It was finally a rest day. With fewer contestants, the villa didn’t seem as noisy as before. Not knowing what else to do since he had no access to the internet, the only thing he could think of was to work out.

The workout made him sweaty, so he decided to shower again, but before he could make his way to the bathroom, he was cornered by William.

“Don’t get too comfortable, I’ll make sure you’re the one eliminated next week.”

Sighing, Faer pushed him away and entered the bathroom, forgetting to lock the door.

In the midst of showering, Faer could hear the door open but he paid it no mind. He thought it was probably one of the guys wanting to take a leak and it was his fault for not locking the door in the first place. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist in case something unforeseen happened.

A minute or so later the shower door opened and a bunch of girls started laughing then stopped.

“How could girls be so shameless as to barge into an obviously occupied bathroom and expose the person using it like this?” He didn’t the disgust in his voice.

Hearing the commotion, the contestants along with the cameraman Noel ran to the bathroom.

Upon seeing the scene they froze.

‘What the hell were those girls thinking? The cameraman is getting everything!’

William was annoyed. He specifically told them to go in and stealthily take their clothes off when he exited the shower then scream so they could attract attention, then the cameraman would see Faer dressed while a bunch of girls was half naked! No one would believe what he had planned now! Anyone could see it was obviously the girls in the wrong!

“Bro! What the hell are you doing to these girls?” One of the guys said.

“Are you an idiot? Can’t you see I’m the one in the shower and being barged in on?” Faer’s voice was insipid.

The guy who spoke out flinched and grumbled under his breath.

“I’m glad someone’s here to record this, that way I won’t have to be slandered and labeled as a pervert. If you guys are finished ogling, I’d like to finish my shower.”

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No one said anything as they made their way out the door.

‘You’d think they’d be more original in their schemes. Childs play.’ Faer flashed a devilish grin as he finished up with his shower.

Back in the living room, the contestants were whispering amongst themselves.

“Fuck! Whose stupid idea was that? When the viewers see the clip, they’ll know it was a setup!”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that! What do we do now?”

“Ugh! I can’t believe I listened to you, William! I was the one holding onto the shower door. Everyone will see that!”

“Ingrates! It’s not my fault you failed. Clean your mess up by yourselves.” William walked away like none of this was his business.

Now in his bedroom which had one less occupant since one of his roommates got eliminated, he laid on his bed and thought about what would he do if he didn’t get into the top three.

Having confidence was fine to a degree. Faer wouldn't foolishly believe because he did something to sway the viewer's impression of him that it’ll be smooth sailing from now on. They only had four more challenges and he had to do well in all of them if he wanted to be in the top three. Actually, the top three wasn’t good enough, Faer wanted to be the winner. He didn’t quite know just how much he wanted to win until today.

‘Guess I’ll have to try harder. By the way, at the photo shoot the other day I could’ve sworn I saw Sahai Bedell. Hmm, must’ve been my imagination.’

Grabbing a book from his bag, Faer settled in and started reading to pass the time.

Sometime in the evening, a knock took his attention away from the book he was reading.

"Come in." He called out.

The door opened to reveal the girl who had opened the shower door earlier.

"Can I help you?" Faer made his voice quiver as he looked at her uncertainly.

"Um, I just wanted to apologize for that. It was supposed to be a joke. You normally don't talk to anyone so the girls and I thought we'd try to prank you. I'm sorry if I, we offended you."

Chewing on his lower lip, Faer closed his boo and stood up as he slowly made his way to the girl. The girl, Steffanie, took a step back as she saw him approaching her.

His masculine scent assaulted her nose, and she had to tilt her head back a bit to look at his face, even though she was 5'11. With her heart racing a mile a minute, she tried to appear unaffected. She might not have liked him, but that didn't mean she was blind.

Caging her in with both his hands pressed against the wall, Faer looked down on her as he whispered, his breath fanning across her ear making her shiver.

"Did William put you up to it? The prank I mean." His minty breath was really pleasing to her nose.

Losing the ability to talk in such a situation, she nodded her head.

"Do you dislike me?" Faer asked her as his lips curved.

"I -I like you!" Stefannie blurted out unconsciously.

"Then won't you be my friend? I'm very bored here, and I could use the occasional conversation between friends." Faer brought out his sincerity to the max. Sure, he was manipulating her but he wasn't lying when he said he wanted her as a friend. She didn't seem like a bad person, just someone who could be easily pushed around which landed her in that predicament earlier.

Licking his lips nervously while still looking down at her face, his eyes implored her.

"Sure!" She croaked then ran out the door.

"Hahaha! How cute. My first friend." He smiled as he went back to finish his book.