Russian Roulette

Caitlyn wakes up before sunrise where the sky was still as dark as the night. She always starts the day with her morning stretches, never goes a day without it. Also, she wouldn’t forget about her tea—which she also never goes a day without. 

She woke up with excitement today, she’s been planning to do the Russian Roulette in an elevator trend for her social media. She thought that today would be the perfect moment to film it. 

Caitlyn finished her morning routine on time, not including breakfast as she usually ate somewhere near their campus. Once she got in the elevator, she turned her camera on its front cam. She quickly fixes her hair and the angle before pressing the record button.

“Hi guys! It’s Cait K here. We’re going to attempt the Russian Roulette in an elevator trend. Wish me luck!” Caitlyn flips the camera of her phone towards the elevator.

She checks the frame to see if it has a good angle. Smiling with contentment, she raises her left hand to flip off the closed elevator doors. Caitlyn knew that there wouldn’t be anyone waiting at the other end as she always got off her apartment early in the morning when everyone was still usually asleep.

So imagine her shock when the elevator’s door opened, revealing a pink-haired girl who stared at her with an unreadable expression.

“ Shit - sorry!” Caitlyn sets her hand and phone down at the sight of the pink-haired girl. Blushing furiously as she clears her throat and stops the recording. The woman stared back at her, this gave Caitlyn the time to really take her in.

Pink hair, sharp nose, full lips with a scar on it, nose piercing, ear piercings, scarred left eyebrow, the “VI” tattoo just below her left eye, and those intense, powder blue eyes. The woman stared back at her with raised eyebrows, she had her backpack slung over her right shoulder.

“S-Sorry.” Caitlyn said in a whisper. The woman ignores her, she enters the elevator before it completely closes. Caitlyn mentally thanks whoever decided to add some elevator music here, because the silence would’ve been really loud.

Caitlyn purses her lips the whole ride while occasionally glancing at the pink-haired woman. Caitlyn thought that she looked familiar, she just can’t quite put her finger on where she saw her. The elevator dings, making Caitlyn sigh softly in relief. The woman silently exits the elevator, not bothering to glance back at Caitlyn, the latter awkwardly stares at her retreating figure before following after. 

Tomorrow, then. Caitlyn mentally tells herself.

✦ •  •  •  •

Caitlyn prepares her phone’s camera, angling it towards the elevator’s door. It was already the next day. Even if she felt embarrassed about yesterday, she still wants to go through this for her content.

She makes sure her hand is in the frame before flipping off the elevator’s door again. She silently prays that she reaches the ground floor immediately, with no one waiting on the other side. She felt the elevator stop, but she didn’t bother to look at what floor it was on. She just hopes it was the ground floor.

The elevator opens, revealing the other side. Caitlyn mentally curses before quickly pulling her hand back. She fumbles with her phone, making it slip out of her hands.

“Sorry- sorry! ” She scrambles to pick her phone up. Twice in a row? Seriously? She glances up, making eye contact with the woman she flipped off yesterday.

The woman wordlessly enters the elevator, just like yesterday, ignoring Caitlyn. Caitlyn composes herself after retrieving her phone from the ground. 

She glances at the woman, wearing Piltover University’s jacket with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Caitlyn wanted to explain why she flipped her off twice now, but every time she opens her mouth, nothing would come out.

The elevator reaches the ground floor with a ding! And just like yesterday, the woman leaves without saying a word or glancing back at Caitlyn. 

Seriously?! How does that happen twice in a row? Caitlyn thought to herself as she got off the elevator. Tomorrow. 

And she still wasn’t giving up.

•  ✦  •  •  •

The next day, Caitlyn thought it best to press a bunch of numbers on the elevator so she could get more content. It was successful so far, flipping off the air on the other side. The elevator’s door opens when she hears the familiar ding! She reached the ground floor.

“ Finally !” She smiles upon seeing the ground floor. She exits the elevator, immediately bumping into someone as she turns the corner. Caitlyn stumbles back at the impact, making her drop her phone “Sorry!” She quickly exclaims, making eye contact with the person she bumps into.

Powder blue eyes stare back at her, mirroring her surprised expression. They stare at each other for a solid few seconds before Caitlyn breaks eye contact, glancing down at her phone. 

