The dining table was nicely set—lasagna steaming in the middle, salad in a glass bowl, two glasses of orange juice waiting beside the plates. She'd even lit a small candle between us.

"I know you don't like wine," Mendy said softly. "So I poured you orange juice."

"Perfect." I smiled and sat down.

She took her seat across from me. The food smelled incredible, and she watched me expectantly as I picked up my fork. I took a bite and nodded.

"Really good."

She flushed a little. "I'm glad. I wasn't sure if you'd like it."

We ate for a minute in silence. The clink of forks, the hum of the heater, the soft crunch of salad—it all blended into the same cozy-but-awkward atmosphere.

"So…" she finally started. "This weather is crazy, right?"

"Yeah," I chuckled. "Feels like it doubled in cold just in the last hour."

"Mm-hm." She stabbed a piece of lasagna and looked out the window. "If it keeps up, I might get snowed in tomorrow."

"That might actually happen," I said. "Snow's thick out there."

"Mm."

Our tiny weather talk ended there, sinking back into another round of quiet eating. The awkwardness stayed, thick as the steam rising from the lasagna.

"So, um… Nala," Mendy began softly. She fiddled with her fork a little. "How are… things with her? Nala."

"G-good," I answered. "I'm lucky to have her."

"Right." She nodded slowly. "You talked about her when you came here with Kayla. I… well, you really in—"

Her voice caught. She stopped mid-sentence, swallowed wrong, and then started coughing hard. Her face went red instantly.

"Hey—" I stood and moved beside her quickly, patting her back. "Easy, easy."

She coughed again, eyes watering, chest hitching. I grabbed her orange juice, slid it into her hands, and watched her gulp it down in two large, desperate swallows.

Finally, she exhaled sharply, leaning back into the chair with a hand on her chest.

"Oh my god…" she muttered, embarrassed. "Wow. I'm so sorry."

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, totally fine," she said with a weak laugh. "Sorry about that."

"Should I get you some water?"

"No, no," she waved quickly. "I'm okay. Really."

I sat back down, still watching her for a moment. "Tell me if you need anything."

She smiled softly. "Yeah… I keep hearing those exact words from you." Her cheeks turned pink. "Feels like you'd show up whenever I needed you, like… I don't know."

"Like Flash?"

She snorted, then coughed once more and covered her mouth. "Like Flash."

We both laughed. She took a few more sips of her juice while I went back to my lasagna, though I kept glancing at her. That little choke had cut her sentence in half. And now I was way too curious about what she had been trying to say.

"Um… like I was saying," she continued carefully. "K-Kayla told me that you and Nala are… in an open relationship."

"Oh…"

I froze with the fork halfway to my mouth. Swallowed my bite way too quickly. Then I put the fork down and looked right at her.

God. Kayla. Why would she tell her that? Of all people to tell, Kayla picked the one woman planning to confess to me tonight. Amazing timing as always. Damn it. This was awkward as fuuuck.

Mendy's eyes stayed glued to me, waiting.

"So?" she asked quietly.

"It's…" I exhaled. "Yes. We are."

She didn't look away. She just nodded once, but her expression tightened. Not anger. Not jealousy. Something like disappointment? Confusion? Hurt? I couldn't tell—but it made my stomach clench anyway.

She shifted her gaze down to her plate, sliding her fork back and forth through the lasagna. "With a CEO, huh?" she said with a small, crooked smile. "Wow."

"It's complicated," I said. "Yeah."

"So… you like seeing your girlfriend… get… um… like…" Her words tangled, her face went red again. "H-handled by another man?"

"No!" I said quickly. "God, no. I don't share Nala with anyone. She's mine. I'm hers."

"Huh?" She blinked. "So… only you get to… mess around?"

"K… kinda?" I rubbed my forehead. "Jesus, Mendy, these are personal questions."

"I know, I know," she said, hands flapping nervously. "I wasn't trying to pry. I just… wanted to know how things are with Nala. That's all."

"Why?"

She rubbed the back of her neck, eyes drifting toward the ceiling as if searching for an excuse. Then she shrugged softly. "Just curious. That's all."

"Huh… okay."

But the look she had while she said that? That wasn't curiosity. That was something else entirely.

Feeling a little ashamed, I kept eating the lasagna while sipping my orange juice. Mendy's expression had shifted into something unreadable. Not sad, not angry, not happy. Just… neutral. Like someone who'd learned to hide whatever was boiling underneath.

Was she masking it? Or did she really feel nothing about what I said?

