Unfortunately, someone else was listening. At the table directly behind them sat Pakito. Like a professional gossip, he had heard every word.
Pakito immediately thought about how disrespectful it was for Sher to flirt with another alpha in broad daylight. Not long ago, Sher had been desperately seeking his attention. Now he seemed to have forgotten him completely.
Sher continued complimenting Jin's good looks, and the two of them laughed together. At this point, Pakito could barely tolerate it anymore. He started wondering whether everything Sher had previously said to him had been a lie.
Then he studied Jin more carefully. Jin was young, successful, the president of a major company, calm, friendly and pleasant. In short, he was everything Pakito was not. That realization only made him angrier, because he became convinced that Jin was exactly Sher's type. And honestly, he was not wrong.
When the meal was nearly over, Sher offered to pay as thanks for the interview. Jin apologized and explained that he could not stay long, because he had another engagement. However, he suggested that they could go on a date another day. To make things easier, he offered Sher his personal phone number.
Pakito nearly exploded. Not only were they planning to meet again, but Jin was giving Sher direct access to him. Internally, Pakito cursed Sher for being so shameless.
Meanwhile, Sher noticed that Jin's phone number ended with a nine, just like his own. He excitedly declared that perhaps it was a sign that they were soulmates.
At that exact moment, a hand landed on his shoulder.
It was Pakito. With a disturbingly pleasant smile, he called Sher sweetheart and remarked that it was quite a coincidence to meet here. Perhaps it was fate. After all, they kept running into each other. The system immediately reported that Pakito's irritation level had jumped to thirty-five points.
Sher was shocked to hear Pakito call him sweetheart. He quickly told him that he must have mistaken him for someone else. Pakito replied that Sher had spent days chasing after him, throwing himself at him and demanding his attention. How could he possibly forget him now? Pakito then reminded him of all the recent incidents. Confessing his feelings, clinging to him, and even kissing his nose. Finally, he asked whether Sher was trying to collect the hearts of every alpha he met.
Completely confused, Sher wondered why Pakito was suddenly acting like this.
Suddenly, Jin joined the conversation and asked Pakito whether he was the owner of Kao. Pakito confirmed that he was, and Jin introduced himself properly. Meanwhile, Sher was practically biting his nails, trying to figure out how to escape the situation. He noticed that Jin's relationship icon was a green heart. He knew that he could not romance him, but being able to talk with him was enough.
Jin said that he did not want to be nosy, but he would like to know what kind of relationship existed between Pakito and Sher.
Pakito immediately answered. "He's my boyfriend."
Sher immediately countered. "He's just an acquaintance."
An awkward silence followed. Then both of them spoke again. Pakito insisted that Sher was his boyfriend. Sher replied that he had simply found Pakito lying in the trash and picked him up.
Pakito was visibly annoyed by the comment and told him that he was going too far. Sher fired back, asking why he suddenly cared now, when he had rejected him so mercilessly before. Pakito asked when exactly he had ever rejected him. Sher reminded him of the punch he had received and asked whether that punch was supposed to count as a yes.
Pakito responded by saying that he had hit him because he liked him. Sher stared at him in disbelief and asked whether he genuinely thought that hitting someone was a sign of affection. Pakito answered by asking what else it could possibly mean. He continued insisting that he did not understand why Sher kept rejecting him after openly admitting that he liked him.
Sher told him to listen carefully. He explained that just as he had started liking him, he had also stopped liking him.
Pakito froze. "What? What did you just say? Are you saying you can stop liking me that easily?"
Sher immediately got a bad feeling. The system warned him that Pakito's irritation points had reached sixty.
Pakito continued speaking. "So now you don't care anymore, right? Messing with me is that easy for you?"
The system issued an emergency warning. Once irritation exceeded fifty points, a random punishment could occur. Alert. Irritable character state activated.
Terrified, Sher looked at Pakito and wondered what was wrong with him and why he suddenly seemed so frightening. The system informed him that Pakito's irritable personality mode had begun. Sher reflected that he had only made the comment sarcastically. Why had it made Pakito so angry?
Suddenly, Pakito grabbed him by the shirt and raised his hand. Sher thought that he had been hit by Pakito before, but that this time felt different. For the first time, he was genuinely afraid.
Pakito swung. The punch landed hard. Sher froze. So did Jin and everyone else in the restaurant. As he struggled to recover, Sher noticed that somehow his glasses had stayed on.
Unfortunately, Pakito had no intention of stopping after one hit. He prepared to attack again. Before he could, someone grabbed his arm. It was Jin. In a nervous voice, Jin asked him to stop.
Pakito turned toward him with a murderous expression, shrugged off Jin's grip and prepared to hit him too. At that moment, Sher shouted, "Don't you dare touch my man!"
He immediately launched a powerful kick that sent Pakito flying across the room and crashing into tables and chairs. As dust filled the air, Sher pointed at him and demanded to know how he could even think about hurting such a handsome face. Then he turned to Jin and asked whether he was all right. Jin, worried, pointed out that Sher's nose was bleeding. Sher glared at Pakito and said that a rabid dog that keeps biting people needs proper training.
At that moment, a new mission appeared. The system announced: support violence, but only in bed. Slogan, make love, not war. The objective was to defeat Pakito using the power of love. The reward was increased friendship points with any character. The penalty for failure was that both he and Jin would end up flattened like Yamcha.
Pakito continued hurling insults at him. When Sher looked up, he noticed something shocking. Pakito's silver eye had turned red. Pakito demanded to know how Sher dared to do that to him. A health bar suddenly appeared above his head, like a video game boss.
Sher quickly evaluated the situation. Repeated rejection had apparently pushed Pakito into a rage-fueled state. Pakito was around one metre ninety-two tall, weighed roughly eighty-five kilograms, and possessed advanced judo skills. Sher barely reached his neck. There was no way he could overpower him physically.
Pakito charged. Sher avoided the attack by leaping over him. Pakito crashed into several chairs, but immediately recovered and rushed forward again. Within seconds, he was face to face with Sher.
Sher realized that Pakito's long legs gave him a massive advantage. He barely had time to react. Pakito wrapped an arm around his neck and executed a judo throw, slamming him into the ground. Terrified, Jin told a waiter to call security. The situation was becoming genuinely dangerous.