Chapter 106.

“Do you feel well enough to return to work yet?”

“It should be fine.”

“Are you sure it’s really fine?”

“It really is. By the way, did Adele mention anything when she was with you? Did it seem like she might remember anything about the old her?”

“Don’t act like you weren’t trying to eavesdrop through the walls.”

“Haha. Sorry, but I was really curious about how you’d bad mouth me. But I really was surprised by how bold you were.”

“Hmm? What’s this? Did you get excited when you thought about what we were doing together?”

“Of course not. I’m an upstanding man who would never get excited over such things. I was just concerned about Adele a little so I listened in on your conversation a bit before the two of you left.”

“Is that really true?”

“Are you sure you didn’t do anything that could have you branded as a criminal? Like, for example, peep on us through a peephole in the wall?”

I broke out into a cold sweat and laughed it off, “I would never make a peephole.”

I was not guilty here, nor was I lying; the peephole was there from the start. I had nothing to do with making it. It was probably the previous tenant, the same man who’d sunk so low as to chase after the infamous ghost girlfriend, he’d likely done it after wallowing in loneliness for years.

“Well, I’ll ignore that matter for now. If you’re feeling good enough to go to work, I’ll leave you alone for now. I got a call from my secretary and I’ve got tons of work piled up because of a certain problematic employee. You’ve really caused me a lot of trouble. By the way, you still owe me for your loss earlier.”

“What are you talking about? Wasn’t kissing me in front of Adele what you’d planned as your prize?”

“Of course not. I just did that to see whether she really lost her memories. I thought you would understand my intentions.”

“But that’s-”

“No buts, Mr. Genovese. A loss is a loss and I’ll make sure to milk you for all you’re worth.”

“My eyes are up here boss. Can you please stop it with the sexual harassment?”

“It’s not sexual harassment. Mr. Genovese, your eyes may be up there, but your tent appears to be down there looking pretty vigorous.”

“It’s not, so would you please stop making up misleading statements to intentionally defame my character?”

“Hahaha. It’s just a joke. Besides, I just wanted to verify that part still works, you did just get out of a coma after all.”

“It works just fine, thank you.”

“Oh? How would you know it works just fine? Did you test it out yesterday using material related to a certain psychotic ex of yours and your boss?”

“No... I haven’t tested it, but I’m sure it’s just fine. The doctors said my body was perfectly healthy after all.”

“Mr. Genovese, your body may be fine, but what if due to a psychological block after your coma it became useless?”

What? Could that really happen? No way, right? She’s just messing with me.

“I’m not messing with you, Mr. Genovese. I’m one hundred percent serious. Which is why…”

“Which is why, what?”

“I want to…”

She bent forward and flashed a suggestive smile, but once again paused right before she finished her sentence.

“You want to what! Would you just finish your damn sentence and stop pausing dramatically like that!”

“I changed my mind. Haha. It seems to be fine after all. I’ll cash in on that bet later.”

She turned and left with a cheerful hum without sparing me another glance.

Ugh. I seriously hate her sometimes. It was honestly humiliating to react like that to a cheap tease. Well, at least I confirmed it was still functional. Really, what’s with her though? She pulls me in on a whim at times then pushes me away at others. To be played with so easily, am I a stupid high school virgin with no experience?

No, I need to be careful and wary of her still. No matter what has happened between the two of us to date, whether it be real or in a hallucination, there was always the chance she was the perfect actor. 

I need to think about it rationally and not let irrational emotions control me. I still don’t know what she would ask of me from losing that bet, it could turn out to be something dangerous... for more reasons than one. Learn from the mistakes of your past failed relationships. I need to doubt her. I can’t put blind trust in someone no matter how normal they appear on the surface.

There are actually quite a few suspicious points related to Val, no matter how fond I’d grown towards her, I shouldn’t completely write them off as nothing. A lot of strange things also happened after I got involved with her, and they’ve continually escalated the closer our relationship became.

Who was Val really? It’s crossed my mind in the past, but she resembled someone I knew despite how different they looked appearance-wise. I didn’t want to think too deeply about it when we were alone together in the car because I instinctively feared how perceptive she was. If the seeing colors story was real, and she wasn’t just pulling my leg; then even more so, I should remain wary of her.

She was dangerous. Very dangerous. My instincts told me so. She was an unknown variable that I was incapable of fully wrapping my head around. Perhaps it was that very same uniqueness to her which drove me crazy that I’d been drawn to. It’s definitely not just because I think she’s hot. Definitely not. I’m not that shallow. It was just a coincidence all my exes were strangely attractive in terms of appearance. 

Ugh. For now, I’ll just keep telling myself that so I can sleep at night.

Uncertainty and a lack of information was something I feared, but at the same time, it was something that captivated people like me. It was the desire to discover and uncover the mysteries of the unknown that always led me down rabbit holes like this. Fighting off curiosity was truly both the boon and bane of man’s existence.

My apartment. The VHS tape. The hotel. Rick. Rick’s apartment. My car. Work. Val’s house. My coma. No matter how hard I thought about all the different events that occurred in all sorts of different locations, I couldn’t connect the pieces of the puzzle. Despite many of the events potentially being related to her, everything somehow felt disconnected. There was something or someone acting in places I couldn’t see. There had to be a better explanation than a ghost.

However, if I assumed Vas was that person, maybe it would be possible to connect a few of those seemingly disjointed dots. I thought back to all the conversations we had and slowly a picture formed in my head. The dream I had related to my fourth ex before I woke up from my coma. Was I poisoned at some point? An undetectable new drug of hers maybe? Was it an assassination attempt on my life? Was Rick’s murder really actually disguised as suicide? Was it because of ‘love’ or something more contrived and twisted? What about the police who easily dropped the case?

There were still far too many things I couldn’t piece together.