After she quickly showered and changed into a comfy sweater and shorts, Valentina slowly made her way down the stairs. She could smell the delicious scent of fried chicken and her stomach began to rumble.
Luca and Kaiser were both seated in the living room and when Luca saw her, he immediately ran over and threw himself at her.
She immediately picked him up, hugging him tightly as he wrapped his arms around her neck.
“Hi, my little nugget. How are you doing?” she gently stroked his back as he snuggled into her body.
He didn't say anything, just shook his head and held her tighter. She saw Kaiser getting up and open his mouth and she quickly shook her head at him.
Disregarding her head shake, Kaiser continued to say what he wanted to.
"Is this how you treat a sick person Luca? Get down.” He calmly ordered causing Luca to flinch.
Although her arms were shaking from holding Luca, she shot a glare at him before whispering to Luca.
“Just ignore him. He’s jealous of you. Shall we ignore him and go eat some food? There’s some delicious fried chicken.”
Feeling him nod, she completely ignored Kaiser and walked to the dining room. On the table, there was a spread of food plated nicely. She could see her soy garlic chicken, spicy chicken, and side dishes beautifully arranged and her stomach made its presence known once more.
After setting Luca down on his seat, she made him a plate with a little of everything before making her own.
As she bit into the juicy crispy chicken, the crunch audible, she couldn’t help but sigh happily. This was life. All she needed was a cold beer to wash it down. As she was thinking that, a large cup of questionable liquid plopped down next to her.
Seeing the 32-ounce cup of questionable green and black liquid with a pungent smell, she glanced up at Kaiser who took a seat across from her. In his hands were her beloved cold Guinness and he gave her a satisfied smile.
“You want this?” Kaiser asked as he lightly shook the bottle.
“Yes.” Valentina quickly nodded her head. Her mouth was starting to burn up and she wanted something cold to wash it down.
“You can have it once you finish that.” he nodded to the cup placed next to her plate.
“And what is this? It looks like poison.”
“I believe it’s called Super Health Juice Max. Carefully curated by the best doctors to help you feel better. Drink it.”
Valentina immediately shook her head. No way! From the way it smelled, if she drank this, she would directly ascend to the next life. No beer was worth drinking that poison, she would just drink water instead.
“No thank you,” Valentina replied as politely as she could as she pushed it away.
Kaiser gave her a devilish smirk before turning to Luca and speaking gently.
“Luca. You saw the doctor came by to drop this off right? He said that your Auntie Val needs to drink this to feel better and not be sick anymore. It’s her medicine. Can you convince her to drink it?”
Luca looked between her and Kaiser before putting down his chicken. His eyes softly watered up as he stared up at her.
“Auntie Val. Even if it’s bitter you have to drink your medicine to get well. When I'm sick I have to do it too.”
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Seeing his sad eyes, although Valentina was cursing Kaiser out in her head, she gently smiled at Luca.
“I’m feeling all better Luca, see. I'm nice and strong again.” She flexed her invisible muscles in hopes that the child would believe her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
“You have to drink your medicine, Auntie Val. I'll get you a chocolate, so it doesn’t taste bad after.” Luca’s expression was surprisingly firm as he stared at her.
Without waiting for her response, Luca immediately got down and ran deng deng deng to the kitchen.
Once left, Valentina turned to Kaiser who gently smiled at her.
“Drink your medicine, Auntie Val, so you can get better.” Kaiser laughingly echoed his son.
Seeing her expression of refusal until death, he decided to change his tactics.
“Do you want to set a bad example for Luca? That he can say no to medicine when he’s sick?”
“I’m not sick. I'm fine now.” She retorted.
“He doesn’t know that. All he knows is that you were passed out with a fever and were sick. So-”
Kaiser got up and gently reached across the table, placing the scary cup directly in front of her.
“Drink up Valentina.” He smirked as he sat back down.
“…devil” Valentina couldn’t help but mutter.
“So I’ve heard.”
Chuckling lightly, Kaiser opened the Guinness bottle with an opener and lightly tapped the bottle against her cup of liquid.
“Bottoms up Auntie Val” he laughed as he took a sip of the cold beer, sighing in happiness as he drank it.
Valentina could only glare at him until Luca returned. In his hands was her favorite chocolate bonbon. He carefully climbed up on his chair, placed the chocolate by her hand, and stared at her with large expectant eyes.
Seeing the sparkling green eyes that looked as if they were cheering her on to the fullest extent and Kaiser's mischievous gray eyes that stared at her as if she was a mouse he was playing with, she couldn’t help but sigh internally. She vowed that she would get Kaiser back for this somehow.
