CHAPTER 45: A GAME OF LUDO

"Are you ready to lose, Miss Elara?" Daniel asked, his words making Elara scoff.

"You are a fool if you think you can beat me at this." She smirked before rubbing her hand on her thighs in anticipation.

Daniel’s eyes darkened.

"Let’s bet," he said.

Seeing Elara’s brows twisting, he gave her a sly smile.

"Afraid? Didn’t you say you could win against me? I have never lost to anyone, be it at anything. Just because I am wounded, it doesn’t mean I am ready to lose. A wounded soldier is even more dangerous," Daniel said.

Elara scoffed again before raising her left hand slightly.

"Don’t forget about this soldier who took a bullet for you. Just because a few days passed doesn’t mean I am healed up," she said before nodding in agreement.

"What do you want to bet?" She asked.

"Anything. The person who wins the best can make the person before them do anything," he said.

Elara’s eyes darkened at the risky bet. Then again, it was a bet for a reason. But what if he asked for something explicit and—

"I will never put your dignity at risk, Miss Elara," Daniel promised, his words carrying a deeper meaning, and Elara’s body relaxed immediately.

"Bring it on," she said.

Daniel grinned before he concentrated, his expression turning serious.

Elara looked at the man, who was looking at the table as if he were playing some kind of tournament, and couldn’t help but smile at his cuteness.

Wait. Cuteness? She raised her brows at her own thoughts. Then again, could she really blame herself when he was sitting before her in a bunny t-shirt?

Since Daniel couldn’t sleep because of the pain and discomfort despite the painkillers, and Elara couldn’t bring herself to sleep with a man in her house, they both decided to play a game.

A Ludo game. It was her idea, but he didn’t deny it either.

"I’ll let you go first," Elara said, and Daniel didn’t shy away from jumping at the opportunity to have his token move first.

He rolled the dice, but since it wasn’t a six, his token couldn’t come out, and he gritted his teeth when Elara rolled a six at the first go.

"Hehe, looks like luck is on my side," Elara said.

And just like that, the game started.

"Ha, I got a four. Your token is going home, Mr. Daniel."

"Got you!"

"No! Why would you do that?"

"Haha, I got your token again."

"Somebody’s going to lose."

"Aw, somebody’s token is still inside the house."

Elara commented in between as she truly enjoyed playing with him. He wasn’t like others who were holding back to let her win. In fact, she has never met someone so competitive.

Elara’s pupils dilated when she looked at how fast his token was moving while she was struggling to get a ’one’ to win.

He was throwing six at every other move.

However, as he was close to winning, she finally rolled a one and won.

"Haha, I won!" Elara slapped the armrest, then stood and did a happy dance.

"Looks like someone lost to me for the first time," Elara said before she flared her tongue at the man.

Her eyes widened when she realized what she was doing, and she couldn’t help but clear her throat.

She sat back in her seat like a poised lady, feigning ignorance, her cheeks still red from embarrassment.

"I won," she said.

Daniel, who was a bit surprised to see this side of her, blinked and nodded.

"Y-yeah. What do you wish for?" He asked.

Elara scrunched her brows and thought hard.

"Stop bothering me from now on," Elara said.

"I can’t do that," Daniel said blatantly.

"Umm, how about staying away from me in general?"

"Nope. That can’t either, not before I repay you. And now I owe you three big favors.

It keeps building," Daniel said.

Elara pressed her lips into a thin line before shrugging.

"I don’t have anything particular in mind then. I’ll ask when something comes to my head," she said.

Daniel nodded.

"Fair enough," he said before he grabbed his coat that was still dirty from his blood.

"The rain has stopped. I should leave now. Have a good rest. Till later," Daniel said before he leaned towards Elara, making her freeze in her place.

"You are not getting rid of me ever. I told you, you managed to catch my attention just fine. And I don’t have a habit of leaving that, be it a thing or people," Daniel said before he turned and left the apartment.

Elara, frozen in her place, finally moved when she heard the sound of the door closing.

Daniel walked straight to the car that had been waiting for him for whenever he needed to head back to his place and knocked on the window.

Alen, who was busy playing a video game on his phone, looked up, annoyed when he got knocked down because of the disturbance, before he cleared his throat and quickly stepped out.

The stormy expression on his boss’s face told him that if he wanted to live a bit longer, it was better to keep his questions to himself; rather than asking him what happened, he started driving straight to their base.

Now that their boss was in a bad mood, he would definitely enjoy torturing those bandits who dared to attack them like this.

"That game was surely rigged. No way she won like this!" Daniel kicked the back of Alen’s seat, and the subordinate nearly lost control of the car before looking at his boss with wide eyes from the rearview mirror.

He didn’t know what to say, but took his chances this time.

"Is something wrong, sir?" He asked.

Daniel gritted his teeth, looking out of the window with his chin resting on his fist.

"She won against me. We even made a bet. This was a perfect opportunity to ask her out. But she won! How dare she? How could she? I was the wounded one. Shouldn’t she have given me some relaxation?" Daniel asked Alen.

Alen, who didn’t know what this was all about, gave his boss a tight-lipped smile.

"She is a cruel one," Daniel murmured under his breath.

Alen swallowed hard.

"The game you are talking about must’ve been a tough one, sir. Miss Elara should’ve considered your wound. What did you play again?" Alen chose his words carefully.

"We played ludo," Daniel said, and Alen once again swerved the car in shock before controlling it.

Daniel looked up at him with a dark, cold expression, and Alen quickly muttered an apology for not focusing on the road.

Though Alen apologized, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his boss’s behavior.

Did he seriously need a leeway in a game like Ludo? What was he? Five? Who even gets so angry about a mere game? He thought.