Aubree felt a little awkward the whole time they were eating.

For some reason—maybe because of the mix-up earlier—Bowen suddenly said that since they’d known each other for a while, calling him "Mr. Turner" sounded way too formal. He told her she should just call him "Uncle Bowen" like Alvin did.

Aubree felt like he was messing with her, but thinking of the future investment, she played along and said, "Uncle Bowen."

"This place is known for its beef pasta," she added quickly. "Back then, I couldn’t afford them, and now, I can’t really eat spicy stuff, so go ahead and enjoy them for me, Uncle Bowen."

She adjusted to the name pretty easily, since she was close with Alvin anyway.

But Bowen felt weirdly thrown off by it. Alvin called him "Uncle Bowen" all the time, and it meant nothing, but hearing it from Aubree hit differently. It sounded nice.

The difference surprised Bowen himself a bit.

Meanwhile, Alvin—busy gaming at the team base—had no clue that, over just one meal, Bowen had mentally criticized him from head to toe for no reason.

Bowen asked the owner for a bowl of clean water, then used a fresh fork to rinse the beef, washing off the spicy sauce before setting it on Aubree’s plate. “If it’s that good, you should have some too.”

The steam from the pasta curled around his face like a soft fog, giving him a kind of dreamy look.

Aubree accidentally stared a second too long. When Bowen glanced over, she quickly looked down and started eating again.

Noticing her red ears, Bowen smiled to himself, suddenly thinking about the first time he saw her at the orphanage.

He was eighteen then—already out of school and running the company. He’d gone to the orphanage for a charity event.

Back then, Aubree wore two braids and sat quietly in the corner with a sketchpad, totally out of place in a room full of noisy, crying kids. She looked way too mature for her age.

Bowen had thought she was adorable. She reminded him of a little girl his older brother once rescued from traffickers five years earlier. If that girl had managed to escape, she’d be about Aubree’s age now.

After they finished eating, Bowen drove Aubree back to Ellis Heights. He didn’t stay long—just asked about the Autumn Finals and said he’d come watch before taking off.

As the Autumn Finals drew closer, the official announcement of the final lineups of both teams stirred up quite a storm on Twitter.

Both sides had made changes. Apex Squad replaced their midsolo with Killian, who used to play for God’s Fury. Carmen, who’d been listed as a sub, wasn’t shown on the poster, so no one really noticed her absence.

Fans of God’s Fury were shocked to see Killian show up on the other team, and even Apex Squad’s fans weren’t sure what was going on.

Then, the God’s Fury poster made an even bigger splash.

Right in the middle was a girl—absolutely gorgeous—in a silver and white uniform. If one didn’t know better, one'd think it was a promo for a TV show. But this was the esports finals. People went nuts.

[Had God’s Fury lost it? They dropped Killian and replaced him with some random girl named Phoenix, huh?]

[Sure, she was beautiful—but what, were they planning to win by distracting the enemy with her looks?]

[Who made this call? What were they thinking?]

This wasn’t a beauty pageant. This was pro gaming. And if they lost, even their own fans were gonna roast them.

And that was the polite crowd. Killian’s die-hard fans had much worse things to say about Aubree.

Most people agreed—God’s Fury was done for.

Of course, there were a few who recognized Phoenix as the same player who’d been turning heads in recent livestreams, but hardly anyone paid attention to that.

When Carmen saw the tweet, she was shocked at first—Phoenix was actually Aubree.

She read through the hateful comments, and a smile tugged at her lips.

But when she realized that Aubree would be playing alongside Alvin—practicing together every day—that smile faded fast, replaced by jealousy. How does she get so lucky?‘ Carmen muttered to herself.

Right then, someone knocked on her door. “Carmen, why didn’t you tell me you joined Emery’s team?” Daxton asked as he walked in.

Carmen quickly pulled herself together. “Daxton, I just wanted to see what it’s like to play in a real tournament.”

Daxton frowned, clearly unhappy. “Your health isn’t great. Why would you take a risk like this?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll take care of myself,” she said. “By the way, did you know Aubree’s in the tournament too?”

Daxton’s face darkened as he heard that. When he realized Aubree was on the opposing team, his expression turned ugly.

“What the hell is she doing? Helping outsiders instead of her own family, huh? She’s just an ungrateful brat,” he said with pure disgust, as if everything Aubree did rubbed him the wrong way.

Carmen clung to his arm and pouted. “Daxton, do you think she’s trying to win the championship just to impress Emery?”

Her tone was light, but her eyes held something more. Carmen didn’t get why Emery and Bryan had both changed their attitudes toward Aubree. She needed to find a way to turn them against Aubree again.

Her comment gave Daxton a new idea. He didn’t even know Aubree could play games. She always acted cold and distant, like she didn’t want anything to do with them. And now she was suddenly showing up at a tournament.

He scoffed, “Just more of her sneaky games.”

Thinking back to what his mom had told him, Daxton was quick to decide that Aubree had planned all of this. She was pretending to break ties with the family but still trying to worm her way in. Her game was obvious.

He convinced himself that Aubree was just playing hard to get, trying to win people over and take everything away from Carmen.

“Don’t worry, Carmen. I’m still here. And I’ll be at the match too,” Daxton said.

If Aubree had any sense and let Carmen win, fine. But if she dared help the other team beat her own family, Daxton swore he’d make Aubree pay for it.

God’s Fury didn’t even have an official Twitter account, so they had no clue what was going on online. With the finals right around the corner, even Aubree, who normally didn’t have to train, was spending her after-school hours at the team base.

Matilda was completely focused, trying to figure out the perfect draft to counter Apex Squad even in her dreams.

And just like that, the League of Legends Autumn Finals kicked off at Rithol City Stadium.

Outside, the staff started checking tickets. Bowen entered early through the VIP entrance and sat down in the best seat in the house. He pulled out his phone and sent a message. [Good luck, tonight’s champ.]

In the locker room, Aubree’s phone buzzed. Alvin, sitting right next to her, glanced over and saw the message on her screen. His face twisted slightly.

He looked down at his own phone. Nothing.

He tried to convince himself that Bowen had sent it to the wrong person. But deep inside, he cursed Bowen anyway.

While Bowen was texting, someone peeked over his shoulder.

But Bowen was quick—he flipped the phone face down right away. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Ollie backed off with a sheepish grin. “What do you mean? I’ve never been to one of these esports matches before. Just checking out the vibe.”

“You better be,” Bowen muttered, shooting him a look.

They’d been friends for years. Ollie had asked Bowen to hang out a bunch of times since he got back, but Bowen always said no. And now, out of the blue, Ollie had shown up at his office and followed him to this match.

Ollie made a face but couldn’t stop himself from sneaking another look at Bowen. Something just didn’t feel right.

Since Bowen got back from overseas, no one really knew what he’d been doing. He kept turning down invites to grab drinks with the guys, always saying he had to get home.

If Ollie didn’t know Alvin still lived in Forith Bay, he might’ve thought Bowen had a girl waiting for him at home.

And now here he was, watching an esports game like he cared. That was new. Ollie was pretty sure Bowen didn’t even know how the game worked.

Something was definitely up. And Ollie was determined to figure out what it was.