CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER 163

Kira’s POV

After Olivia had cried herself out on my shoulder, I pulled back and studied my best friend’s face.

"Okay, I get that your stranger guy left you," I said, grabbing tissues from the coffee table and handing them to her. "But that still doesn’t explain why you were electrocuted in the first place. What the hell happened at work today?"

Olivia blew her nose loudly, and started explaining. About the light bulb. About Maxwell making her climb on furniture. About refusing to call maintenance. About her stubborn pride making her continue even after the first shock.

With each word, I felt my blood pressure rising.

"That BASTARD," I said when she finished. "That absolute piece of shit. He made you climb up there? After what I did to him yesterday, you’d think he’d have learned his lesson..."

"Wait, what?" Olivia sat up straighter, wincing at the movement. "What did you do to him yesterday?"

A wicked grin spread across my face. "Oh, didn’t I tell you? Damien asked me to drive Maxwell home because his driver wasn’t available. And Maxwell was in agony, Liv. Like, legitimate stomach distress. Kept groaning and clutching his gut, looking like he was about to shit himself at any moment."

Olivia’s eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Really. I might have driven extra slowly. Might have stopped the car a few times claiming I heard weird engine noise." I was grinning now, remembering Maxwell’s desperate face. "He eventually abandoned the car at a hotel because he couldn’t take it anymore."

Olivia’s expression was filled with shock. Then her lips twitched. Then she started giggling. Then full-on laughing.

"What?" I asked, confused by her reaction. "What’s so funny?"

"Kira," she managed between loud laughter, "I’m the one who gave him the stomach problems in the first place!"

"What? How?"

"I replaced his drinking water with toilet water!" She burst into fresh loud laughter that suggested she was maybe losing it a little. "He drank actual toilet water and spent the entire afternoon destroying his bathroom!"

I stared at her for a full three seconds, my brain processing this information.

Then I started laughing too. Deep belly laughs that made my sides hurt.

"Oh my GOD!" I wheezed, wiping tears from my eyes. "So you poisoned him with toilet water, and then I tortured him on his way home while he was literally dying?!"

"YES!" Olivia was laughing so hard she was bent over, holding her stomach. "And he has no idea!"

"This is the best thing I’ve heard all week!" I collapsed back against the couch, still giggling. "Maxwell Wellington got served toilet water and a slow, agonizing car ride. Karma is real, and she’s a bitch!"

We laughed together until the laughter died down into giggles, the kind that made your abs hurt and your cheeks ache.

When we finally calmed down, I took a deep breath and looked at Olivia seriously. I think it was time I confided in her.

"Liv, I need to tell you something. And you have to promise not to shout."

She nodded, still wiping tears from her eyes - though I couldn’t tell anymore if they were from laughter or leftover sadness about her stranger.

"I’m telling you this because..." I hesitated, trying to find the right words. "Because we’re in similar situations right now. And I need someone to talk to about it."

"Okay?" Olivia looked confused. "What is it?"

I took another deep breath. "I’m seeing someone. Well, not seeing exactly, because I’ve never actually met him in person. But we’ve been texting for a while, and he asked me out three days ago, and I said yes, and it’s been... amazing. But also terrifying. Because I don’t know who he is."

Olivia’s eyes widened. "WHATTTTTT?"

"You said you wouldn’t shout!"

"That was before you told me you’re dating a stranger!" Olivia screamed. "Kira, are you insane? What if he’s..."

And then she burst into tears again.

Tears were streaming down her face, while her shoulders shooks.

I sat there, completely frozen, having absolutely no idea what just happened.

"Liv? Why are you crying? I expected every other crazy reactions, but not..."

"We’re DOOMED!" She wailed, throwing her hands up dramatically. "We’re completely and utterly doomed!"

"What? Why?"

"Because I’ve rubbed off my sad life on you! This is all my fault! I’ve infected you with my terrible decision-making!"

"Liv, you’re not making sense..."

"First!" Olivia held up one finger, counting on her hands through her tears. "First, you started disguising yourself as a man to work for my crazy boss’s brother, Damien! You literally followed in my footsteps of the worst decision I’ve ever made!"

"That was a job opportunity..."

"And NOW!" She held up a second finger. "Now you’re falling for a mysterious stranger, just like me! You’re literally repeating my life mistakes! What’s next, Kira? Are you going to get electrocuted too? Are you going to drink toilet water by accident?"

I stared at my best friend, who was having a complete emotional breakdown on the floor, and felt my own eyes starting to water.

Shit. Are we actually doomed? Is this contagious?

"Liv, it’s not that bad..."

"It IS that bad!" She grabbed my shoulders, looking at me with wild eyes. "We’re both falling for men we can’t see! We’re both pretending to be people we’re not! We’re both working for psychotic Wellington brothers! This is a nightmare! We’re living in a nightmare!"

"Okay, when you put it like that..." I admitted, "...it does sound pretty bad."

Olivia collapsed back against the foot of the couch, still crying. Mitchell had to start headbutting her chin in concern.

I sat there for a moment, processing everything. My best friend was right. We were both in completely insane situations. Both disguised as men, both working for crazy bosses, both somehow entangled with mysterious men we couldn’t identify.

What are the actual odds of this happening to two best friends at the same time?

"Who do you think he is?" Olivia asked suddenly, her voice small and sad. "Your stranger?"

I shook my head. "I don’t know. He won’t tell me. He’s shown me his body - just from the neck down - so I know he’s real and not some catfish. But his face? His name? Nothing."

"Same," Olivia whispered. "Mine won’t tell me either. Just keeps saying ’soon.’ But soon never comes."

We sat in miserable silence for a moment, both petting Mitchell, both probably contemplating how our lives had become so utterly bizarre.

"Liv," I said quietly, "can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think... do you think they’re the same person? Like, what if your stranger and my stranger are actually the same guy, catfishing both of us?"

Olivia’s head snapped up, eyes wide with horror. "Oh my God. That’ll be the worse thing ever..."

"No, wait, that doesn’t make sense," I interrupted quickly. "Your stranger has physically been with you. He drove you tonight. Mine has only texted. They can’t be the same person."

"Unless one of them is lying about being with me," Olivia said, her paranoia clearly spiraling. "What if I’m so desperate for connection that I’m imagining he’s real when he’s just a ghost or something..."

"STOP." I grabbed her hands. "We’re both losing it. We need to take a breath and think rationally."

"I don’t think I can be rational right now, Kira," Olivia muttered.

I studied my best friend’s face - pale, exhausted, emotionally wrung out. An idea started forming in my mind.

"You know what we need?" I said suddenly.

"Therapy?"

"Well, yes, probably. But more immediately - we need to go out. To a club. Dancing, drinks, loud music that makes thinking impossible."

Olivia looked at me like I’d grown a second head. "Kira, I just got electrocuted. I can barely walk. How am I supposed to dance?"

"You don’t have to dance. You can sit and watch. But we need to get out of this apartment before we both run mad." I was already pulling out my phone, checking which clubs were open tonight. "Besides, you can’t possibly go to work tomorrow in this condition, and I’m not on shift guarding Damien. This is perfect timing."

"A club-like place is what got me in this mess in the first place," Olivia mumbled.

I paused, looking at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I just mean... bad decisions and clubs go hand in hand."

"That’s exactly why we’re going," I insisted. "We’re going to make NEW bad decisions to distract us from our OLD bad decisions. That’s how life works."

"That’s not how life works..."

"Come on, Liv."