Cloud nine (Romance)

Chapter 5: The True Game

(POV:Minh)

Shortly after we ask Tyler to pick a "win/lose" type game. "THIS LOOKS FUN." "WHY ARE YOU YELLING" Max responds in a serious but positive sense. I then explain the game. This is "The mystery of Hallowsville" "There are multiple rulesets for this game but i'll explain the four player version." I continue "To not bombard you with absurdly long rules i'll explain how to play as the game goes on, but how the game works is that there are two roles. Hunters and killers." "The aim of the Hunters is to dictate who the killers are among them, if both end up dead, then they win. "And the aim of the killers is to remain undetected until the game ends, if one remains standing at the end, the killers win." I pull out a hat with four notepads. "Two of these will be labeled (hunter), and two will be labeled (killer)."

"How do we know who the killer is?" Tyler says. I respond with "Throughout the game there are certain objectives that everyone must complete, and that is a way to figure it out..like seeing if people look like they are doing things that don't make sense." They all exclaim as a sign of understanding. "How the game is formatted is that everyone will be doing the objectives for exactly five minutes, afterward we get to vote on who will get eliminated. That person dies and is no longer part of the game. We repeat this for another round." "" I better get you as a teammate then Minh, you seem well educated on this game!" Max exclaims. Later in the first round after getting our roles we start doing miscellaneous things across the board, the hourglass had gone all to the bottom implying that it was the end of the objective phase.

Now it was at the voting phase...This is where each player votes on who they think is the killer, and the person with the most votes is eliminated. One vote Tyler, two votes Max, and one unsubmitted response. "Aww, Max.." I say. "Think whatever y'all wanna think." He says in a comical but aggravated tone. Max then looked at all of our role cards because it didn't matter now that he was dead. He saw my card with the role {killer}, He goes behind Tyler and Naomi and he winks directly at me... "Wait..i-is he my accomplice," I say in my head. "No way he's cheating right now," I say in my head as I'm about to laugh. The second round plays just as normal until it goes to the voting phase yet again.

"Soooo..i think it's Minh, she's not been talking that much" Naomi says. "What, I've just been making coffee in the library , I was in there the whole game." That was a lie, However, the game ended when I was in the library so hopefully they didn't see it. "Oh, true true. Tyler said." I accidentally let out a little giggle...it got quiet. But then I suddenly diffused the silence with "Ok Naomi, then what were you doing?" She got a little flustered at the sudden accusation and started to fumble on her words. I knew her clumsiness would help. "U-uh..I was in the G-guest bed fixing the bed." " I start to fake laugh. "A~ha, how funny. how you are terrible at defending yourself but you are pointing the finger directly at someone." "TIME" Max says. "It's been over five minutes for the discussion part." Oh my goodness, perfect timing. Max says the voting. "One vote for Minh... And two votes for Naomi, Naomi you are out." Now that there were only two people left it was the end of the game, we all put our role cards down. I was the first killer obviously, Tyler was the first hunter, and Naomi was the second hunter. "I knew you were my teammate, you kept giving me these looks!!" I said jokingly. Right as Max was about to high-five me, Tyler grabs him by the shirt "Hey, that's cheating!!" He says very angrily. "Welllll, it was never a part of the rules." He says in a very cocky tone knowing he has won. As Max and Tyler are bantering about their superficial win streak I get a tap on the shoulder from Naomi. "Well played Minh, you and Max made a good team back there..." "Well thanks Naomi, you played well too."

Tyler begrudgingly grabs his stuff, ready to leave the coffee shop. The rain has stopped at this point. The winds are as still as the calm before the storm. "C'mon Tyler!" "We're having so much fun here!" Naomi nags Tyler. "No Naomi, let's go to your place, I'm not feeling it." Naomi looks slightly upset but turns to a grin as she waves goodbye to us. Naomi and Tyler head out, leaving the crepe cakes and coffee drinks that they ordered without a worry. Leaving me and Max alone at the Coffee shop. "So..." Max goes on. "I'll help pick everything up." Max starts folding up the game, making sure to put the cards and pieces in their correct spots. I see Alex walking out of the kitchen. Taking off her apron, and walking towards me and Max. "Well, you owe me one for tonight," Alex says jokingly while handing me the keys. "Just make sure you close up the shop, I don't want to rush here on my one day off when the alarm goes off," Alex says while leaning in for a big hug. "It always makes me happy to see you happy sis, take care!" Alex pulls away, grabs her things, and heads out the door.

"What's the plan, Minh?" Max asks while picking up the final pieces of the board game. "Well, we have to lock up the building." "I'll get that taken care of on our way out though," I say as I toy with the keys in my hand. We walk to the door, our footsteps echoing out through the cafe. As we reach the door, I turn on the alarm, walk outside, and lock the door behind us. "Hey, Max.." I'm gonna say something... "So... I was wondering if you want to come to my place?" "I just don't feel safe walking back alone at this time of night," I say in a quiet voice. "Yeah, sure." "Just lead the way," Max says as he approaches the sidewalk with me. "Thanks, it means a lot," I say to Max as we start walking down the street.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the house. The cold night slowly fades as we enter the warm, welcoming home. "Well, I better get going then." Don't want to intrude here." Max says as he turns to face the door. "No!" "Stay, "I insist," I say while grabbing onto Max's shoulder. "I'll pour you a drink," I say as I motion Max towards the kitchen. We walk into the kitchen, turning on the lights as we enter. I grab a bottle of bourbon. I had stored in a cabinet, two glasses, and poured us both a drink. "I didn't think you would be a bourbon drinker," Max says while taking the glass I poured for him. "Yeah, I guess I just adopted it from my dad. "I say before taking a sip out of the glass. "I'll turn on the TV, you can get comfy on the couch."

"Wait Max, are there any shows you like, I've never really asked you," I say. "I like sitcoms, but I rarely find funny ones." He says with a laugh. He then says "There's this one sitcom called 'Yet another broken egg'." The name made me smile. "It's about a group of people all hating this boring job where they work at a breakfast place and it's the funniest thing ever." "Do you have any streaming services because it's on most of them?" I searched for the name. I found where I can watch the show. I then put it on the TV. As Max is annoyingly but also kind of funnily saying all of the lines from episode one by heart whisperingly, he says " Hey Minh, you got some blankets or something. It's a little cold" he says. I nod as I get off the couch and go to my storage closet. I then see a burgundy-red blanket. As I was egregiously picking up the massive blanket I started to get a little hungry, I guess the light-ass Ube crepe wasn't enough. As I bring the blanket to Max he caresses the blanket with pure delight We both agree that we are hungry and proceed to make french bread pizza.

Late into episode two of our show, all of the drinking and eating has made us more tired and tipsy. I start closing my eyes due to the heaviness. My eyes feel like they are being pulled down. After a short period of quietness, I feel Someone pulling me toward him. As we went into the blankets, huddled up together. "Is this okay Minh, you look cold." I let out a groan as I'm slowly starting to drift away, giving him reassurance. The space around me slowly darkens, as my consciousness slips further away. "Y'know Minh..." I start to lose continuously as he continues talking. "I know we've.." "But." "I really think.." "I kinda...y'know" My thoughts then completely fade to black.