“S-Sorry!” For someone so famous on social media, you’d expect Caitlyn to not be so awkward in person. But look at her right now, fumbling as she scrambles to pick up her phone. Instead of grabbing her phone, she accidentally pushes it further away. “ Shit. ”

She hears a soft chuckle coming from the woman in front of her. Caitlyn freezes when the woman kneels to pick up Caitlyn’s phone. The woman holds up Caitlyn’s phone for her. Caitlyn couldn’t bring herself to glance up at the woman.

This isn’t like you, Caitlyn Kiramman! She mentally scolds herself. She slowly reaches up to take her phone, whispering a short thank you before standing up. The woman stands after a few seconds. Still, Caitlyn couldn’t bring herself to look at her, she simply mumbles a quiet sorry .

“You really like apologizing, don’t you?” Caitlyn finally glances up at the woman, who met her eyes with amusement.

“Well- I do think that you deserve an apology after the-” She hesitantly gestures at the air. “-incident earlier.” And for flipping you off twice. Caitlyn wanted to add.

The woman doesn’t say anything back, she only smiles, making Caitlyn look somewhere else. The woman shakes her head before walking past Caitlyn, making the latter get a whiff of her leathery scent mixed with cherries and flowers.

Caitlyn glances back to look at the woman’s retreating figure. She looked like she just came back from a morning jog, seeing as she was in workout clothes.

Caitlyn sighs before moving on. At least she got her content now. No more flipping off the elevator.

•  •  • ✦ •

“What?!” Jayce, Caitlyn’s best friend, was laughing his ass off due to Caitlyn’s story. Caitlyn told him everything about how she filmed this Russian Roulette thing. “How do you flip off the same person twice in a Russian Roulette experiment?” He grins widely while giving Caitlyn a teasing look.

Caitlyn does her very best not to roll her eyes. Even though she hates being teased by Jayce, she couldn’t stop herself from telling him everything about her day. 

“I apologized!”

“And then the next day, when you finally finished the filming, you accidentally bump into her.” Caitlyn nods. Jayce laughs again, wiping his eyes before calming himself down. “So tell me-” Caitlyn glances at him. “-when’s the wedding?” 

“Excuse me?!” Caitlyn almost drops her fork. “For what absolute reason?”

“Oh come on. Isn’t that a silly little meet-cute?” Caitlyn scoffs, kicking Jayce under the table, making him yelp in surprise.

“No, it isn’t. You really think someone would date a person that’s flipped them off twice ?” Jayce shrugs as he chuckles.

“You never know. Who is this girl, anyway?” Caitlyn shrugs.

“She goes to our university, I saw her wearing our jacket. I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with her.” Caitlyn stuffs food into her mouth, brows furrowing as she tries to familiarize the girl.

“Yup. It’s definitely a meet-cute. The world has finally thought that is what time for you two to meet.” Caitlyn rolls her eyes this time.

“Why don’t you tell me about what happened to you and Viktor a few days ago?” It was Jayce’s turn to be teased.

“Oh- we hit it off pretty well. I might go on a second date.” Jayce answered so casually that it made Caitlyn’s blood boil. “You thought you’d get to tease me? I’m not letting you.” He says while making a face, Caitlyn rolls her eyes with a sigh.

“Whatever.” She says before taking a bite of her food.

“Describe her, I might know.” Jayce says as he takes a huge bite of his food.

“Pink hair. She also has the roman numeral six tattooed-”

“Oh wait- Vi? ” Jayce asks with wide eyes, mouth still full as he stops chewing.

“You know her?” Jayce’s shocked expression turns into amusement, he takes his time, drinking water to gulp down the food in his mouth. He sets down his glass of water, clearing his throat before looking at Caitlyn. She raises both of her eyebrows. “Well?”

“Who doesn’t? She’s a second-year culinary arts student. How do you not know her? She’s basically a celebrity. Chef Vander Lanes? That’s her father.” Caitlyn’s eyes slightly widened with curiosity.

“Really? The Michelin-starred chef? The Vander Lanes?” Jayce hums in response. “Really?” She says with intrigue. “I didn’t know that.”

