The drive was quick, but as Rio parked in front of a shoddy dive bar, she couldn’t help but give him a skeptical glance. The building’s window was boarded up, with a large metal gate in front of the door. There was a large dumpster by the building, and she swore she saw a rat run by.

She wouldn’t get food poisoning from eating here, would she?

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Uhm, will I die if I eat here?”

“Don’t judge things by appearance, Val. I guarantee the food is delicious.”

“If you say so. I’ll send you the hospital bill if I die.”

“Drama queen.” He snorted sarcastically before getting out of his car.

Following behind him, she was relieved to see that the inside was much cleaner that the outward appearance.

The dim lighting and worn but clean booths and tables showed that the it was a well visited establishment.

Although the lack of air conditioning was annoying, the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen convinced her stomach.

The place looked pretty full, but it was an older crowd, which made her feel relieved.

Rio familiarly went up to the counter, chatting up the cashier before placing an order.

“6 birria tacos, 2 chicken, 2 asada, 2 carnitas, two spicy consommés, 2 spicy mole sauces, and two house special beers, please. And some sopapillas, extra cinnamon sugar.”

Quickly paying and grabbing the receipt and the two beers, they grabbed a booth toward the back.

“We’re wearing school uniforms. They’re not going to card us?”

“I'm a regular. Don’t tell anyone, though.”

Grabbing the plastic cup of beer, she quickly took a sip, feeling her body cool down immediately.

As she kicked her feet while waiting for the food to be ready, two girls around her age approached them nervously.

As they stood nervously by their booth, briefly glancing at her before focusing on Rio with their faces blushing, Valentina felt a bad feeling churning through her body.

Don’t tell her they had been recognized. Patting her face to make sure her thick glasses were still on her face, she shot Rio a glare before smiling politely at them.

This punk! He promised that they wouldn’t be recognized! She would have to beat him up later.

“Uhm, hello, we don’t mean to interrupt, but you’re Rio, right? From the Fallen Angels? Can we get a photo? We promise not to post it, we would just like to have it.”

“Uhm, could you sign uhhh, a napkin for me as well.” The second girl asked nervously, her eyes stuck on Rio’s face.

“Sure thing. But it’s a secret that I'm here. I'm actually hiding from my manager, so I’ll be in a lot of trouble if you post it.”

“We promise, we won't share it!”

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“For sure. I’ll hold onto it until the moment I die!”

“Well it’s not that deep. What are your names?” Rio replied with a practiced smile

“Kate and Lauren!”

Pulling out a marker from god knows where he quickly autographed a napkin.

As the girls pulled out their phones to take a selfie.

“Would you like me to take the photo for you?” Valentina asked politely.”

“Please do. And use the flash, please!” Lauren cried out, almost in tears.

Grabbing the phones, Valentina quickly took some individual photos while the three of them posed.

“Please take a look and let me know if they’re okay. I can retake them if you want.”

“I'm sure they’re fine. Thank you so much. Please enjoy your date!”

As the two girls ran off, Valentina noticed them sneakily taking a photo of the two of them. Ducking her head, she glared at Rio.

Seeing his smug smile, Valentina wanted to beat him up.

“What are you so proud for? You said we wouldn’t be discovered.”

“What can I do? I'm just that popular.” Rio chuckled, “Chill. It’s fine anyway. I cleared our outing with Roman.”

“Did you really? I thought we were sneaking out.” She reminded him.

“More or less? It’s not a big deal. We’re supposed to be close friends, right? Close friends get food and drinks together. I come here with Shawn all the time when I'm not on a diet. Besides, they promised not to share it. And it’s probably the last time I’ll see you for a while since you're filming far away. I'm sure you haven’t had the opportunity to go out and cut loose since you filmed my music video. Let’s drink until we drop today. My treat. If you can out-drink me, I’ll even let you ask me anything you want. Even if you ask me to transfer all the money in my account to you, I’ll do it. Interested?”

At his devious smile, she laughed evilly.

“Oh, really. Prepare to go broke, then. I’ll have you know I have a very high tolerance.” And a bonus system ability. Snickering like a villain, she immediately chugged the beer, happy to see the system’s alert saying that it was processing the alcohol.

“With that tiny body? I’d like to see you try.”

“Wait and see, Mr. Fallen Angel.”

