Chapter 21: 19 - Stakes

"Hanna, this is crazy." Rokim vehemently shook his head, settled on the couch in his apartment. I'd left Rian in mine along with the other two judges I'd called up, and I was currently under fire for the half-thought plan I'd set in motion.

"No, it's genius," I insisted, looking at him eagerly. "Come on. Acknowledge my genius, Kimmy."

"I'll acknowledge nothing," he retorted, scowling. "It's ridiculous. I'm not gonna judge some random contest the two of you cooked up."

"Ha. I see what you did there. Cooked up, very funny. Now will you help?"

"I'm being serious!" Rokim crossed his arms. "I won't do it. You said these judges had to be impartial."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. So?"

Rokim mirrored my expression, incredulous. "So I'm not impartial. Not even close."

I waved my hand dismissively. "Yes you are. Your ability to compartmentalize is insane," I said, eyeing him a bit enviously. "Remember that time you said Lisa's crème brûlée was better than mine? You didn't seem very partial then."

Rokim rolled his eyes. "Are you still salty about that? I told you, it was nothing personal. Next time don't make the caramel so runny."

"My caramel was not runny!"

"Yes it was." He snorted derisively. "My hands got all sticky, and I was using a spoon."

I huffed. The sass never ended with him. "Fine, whatever. The point is that I need you to help me out, okay?"

He made a face. "You and Rian can go be stubborn on your own. Don't drag me into it."

And then I wished Rokim hadn't said that, because suddenly my mind was roving over all the other things Rian and I could go do on our own, and then I thought of the biting, and the leave your mouth open, and maybe a bit of runny caramel wouldn't be so bad after all, and—

What the hell is wrong with me today? Get a hold of yourself, Hanna!

I cleared my throat, hoping Rokim didn't notice the telling pink in my cheeks. "Just—" I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. "Rokim. I know that you don't approve of this, but try, please try to understand what this one stupid bet could do." I felt my anger resurfacing as I recalled Rian's challenge yesterday. "I can finally get the bastard to admit it."

Rokim considered me carefully. "Do you really think he's going to tell you that easily?"

I frowned. "What do you mean? A deal's a deal," I said, my eyes narrowing balefully, "and if he even tries to go back on it—"

"That's not what I mean," Rokim interrupted. He leaned forward and rubbed the back of his neck. "Whatever his motivation is," he cut his eyes away from mine, "it seems pretty solid. Even if he remembers, there must be a good reason why he's kept away from you all this time. And going so far as to pretend to not even know who you are—" he stopped himself, shaking his head. "I'm just saying don't get your hopes up."

I huffed again, my expression bordering on a pout. "Too late. They're already up."

"Hanna—"

"They've now burst through your ceiling."

"I mean it, Han—"

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it's my hopes which you are currently crushing with your pessimism."

Rokim sighed, but I could see him suppressing a smile. I grinned in response.

"There's only one way to bring them back down to earth, Kimmy," I said teasingly. "Don't let me pass the stratosphere."

He groaned and dug his hands in his hair, the fluid blond highlights providing a sharp contrast to his light-brown skin.

"What comes after stratosphere, I wonder?"

"Fine!" he exclaimed finally. "God, you're relentless. Fine, okay, I'll do your dumb Hell's Kitchen thing."

My grin widened, but I covered it with a playful scoff. "Did you just compare yourself to Gordon Ramsey? First of all, how dare you." I eyed him with mock scorn. "Maybe I don't want you as a judge after all."

Rokim broke out into laughter. "Shut up. Let's just go, cantaloupe."

We both got up and left his apartment, making jokes along the short walk back to my place.

"The answer is mesosphere, by the way," Rokim added smugly just as we stepped into my foyer. "Basic astronomy, Han."

I rolled my eyes in reply and instead turned to the other three people in the room. My eyes landed on Lisa first, who smiled broadly when she saw me.

"Hanna!" she said, tackling me in a hug. I tried not to collapse under her taller frame.

"Lisa," I struggled, breathing deeply after she pulled away. "You literally saw me yesterday. Twenty-four hours ago."

"I know," she said with her trademark wink. "Twenty-four hours too long."

"You're insatiable."

"I know. I really need to find a girlfriend," she laughed, then flicked her gaze to Rokim appreciatively. "Or boyfriend, for that matter."

I watched in amusement as Rokim's face went red under Lisa's attention. This is definitely going on the class group chat, I thought gleefully. Wonder what their ship name should be?

A loud cough interrupted the three of us. I glanced over to the source of the sound and smiled apologetically.

Vanessa crossed her arms, her displeased expression very visible even from where she stood, two feet from an equally put-off Rian.

"Since you called us here, Hanna, you could at least pay us some attention," she complained.

"Sorry, Ness," I raised my palms contritely before jutting my thumb at Rokim. "Just had to get this one on board, but we're good to go!"