“Mhm. Because your attention has been fully given to your phone. Seriously. You're basically a social media influencer, and you don’t know who Vi is.” Jayce says with a chuckle.

“I apologize if I don’t bother myself with other people’s lives.” Jayce rolls his eyes. They were quiet for a moment, Jayce breaks the silence with a snort, chuckling after. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just so funny to me that you flipped off Violet Lanes twice .” Caitlyn groans as she sets her fork down.

“Please stop reminding me. I have to go. I’m gonna be late for class.” She doesn’t bother to wait for Jayce’s response, she quickly gathers her things and leaves.

“Hey- you haven’t paid!” Jayce groans as he shakes his head. “How dare she.” He sighs in defeat, taking a bitter bite off of his food.

•  •  •  • ✦

Caitlyn was currently in the elevator, waiting to reach the ground floor. The elevator stops on the third floor, it opens after a few seconds. Caitlyn locks eyes with powder blue eyes. Vi. Now she knows her name, not that it really mattered. Caitlyn gives her a polite smile, Vi stares back at her, still giving no reaction.

Vi silently enters the elevator, standing at a respectable distance away from Caitlyn, slightly in front of the latter. This gives Caitlyn the opportunity to eye her. She had her backpack slung over her shoulder again. She was wearing a comfortable-looking, gray hoodie with black headphones hooked around her neck. Caitlyn could hear the faint noise of music coming from the headphones. Caitlyn furrows her eyebrows. She was playing music but wasn’t wearing her headphones? Maybe Vi just preferred it that way. Why was Caitlyn so bothered about how Vi used her headphones? It’s a free country, seriously.

She hears a familiar singing voice from Vi’s headphones. When she recognizes who was singing, she smiles. She opens her mouth to say something, but the elevator dings , making her close her mouth. And as always, Vi exits the elevator without glancing back at Caitlyn.

Caitlyn sighs before following after her. She was slightly irritated at how much of a snub the Michelin-starred chef’s daughter was. Caitlyn doesn’t even know why she’s so bothered that the future chef was ignoring her. Caitlyn doesn’t even want to do anything about her, especially after the embarrassing past few days of interactions with the future chef.

Caitlyn didn’t know why she was following the future chef. Well, they were on their way to the campus, right? Caitlyn thinks it’s safe to follow her, since they were going in the same place anyway. But Caitlyn stops in her tracks when the future chef stops walking. Caitlyn maintains a respectable distance away from Vi, making sure that the future chef doesn’t see her.

Vi crouches down, making Caitlyn curious. Vi takes a container out of her backpack, she opens it, revealing what seems to be mouth-watering food. Caitlyn saw Vi’s smile from her side profile as she looked at something Caitlyn couldn’t quite see.

And then a small figure was happily walking towards Vi. It was a kitten, about the size of Vi’s hand. And then, a few other kittens came into view. Caitlyn looked in awe at the scene in front of her. Vi had brought them some food. She sets the container down, the kittens immediately crowd around it.

A few seconds later, an adult cat rubs its head against Vi’s palm. Vi smiles as she ruffles the older cat’s head, chuckling softly as she hears soft purring. Caitlyn watched as Vi continued to watch the family of cats eat what she had prepared for them.

“Why are you standing there like some creepy stalker?” Vi looks at Caitlyn, the latter nearly topples over. It was a good thing that a tree was there, she held onto it for support. Caitlyn didn’t even realize she was standing right next to a tree. Vi lets out a small chuckle as she looks at Caitlyn with amusement in her eyes.

“I- um…” Shit. Get it together Caitlyn. She clears her throat. “Sorry.” Vi only smiles at her before looking back at the kittens who were happily eating alongside their mother. Caitlyn hesitantly moves away from the tree to get to Vi. She stood awkwardly beside the crouching future chef as they both looked at the cats.

Caitlyn opens her mouth to say something, but again, nothing comes out. Caitlyn was late for breakfast with Jayce, but she didn't care. She was quite in awe with a certain culinary arts student to think about other things now. The future chef had cooked a meal for a family of stray cats. You don’t often see people who do that for stray cats.

The cats finished the food after a few minutes. They were meowing and purring under Vi’s hands. Caitlyn thought of how lucky the cats were–not because of Vi’s hands all over them or anything–but because they had someone like Vi who would get out of her way just to cook food and care for them.

