Four Of A Kind

Chapter 78: [2.51] There Are Four Labels for Me, and One of Them is “Plaything”

I stood there, staring at the four Valentine sisters, my brain completely failing to process what just happened.

I’d been set up from the beginning. They never intended this to be a fair game—it was a trap to get me to agree to unlimited favors.

My one defense against the chaos that came with working for this family had been stripped away in less than thirty minutes.

“So I get nothing?”

“You get the valuable experience of learning not to underestimate us,” Vivienne said.

The real Harlow bounced up from her seat, dropping the Sabrina act completely. “That was so much fun! I haven’t done that since we were little! Did you see his face when he realized he got them all wrong? It was like—” She made an exaggerated shocked expression that I’m sure looked nothing like my actual face.

“You know,” Cassidy said, stretching like a cat who’d just caught a particularly juicy mouse, “we should decide what our favors are going to be. I’ve got some ideas already.”

“I thought we agreed the favors would be redeemable at any time,” Sabrina said quietly. She’d moved to stand by the window, the moonlight casting half her face in shadow. “That was part of the rules.”

Vivienne nodded. “Correct. The favors can be called in whenever we choose, with no expiration date.”

That was… somehow worse. Now I had four unlimited favors hanging over my head indefinitely. They could call them in tomorrow, next week, or six months from now when I’d forgotten they even existed.

“Can I at least know how you pulled it off?” I asked, genuinely curious despite my bruised ego. “How did you swap personalities so convincingly?”

The four sisters exchanged glances, some silent communication passing between them.

“We’ve been practicing being each other since we were children,” Harlow explained. “It started as a game to confuse our nannies, but then it became a way to escape boring events or cover for each other when one of us was in trouble.”

“The trick,” Vivienne continued, “is to focus on the most obvious traits and exaggerate them slightly.”

“Hey! I’m not childish!” Harlow protested, then immediately ruined her argument by pouting.

“I had to pretend I cared about everyone’s feelings,” Cassidy said with a smirk. “That was Harlow’s entire personality right there.”

“The easiest one is Cass,” Harlow said, sticking her tongue out at Cassidy. “All you have to do is be loud and rude.”

Cassidy lunged at her sister, who squealed and dodged behind me, using me as a human shield.

“Save me, Assistant-kun!” she cried, grabbing my shoulders from behind and peeking around my side.

“Leave me out of your sister drama,” I said, trying to step away, but Harlow clung to me like a barnacle.

“Both of you, stop,” Vivienne commanded. “You’re acting like children.”

“We are children,” Cassidy countered, crossing her arms. “We’re seventeen.”

“Speak for yourself,” I muttered. “Some of us are legal adults.”

“Ooh, someone’s salty about losing the game,” Cassidy taunted.

“I’m not salty,” I said, absolutely lying. “I’m just pointing out facts.”

“Hey,” Sabrina said softly from her position by the window. We all turned to look at her, surprised to hear her speak up. “The movie is already set up.”

“Movie?” I asked.

Harlow released me from her grip and bounced over to a cabinet near the concession stand. “Yes! Movie night! We always do movie night on Fridays, and since you’re here for the weekend, you get to join us!”

She pulled out a stack of Blu-rays, fanning them out like playing cards. “We’ve got horror, action, romance, comedy—what’s your poison?”

“I don’t get a vote,” I said, dropping into one of the plush recliners. “I’m just the help, remember?”

“Don’t be like that,” Harlow said. Her bright expression dimmed. “You’re not just the help. You’re…”

She trailed off, searching for the right word. Her hands fidgeted with the stack of Blu-rays, shuffling them nervously.

“The help,” Cassidy supplied unhelpfully. She had already thrown herself into the recliner nearest to the projector, one leg hooked over the armrest.

“Our assistant,” Vivienne corrected. She stood with perfect posture near the concession stand, arms crossed beneath her chest.

“Our plaything,” Sabrina murmured from her spot by the window. Her voice was barely audible, almost lost in the hum of the room’s climate control system.

I looked at her sharply, but her expression remained neutral, giving no indication that she’d said anything unusual.

Harlow waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever label you want to put on it, you’re here, and that means you get a vote. So what kind of movie do you want to watch?”

I thought about protesting further, but honestly, I was tired. I’d been up since 4:30 that morning, driven to school, worked all day, then come straight to the Valentine estate for what was already shaping up to be an exhausting weekend.

If they wanted to watch a movie, fine. I’d probably fall asleep halfway through anyway.

“Action,” I said finally.

Cassidy’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Finally someone with taste. I vote for ’The Gray Man.’ Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, explosions everywhere.”

Vivienne sighed. “I suppose that’s acceptable. It has decent production value at least.”

“I wanted to watch ’Your Name,’” Harlow said with a pout. “It’s so romantic.”

“We watched that last week,” Sabrina reminded her. “’Gray Man’ is fine.”

With the movie decided, the sisters settled into the recliners. Harlow immediately claimed the seat to my right, while Cassidy took the one to my left after a brief hesitation. Vivienne sat on Harlow’s other side, and Sabrina chose a seat one row behind us, slightly offset.

The lights dimmed automatically as the movie started. I tried to focus on the screen, but my brain kept drifting back to the four favors I now owed. What would they ask for? Knowing these girls, it could be anything from fetching boba tea at 3 AM to burying a body. The Valentine sisters operated on a different plane of reality from normal people.

About twenty minutes into the film, I felt something touch my arm. I glanced down to see that Harlow had lowered the armrest between us and was now leaning against my side, her head resting on my shoulder.

Oh shit…