It had only been eight days since she was last at work, but on her first day back, Elise still felt a sense of unfamiliarity. Her desk was spotless, and the little figurines and small desk lamp were just as clean and tidy as they had been when she took her wedding leave eight days ago.
"Elise, welcome back." The woman with shoulder-length hair, upon seeing Elise, opened her arms and greeted her with a hug.
She was Evelyn Hardin, responsible for character design at the company and Elise's closest colleague.
The two were very close, so naturally, Evelyn knew that Elise's wedding didn't go through that day—she had been there at the ceremony.
"Caian, you cleaned and organized my desk, didn't you?" Elise wasted no time running into her warm embrace, snuggling into Evelyn's curvy chest like a little bird seeking comfort.
"Of course." Evelyn gently stroked Elise's soft hair and replied softly, "I designed some new outfits for the characters. I'll show you later, they're one of my proudest works."
Elise poked her head out and pulled a flash drive from her pocket. "I submitted the next Chapter for review to Madisyn yesterday. It should be live after this week's game update."
"By the way, Zayne said there's a meeting later. Apparently, while you were on leave, he discussed a collaboration with other companies. Since Sabrina's story is almost over, they're preparing to develop a new game." Evelyn walked to her desk, opened a drawer, and handed Elise the meeting documents.
Zayne Atkins, the company's boss, wasn't arrogant at all and loved developing new games. Since founding the company, he had launched over ten otome game series. Though a big, tough guy, he had a soft spot for otome games but felt it was time for the company to evolve, which is why he wanted to collaborate on different game genres.
Elise skimmed through the meeting documents. Based on the contents, Zayne was planning to discuss collaborations with two companies. Surprised, she read the documents several times, her face almost pressing into the densely printed text.
"Braden?" Elise pointed to the name in the documents. Though there was no photo, she wasn't sure if it was the same Braden she knew.
Only now did she realize that she didn't even know the name of his company.
"Is he a friend of yours?" Evelyn thought for a moment, lightly touching the document with her finger. "I think he's one of the game developers."
"Could it really be that much of a coincidence?" Elise racked her brain, but she couldn't recall Braden ever mentioning his company's name.
"Anyway, take a look at the meeting materials. I'm heading to the restroom. It's 9:10 now, so I'll see you in the meeting room at 9:30." Evelyn pointed to her wristwatch and gave Elise a sweet smile before leaving.
In the meeting room, when Elise saw Braden appear, she broke into a cold sweat, terrified that someone might recognize him as the man who had impersonated Graham at her wedding.
When the invitations were sent out, there wasn't time to include a wedding photo, so unless you were close, no one knew what Graham looked like. During their relationship, they hadn't tagged each other on social media or posted any photos together.
No one should realize, right? But then she remembered that although Madisyn couldn't attend the wedding, Zayne was there. And with his outgoing personality, he'd probably greet him with something like, "Oh, so you're Elise's husband!"
Even though Evelyn knew the truth about that day, she wasn't the type to spread gossip. She had definitely kept it a secret.
This was bad. How awkward. In her rush to leave that morning, she had skipped breakfast, and now her stomach was starting to ache.
"Elise, you don't look well. Are you feeling okay?" Madisyn placed a hand on Elise's shoulder, asking with concern.
"Madisyn, I'm fine..." Elise forced a smile, though the twisting pain in her stomach made it hard to speak.
In the next moment, she genuinely wished she were still on leave and hadn't come to work today.
"Huh, your name is Braden? You look a lot like Elise's husband. She just had her wedding a few days ago." Sure enough, Zayne fulfilled Elise's worst fears.
Elise wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. She silently prayed that Zayne wouldn't keep the conversation going.
Braden flashed a bright smile and denied everything. "He must have mistaken me for someone else."
The long-haired woman, who had been standing next to Braden without saying a word, finally spoke up: "Yes, Zayne probably mistook someone else. Braden and your company's Elise... they probably don't know each other, right?"
Elise chimed in, forcing a smile and distancing herself from the situation: "Yes, it's everyone's first time meeting, Zayne, you must have made a mistake."
"Is that so? After the meeting, I should probably schedule an eye exam at the optician's," Zayne said, rubbing his nose as he sat back in the main seat of the conference room.
The nerve-wracking small talk came to an end as Braden and the others took their seats, waiting for Zayne to start the meeting.
Zayne flipped through the documents and looked seriously at the projection on the white cloth hanging on the wall. "Enough chit-chat, let's talk about the collaboration. I've reviewed your proposal, and if I'm not mistaken, it's for a fantasy adventure game, right?"