Vi gathers the container, properly closing it before putting it inside her backpack. She pets the kittens one by one, including the mother before standing up. She slings her backpack over her shoulder, walking away after a few seconds.

This leaves Caitlyn in shock as she stares at the future chef’s retreating figure. Seriously? Vi, as usual, left Caitlyn without saying anything or glancing back. So far, she’s only said two sentences to Caitlyn, and smiled at her twice–but who’s counting, right?

Caitlyn, still frozen with shock, stared at the future chef’s back. She felt soft fur rubbing against her leg. She glances down to see the kitten’s mother, rubbing her head against Caitlyn’s leg. Caitlyn smiles, crouching down to pet the cat’s head and gently scratch her back. The cat purrs happily as she nudges Caitlyn’s hand.

“At least you’re not a snub.” She says with a small laugh, before standing up to meet Jayce for breakfast.

• ✦ •  •  •

Caitlyn was free every Friday. The only thing she did was finish her morning routine, eat some homemade breakfast, which was basically just stuff like eggs or instant noodles (she can’t cook). Caitlyn stared at her phone as she took a bite of her instant noodles. She smiles upon seeing that her Russian Roulette video went viral, gaining thousands of followers and millions of likes off of it.

She smiles as she reads the comments. Laughing at the silly comments the TikTok community would come up with. She laughs when she sees a comment about Vi. Yup, she included Vi in the video, without her consent. It was the first video of the first time she tried the trend.

Caitlyn’s smile falters when she realizes she didn’t get Vi’s consent. Shit. She abruptly stands, almost knocking her noodle cup off of the counter. She scrolls through the comments some more.

Violet Lanes on my fyp before GTA 6?!

How did you convince THE violet lanes to agree to this TT

the collab we never knew we needed

post more videos with violet please!

TikTok asked me for my opinion on this video. I said it was educational

flipping off violet lanes is crazy

i’d ride her instead of the elevator

THE violet lanes on my FYP?!!

lol violet lanes being on my fyp getting flipped off was not on my 2025 bingo card

I can’t believe i’m seeing violet lanes on my fyp in a tiktok trend and not the news

Shit. Caitlyn forgot the most important thing when it comes to content creation. She always tells herself this, how could she forget? Consent from the other party is the most important thing… ever.

• •  • ✦ •

The next day, Caitlyn silently rides the elevator, waiting to reach the ground floor. She woke up in a mess today. She rushed her morning routine due to the embarrassment that she currently felt. How could she have been so stupid for not getting Vi’s consent? Seriously, it’s basically her life’s motto to always ask for consent.

The elevator dings , making Caitlyn look at the floor. Shit . The number 3 was shown on the small screen above the doors, making Caitlyn gulp down. She stares at the elevator’s doors that were slowly opening. This was Violet Lanes’s floor, it made Caitlyn nervously stare at the door. If Vi’s on the other side, she’d immediately apologize to her.

Her eyes widen when it reveals Vi standing on the other side. Her backpack flung over her shoulder as she wore the university’s jacket. Still meeting Caitlyn’s eyes with no reaction. But this time, the future chef was flipping Caitlyn off. She was flipping her off!

Shit. She knows about the video! “I- I can explain!” Caitlyn says, making Vi set her hand down, looking a bit surprised to see Caitlyn. “I always ask for consent, okay? I don’t know what got into me that I didn’t ask for your consent when I posted that video. I swear I would never post anything without the other person’s consent-” Vi chuckles softly, making Caitlyn stop blabbering like a fool. “You- why are you laughing?” Caitlyn cautiously asks. Vi ignores her, silently entering the elevator.

Caitlyn looked at her with confusion, Vi was smiling to herself, ignoring the confused Caitlyn beside her. Caitlyn was just staring at the future chef, hoping she would at least accept her apology for not asking her any consent at all. The elevator dings , indicating that they’ve reached the ground floor.

And once again, Vi exits without a word. Caitlyn shakes her head in disbelief before scoffing. Seriously? She quickly follows after Vi. They walked in silence, Caitlyn following behind her just like the other day. And just like the other day, Vi crouches down, taking a container out of her bag to feed the family of cats.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Caitlyn asks as Vi pets the kittens with a smile.

