Charlotte stepped forward. She knew all too well that playing the victim or putting on a "innocent girl" act would be a death sentence with this man. He saw through every facade and relished the thrill of tearing off a mask.
"It's not funny," Charlotte said, meeting his gaze directly behind the lenses, her voice steady. "But it is precise. A velvet glove hides a sharper blade than a butcher's cleaver."
Caleb went still.
He eased himself upright, the fake smile finally fading from his lips. In its place was a look of extreme danger, but one that finally held a flicker of genuine interest.
"Oh?"
Caleb stood and walked up to her. The faint, woody scent of his cologne drifted over her — there was no overt aggression, yet he seemed to steal the very air from the room.
"Since you seem to appreciate my blade-work..."
He casually picked up a cold, stainless steel thermos from the table and offered it to her with a gesture as gentlemanly as an invitation to dance.
"Then please, show me what 'truth' looks like."
His voice was as smooth as water, but his words were a blatant trap.
"Don't play it as human. Humans are too hypocritical. Play... 'an android catching a soul.'"
The prompt: Abstract. The prop: Inanimate. The requirement: Non-human.
He'd backed her into a corner. He was smiling while forcing her to make a fool of herself.
Charlotte took the cold thermos.
'An android catching a soul.'
To most, this might suggest "intelligence" or a high-end "android." But to Charlotte, with her background in tech, it meant something else entirely—Awakening. The exact nanosecond the ghost enters the machine.
She closed her eyes, summoning the profound despair from the original host's memories, mixing it with her own logical understanding of IT, and finally, brewing the emotions using the experience she'd gathered as a child star.
She opened her eyes. In that instant, her gaze shifted.
It was no longer a human look, but a detached, emotionless 'observation.'
Like a machine booting up for the first time,Her neck jerked in stiff, rhythmic increments. She lifted her hand and stared at the thermos.
She wasn't looking at a water bottle; she was analyzing it.
Her fingers traced the texture of the metal as if reading data.
Then, a twitch.
Because in the reflection of that metallic surface, she saw her own face.
"What... am I?"
She uttered her first question. The voice was dry and robotic, yet laced with a primal, newborn terror.
Then, her programming began to glitch. Emotions started to collide with her logical core. She began to tremble, trying to throw the thermos away, only to find her hands refusing to obey.
Finally, she clutched the bottle desperately, like a drowning person grabbing a final straw, and let out a guttural shriek from deep in her throat that sounded utterly non-human.
It was the first cry of a machine that had found its soul.
You could have heard a pin drop. Even Caleb was stunned.
He sat bolt upright, shock appearing for the first time in his hyper-critical eyes. Without a single exaggerated facial expression, she had portrayed the terrifying transformation from an object to a living being.
"Good."
It took a long time for Caleb to squeeze out that one word. It was only one word, but it was the highest praise he had given all day.
"You... are very special," he said, his gaze complex.
Just like that, the robot was gone. Charlotte was back to her usual, untouchable self.
"I'm flattered, Caleb."
Caleb watched her calm face, his fingers unconsciously tracing the thermos that still held the warmth of her hands. A wicked, devilish smile curved his lips.
[Ding! Target Caleb is emotionally compromised! Affection Unlocked, Favorability +40%, Romance Progress 45%.]
After that day, Caleb's attention on her was significantly more intense than on anyone else.
The vibe from the other girls was changing too—from the contempt they felt at her return to a growing sense of dread. Cracks were starting to show in Emily's 'saintly' persona, Charlotte caught a flash of murderous intent in her eyes that she couldn't hide fast enough.
Near the end of another rehearsal, Emily had just finished a scene with Caleb. She looked unsteady on her feet and feebly began to collapse toward him.
"Ah... Caleb, I feel a bit..."
Sitting in the audience, Charlotte watched this "performance" with a mocking curl of her lip. Her eyes flicked to the cameras overhead. Wait for Caleb to make the save, they'd be locked in an incredibly suggestive pose—the paparazzi would have a field day.
But would it really go that smoothly?
Charlotte rested her chin on her hand, a predatory glint entered her eyes.
"Stay right there!"
Before the word "faint" could even leave Emily's lips, Caleb swiped a prop scepter from the side and thrust it precisely between them, bracing it against Emily's shoulder.
The air went still. Everyone was floored by Caleb's move.
Emily, who should have fallen into Caleb's arms, was forced to maintain an awkward, halfway-down dangling position.
"Hold that pose." Caleb even took a step back, as if inspecting a defective product. "Physics doesn't work that way, Emily. In a real faint, the center of gravity should be in the knees, not leaning deliberately toward me."
Like a puppeteer fiddling with a doll, Caleb adjusted Emily's posture at will. Once finished, he turned to the other trainees. "Take notes, everyone. This is a masterclass in how to ruin a scene."
Emily watched as Caleb used her "collapse" as a textbook case, earnestly analyzing the difference between a fake fall and a real one. Her face turned a deep, angry shade of purple; she wanted nothing more than to disappear into a hole in the floor.
Caleb announced that "falling" would be the subject of a pop quiz next class, told everyone to observe Emily closely, and dismissed the group.
Then, Caleb walked straight over to Charlotte, who had been enjoying the show.
"You're with me."
"Where to?" Charlotte asked.
"The rehearsal room next door." Caleb's voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough for the whole room to hear. "There's still one glaring hole in your performance. I need to 'correct' it with you privately."
Privately. Correct.
The room was buzzing with silent speculation.
Charlotte arched an eyebrow and followed him. As she passed Emily, she paused briefly and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Emily, you'll have to give me lessons on that... 'dramatic' tumble sometime."
Emily was so livid she nearly actually fainted.
The Rehearsal Room Next Door
"Your problem is that you're too 'solitary'."
Caleb had taken off his suit jacket. He was just in a white shirt now, sleeves rolled up to reveal his solid forearms.
"Your acting has great tension, but you refuse to communicate with your partner. You're building a wall and locking yourself inside."
Charlotte knew he was right. A veteran had once told her the exact same thing. She had always been a lone wolf.
"So what should I do?" she asked.
"Learn to rely on someone." Caleb walked up to her, his powerful masculine presence instantly enveloping her. "Now, treat me as the person you trust most. Try... lean into me.."
Charlotte took a deep breath. She knew this was the pivotal moment to win Caleb over. She had to break her hard shell and let him see her soft side.
She closed her eyes and slowly let herself fall backward.
She expected her lack of trust to make her stop halfway, but Caleb's arm caught her waist with perfect stability. In that moment, she caught the scent of faint tobacco and cold cologne.
She opened her eyes, meeting Caleb's downward gaze. Their faces were barely five centimeters apart. The air grew thick and heavy with tension.
Caleb looked at the girl in his arms. Usually, she was like a little wildcat with claws out, but now she lay submissively in the crook of his arm, her doe-eyes misty with a hint of vulnerability he'd never seen before.
His throat hitched.
"Are you..." His voice dropped to a low, gravelly rasp. "Doing this on purpose?"
A sly smile touched the corners of Charlotte's mouth. Her fingers lightly hooked into his shirt collar.
"If I said yes... would your heart skip a beat?"
BANG!
The rehearsal room door was thrown open with massive force!
"Charlotte! So this is where you're hiding and slacking off!"
Jax burst in, dripping with sweat. Seeing their intimate position, his expression darkened instantly.
"Get your hands off her!"