“I'm waiting with my eyes wide, Miss Fallen Angel. You’ll lose the same way you lost all the games today.”

The food was ready, and once Rio got it, she dug in without any shame.

Delicious!

It was so good!

Not even caring about her appearance, she quickly took a bit, fanned the steam out of her mouth, took another drink of beer, and continued, quickly devouring her three tacos while eyeing Rio’s.

He quickly slid them closer to him while sliding her his credit card.

“Mine, you glutton. If your stomach is empty, go get us some more drinks and our sopapillas. I guarantee if you if you’ve never had them, they’ll change your life.”

“Fine, fine. I’ve never seen a man eat as slow as you. You put turtles to shame.”

“It’s called savoring the flavor of the food. Something you’ve apparently never learned, you animal.” Rio retorted before shoving an entire taco into his mouth.

“Whatever.” Waving her hand, she laughed before getting up to get more beers and the sopapillas.

As she bit into the fluffy texture, Valentina couldn’t help but moan at the delicious taste before she began fanning her mouth as steam began escaping.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Quickly sipping her beer, she continued alternating between the two.

“Calm down. It’s not running away.” Rio laughed before quickly digging into his own.

“It’s so good!”

“I know,”

The two of them began talking about random topics as they drank. From their childhood to funny stories Rio had about his experience of being a celebrity.

Hearing him describe an escapade between him and Shawn as they ran away from their manager, Valentina burst out laughing, not noticing the glances being shot toward them.

It wasn’t that people recognized them for being celebrities; it was just that it was really rare to see such a young, attractive couple in a place like this.

The table quickly filled with multiple cups, but neither of them showed any signs of slowing down.

Hearing everything about the childhood that the original Valentina had experienced made her happy that she truly had someone who cared for her, but it also made her sad that she had felt so utterly alone once she had lost contact with that person.

But at least there was someone who cherished her memory and remembered her in a positive light, and she would be grateful for that.

It was late, very late, when Valentina and Rio walked out of the little restaurant. To be honest, they were both quite drunk and leaned on each other to make it out the door. They had both decided to call it a draw, and as they went out, they sang some random country song they heard on the radio on their way to his car.

“I’m calling……a taxi…do you need a ride?” Rio barely got out as he lay on the hood of his car.

Laughing at his red face, Valentina sat on it while kicking her legs.

“No…I’ll call a ride hic.”

Giggling again, she helped him onto the hood as he sat beside her.

As she pulled out her phone to call Kaiser, she stared at the screen blankly.

Unfortunately, it was dead.

Staring at it in a daze while system notifications kept ringing in her vision about the alcohol, she turned to Rio and held it up.

“My-my phone is dead. Hic. Do you have a charger?”

“No, I use a different charger. Do you want to use my phone?”

“Ya.”

Taking it, she dialed Kaiser’s number, the only one she knew from memory, but it kept on ringing and ringing with nobody answering it.

“Why won’t he pick up?” her sad drunken voice sounded out.

“Who?”

“Hehe, Secret.”

“You’re not sly; I know who it is. Tell me.” Rio rolled his eyes at her, not deceived by her in the slightest. Look at that face blushing happily. Clearly, it was that man.

“It’s a secret. But he needs to show some sincerity and come pick me up.” Unconsciously, Valentina began pouting before dialing the number again and again and again.

It just continued ringing before stopping, giving her the dial tone.

She dialed it again and again with the same result.

Seeing her getting frustrated, Rio grabbed the phone.

“He might be asleep; it is pretty late, you know. Since you can’t reach him, why don’t you stay at my place for the night? I have an extra bedroom, and you can charge your phone and head back in the morning.”

In her daze, the words sounded good, so she sent a message to Kaiser, just in case, letting him know she wouldn’t be home.

Done with her due diligence, she leaned against the windshield and dozed off while enjoying the night breeze.

It was a pretty good day. She worked, ate good food, and had good conversations and drinks. Although she wanted to go back to see a certain someone, it probably wouldn’t be good for Luca to see her drunk.

When the taxi finally arrived, they staggered into it before slumping into the back seat.

As the taxi took them to Rio’s apartment in the downtown area, Valentina slowly fell asleep in the car.

She didn’t wake up even as Rio carried her into his apartment and laid her on the guest bed before covering her with the blanket.