“Why do you keep on following me?” Vi asks back.

“Because-” Caitlyn thinks of what to say. “-because I’ve wronged you.” Vi chuckles. “I don’t think you should find this funny. I posted that video without your consent. You’re obviously mad at me, seeing as you’ve flipped me off earlier.” Vi laughs again, shaking her head with amusement. “Seriously- what is so funny?” Vi stands, getting close to Caitlyn, making the latter step back.

“I don’t care if you post about me with or without my consent.” She says, staring at Caitlyn with those intense, powder blue eyes.

“Well… why don’t you? And why did you flip me off earlier if you weren’t mad?” Vi stared at her for a moment, Caitlyn was sure that she was about to melt from the intensity of Vi’s stare.

“I…” She raises her eyebrows while smiling. “...was playing Russian Roulette.” Caitlyn stares at her with a confused expression, she just shrugs before crouching down to clean up the container that was now empty. Vi pets each of the cats before standing to shove the container inside her bag.

Vi leaves Caitlyn without glancing back again . 

Welp. I should officially be out of her hair.

✦ •  •  •  •

Jayce was currently clutching his stomach as it was hurting due to the laughter he was letting out. Caitlyn had told him about the past few days’ events. Caitlyn rolls her eyes as Jayce continues to laugh his ass out.

“Seriously. I might die of laughter from your interactions.” He pats his knee multiple times. Jayce quickly composes himself to look at Caitlyn while grinning. “She flipped you off?” When Caitlyn nods, he immediately laughs again. “S-Sorry! It’s just- just too funny!” Caitlyn clenches her jaw as she looks around, seeing people stare at them.

“Seriously, Jayce. It’s not funny.”

“Yeah- to you! But it is to me ! God… this was the most I’ve laughed this week. Tell me more? What happened next?” Caitlyn sighs.

“I followed her to ask her why she was ignoring me. Remember when I told you about how she fed those stray cats? Well, she did that again today. I asked her why she ignored me. She asked me why I kept on following her. And then I told her that it was because I wronged her. I said a lot more after that, then she just laughed !” Jayce laughs at this. “I asked why she flipped me off. She said she was playing Russian Roulette and then left without another word.” Jayce laughs even harder, tilting his head back with his hands clutching his chest as he leans against the chair. He composes himself, staring back at Caitlyn with a few breathy laughs as he calms himself down.

“Meet-cute, I tell ya.” Caitlyn rolls her eyes. “Seriously though. She didn’t accept your apology?”

“I don’t even know!” Caitlyn sighs in frustration. “She’d say one sentence and leave . She’s only said- about five full sentences to me ever since the moment we met.” Jayce chuckles. “It’s seriously annoying.”

“Well, she should be the one who’s annoyed. Seeing as you’ve posted her face all over social media without her consent.”

“She said she didn’t care if I posted about her with or without her consent.” Jayce looked thoughtful.

“Maybe she really doesn’t.” He says with a shrug.

“But why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because she’s the daughter of a very famous Michelin-starred chef that has articles posted about him almost every day.”

“How does that make any sense-”

“She’s a nepo baby, Cait. Like you, she’s used to fame. And she probably just doesn’t give a shit about people invading her privacy anymore. There are just so many articles about the Lanes. You should look it up sometime.”

“Again, I don’t bother myself with other people’s lives.” Jayce just shrugs.

“Can’t hurt to look your future wife up, can it?” Caitlyn glares at him as he chuckles.

“You are insufferable. And because of that, you’re paying.” Caitlyn quickly gathers her things to leave.

“Wha- I already paid a few days ago!” Caitlyn ignores him as she walks away. Jayce sighs in defeat again. “Man.” He takes a bite of his food, chewing with furrowed eyebrows. “I’ll get her one of these days.” He says, nodding with determination.

• •  •  • ✦

Sunday, Caitlyn was grateful that she could rot in bed the whole day. But she still had a lot of studying to do. Well, rotting in bed while studying it is, then. She finished her morning routine, she should really be thinking of her next content. It didn’t help how the comments were telling her to post more videos with Vi.