After shooting him one last glare, she hesitantly picked up the large cup in her hands. After a moment of hesitation, she closed her eyes and took a sip before almost gagging.
It was the most unique horrible thing she had ever tasted in her life. The taste was somehow bitter, pungent, spicy, sweet, and crunchy yet slimy. It coated her tongue and filled her nose with the disgusting taste, and she could feel her eyes start to water a bit.
Before she could put it down, she heard clapping. When she opened her eyes, both Luca and Kaiser slowly clapped her hands.
“Good job Auntie Val. You're almost done!” Luca cheered.
“Yes. Good job Auntie Val. Make sure you drink it all up to the last drop before you leave the table.” Kaiser echoed.
“Thank you my little nugget,” Valentina said even though she wanted to cry. He was so sweet, lying to her like that. Sucking it up, she plugged her nose and began to chug the drink.
It took her over ten minutes, and she wanted to throw up more than once, but she finally finished it.
She immediately unwrapped the chocolate and popped it in her mouth, sighing as the sweetness spread, eliminating the disgusting taste.
“Good job Auntie Val. All done!” Luca said again while gently patting her arm.
“Yes. Thank you.” She replied.
“Good job Valentina. Now Luca I have a mission for you.” Kaiser turned to the small boy with a serious expression.
As he began talking, Valentina felt a shiver go down her spine.
“Mission?”
“Yes. The doctor said your Auntie Val has to drink this daily. That way she won't get sick again. Your mission is to make sure she drinks it every day without fail at breakfast. Can you do that?”
“Yes! I’ll watch her!” Luca cheered happily.
As Kaiser smiled at her once again, Valentina felt as if her soul would exit her body immediately.
Daily?
She had to drink this unknown, disgusting slop daily?
Before she could protest and as if it were waiting for an opportunity to pile on her for bullying it, the system gave her an alert.
[+10 Body Health]
[Host has ingested 32 ounces of extremely beneficial medicine. Each ingredient in the mix is of the highest quality. Every 24 hours when the host ingests medicine of this quality, Body Health will increase by 10]
[Displaying status]
[Name: Valentina Salazar]
[Age: 22]
[Current Level: LV 1]
[Current Specs:
Visual beauty: 91/100
Acting Skills: 65/100
Vocal skills: 35/100
Dancing Skills: 20/100
Body Health: -99983/100
Current fame level: -90090
Active effects: Intermediate Acting, Low-Level Recovery, Expert While Wearing Heels]
No way! Valentina wanted to burst into tears. She had been carefully taking care of her body and health for weeks and it had only increased one or two measly points. Even completing her first main task had only increased it by 5 points! She had even lowered herself to beg the system to help her find a way to increase her body health with no such luck.
Yet somehow, this disgusting medical slop had directly increased it by 10 points in one go? If she somehow drank this slop daily for 28 years, her health could finally be like a normal person. She wanted to cheer since she found a way to escape coughing blood up daily but seriously the price was too high. She couldn’t force her body to drink this questionable drink daily.
As she opened her mouth to refuse directly, Luca grabbed her hand while staring at her with a serious expression.
“Auntie Val don’t worry. I will bring your medicine and candy to you every day!” Luca’s eyes sparkled.
“I know you can do it! You will not be sick anymore.” Luca’s eyes sparkled even more.
“I believe in you, Auntie Val.” Luca’s eyes sparkled so brightly that she felt blinded as she stared at him.
Valentina: “…” my sweet summer child, please don’t stare at me with those intensely pure eyes. Your auntie doesn’t want to drink this poisonous type of drink for the rest of her life. She turned to surreptitiously glare at Kaiser. This was all his fault.
“Good job Luca. I think you should personally bring the drink to your Auntie Val each morning. That way you can watch to make sure she drinks it. What do you think Valentina?”
Kaiser simply ignored her glare as he smiled radiantly. This special concoction was something he had forced his doctor and friend to concoct using the highest quality medicinal ingredients that were beneficial to the body. Just the portion given to Valentina today cost 5000 dollars but seeing her face flush and look a little bit healthier after drinking it made him quite satisfied.
Since the effects were so good. He planned on making her drink it every single morning and maybe even at night. At home, he would have Luca force her to drink it and if she went filming, he would still find a way to send it there. Thinking about it…..since she would be coming to Platinum Entertainment sooner rather than later, he should begin finding a qualified manager so that he could start crafting a care plan for Valentina to nurture her body and career.
As he carefully ordered his plans, he smiled at the distraught expression that appeared on Valentina’s face.