Chapter 49
Vivian finally returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa, feeling that she had gotten her revenge on Kingston for his teasing when she first came in.
In a good mood, she sat there admiring the apartment’s decor and furnishings.
The last time she’d been here, she’d been far too nervous to pay attention to any of it.
Only now did she notice that one entire wall was dedicated to displaying game–related
collectibles.
It caught her attention, and Vivian unconsciously stood up and walked over. In a corner, she spotted a figurine of a game skin she herself had once submitted.
Back then, the skin design she’d submitted hadn’t been adopted by the official team. Because of some circumstances, she’d missed their follow–up. When they couldn’t get in touch with her, they went with someone else’s design instead.
Later, the company still sent her some gifts.
Thinking back, it felt like it had been about ten years ago.
That was when her mother had divorced Derrick and brought her back to Baymoor.
That game had accompanied her through one of the most boring and painful periods of
Vivian’s life.
If she wasn’t looking at this figurine, she might have forgotten that she’d ever submitted a design for a game at all.
Vivian took the figurine out of the cabinet and held it.
It had truly been made one–to–one according to her original design. Even some tiny details she still clearly remembered had been faithfully reproduced.
This design perfectly captured the naive, carefree, and over–the–top imagination she’d had at
seventeen.
Kingston emerged from the walk–in closet after changing, and Vivian immediately held up figurine and asked him excitedly, “How did you get this?”
the
Kingston glanced at the figurine in her hand and replied casually, “I forgot.”
Vivian felt a twinge of disappointment.
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Chapter 49.
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Kingston looked away, lowering his head to adjust his cuffs. Normally, he could fasten them easily with one hand, but today he fumbled several times.
His eyes turned slightly cold, then, in the next second, a slender hand reached up and neatly
fastened the cuff.
Kingston looked up to see a placating smile on Vivian’s face. Then, she naturally helped him
fasten the other cuff as well.
Kingston looked at her without saying anything, nor did he thank her.
Vivian fell silent for a moment. She’d intended to smoothly ask him to give her the figurine once he thanked her, but he didn’t thank her at all.
How annoying.
Vivian tilted her head up to look at him and hesitated for a moment before she said, “Mr. Howard, could you give this figurine to me?”
Kingston didn’t respond, seemingly considering it.
He didn’t answer, but she didn’t look away, continuing to stare at him.
She hadn’t realized this before, but Kingston was actually quite a bit taller than she was.
Just as Vivian was about to give up, Kingston finally said in a low voice, “Why?”
Vivian replied, “Because it’s a memory tied to my youth.”
Kingston said, “It’s tied to my youth, too.”
“What?” Vivian scratched her head, momentarily at a loss.
She had noticed earlier that the display cabinet was filled with figurines covering almost every champion from the game’s initial release. There were even many pre–rework versions.
He must have been a longtime player.
A longtime player whose skills weren’t very good, who was terrible at the game.
She really had no grounds to ask him to give it up.
More importantly, since the design hadn’t been/officially adopted, Kingston wouldn’t have been able to get her original draft details directly. The only possibility was that this had been made by the official team and gifted to him.
Given his status and how much he spent in–game, it wasn’t strange for the developers to send him a figurine.
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Chapter 49
But still.
3/3
When they made it, they hadn’t even thought to send one to her, the original designer.
The more Vivian thought about it, the angrier she got. She had a frustrated look on her face and gave up on asking Kingston for the figurine.
She’d go take it up with the developers themselves. She wouldn’t let it rest until they gave her a figurine.