Infinite Cashback System

Chapter 228: 229 | Confidence is Evidence

Kumiko gathered her things around eleven, stuffing her pink notebook into her bag and double-checking that she had her phone charger. Jordan walked her to the door while Chloe cleaned up the kitchen, the clinking of dishes providing background noise to their quiet goodbye.

"Tonight was nice," Kumiko said at the threshold. "Even the boring parts where Chloe explained copyright law."

"The copyright law part was important."

"It was still boring."

Jordan leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. The contact was brief, barely three seconds, but Kumiko’s entire body went soft against him. Her eyes fluttered closed and a tiny sound escaped her throat, something between a sigh and a whimper.

"Nnnh..."

Jordan pulled back before his hand could find her head again. The Headpat trait was useful but dangerous. Using it in the hallway of an apartment building at eleven PM felt like playing with matches next to gasoline.

"Text me when you get home," he said.

"I live close."

"Text me anyway."

"Okay." Kumiko’s voice was slightly breathless. "I love you."

The words landed in Jordan’s chest like a physical weight. Not bad weight. Just present. Real in a way that still caught him off guard even after hearing them before.

"I know," he said.

Kumiko smiled, wide and genuine, and then she was gone down the hallway with her bag bouncing against her hip.

Jordan closed the door and found Chloe watching him from the kitchen. The purple LEDs cast shadows across her face, highlighting the sharp line of her jaw and the curve of her shoulder where the oversized sweater had slipped again.

"You’re good at that," she said.

"Good at what?"

"Making people feel wanted."

"It’s not a skill. It’s just paying attention."

"Same thing."

Chloe finished wiping down the counter and draped the towel over the sink edge. She moved toward Jordan with the deliberate grace of someone who knew exactly how her body occupied space, each step placing her closer until they stood inches apart in the living room.

"I’m not jealous," she said.

"I didn’t ask."

"I know. But I wanted to say it anyway. I watched you kiss her and I didn’t feel jealous. I felt..." She paused, searching for the right word. "Warm."

"Warm?"

"Like something good is happening and I’m part of it instead of watching from outside."

Jordan reached up and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. The blue contacts caught the ambient light, artificial color over her real eyes, another layer of the person Chloe Kim had constructed from necessity and survival.

"You’re not outside anything," he said. "You’re in the middle of it."

"I know."

"Good."

Chloe rose on her toes and kissed him. Her lips tasted like the spicy salmon rolls they’d been eating, wasabi heat mixed with something sweeter underneath. Her hands found his chest, palms flat against his shirt, fingers spreading over his heartbeat.

Jordan pulled her closer. His hands settled on her hips, thumbs finding the curve of bone beneath the thin material of her sleep shorts. The contact made her breath catch, a small hitch that vibrated against his mouth.

"Mmm..."

They stayed like that for a long moment, kissing in the purple-lit living room while the television displayed a blank screen and the apartment settled into late-night silence. When they finally separated, Chloe’s cheeks were flushed and her breathing had quickened.

"Stay tonight," she said.

"I was planning to."

"I know. But I wanted to ask anyway."

Jordan smiled. Something about this girl and her need to articulate things that didn’t need articulating made his chest feel full in ways he couldn’t quite name.

They climbed the stairs to her loft together. Chloe’s bedroom was exactly as he remembered it from his previous visits: queen-sized mattress, white sheets, minimal decoration, everything arranged with the careful intention of someone who controlled what she could control because so much else remained outside her influence.

Jordan stripped down to his boxers while Chloe changed into an oversized t-shirt that hung to her mid-thigh. She caught him watching and raised an eyebrow.

"See something you like?"

"Several things."

"Pervert."

"Guilty."

They settled into her bed, tangled together in the darkness with only the faint glow of city lights through the factory windows providing illumination. Chloe pressed her back against Jordan’s chest, his arm draped over her waist, his hand flat against her stomach where the t-shirt had ridden up.

Her skin was warm and smooth under his palm. Jordan could feel her breathing, the rise and fall of her ribs, the subtle tension that never quite left her body even in moments like this.

"Jordan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this is going to work?"

"The business?"

"Everything."

Jordan thought about the question. He thought about the System notifications he hadn’t checked all night, the chemistry percentages and return rates and gamified relationship metrics that tracked his connections like a spreadsheet of human emotion. He thought about Chloe’s twelve followers and Kumiko’s love confession and Lila Martinez calling him boring in bed on a public stream.

"Yeah," he said finally. "I think it’s going to work."

"You sound sure."

"I am sure."

"How?"

Jordan tightened his arm around her waist and pressed his lips against the back of her neck. Chloe shivered, her spine curving instinctively into the contact.

"Because I’m too stubborn to let it fail," he said against her skin. "And you’re too smart. And Kumiko is too determined. And somewhere out there, a goth girl with a dead car and a bad attitude is going to help us build something that matters. I can feel it."

"That’s not evidence. That’s just confidence."

"Confidence is evidence. It’s proof that I believe in what we’re doing enough to stake my time and energy on it. That matters."

Chloe was quiet for a moment. Her hand found his where it rested on her stomach, her fingers lacing through his.

"Okay," she said softly.

"Okay?"

"Okay, I’ll trust you. For now. Until you give me a reason not to."

Jordan smiled into her hair. The scent of her shampoo filled his lungs, floral and clean, and underneath it the warm smell of her skin.

"I won’t," he said.

"You better not."

"I won’t."