“Oh. That’s easy. There’s really only one obvious choice. The person I want is….”

“Shawn, of course.” Valentina didn’t bother dragging it out too long as she was stared at expectantly.

As everyone looked at her with a shocked expression, she doubled down confidently.

“Yep. I want Shawn.”

“Uhm? What an unexpected twist. Why did you choose Shawn?”

“Simple. I think he’s more fit so if we’re playing a physical game, we’ll definitely dominate. Specifically, I saw that previously on the show, you’ve down-arm wrestling, fake football, and catching games. His arms look strong, so any arm games will be his win. And most importantly, I really want to hit Rio with one of the prop hammers. It looks like it will be a lot of fun.”

“Wow, I sense some serious competition flowing from you, Valentina. Since you won, any ideas for your team name?”

“Hehe. I want our team name to be Team Crush Rio!” Valentina explained while chuckling evilly and staring at Rio as if she couldn’t wait to hit him.

At his slightly shocked expression, she stuck her tongue out before heading toward Shawn.

“I like the way you think, Val. Let’s do it! Team crush Rio, let’s go!” Shawn met her halfway and gave her a double high five, which left her hands tingling from the force.

As he began laughing while she shook her hands out, she smacked him in the arm before pulling back in pain. Firm. His arms were way too firm.

“Hmph. Come on, Yuri. Let’s defeat those cocky losers. What do you want our team name to be.” Rio snorted disdainfully at the two happy people before turning to Yuri.

“Sure! How about Team Rio? To be honest, I wanted to be on your team” Yuri smiled happily as she walked over to stand beside Rio.

“Well, well, it seems that Yuri seems relieved that she got to team up with Rio. And Valentina, what a surprising choice. The rumor mill says that you and Rio are actually quite close? I would have thought you would choose him. Is this a cover-up or…?” Jimmy asked knowingly.

“Not at all. I really think Shawn and I can win, and I believe I’m equally close to both of them, same as Yuri. They took great care of us while filming. Right, Yuri? Shawn? Valentina shamelessly dragged Yuri and Shawn into the conversation.

“Yes. I would say we’re both equally close to both Rio and Shawn.” Yuri echoed.

“Yeah, I agree. We all got along pretty well since everyone’s personality is so good.” Shawn gave the hosts a disarming smile.

“Although you say this, we know everyone has their favorites. Besides, we have some behind-the-scenes footage that shows you and Rio might be much closer than you want people to think. The director kindly shared many behind-the-scenes clips that nobody had seen before and gave us permission to share them with the fans today. Curious?” Vanessa asked slyly.

“Not even a little bit.” Valentina honestly replied in a deadpan manner, causing the crowd to burst out laughing.

“Booo. You’re no fun. Why don’t we ask the audience? Do you want to see some lovely behind-the-scenes footage from the music video? We promise you won’t regret it.”

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“Show the clips! Show the clips!”

As the audience began chanting, Jimmy laughed deviously before announcing imperiously.

“Oh don’t worry, we will. But first. Bring out the hammer!!!”

In dramatic fashion, a staff member rolled out a table with a giant red squeaky hammer on it.

“Good, good. Now, this segment is called, ‘I’ve Fallen, and I can’t get up.’ The game was chosen by audience polls and will have the four of you shadowboxing in pairs. In this game, you point in a particular direction, and your opponent cannot look in the direction that you pointed. If they do, you get smacked by the hammer, and the first team to three wins gets embarrassing clips of them falling displayed. Are you ready?”

Woooooooooooo!

“Great. Let’s start with the boys! Rio. Shawn. Line up!”

As the two of them lined up, Shawn smirked while punching his hands together.

“Ready to go down, Rio?”

“Heh, you wish. Who goes first?” Rio grinned back, his eyes lighting up.

“RPS?”

“Let’s do it.”

As the camera zoomed in close on the two handsome men’s faces, the crowd of mostly women screamed while someone shouted, ‘I love you, Shawn!’

“I love you too, our Pillars!” quickly blowing a kiss at the audience, Shawn quickly focused on Rio.

After a quick round of rock, paper, and scissors, Rio won the lead. He rubbed his fingers together in excitement, which caused the crowd to go crazy as the camera once again zoomed in on his long slender fingers hands.

