Ace walked back and forth in the hallway outside Danny's room, his mind racing as he tried to comprehend the recent events and whether his cousin could be capable of such heinous acts as murder and rape.
'No human can turn their head at that angle, and she did not make any noise or movement. Should I call for help? Or should I give him the benefit of the doubt?,' Ace pondered. Then, another unsettling thought crossed his mind, 'Who's to say he isn't planning to escape or even to silence me, the lone witness? What if she isn't dead and needs medical attention.'
"Okay, Ace, I'm decent. You can come in now," Danny called out. But Ace hesitated, his suspicions growing. "Dude, are you planning to kill me now that I know your secret?" he questioned in uncertainty.
"No, what are you talking about?" Danny replied, genuinely perplexed by Ace's accusation. He opened the door wider and exclaimed, "Jackass, stop messing around and just come inside before someone sees us." Danny's tone was a mix of frustration and urgency, eager to dispel the misunderstandings.
Ace entered the room, confident that with his stats and the effects of the apex earring, he could take on a dozen Dannys at the same time. Then, looking at a comforter covering a humanoid figure underneath it, Ace directly asked Danny, "Danny, did you kill a woman?"
"No!" Danny exclaimed, his facial expression contorting with disbelief at Ace's question, finding it utterly absurd.
"Then did you roofie her?" Ace pressed on, unwilling to believe that Danny could have consensually engaged with a woman before him.
"No, you fool. Stop guessing. All you're doing is showing how little opinion you have of me," Danny denied vehemently, frustration evident in his voice as he begged Ace to stop guessing.
"Then who is she? What is she doing under your comforter? Does she even know she is here? Danny, I know you want to be famous, but I didn't think it would be like this," Ace questioned, his tone a mix of concern and disbelief at the situation unfolding before him.
"Shut up, you asshole! Just let me explain. Otherwise, there will be a murder, and it will be yours," Danny warned Ace sternly, his frustration boiling over at the constant interruptions.
"..." Ace fell silent. His cousin's explosive outburst left him momentarily speechless.
"Ace, what I'm about to show you is my deepest secret. Promise me you won't tell anyone, not even your elder sister," Danny implored Ace, seeking his assurance before divulging the truth.
"As long as it's not criminal in nature, you have my word that your secret is safe with me," Ace promised solemnly, understanding that this was important for Danny.
"Good," Danny nodded, then grasping the edge of the comforter, he said, "What I'm about to show you next is going to blow your mind. Ace, are you ready to have your mind blown?"
"My mind is already blown. Now, I'm just trying to piece everything together. Hurry up and show me," Ace urged, his curiosity piqued and patience wearing thin.
"Tsk," Danny clicked his tongue in annoyance but continued with a hint of showmanship, saying, "Behold, I present to you Esmeralda, the Elven Queen Mother."
Danny lifted the comforter, revealing a stunning woman with long blonde hair adorned in a gold-plated tiara and wearing a green royal elven dress. She exuded an otherworldly beauty that seemed to meet every unrealistic standard men have for women: flawless skin, silky hair, a curvy and symmetrical body, a slender waist, and more. Esmeralda appeared to have it all, just too perfect to exist. However, upon closer inspection, Ace realized she wasn't a real woman but a life-size silicone sex doll.
"Amazed, mind blown away, huh?" Danny asked with a hint of anticipation, waiting for Ace's reaction to the revelation.
"Dude, that's a silicone sex doll," Ace remarked in surprise and disbelief.
"Hey, careful, she can hear you. You're hurting her feelings," Danny interjected, closing the doll's ears with his hand. This astonishing action left Ace thinking, 'This is worse than what I had imagined.'
Looking at the doll's unrealistically perfect and sizable breasts, Ace asked Danny, "Can I touch her?"
"Can I touch your sister?" Danny asked Ace angrily, his rage evident in his tone.
"Hey, that's my sister," Ace warned Danny firmly, asserting his boundaries.
"Hey, hey, hey, this is my wife," Danny retorted possessively, implying how much the sex doll meant to him.
"Okay, let us both calm down and take a step back," Ace suggested, attempting to defuse the tension. He realized he had unintentionally stirred things up by not understanding the significance of the doll to his cousin.
The cousins nodded in agreement. Then Ace watched as Danny carefully carried the doll and properly hung her in his closet. After securing the door with a lock, Danny then turned to Ace and sincerely apologized, "I shouldn't have said that about my cousin. I am sorry."
"Water under the bridge. I am also sorry, I did not know that doll— I mean, Esmeralda meant that much to you," Ace forgave Danny and genuinely apologized.
"It's okay. Now you know," Danny nodded, then he remarked, "Dude, you are jacked. When did that happen?"
"I have been working out a little recently, that is all. What about you? Where did you get the money to buy a silicone partner? I heard my classmate say a good one costs around two grand," Ace was not living under the rock. Kids his age had long stopped jacking off to phone screens but were using silicone sex toys and dolls with VR headsets. Danny was too attached to Esmeralda, so he did not need a VR headset to help with his imagination.
"You are talking about the mass-produced once from the east. Esmeralda is top-grade compared to those mass-produced trash. The best medical-grade silicone there was used to make her, and she is a one-of-a-kind, custom job, domestically made by an experienced dermatologist specializing in plastic surgery. Two grand? Try adding another zero," Danny confidently and enthusiastically declared the information about the quality and uniqueness of Esmeralda with a sense of pride and satisfaction.
"Twenty grand! No wonder it looked so realistic, but where did you get that kind of money?" Ace asked in astonishment. He could not believe his cousin spent so much money on a doll.
"Mandy bought it for my birthday," Danny replied as he turned on his PC, preparing to play a game.
"Mandy, your auntie Mandy? How did she come into so much money, and what was she thinking?" Ace exclaimed in disbelief.