30: Chapter 30 The way to eliminate fear is to face it. Go for it, V!
It was the next morning.
Sunlight filtered through the smart-dimming glass of the luxury apartment in Westbrook, turning soft and warm, yet it still felt like a dull chisel, stubbornly tapping against the inside of V's skull.
She woke up in a state of extreme discomfort—an indescribable nausea mixed with a headache, dry mouth, and a churning stomach.
She lifted her heavy eyelids just a crack, her blurry vision met with the familiar ceiling of her apartment.
It took her a few seconds to confirm that she was in her own bedroom.
Her memories were like beads scattered from a broken string, requiring some effort to piece back together.
"Ugh..." V let out a hoarse groan and struggled to sit up.
Her temples throbbed, her stomach churned, and her mouth was filled with a bitter, sour aftertaste.
She rubbed her forehead, which felt heavy as lead, stumbled out of bed, and headed straight for the bathroom.
Cold water splashed against her face, helping to clear away some of the fog in her mind.
She brushed her teeth and downed a large glass of cold water, finally feeling the burning in her throat subside.
Then, she went to the automatic coffee machine, grabbed a cup of freshly brewed black coffee, and slumped onto the living room sofa, trying to piece together the fragments of last night's memories.
The images were blurry at first, then gradually sharpened:
The deafening "Empathy" nightclub, glass after glass of hard liquor, an inescapable sense of frustration... and then, the face of that guy, Lin Yi, suddenly appearing with a hint of helplessness.
He blocked those two ill-intentioned men and supported her as they left...
Once the floodgates of memory opened, the subsequent images came flooding back.
In the car, she seemed to have... pulled a gun? And poked him in the nose? Oh my god, oh my god, thank goodness nothing went wrong. And then?... She was tied up by this guy with a seatbelt?
A surge of unprovoked anger flared up.
"He actually dared to tie me up?! A beauty like me, tied to the seat like a hog, unable to move?" V was so angry she nearly crushed her coffee mug.
V had been running around in Night City for so many years; when had she ever been treated like this? Even if it was well-intentioned, this was just too... too humiliating!
But before this anger could even ferment, the next memory hit her like a bucket of ice water—she seemed to have... uh... thrown up... and face-to-face at that... vomited all over Lin Yi?
"Oh... no... my image." V covered her face and let out a desperate moan.
The sensation, the smell, and the look on Lin Yi's face—instantly stiffened, then turning ashen—were clearly branded into her mind.
This was even more embarrassing and socially catastrophic than hacking someone's server only to realize you were using a public IP, like trying to steal something from someone's house while stark naked!
Immediately after, she remembered Lin Yi half-carrying and half-supporting her back to her apartment, using her fingerprint to open the door... and then...
V suddenly looked down to check her clothes.
She was only wearing her camisole and shorts; her jacket and pants were gone.
Her heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition washed over her.
She tried hard to recall, but only had some blurry fragments:
It seemed someone had helped her remove her restrictive jacket—the movements weren't exactly gentle, but not rough either; a warm towel had wiped her face and neck; and then there was the feeling of a blanket being pulled over her...
"Could we have...?" A thought flashed through her mind, making her heart stop. Could she and he, in that muddled state last night...?
She sprang up from the sofa, dashed into the bedroom, and carefully inspected the sheets.
There were no traces of what she had imagined, and her body felt completely normal.
She calmed down and began to re-examine her memories.
The memory froze on Lin Yi placing her on the bed, tucking her in, and then... he just turned and left? He even turned off the main light, leaving only a small nightlight on?
"He just... left like that?" V was completely dumbfounded.
An incredibly complex mixture of emotions replaced her earlier panic and embarrassment.
A bit of relief, a bit of... inexplicable disappointment? No, it was more a sense of frustration at being ignored.
"Ha..." She laughed out of sheer frustration, plopped back down on the edge of the bed, and hissed at the air through gritted teeth, "Lin Yi... you really are a guy who's worse than a beast!"
