"Come on, come on. Where the fuck are you, Lily?!" Gabriel muttered, his patience wearing thin.
He had been looking forward to seeing her all day and had even skipped his morning and afternoon classes in anticipation.
The entire day had felt like an eternity as he scoured the campus, searching for any sign of her, but she was nowhere to be found.
Now, he was staking out the seniors' favorite hangout spot: the basketball court.
He leaned against a tree, trying to stay out of sight while keeping a clear view of the court. The afternoon sun was starting to dip, casting long shadows across the asphalt.
Groups of students came and went, laughing and shouting as they played, but there was still no sign of Lily. Gabriel checked the field for the umpteenth time, hoping to see her appear right now.
"Where is she?" he muttered under his breath. His frustration grew with each passing minute. He had envisioned this day going so differently.
He was supposed to meet her, talk, maybe even grab a coffee together using his system cheat. Instead, he was stuck playing detective, and not a very good one at that.
He watched as the players on the court changed, the afternoon crowd giving way to the evening one. Still, Lily was nowhere to be seen.
Gabriel sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. He felt a mix of anger and disappointment. As the sky began to darken, Gabriel knew he had to accept defeat.
He gathered his things and slowly walked away from the court, casting one last hopeful glance over his shoulder. But the place was as empty of Lily as it had been all day.
"Maybe tomorrow," he whispered to himself, trying to hold on to a shred of hope. But as he walked back to his dorm, the weight of the day's disappointment settled heavily on his shoulders.
He went home to an empty house. This was not unusual, given that he was far away from his family, studying at a prestigious university.
The silence of the house was something he had grown accustomed to, yet it never quite felt like home.
Redridge City was a sprawling, crowded metropolis, teeming with career opportunities at every turn, a stark contrast to the quiet, rural town he had grown up in.
He sighed as he tossed his keys on the kitchen counter, the sound echoing through the empty rooms.
He rummaged through the fridge and found leftovers from the fast food place down the street, deciding it would suffice for dinner.
He ate quickly, the monotony of his routine making the food taste even blander.
After cleaning up, he dragged himself to his room, ready to tackle his nightly routine of beating his meat in order to forget the harshness of reality.
He reached down to adjust his sleeping position and felt a strange sensation when he touched his little brother.
It was then that a bright idea struck him, a sudden spark of inspiration that jolted him out of his mundane cycle.
"What if I…" Gabriel mused aloud, the spark of an idea taking shape in his mind.
He immediately acted on his thoughts, grabbing his phone with a sense of urgency. His fingers moved swiftly as he searched for Lily's social media account.
Once he found it, he paused for a moment, contemplating what he could say to irresistibly grab her attention.
Gabriel knew he needed something captivating, something that would stand out amidst the sea of messages she likely received every day.
His mind raced through possibilities, each idea seeming better than the last.
Finally, inspiration struck. With a smile, he began to type, carefully choosing each word.
He wanted to convey his thoughts with clarity and charm, hoping to pique her interest and spark a genuine conversation.
The words flowed from his mind to his fingers with great alacrity, his excitement palpable with each keystroke.
* * *
Lily Adams epitomized a life meticulously planned from its very inception. With her father serving as the esteemed mayor of Redridge City, ambition coursed through her veins just as it did through his.
She pursued her goals with unwavering determination, each step carefully calculated to propel her forward on her path to success.
Currently enrolled in an accounting course at college, Lily had her sights set on conquering the CPA exam before setting sail for law school.
It was all part of her grand design, meticulously crafted to lay the foundation for her ultimate aspiration: a career in politics, culminating in a bid for the highest office in the land—the White House.
She was under no illusions about the challenges that lay ahead. The road to political prominence was sure to be fraught with obstacles, requiring grit, resilience, and no small amount of tenacity.
But Lily was undeterred.
She embraced the struggle, fully aware that the journey to the mountaintop would be arduous, yet believing wholeheartedly that the view from its peak would make every hardship worthwhile.
After all, she reasoned, one only had a single life to live, and to settle for anything less than reaching for the stars would be a disservice to the boundless potential that lay within.
This principle was the very foundation of Lily's conduct throughout her 21 years of life. She meticulously avoided any actions that could potentially come back to haunt her in the future.
Every decision she made was carefully calculated, every move flawlessly executed to maintain her pristine reputation.
It was precisely this commitment to perfection that left her stunned when a shocking message flashed across her phone screen.
"I found some lewd images of you. Please reply immediately for more details."
The words sent a chill down Lily's spine, her heart pounding in her chest as she struggled to comprehend the implications of the message.
How could this be happening? She had been meticulous in safeguarding her privacy, ensuring that nothing compromising could ever come to light.
Yet here was a message threatening to expose her most intimate secrets, shattering the facade of perfection she had worked so hard to maintain.