“Up!”

With a sharp gesture, Rio’s fingers pointed upward while Shawn quickly turned his head to the side.

“Ohhh, nice dodge from Shawn there.” Jimmy lightly commented.

“Left!”

In retaliation, Shawn quickly pointed to the left while Rio looked down.

Left. Up.

Down. Right.

Right. Left.

Left. Right.

The game began progressing rapidly as the two men began speeding up their movements while whipping their heads around.

Finally, after a flurry of rapid pointing, Rio finally took the win, pointing left as Shawn also turned left.

With an almost feral grin, he grabbed the hammer and twirled it around threateningly.

“Ready for a world of pain?”

“Whatever, man. Just get it out of the way.” Shawn rolled his eyes before bracing himself for the hit.

“With pleasure.” Using all his strength, Rio slammed the red squeaky hammer directly on Shawn’s head, and the juxtaposition between his white hair and the regal silken robe-like clothes and the cartoony red hammer with a feral grin of enjoyment on his face drove the fans wild.

“Rio, don’t hit him, hit me!”

“Pound me too, Rio!”

“Choo choo!”

Hearing the raunchy cheers, Jimmy immediately interrupted.

“Okay, let’s calm down. It was a great first round from the boys. Rio, as the winner, you stay in. Valentina, swap with Shawn.”

“Take him down, Val!”

She gave Shawn a passing high-five before moving forward.

As Valentina approached the table, she waggled her brows mischievously at Rio. In response, he rolled his eyes at her.

“Excited to lose?” he asked as he stared her down.

“You mean, am I ready to smack you? Absolutely.”

“Pride comes before a fall, Val.”

“The only one that’ll be falling today is you, Mr. Fallen Angel.”

“We’ve got some smack talk and maybe a little flirting going on. Valentina looks very confident. Rio, are you afraid?”

“Not even a little bit. Team Rio supremacy. Now and forever.”

“Valentina? Your rebuttal?”

“Team Crush Rio will win.”

“You’re so obsessed with me that your team name even has my name in it. You’re going down, angel girl.” As Rio smirked arrogantly, and Valentina narrowed her eyes at him.

“Bring it on. Demon boy!”

“Okay, okay, enough flirting, you two. Begin!”

Thump, thump, thump.

The two of them slammed their fists on their palms before simultaneously yelling.

“Rock paper scissors shoot!”

Grabbing a quick win by throwing scissors to Rio’s paper, Valentina shot Rio a smug smile before quickly grabbing the hammer and twirling it around.

Nice weight. Good contrast. Should do some damage to that cocky blond head of his.

As she immediately swung at Rio’s head, he blocked it with his hand while laughing at her with an incredulous look.

“Hey, no blocking it! Take the hit like a man!” Valentina began complaining as she swung at him again.

“Why are you hitting me? We haven’t even played the real game yet.”

“I’m practicing for when I win.”

“Then practice for when you lose as well.” Grabbing the hammer from her hands, Rio lightly bopped her on the head, repeatedly chasing her as she tried to escape from him, his longer reach making sure he got in a few good taps.

“You’re messing up my hair.”

“It was already messed up.”

“It was not! You give me that hammer!” Valentina immediately rushed him but he held the hammer high above his head where she couldn’t reach it while laughing happily, his canines flashing in the light.

“You want it?”

“Obviously. Give it here. I promise I’ll only pay you back five fold instead of 10.” She stretched her hands up once more, trying to get on her tippy toes to reach the hammer, but he casually raised it higher.

“Why don’t you try getting it? Oh wait, you’re too short.” Rio laughed mockingly as he lifted it even higher.

Too short?

Valentina looked at him incredulously.

Without heels, she was already 5’10. With the 3-inch heels Lia had put her in, she was a very respectable 6’1, okay?

That was the height of a professional basketball player!

What did he mean she was too short?

“Why don’t you try jumping for it, hmm?” Rio narrowed his eyes at her in amusement.

Jimmy: “……”

Vanessa: “……”

Audience: “……”

Was this considered a normal amount of closeness? Because from the outside, it definitely looked like those two were flirting with each other.