"I guess… it wasn't something you wanted to hear?" I asked quietly.

"No," she said, shrugging with an awkward laugh. "I mean… I knew I had no shot next to a CEO but—"

We both froze at the same time.

She blinked once, twice, cheeks burning red, and slapped both hands over her face, elbows on the table. I just sat there like an idiot with a fork in midair, a piece of lasagna dangling off it like a loose tooth.

Five long seconds of crushing silence passed.

Then the lasagna slid off my fork and slapped onto the plate loud as hell. It echoed like a bomb going off in the quiet room.

God. Kill me.

"I'm…" she murmured behind her hands. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Well…" I cleared my throat. "You know… it's… I mean… like…"

"This isn't how I planned anything would go," she mumbled, voice cracked with embarrassment. "God, I'm so stupid. This whole dinner was so stupid."

"That's not true."

"It is," she said quickly, shaking her head, still hiding. "I shouldn't have said that. I sound pathetic."

"Hey." I leaned forward slightly. "What you said was just wrong."

She peeked between her fingers. "I don't want pity, Evan. Please." Her voice dropped to something small and sad. "I can't even look at you right now. I'm sorry."

"No." I stood, pushed my chair back, and walked around the table to her side. "Look at me. Please."

"No—Evan, seriously—" She shook her head, trying to hide again.

I reached down gently and took her wrists, easing her hands away from her face. Her eyes were shiny, embarrassed, defeated. She let out a shaky breath, like she'd finally given up trying to cover the moment.

She looked adorable. Painfully adorable. How the hell did that idiot Richard ever get to date her?

"I love Nala," I said softly. "And that's why I can't be with you. Not because you 'have no shot' next to a CEO or some bullshit like that. You're beautiful, Mendy."

"Evan…" She exhaled through her nose. "I'm already rejected. You don't have to sugarcoat it."

"You call this a rejection?" I grinned, stepping back and putting my hands on my hips. "Alright, if that's how we're doing it, guess I gotta tell you how I first got rejected."

She looked up at me, still visibly embarrassed, but the tiniest smirk pulled at her lips. She didn't say yes out loud, but her eyes did.

"Okay," I said with a nod, "Third grade. There was this girl in my class. I forgot my book that day, so the teacher sat me next to her."

She chuckled, leaning back and crossing her arms, fully listening now.

"We hit it off. I saw her doodles on the book, Spider-Man stuff everywhere. His mask, webbing, even a terrible drawing of Green Goblin blowing up a pumpkin bomb. I told her Spider-Man was my favorite too, and we talked about him the whole class. Then during recess. Then the whole damn week."

"A whole week?" she laughed. "That's commitment."

"A hundred percent. So that one Monday morning, I go up to her desk. I sit down. I clear my throat. And I hit her with, 'Will you be my Mary Jane?'"

"No," she gasped.

"Oh yeah."

"What did she say?"

"She said no."

Mendy clapped her hand over her mouth, eyes widening. "Oh my god."

"So then I panicked," I continued. "And I said, 'Okay… what about Gwen Stacy?'"

"Noooo," she groaned, laughing into her hands. "Evan, no. No. That's so bad."

"Yep. And then she grabbed her backpack, stood up without saying a word, and went to another desk."

"Oh my god," she said again, half laughing, half wheezing. "The cringe. The secondhand embarrassment. I'm suffering."

"And then," I said with a hand on my chest, "I went to the bathroom and cried like a champion."

Her laughter softened and faded, her shoulders easing down from her ears. The tension she'd been drowning in finally slipped off her. Huh, that also got me five points from her. Nice, I guess. Wasn't expected, but welcomed.

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WOMEN - INTERACTIONS

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Jasmine: Interest: 40 / 60★★

Kayla: Interest: 23 / 40★

Tessa: Interest: 27 / 40★

Kim: Interest: 35 / 40★

Delilah: Interest: 75 / 80★★★

Cora: Interest: 100 / 100★★★★★

Mendy: Interest: 11 /20

Nala: Interest: 100 /100★★★★★

Penelope: Interest: 5 /20

Minne: Interest: 28 /40★

Ivy: Interest: 2/20

Eleanor: Interest: 10/20

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Progress:

★☆☆☆☆ - 20 Interest: Milestone reward

★★☆☆☆ - 40 Interest: Milestone reward

★★★☆☆ - 60 Interest: Milestone reward

★★★★☆ - 80 Interest: Milestone reward

★★★★★ -100 Interest: Milestone reward

===============

Select a woman to track progress.

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