Today was the biweekly meeting between Elise's company, Z Digital Games, and Baden's company, H Technology.
Elise stood at the podium, explaining the male lead's personality and the first Chapter of the plot. She included the character designs that Evelyn had crafted in her presentation.
"The male lead, Carson, is passionate, but only with those he knows well. When it comes to strangers or acquaintances, he remains cold and distant. His rough childhood shaped this as his defense mechanism, until he meets the female lead, Carlie, created by Mylee. Lingfei can be a bit absentminded at times, but she has a sincere heart and is kind to everyone. Slowly, she melts through Carson's icy exterior." Elise moved the laser pointer as she spoke, the red light following her gestures across the screen.
Zayne's gaze was full of admiration, his praise unmistakably directed at his employee, Elise.
Braden sat quietly in the audience, listening as if he were a stranger. Even though he had heard of Elise's success with her otome game Love Shines Bright, which reached number three on the mobile game charts, and admired her outstanding work, their usual close friendship had to be set aside in this professional setting.
When people get busy, time seems to fly by. Before she knew it, it was time for a break. Elise grabbed her cup and headed to the break room to fill it with water.
She placed the thermos on the water dispenser with her left hand, pressing the hot water release button with her right. The clear liquid poured into the cold bottle, creating steam as the hot and cold mixed. After nearly a sleepless night, Elise began to doze off while waiting, her hand still resting on the cup.
"Your presentation was pretty good," Baden's calm voice broke into her world, coming from behind her.
Elise, who had just closed her eyes, was startled to realize she had dozed off. She quickly opened her eyes and glanced back, about to say something in response to Braden, but the boiling hot water had already scalded the back of her hand, leaving a bright red mark.
With a sharp gasp of pain, Elise quickly pulled back her left hand, rushing to open the communal freezer to grab some ice for the burn. But before she could, Braden stopped her, turning on the faucet and running cold tap water over her scalded hand.
"You can't just apply ice directly—it can damage the tissue and cause frostbite," Braden explained patiently, gently holding her wrist. "You need to run cold water for at least fifteen minutes. That way, the heat from the burn won't stay trapped in your skin."
"But the break's only ten minutes..." Elise said, her face flushing with embarrassment. "I'll do it myself—you should get back to the meeting."
Braden glanced at his watch, running through several excuses for being late in his mind. "You're like a clueless goose—I can't just leave you like this. Worst case, I'll say I was out having a smoke."
Elise smirked, "You've never smoked a cigarette in your life, so it's hard to believe, okay?"
Braden nodded in agreement, "If you hadn't complained about the neighbor's smoking being so gross, I might have tried it out of curiosity and picked it up."
"Even if I didn't care, you still wouldn't do it," Elise said confidently, trusting her gut.
Braden raised an eyebrow, amused. "You're that sure?"
"We've known each other since we were kids! We practically grew up in the same pair of pants," Elise laughed out loud, as if the break room was her own living room, not caring if anyone overheard.
Baden's lips curved up, and his eyes softened with genuine amusement. "You know me that well, huh? You should've been my best bro."
The two of them had this back-and-forth banter since childhood, but it had never developed into anything more—no romantic feelings.
It took about twenty minutes for the pain in Elise's hand to fade, but to avoid any misunderstandings, Braden had already returned to the meeting room after about ten minutes.
Not wanting to stay outside too long, she walked back to the meeting room, blowing on the back of her left hand, hoping the hot water hadn't burned her skin.
She knocked twice on the door with her right hand, and after getting Zayne's permission, she stepped into the meeting room, only to be met with a cold glare from Mylee. That look seemed prepared just for her, lingering on her for quite some time.
Elise didn't give it much thought, nor did she bother trying to figure out why. She lightly walked back to her seat and sat down obediently.
But the meeting had shifted from game development to casual conversation—everyone had started talking about their personal lives.
For example, Braden explained that the reason he was late coming back to the meeting room was because he had a craving for a cigarette and went to the rooftop to smoke a few.
Elise was shocked. With that statement, Braden had basically wrecked his professional image...
"Men should smoke less, especially when they get married and have kids. That's when they should quit for good. It's about health. You need a healthy body to take on the responsibility of being head of the household. You get that, right?" Zayne launched into a long lecture about life's great truths.
"Zayne, don't worry about me. I don't think that'll be a problem. I'm not planning on settling down," Braden casually glanced at Elise, then looked back at Zayne with a smile. "I've got two sisters to take care of. I don't have time for anything else."
"Oh, is that so? I heard from Gunnar… your boss, that is, that you and Mylee work pretty well together," Zayne played matchmaker, gesturing toward Mylee, whose gaze was sharp as ever.
Being called out, Mylee quickly pulled back her gaze and forced a smile, though it came off a bit fake.
In an instant, the smile faded from Baden's face, but to avoid awkwardness, he forced himself to play along.
"Mylee has great qualities, no doubt. She's certainly not lacking in excellent suitors," Braden replied halfheartedly. Throwing out a compliment or two was about all he could manage.
Sensing the conversation had taken an awkward turn, Madisyn quickly stepped in to diffuse the situation. "Chairman, we've got another company to visit later, and we've pretty much covered everything in today's meeting. Shall we wrap it up?"
Zayne's eyes widened, clearly having forgotten all about the visit.
"Alright, alright, we'll leave it at that for today. We'll chat again another time," Zayne quickly gathered his things and left the meeting room.
Madisyn nodded to everyone before following Zayne out of the meeting room.
Now, only Braden, Elise, and Mylee remained, and the atmosphere had grown even more awkward.
In Elise's eyes, being the third wheel between these two ex-lovers felt like she was stuck in a very uncomfortable situation.
"You don't smoke," Mylee said, her smile laced with an unusual softness, her tone lacking its usual assertiveness.
"I don't smoke, but that doesn't mean I can't," Braden shot back, his tone firm, completely retracting his earlier polite demeanor.
"Elise, is your hand okay?" Mylee suddenly turned her attention to Elise, feigning concern. "Remember to apply some ointment—women's hands need to look good."
"Thanks..." A chill crept down Elise's spine, and cold sweat trickled down from her neck to her feet.
She started to wonder—how much had Mylee overheard?