Almost every single comment on her Russian Roulette video was asking for another video with Vi as the commenters thirst over the future chef. Seriously, Caitlyn knew that Vi was hot, but she just wished she hadn’t posted her instead. The comments were all over the future chef.

Groaning, Caitlyn got up from her bed to take a quick shower. Once she gets off, she dries her hair, jumping a little when her phone rings. She peeks at her phone to look at who’s calling, it was her mom. Caitlyn drapes the towel over her shoulder before picking up the phone.

“Hello, mother.”

“Darling! How have you been?”

“I’ve been well. May I help you?” Caitlyn asks, not wanting to make any more small talk with her mother. Caitlyn knows that her mother wants something from her, she always does whenever she calls.

“Well, we’ve wanted to invite you for dinner. Your father and I want to spend some time with you dear. We also want to introduce you to a friend of ours.” Of course. Here we are again, her parents are going to introduce her to some boy and ask her if she finds him interesting enough to date. The last time they did this, Caitlyn had finally told them that she likes girls. Her parents were very much understanding, even suggesting to introduce her to girls next time.

“And then you’ll set me up with a boy again?”

“I thought you liked girls, dear? Has that changed?”

“No.”

“Well, we aren’t setting you up this time. We genuinely want to spend time with our daughter. And I do believe that you’d love our guests. So don’t be late, darling. 6pm. Love you!” Her mother doesn’t wait for her to respond, she immediately ends the call.

Caitlyn just sighs before setting her phone down.

Well, it’s not as if she has a choice, does she?

✦ •  •  •  •

Caitlyn waits for the elevator to reach the ground floor. The elevator stops on the third floor, she mentally curses before staring at the ground. The door opens a few seconds later, she could smell a familiar scent as the person walks in. Caitlyn just knew it was Vi, but she doesn’t look up, instead, she continues to stare at the ground.

The elevator dings , making Caitlyn look up at the doors. She saw Vi staring at her through her peripheral vision, but she didn't look back at the future chef. Instead, she makes her way outside of the elevator before Vi could, and doesn’t glance back.

Caitlyn chose to walk to her family’s meetup place since it was quite close to her apartment. She puts her hands inside her coat’s pockets. It’s a good thing she wore something cozy, it was freezing outside. Caitlyn could hear footsteps from behind her, making her furrow her eyebrows. Was someone following her?

Caitlyn doesn’t look back, she walks at a quick pace instead. She hears the footsteps behind her quicken as well. Caitlyn turns around and quickly jabs the person behind her on the stomach. The person groans at the force of Caitlyn’s punch. Caitlyn then proceeds to grab the person by the collar of their neck, but she stops when she makes eye contact with those intense, powder blue eyes.

“V- Vi? ” Vi chuckles lightly.

“ Damn, Cait K. You’ve got a good arm.” Caitlyn lets go of her, face heating up with embarrassment at Vi’s usage of her social media name.

“S-Sorry!” Seriously, why are her encounters with the Michelin-starred chef’s daughter always so awkward ? “I thought you were a weirdo following me.”

“Valid.” Vi says.

“ Are … you following me?” Vi shrugs.

“I’m going that way.” Vi nods at the direction she’s going.

“Wait- why are you talking to me?” Vi smiles. Caitlyn disliked the way she was so distracted by Vi right now. The future chef was wearing comfortable clothes, yet why did she look so distractingly attractive?

“Am I not allowed to talk to you?” Vi asks as she shoves her hands inside her pockets.

“You-” Caitlyn shakes her head. “-nevermind. I’ll uh- I’ll go ahead.” Vi smiles at her as she leaves. Caitlyn’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she walks away. She could still hear Vi walking behind her, but she doesn’t bother to glance back at her.

Why was the future chef suddenly talking to her? I mean- Caitlyn had the last say! It was always Vi who left without glancing back at Caitlyn, always Caitlyn being the one to follow after Vi. But it was currently the other way around.

She finally spots the restaurant her parents had told her about. She quickly enters, before she could state her name, she sees the hostess smile at someone behind her. 

“Vi! It’s been so long since you’ve last been here.” The hostess greets with a smile. Caitlyn’s eyes widen as she looks behind her. And would you look at that, Violet Lanes, smiling at the hostess as she ignores Caitlyn’s shocked expression.

