Chapter 32 #2
“Why are you making out like this is a bad thing, Ace?” Xavier drawled, unbothered. “That was the point, right? Play nice and show the Acolytes that we’re all one big happy family?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Mr. Leight replied with a huff. “This is the highest-viewed episode we’ve had in a long time, and it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since it went live.”
“Because it’s fucking funny,” Skye said with a chuckle. “You did a good job on the cut, Ace.”
“Thanks,” Ace murmured, “but I don’t think Noah and Xavier will be quite so pleased by this turn of events.”
Mr. Leight gave a dismissive hand wave. “Nonsense, it’s just business. You’re all playing a role. No one cares what happens when the cameras are off. Xavier, Noah, you’re both trending. Or rather, you’re trending together, and we need to lean into that with the upcoming fan meeting event.”
I blinked slowly, not understanding what he meant even as Minho’s arm shifted from the sofa to rest on my shoulders, like he wanted to pull me closer. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Ace pulled up some stats on his phone and handed it over to me to read. “Hashtag Novier is the number one trending tag on ClikByte right now, and still climbing.”
My mouth went dry as I scanned the stats for the hashtag in question. Novier. Noah and Xavier. There were already thousands of fan edits using that tag, and the comments were ticking over by the second. “What the fuck?” I whispered in disbelief. “How? Why? What about—”
Unable to curb my own curiosity, I clicked on the top-trending edit Byte and watched a series of way out-of-context clips of Xavier and I overlaid with a song about soulmates that was usually reserved for romance book edits.
Some of the longing glances between us I knew perfectly well were actually death glares, or in one case the camera had caught Xavier’s wide-eyed reaction to me cursing him out.
My face was away from the camera, though, so without context… Fucking hell.
Over and over, the clips showed the moment on the high wire with my hand clasped in Xavier’s as he yelled trust me, then shifted to a close-up shot of our hands clasped together during the milkmaid challenge.
“This is fucked-up,” I finally said out loud. “They can’t seriously have misread our dynamic that badly.”
“They have, and we’re running with it,” Mr. Leight announced firmly. “Starting tomorrow, producer Sally will assist on this matter and guide the interactions with just enough to keep the Novier fans invested. I trust you’re both professional enough not to fuck this up?”
Stunned, I glanced over at Xavier. Surely he wasn’t okay with this? We barely tolerated one another on the best of days. He’d refuse, for sure.
But he just shrugged, giving nothing away. “Whatever Olympus wants,” he drawled with a yawn. “So long as Little Dude understands it’s purely for cameras and doesn’t go reading anything more into it.”
My jaw dropped in outrage, but Mr. Leight spoke before I could tell Xavier to go fuck himself.
“Yes, that’s a very good point, Xavier. Fan service is just that—for the fans and always innocent.
The idea is to feed their fantasies with subtle gestures, nothing more.
I’m sure you’re all smart enough to make the distinction and not blur any personal lines.
” The hard look he sent my way made me squirm with guilt and worry.
He made a very pointed glance at Minho’s arm around my shoulders and his knee hooked over mine, and dread curled though me.
Was this deliberate? Leight guessed that Minnie and I were closer than we should be, so he was driving a wedge between us?
Surely not. He couldn’t manipulate the fan response, right?
“Okay, now that’s sorted, Torin, your recent Bytes have also been met with higher than usual Cliks and comments. Are you willing to sell the piece you were working on? Several offers have been submitted for—”
“No, sorry,” Torin cut him off without hearing the offer. “I’m keeping that one.”
Mr. Leight nodded, unbothered. “Very well. Clik Games judging committee is still stalling on announcing the second challenge as Cat Kay’s murder investigation continues, but Olympus Corp does still expect you all to continue as per usual while we wait.
That means the fan meeting tomorrow will go ahead as planned, and I want to see at least two Lives before end of week. Got it?”
Everyone else murmured their agreement, but I was speechless.
I stared at Xavier in confusion, waiting for him to say something about how insane this direction was.
We barely survived the milkmaid challenge and only got away with it because the cameras couldn’t capture our insults. That wouldn’t work a second time.
“That’s all,” Mr. Leight announced, standing up. “I look forward to seeing you all at the fan meeting tomorrow.”
“Can I have a word?” Minho asked, speaking for the first time since this whole Novier bullshit was dropped in our laps. For a moment I thought he was speaking to me, but no—he meant the team manager. The two of them left the room and I scrubbed my hands over my face with a groan.
“Don’t stress about it too much, Eight,” Ace told me with a reassuring kind of voice, making me look up at where he stood, offering a hand to pull me up.
“They won’t make you do anything that’d be uncomfortable.
All you need to do is act like you don’t hate each other, and I’ll do the rest in edits. ”
That was comforting. I could handle that. But could Xavier? Something told me he wouldn’t make this easy or pleasant. Such a dickhead.
The fact he was so handsome only made me hate him more because I still struggled to forget how badly I used to crush on him. I sighed. I remembered when I wasn’t this idiot who lusted after every shirtless man in her vicinity.