Mr. Lin examined Lance's wounds; the one on his forehead would surely leave a scar, but it could be easily hidden under his hair. The doctor was shocked when he saw the stab wound on his lower back. After cleaning it off the glass, and without Lance even flinching in pain, he was genuinely impressed by the teen.
Mr. Lin should not have, but he had to because he himself was also a father of a daughter.
"Are you informed about contraceptives and how to use them?" If his employers did not care about Paige, he had to mention it, at least to himself.
Lance, lying on his stomach while Mr. Lin still stitched the wound on his back, had his face twitch lightly, finally showing a reaction.
"I'm informed, but it is not like that. She is like a sister to me, and I would never touch her." Well, that sounds somewhat wrong.
Maybe because, given her original age, she could be his aunt. Or his mother. He shook himself lightly to let the goosebumps disappear.
"Don't move." Dr. Lin chuckled in relief, feeling that the boy was in no way infatuated with their Miss if his response was this strong, nearly aversive.
Finally, being patched up, Lance and Doctor Lin made their way downstairs, interrupting the harmonious atmosphere in the living room.
"Does Miss need something else?" Mr. Donovan asked, ready to leave. Lance answered when Paige wanted to shake her head.
"We need someone who lives here and can cook healthy meals." Mr. Donavan glanced at Paige, and seeing that she did not object, he nodded.
"There is no more free room here, but I will let someone move into the other flat upstairs, coming here regularly. Is that satisfactory?"
"Okay, thank you." Paige answered. That was a good idea; not caring about meals anymore was a deluxe treatment she had never thought about. She only wrote lists to the caretaker of what she wanted in the fridge the next time she came to clean the apartment.
Lance, too, nodded in satisfaction. He then turned to Dr. Lin.
"Do you have something for her face?"
The doctor looked over Paige's infected pimples and rummaged through his bag, putting a paste on the coffee table.
"Apply two times a day." He instructed, and Paige nodded and thanked him.
They finally said their goodbyes and only the two were left again. Lance sighed exasperatedly; they had to start talking about business.
"System, what should we do next?"
[Make up for the scenes happening while you both were unavailable.] The system sounded in both their heads.
"What was the first scene we missed?" He asked Paige.
"If it did not deviate from part one, it should have been 'Paige meeting her outside friends and being caught by Meier.'"
Paige answered blankly, not feeling the slightest bit of anticipation about that scene.
"Could someone elaborate, please?" Lance had no idea about anything that was just told.
The system saw Paige looking around bored, unwilling to explain, so it had to do it.
[Paige Smith met with her friends and talked badly about the female lead. The friends encouraged her to fight back and suggested a few ideas. Meier, being enraged by the slap mark he saw on his sister's cheek after she came back from school, followed Paige. With the help of his bodyguards, he lets Paige be beaten up, warning her. This started the feud between Paige and Meier. Honing her to step up from cannon fodder to a true villainess.]
Lance clenched his fist.
"You want to let Paige be beaten up?"
Paige was moved by him being angry for her sake and made an "Aww" sound.
His eyes threatened her,
"You shut up and apply that cream to your face."
"Okay." Paige meekly took the medicine and went to a mirror hanging beside the apartment's entrance.
"Wash your face and hands before applying!" bellowed the voice from the couch, prompting her to run back to her bathroom and do as instructed.
Lance concentrated on the system again.
"Who is this 'Meier's' sister?"
[.....The female lead... Meier is her little brother.]
"Ah, I get it now. So after being slapped by Paige back then, she went home and cried to her baby brother for protection?"
[Meier saw it without her needing to mention it! The female lead would never make things difficult for other people herself!]
"Whatever." He grimaced.
Paige returned with cream applied to her face, sitting obediently on the couch, waiting to be told what to do next.
Lance was really surprised by her. Since she first took the initiative, she could be said to be a cooperative colleague. Then, shortly after trying only a bit, she gave up, doing absolutely nothing and not caring about anything.
Now, after being yelled at, she obediently followed his lead. It was like she had acknowledged him as her caretaker and left the rest to him. 'Should a 34-year-old woman be like this? Why did he have the feeling of babysitting a teenager?'
[She has to make an enemy of Meier, or the storyline later will not make sense.]
"Meh." Paige commented, starting to feel bored again.
"She will not be beaten up! Come up with something else." Lance demanded.
[.....]
[It would be possible to arrange for bodyguards to follow her, making enmity with Meire without it becoming physical.]
Paige raised a hand.
[...Yes...Paige?]
"What is the second part about? If it only entails Jace being reborn, is that not a boring story?" Nobody would read that.
[The plot can only be reviewed in the system space.]
"Then how should we act if we don't even know an outline?" Lance agreed wholeheartedly.
[The system is calculating...]
After a long pause, the cold voice rang out in their heads again.
[Having calculated that the ending without sharing an outline would only lead to Paige Blunt's and Lance Walker's early deaths, the system will make an exception and disclose information about the 'second part' outside the system space.]