“Hey, Sophie. How have you been?” Vi walks past Caitlyn, making the latter get a whiff of her annoyingly intoxicating scent. Caitlyn stares at Vi’s back as she nears the hostess.

“Your father made me employee of the month!”

“That’s really great to hear! You deserve it.”

“Thank you!” The hostess smiles with a blush. “Reservation?”

“Yeah. Kiramman.” Caitlyn’s eyes almost flew out of her eye sockets when she heard her surname come from Vi’s mouth. Excuse me? “Fancy people, huh?” Vi and the hostess laugh.

“Oh- they are fancy people. VIP room 5. Have you done something to piss them off?” Vi chuckles.

“Nah. I’ll go ahead. See you later, Soph.”

“Have fun with the rich.” Vi chuckles before entering the restaurant. Caitlyn was still frozen in place, staring at Vi’s retreating figure. “Good evening miss. Any reservations?” Caitlyn ignores the hostess and quickly follows Vi inside. “Wha- hey! Security!”

Caitlyn was briskly walking towards Vi to catch up to her. But she was stopped when someone grabbed her by the wrist. She jabs the person on the face, making them let go with a pained groan. Caitlyn’s eyes widen when she sees a sweet looking security guard, clutching his face in pain.

“S-Sorry! I am so sorry!” Caitlyn hovers her hand over the guard’s arm.

“You shouldn’t enter the restaurant without a reservation ma’am.” He groans. “You are a crazy lady!” Caitlyn hears someone chuckle behind her.

“That, she is.” Caitlyn turns around, making eye contact with an amused-looking Vi. “Don’t worry Clark, she’s with me.”

“So sorry Miss Lanes.” The guard smiles at Vi before walking away.

“You’ve punched defenseless people twice now.” Vi says, looking at Caitlyn, still amused.

“I- I was- nevermind.” Caitlyn looks at Vi. “Why are you meeting my parents?” Vi shrugs.

“I have no idea.” Vi walks away. Caitlyn stares at her, dumbfounded. And she leaves without glancing back, again! Caitlyn quickly glances around before following Vi. Vi opens the door with a “VIP 5” written on it and enters, Caitlyn follows behind her. Vi wasn’t glancing back, but she held the door open for Caitlyn until she was beside her.

“Ah! I see you’ve gone together. That’s wonderful news.” Her mother greets them with a smile. Caitlyn glances around the room. Her mother sat in the middle, her father to her left, and… the Vander Lanes on her right. “Have a seat, darlings.”

Vi glances at Caitlyn before closing the door, moving to sit beside the Michelin-starred chef. Caitlyn sits beside her father, staring at her mother with confusion. She could feel Vi staring at her, making her a bit nervous.

“How is it wonderful news?” Caitlyn asks. “Um- good evening, by the way, sir.” Caitlyn politely smiles at Vander, he smiles back warmly with a nod.

“Well, we’ve seen your recent viral video. Although it’s quite… unrefined of a lady to flip someone off. We’ve thought it to be a good idea if you include Vi more in your future videos!” Caitlyn stares at her mother, her father smiles at her. Across the table, Vi snorts.

“No thanks.” Vander glares at her daughter before smiling at the Kiramman’s.

“I think my daughter is in a comedic mood today. She’s already agreed to this, right Vi?” Vander shoots her a knowing look, Vi sighs before nodding. 

“What?” Caitlyn asks.

“Darling, I think that it would be great to have more collaborations between you and Miss Lanes. Your recent video has made fans interested in our family’s business, as well as the Lanes’ restaurants.” So that’s what this is about. Business. Of course.

“Oh.” Caitlyn knew that her parents wanted to introduce her to someone, but she had hoped that they truly wanted to spend some time with her and not talk about business. Caitlyn could feel Vi staring at her, but she doesn’t look back. “Okay.” Caitlyn says quietly.

“Truly?” Her mother asks. Caitlyn nods, earning a smile from both her parents and Chef Vander Lanes. She made a quick glance at Vi, noting that the future chef was the only one not smiling. “That’s wonderful, darling! This collaboration would bring more success to our families. Cheers.” The parents clink their glasses together. “Alright, let’s not waste good food now. Chef Vander himself cooked these for us.”

