Chapter 5: Home Court Hearts

On Saturday, I woke up early to tidy up. As soon as I left my room, my elegant mother glanced at me.

"Your dad says Eli is our future son-in-law."

I hesitated. "I haven’t caught him yet."

My mom snorted. "How did I raise such a useless son? Didn’t you two already hug?"

"I told him I was straight."

She rolled her eyes. "Wow…just wow."

My mom’s a design director, always exuding confidence. Her disdain for me now was second only to my own anxiety about being single.

I was restless, checking my phone every few minutes. Finally, at 11:41, I heard a knock.

I jumped up, but my mom had already opened the door.

Eli stood there, a little shy. "Hello, Mrs. Brooks."

He bowed his head. My mom waved him in. "You’re early."

I stiffly greeted him, "Eli…"

He ignored me, greeting my dad instead. "Professor Brooks."

I couldn’t help feeling a little lost.

Eli was a great person—smart, handsome. The only problem was, he was keeping his distance from me.

I muttered under my breath, "No mission now?"

[Of course there is.]

[Based on your future data, here are three options:]

[Option 1: Pull Eli away. (49.52%)]

[Option 2: Pull Eli away. (42.3%)]

[Option 3: Do something. (99.1%)]

Almost as soon as the options appeared, I grabbed Eli and dragged him away. I didn’t care about the options anymore.

I took him straight to my room.

It was summer, and he was wearing a simple white T-shirt and shorts—youthful and full of energy.

I pinned him gently against the wall, supporting his back with my hand.

"Eli."

He looked a little scared. "…"

I took a deep breath. "Eli…I was wrong."

The other options faded away, leaving only the third.

He looked at me, frowning. "We’re at your house."

I looked at him, apologizing again. "Sorry, Eli."

He just stared at me, his gaze burning.

I felt a fire inside, and apologized again: "Sorry, I was out of line."

His face, so close, completely captivated me.

He didn’t say anything, his lips parted slightly.

I never thought a man could attract me so much.

I like Eli. Only Eli.

I leaned in, cautiously testing the waters.

Neither of us had any experience—he said he was gay, but his actions were just as clumsy as mine.

For a moment, I didn’t know where to put my hands. The awkwardness made my heart race, my hands shaking just a little as I reached for him.

When our faces touched, I realized Eli was crying. His eyes were red, as if I’d bullied him badly. His shoulders trembled beneath my hands.

I panicked. "Don’t…don’t cry, I’m sorry, okay?"

I was flustered. "I really didn’t mean it. I’ve never kissed anyone before, I swear."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Please forgive me, Eli…E…baby?"

He froze, looking at me. "You…you only know how to do this? Who’s your baby? Aren’t you straight?"

I shook my head firmly. "No, I’m a goner. Eli turned me gay."

He glared at me. "Didn’t you say, ‘I, Carter Brooks, am straight as can be. If I ever have improper thoughts about you, may I never find a girlfriend in my life!’?"

"Yeah, but I don’t need to find one."

I rubbed my face against his hair. "My partner’s right in front of me."

I grinned, scooped him up, and tossed him onto the bed.

He bounced in surprise. I climbed on top of him.

He asked, "Aren’t you straight?"

I gently pried open his clenched hand and laced my fingers with his.

He looked at me—eyes red, lips flushed.

I swallowed. "What flavor was your toothpaste today?"

He blushed, stammering, unable to answer, but the tears kept falling.

The option box popped up again:

[Based on your future video data, here are two options:]

[Option 1: Kiss him. (47.1%)]

[Option 2: Whisper in his ear, ‘Save your strength to cry later.’ (49.3%)]

I clicked on option one.

"Eli, baby, I like you. I want to use the same toothpaste as you."

He looked at me, then turned away. "I’ll send you the link."

"I don’t want the link."

"Too much trouble to buy."

"Move back in with me, and give me a little every day."

"…What do you mean?"

I pretended to think. "Kiss twice a day?"

"Once."

"Three times."

"No, once."

"Four times."

"No, twice."

"Okay, I’ll use my tongue."

A timely knock interrupted us. My mom’s voice came from outside: "Have you settled things with my son-in-law yet?"

Eli and I were both leaning against the door, startled by her voice.

In a panic, I instinctively hugged him tighter and shouted, "Mom, stop rushing! We’re still working things out!"

Eli quietly nestled in my arms.

"Are you eating or not?"

"Okay…we’ll eat, we’ll eat."

When my mom left, I looked down at him.

He lowered his eyes. "You…you…"

I scratched my head.

"You probably didn’t know…the soup you had at the nurse’s office was made by my mom. You’ve always been her son-in-law."

"Why am I…the son-in-law?"

I kissed his forehead. "Who knows."

Later, when we kissed, the option popped up again:

[Based on your data, here is a single option.]

[Option: Kiss him. (99.1%)]

My finger hovered over it.

This system even has single-choice questions.

"Not enough."

Eli looked up, puzzled.

I smiled. "Alright, I’ll take that as a yes. After all, I’m shameless."

The two of us laughed, tangled together, the awkwardness slowly melting into something bright and brand new—a shared laugh echoing through the room, and the feeling that, for the first time, we were exactly where we were supposed to be.