Lin Yi's thoughts: If I do it, I'm a beast; if I don't, I'm worse than a beast? You're really hard to please. If I'd known, I would've just dumped you on the bed and left you alone.
V realized her logic was a bit unreasonable, but she felt so pent up right now that she didn't care.
This guy had seen what he'd seen, touched what he'd touched (even if it was just wiping her face), and then he'd just walked away like a gentleman? Was he actually not interested in her at all, or was he, in fact, a...?
A chaotic mess of thoughts fought for dominance in her hungover brain.
[Author's Note: Watch me play dumb, setting a trap] — Just kidding.
She shook her head, trying to cast aside these nonsensical emotions.
Regardless, Lin Yi had indeed saved her last night, preventing her from falling into the hands of unknown forces, and had even brought her—a beauty—home safely, even if the process was full of unexpected and embarrassing moments.
Reasonably and properly, she ought to pay him a visit to express her gratitude.
And maybe... see if she could salvage a little bit of her image, which had already shattered into dust.
She took a deep breath and decided to pull herself together.
"Come on, V. You're the best."
Her gaze swept over the nightstand as she prepared to summon the courage to break the awkwardness and use her personal terminal to contact Lin Yi.
However, when her gaze landed on the items from her jacket pocket that had been neatly placed on the nightstand, she froze once again—even more completely than when she had realized she'd vomited all over him.
Her wallet, encrypted transaction chip, folding knife... and that storage box for the collector's edition braindance, decorated with an extremely suggestive hand-drawn pattern!
"Ahhh—!" (Hitting the highest note in the world), V let out a short, stifled scream and snatched up the box, as if that would somehow save her from social death.
She remembered! This was the "private collector's edition" braindance she'd bought on a whim yesterday from a black market dealer she knew, which was rumored to provide an extremely... realistic experience.
She had planned to take advantage of her time off from the company to "appreciate" it alone one night, but then she'd gone out drinking, gotten wasted, and completely forgotten about it!
Oh great, now Lin Yi had seen it!
And he'd even deliberately placed it in such a conspicuous spot!
V's face turned burning red instantly, almost as if she were about to smoke.
She imagined the playful, teasing smile on Lin Yi's face when he'd picked up the box... "Forbidden Encounter Under the Moonlight"? He must have been laughing his head off at her!
"It's ruined... it's all ruined..." V slumped onto the floor, her back against the edge of the bed, feeling as though her life had lost all its color and turned to ash (V: I'm burnt out, guys).
In front of Lin Yi, she had first displayed the pathetic state of a drunkard, then violent tendencies (pulling a gun), then a biochemical attack (vomiting), and finally, she'd exposed this... this private fetish!
This wasn't just an issue of her image anymore; this was total social death!
She sat slumped on the floor for several minutes, her mind a blank slate.
It wasn't until the chill of her hangover returned that she regained a bit of clarity.
"No!" V sprang to her feet, her gaze hardening once more, despite the lingering blush on her face. "The more difficult the situation, the less I can back down! First, absolutely no acting on impulse; second—ugh! What am I saying? Whatever, it's already happened; I might as well just own it!"
Avoidance wouldn't solve anything.
She had to thank him, she had to face the awkwardness, and she had to smile in the face of danger.
Besides, the mess at the company still wasn't resolved; she didn't have that much time to wallow in personal shame.
Lin Yi was a capable guy; maintaining a good relationship with him wouldn't hurt.
She picked up her personal terminal, took a deep breath, and sent a message to Lin Yi.
She tried to keep her tone calm and normal, as if nothing had happened last night:
"I'm awake. Thanks for last night. If it's convenient, can I come over and thank you in person?"
After sending the message, she shoved that damn braindance box into the very bottom of her drawer, then rushed into the bathroom, determined to take a thorough shower before seeing Lin Yi, ensuring she washed away the last trace of alcohol and... the scent of awkwardness.