I turned to grin at him, but he was staring at the ground. He looked nauseous, and I caught Lisa mirroring his expression. "Hey," I called. "You guys okay?"

Rokim's head snapped up and his uneasiness seemed to evaporate. He flashed me a grin and Lisa did the same, but not before flicking his eyes in Ness's direction. "Couldn't be better," he said smoothly. I frowned—something was obviously up—but I heard Vanessa huffing again and I decided to let it go.

"Anyways," I said, turning back to Ness. "Everyone's here now. No worries."

Vanessa scowled for a bit longer before relenting and turning to Rian. Her harsh countenance immediately melted away, replaced by hooded eyes and a seductive smile.

"In that case, shall we begin?" she purred, placing a hand on his arm. She momentarily cut her eyes to mine and her smile widened.

I frowned, annoyed for some reason—it wasn't any of my business who Vanessa got it on with. I glanced at Rian, whose presence I'd basically been ignoring since I'd walked in. I was surprised to find those obsidian orbs drilling into me, not paying Vanessa a speck of attention.

"Let's," he replied frostily. I tensed as he stalked over, taking no notice of Vanessa's affronted expression, and stopped in front of me.

It irritated me that I had to crane my neck slightly to look him in the face, but the fact was he towered over me and there was nothing I could do about it. That was a simple truth.

But of course he just had to make it worse, because assholiness was ingrained in his freaking DNA.

I watched disbelievingly as he slowly bent down and braced his hands on his knees, lowering himself to eye-level. My temper flared as he smirked coldly, that self-satisfied glint in his eye as clear as ever.

I heard Rokim sucking in a breath somewhere behind me, along with a small 'yikes' from Lisa. If there was one thing you never did with sh—vertically challenged people, it was bend over and patronize them. And he knew it.

Not bothering to dignify his pettiness with words, I settled on glaring daggers at him instead.

"Have a nice chat with Rokim?" he asked icily, too quiet for the others to hear.

"Positively pleasurable," I replied without missing a beat, giving him a smirk of my own when his eyes narrowed ominously.

"And your other judges." He said the word like the very idea was ludicrous. "Are you even aware of the definition of 'impartial'?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Adjective: treating all rivals or disputants equally, or to be fair and just."

His own brows crept up a bit, and I rolled my own at his surprise. "Just because you're a genius doesn't mean I can't hold my own at academics and basic memorization," I said drily. "Too bad you seem to have forgotten that too."

As expected, his gaze darkened and his mouth tightened almost imperceptibly. I continued, keeping my voice low. "And as for the integrity of our evaluators, you have nothing to worry about. They're not the type to let their own personal feelings affect their judgement." I frowned. "If anything, you'd probably be favoured more than me."

His brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to retort, but we were interrupted as a brunette head poked between the two of us.

"Mind letting the rest of us in on the discussion?" Vanessa said through a pout. I took her intrusion as my cue to step back, seeing Rian straighten and do the same.

I cleared my throat as I realized how close together we'd been standing, but oh well. The damage was done. Vanessa was already eyeing me that way, like I'd stepped on that one pair of shoes she claimed to really like but never wore.

"Alright, so," I began, addressing everyone in the room. "I already let all of you in on the nature of our little competition, and that the three of you are gonna be simulating the evaluators from the ecomp, right?" I was met with a few scattered nods. "You'll be giving us a score out of ten for a dish we serve, which will be made from random ingredients. The competitor with the most points wins."

I gave Rian a sidelong glance. He was leaning casually against the counter, like he didn't have a care in the world. That familiar arrogance revitalized the anger that had been pumping through my body ever since my ill-advised visit to his apartment. I'd make sure to wipe that smugness off his face today.

Among other things.

I shook my head tiredly, not even surprised when that taunting voice came out to play. Maybe I should seek therapy, I thought wryly.

Back in the real world, I headed over to my side of the counter, opposite Rian. I nodded at Rokim, who pulled out his phone and set a timer for one hour. He, Lisa and Vanessa took their seats on my couch, watching intently.

"Whenever you're ready," Rokim said quietly, one finger hovering over the start button.

I looked at Rian for confirmation. He simply stared back, and in that moment I was again reminded of what I'd be losing if I didn't pull my weight. I tried to convince myself it was just my chance at redemption that I'd be missing, and that the pit in my stomach was the familiar weight of unresolved guilt pressing down on me.

I needed one thing from him, and one thing only: forgiveness. And after that he'd get what he wanted—we'd be done.

Stakes. The word sparked the beginning of an idea.

I turned back to Rokim. "Good to go," I said, shunning my uncertainty in favour of determination.

The beep of the timer starting set us off, and my doubts no longer mattered.

Rian immediately launched into action, his hands smoothly reaching for his ingredients and placing them on a cutting board. But I didn't move; I simply surveyed the materials in front of me and formulated a plan.

Stakes, I thought wryly. Nice going, subconscious. A little wordplay never hurt anyone, after all.

And with that, I began.