Caitlyn ate in silence as her parents continued chatting with Chef Vander. She felt Vi’s stare the whole time, but she pushed her nervousness down. Why was Violet Lanes staring at her? Can’t she just leave Caitlyn alone? Chef Vander offers to take the Kirammans on a tour inside the kitchen, to which they gladly accept. Although, Caitlyn had told them that she wanted to stay and finish the food. So now it was just her and Vi inside the VIP room.

“It’s rude to stare.” Caitlyn says after swallowing the chewed food in her mouth. Chef Vanders cooking was definitely Michelin-star worthy. She hears Vi hum in response, making Caitlyn finally look at her.

“Why’d you say yes?”

“Why’d you say yes?” Vi chuckles.

“Didn’t have much of a choice, I think.” She takes a sip of her wine. Caitlyn observes the future chef as she sets the wine glass down. “What? Something on my face?” Vi asks.

“Yeah. Attractiveness.” Vi raises her eyebrows. Caitlyn just realized what she said, and she couldn’t do anything to take it back now. “I mean- um-” Vi chuckles before taking a sip of her wine. Caitlyn could basically hear her heart pounding in her chest. She could also feel the heat on her face right now, she’s probably as red as a tomato. “It’s- I just- nothing’s on your face- is what I meant.”

“Uh-huh. I believe you.” Vi says, taking another sip of her wine. “On both statements.” Caitlyn groans as she buries her face in her hands.

“Please just forget about what I said.”

“Mm- I don’t know . That really boosted my ego.” She says, grinning as Caitlyn peeks at her through her hands. Caitlyn sighs before running her hands through her hair, she catches the way Vi gulps at nothing before she clears her throat. “It may be hard to forget when the Cait K gives you a compliment.” Caitlyn rolls her eyes.

“Please stop calling me that, my name is Caitlyn.” Vi grins, Caitlyn gets annoyed at Vi’s teasing grin. Caitlyn gets annoyed at how distracted she is right now. Seriously, why is the girl who’s been a snub to her suddenly talking to her?

“What if I don’t want to?” Seriously, after days of being a snub to her, it’s weird seeing Vi be this talkative. And the future chef was teasing her! Caitlyn clears her throat.

“Speaking of- what are we going to do about this whole new, collab thing?” Vi grins.

“I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the influencer here.” Caitlyn didn’t know what to do, actually. This is the first time in her life where she doesn’t know which content to post. They both fell silent for a moment as Caitlyn thought hard. “Maybe we should just tell them that we couldn’t think of anything to post.”

Caitlyn would very much love that. Caitlyn thought that it was good that her and Vi were reluctant to do this collaboration thing. But despite that, she finds herself saying something else, making Vi raise her eyebrows.

“You’re a future chef right? Why don’t we make food content? You could cook something while I taste it and give my feedback?” Once again, Caitlyn couldn’t take it back. She sounded so excited that Vi stared at her with curiosity.

“I thought you didn’t want this?” Yes.

“No it’s- I mean- It would be great content. It could even help you in the future if you’d like to build your own chain of restaurants.” Despite not wanting this collab to happen, Caitlyn couldn’t help but want it to happen at the same time. Does that make sense? She couldn’t seem to stop herself from convincing Vi to move forward with this collab thing.

Vi eyes her for a moment, looking thoughtful. Caitlyn glances down at her food before taking a bite, not glancing back at Vi.

“My followers also seem to want more videos with you. They’re thirsting over you. It’s starting to annoy me how after that one post, almost all of the comments under my videos are asking about you.” Vi chuckles.

“You jealous?” Caitlyn almost chokes on her own saliva. “Woah- I was joking- here.” Vi was quick to stand beside Caitlyn, offering her some water as she placed a gentle hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder. Caitlyn felt a shiver run down her spine at Vi’s touch, she was fully clothed, but she could feel the heat emanating from Vi. “You okay?” Vi asks, gently rubbing Caitlyn’s shoulder, making her shiver again.

“Y-Yes.” Caitlyn clears her throat. “Thank you.” Vi smiles before walking back to her seat.

“Okay. Food content it is then.” Vi smiles as Caitlyn catches her eye. “When are you free?”