

“What do you want from me?” she asked.

“Stay the night,” he replied.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he held out a hand, interrupting her.

“You help me relax, and I’ll lend you my power. Every time I call you, I'll pay 50,000 credits." He looked at her. "Don’t be so stubborn, Fri. You used to jump at the thought of spending time with me,” he looked at her with a pitiful expression, waiting for a response.

"I'm not going to sleep with you for money?" she was outraged, "do you think I'm a prostitute?"

Now he looked at her dumbfounded. She had never seen such an expression on his face. He laughed.

"I wasn't talking about sex," he kept laughing.

Heat crept up her face as she turned red from embarrassment.

He cleared his throat, "All I want is for you to spend time with me, go to events with me, and be at my beck and call. Nothing more."

Emelia had been right; this was a great opportunity. He was willing to pay so much for her to spend time with him. Plus, if she kept her heart guarded this time, he wouldn’t be able to hurt her. A few days would earn her life-changing money. More money than she knew what to do with. She wanted to see how far she could push her luck, “Make it 70, and we’ll have a deal.”

He sneered, “That’s my Fri.” He held his hand out to her. She took it, and her balance instantly increased by 70,000.

"Today, you spend the night with me; tomorrow, I'll return you to level 1," he let her hand go. "Once you warm up, we'll discuss moving you out of 1."

“The maids will take you to the bath and give you a change of clothing, and then you can return here. Be ready by 10.”

A robot maid took her away, leading her to a large room with a bath the size of a pool. “Shampoo, Conditioner, Masks, and Body wash have all been set up for your choosing. Press the screen to the left,” the maid indicated, “and choose what you want; it will appear in the right corner of the bath. When you are done, clothing has been placed by the door. If you need anything, just call my name ‘A98’, and enjoy.” She said and backed out the door.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She settled into the hot water, tension being washed away by the warmth that engulfed her body. Back in her apartment, they would be lucky if the shower worked, and even when it did, the water never lasted for longer than 10 minutes. A blissful sigh escaped her lips. This wasn’t too bad. She could get used to this. The bath had most likely been prepared for her. She couldn’t see him ever using it. It took too long; he preferred showers, as they were more efficient and quicker. If he had a choice, he probably wouldn’t shower. Instead, he would take those few precious minutes to work. At least, his workaholic tendencies did not change; if anything, they had grown worse. But were they bad enough to cause him this much stress? There must have been something much deeper than that to keep him up. After what felt like an eternity, she got out, dried herself, and put on the silken white pajama pants and top.

He lay in a cocoon of deep red sheets, his eyes scanning information invisible to her, reading something. She crawled into the bed and sat beside him.

"Can we return to the past," he said, not looking at her.

"No, too much has changed; you've hurt me too much, Ryuu," Fri replied.

"Then pretend for me today."

She sighed, "Okay."

“I want to rest my head on your lap,” he didn’t wait for her response. He laid his head down on her lap, looking up at her. Lingering, always thinking about something.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” she asked, running her hand through his hair. Tomorrow, you'll forget this day like a dream, she told herself.

“No,” he replied and closed his eyes. “I want to know how you have been.”

She massaged his scalp, “There aren’t many good things to tell Ryuu.”

“I just enjoy listening to your voice.”

She sighed, “Well, I made a few friends at level one, and before you say anything, not like those friends at the academy. There, you need to support each other if you want to survive. Credits only get you so far.” His lashes were long and thick, his skin clear. There was no argument that this man was near perfect. His parents had engineered him to be the best, with the best genetics, body, and mind; they just forgot to leave humanity in him. But it must be hard to find humanity when you were never loved.

“There is Emelie; she’s my neighbor, and her partner Anthony who is an ex-cop. The city had also chewed him up and spat him out,” His body relaxed, his head becoming heavier in her lap. “Then, at the school, we have Rob. He’s slowly going senile, but he’s the oldest teacher there. It's not like the academy; we don’t have supplies, and the building is slowly falling apart. Maybe one day I’ll show up to a pile of junk,” and he was asleep. She sat there for a long time until her legs had gone numb, until she was sure he had fallen asleep. Ryuu held an unnatural obsession with her; she was like a pacifier to him. There was something psychologically wrong with the man, but it was out of her understanding. One day, he had just chosen her to be this figure who had a surprising amount of influence over him.

Carefully, she moved from under him and made her way to the other side of the room to an empty armchair. He had luckily not taken her purse, leaving it on the black wood coffee table. Shuffling inside, she pulled out a pack of emoti-cigs; opening the pink metal canister, she pulled out sleep, a small blue tube that smelled of lavender and rancid chemicals.

“Miss, do you need anything,” the robot maid from earlier approached her.

“No,” Fri took a puff, blowing out dark blue smoke. The taste of lavender infiltrated her mouth. It was a miracle these cigs sold since they barely worked enough to have an effect. A sigh escaped her lips, and she looked at the night sky. Maybe it was because people wanted to believe that they worked. If one wished for the harder stuff, they needed to buy it off the streets or...She looked at Ryuu’s sleeping form. Be one of the elites. In his time, he had tried it all; it was surprising he had survived long enough. She had found him overdosed a few times on the brink of death. Most times, she would find him incapacitated or amid orgies. Too many times, she had been there as he shook from coming off countless substances. He had been a troubled young man. As troubled as they came.

At one point on level 1, she had tried a handful of drugs. Happiness, sleep, euphoria, stickers for dreams, tablets for visions. Nothing ever worked to fully drown out reality. She glanced at the man, now fast asleep.

Ryuu... she understood him now more than she had before.