Braden responded, "Yes, this genre of fantasy has been trending in recent years, driving the development of many popular adventure game IPs. Especially with everyone owning a smartphone, players can immerse themselves in these mythical worlds. We're leaning towards an idle mobile game where users don't need to grind all day. They just log in, issue commands, and the game characters will automatically find quests or training spots to level up."
"What about the storyline and world-building? Have you finalized them? If not..." Zayne was about to continue when the long-haired woman raised her hand, eager to offer her opinion.
Braden was stunned. Things seemed to be slipping out of his control. In his view, no matter what opinion there was, one should listen to the other side finish speaking before responding.
But Zayne was different. He didn't stop her. Instead, he spread his left hand open, signaling her to go ahead and share her thoughts.
"I'm Mylee Mcdonald, and I'm usually in charge of scriptwriting. We've established the basic worldview, but the detailed plot is still under discussion. We're planning to have dual protagonists, allowing players to choose which character's story they want to follow." Mylee carried herself like a strong, confident woman, her boldness practically radiating from her.
"We hadn't considered dual protagonists before, but we can give it a try. How about this: you take one protagonist, and we'll let Elise handle the other. How does that sound?" Zayne gestured toward Elise, confident in his employee's abilities.
Elise was still in a daze, completely oblivious to the discussion.
"Well..." Mylee seemed like she had something to say, but under Baden's sharp, icy gaze, she wisely chose to remain silent.
"Please, Elise, go ahead." Zayne kept his composure, still offering her the chance to speak.
Braden offered an olive branch. "Mylee believes this proposal is highly feasible. Since we're the cooperating party, we naturally defer to you for the final decision."
"That's wonderful! Elise, you'll be in charge of the other protagonist. I have high expectations for you and believe you'll do a fantastic job." Zayne's hearty laughter filled the entire meeting room, echoing off every corner.
Elise snapped back to reality and hurriedly responded, looking troubled. "Zayne, I'm sorry, what did you say just now?"
Evelyn whispered a reminder, "They're talking about you and the other side writing the story."
"Elise, you'll be working with me to write the storylines for the protagonists. There are two main characters, and we'll each be responsible for one." Mylee's every movement was graceful, but her tone and voice were far from warm.
"Yes, I understand. I'm sorry." Elise nodded frantically, her heart racing. Her knuckles turned white from gripping her knees too tightly.
"By the way, why haven't I seen Gunnar today?" Zayne had felt like someone was missing the entire meeting, and it wasn't until the end that he realized his partner and old friend, Gunnar Oneal, wasn't there.
"Regarding that, the boss asked me to inform you that he's feeling under the weather. He'll visit you personally another day. So today, it's just me and Mylee here to discuss the collaboration." Braden pulled out his chair, straightened his back, and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
"I've known him forever. We grew up together, practically shared the same pair of pants. Everyone's busy with work now, so we hardly meet up anymore, but we really should get together soon." Zayne laughed again, his easy-going nature making it clear he didn't view the people in the room as just colleagues. To him, employees were like good friends you could chat with.
The meeting dragged on for two hours, and for the first time, Elise felt that sitting through it was pure torture, especially with such a painful opening.
To avoid raising any suspicions, Braden intentionally kept his distance from Elise. Even as they left the meeting room one after the other, he didn't greet her.
Mylee, carrying her briefcase, locked her gaze on Elise, striding closer in her white heels.
"Elise," Mylee called out, hoping to stop her in her tracks.
"Mylee, is there something you need to discuss?" Elise glanced back at her, responding with a formal tone.
"Let's exchange contact info? That way, we can discuss work matters more easily in real-time," Mylee said, opening her phone, ready for Elise to scan and add her as a friend.
"Sure," Elise scanned it with her phone and added Mylee as a contact.
"Alright, I'll head back to the company with Braden now." Mylee waved goodbye, searching for Braden among the crowd and hurrying to catch up with him, despite her stilettos.
Elise's tightly wound nerves finally began to relax, but the moment she let her guard down, a sharp pain twisted in her stomach.
Once the silhouettes of the man and woman disappeared from view, Elise headed toward the restroom, where Evelyn was washing her hands at the sink.
"Zayne really surprised me earlier. I didn't expect that Braden would be your pretend husband," Evelyn said, grabbing a few paper towels to dry between her fingers.
"I was shocked too, but luckily we barely managed to fool him," Elise said, patting her pocket just as her phone buzzed, eager to join their conversation.
The message was from Braden, sending a playful question: "Miss, did you see a ghost just now? You didn't crack a smile during the entire meeting."
It was less of a greeting and more of a subtle accusation.
Elise didn't respond immediately, but before she could think further, the notification chimed again.
This time, it wasn't from Braden—it was from Mylee.
