Chapter 89: Going Shopping For A Second Time With Rose. That Should Go Well

Stan led them deeper into Maison Élan, and Adrian followed while doing his best not to look like he was keeping track of the prices.

It wasn’t going particularly well.

The farther they went, the more expensive everything became. At first, the tags had been in the eighty-to-one-hundred-dollar range. Now, the numbers were high enough to make him slow down before remembering to keep walking.

Maybe it was intentional.

If someone had already survived the first few sections, they probably weren’t going to turn around because a shirt suddenly cost twice as much.

Adrian decided not to test the theory.

They were already late for dinner.

Stan stopped beside another rack and glanced at Rose.

The store had become quieter this far in, with fewer customers and more staff who seemed to appear whenever they were needed. Adrian wasn’t sure whether that was good service or simply evidence that they had crossed another invisible price threshold.

"Can I see the purple one you were holding?"

Rose handed him the dress.

Stan examined it briefly before looking back at her.

"This gives me a better idea of what you’re drawn to. Let me pull a few things."

Adrian watched him disappear between the racks.

Less than a minute later, Stan returned with five dresses hanging over one arm.

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

Fast.

Rose listened as Stan laid them out, running her fingers over the fabrics.

Adrian watched her more than the dresses.

She lingered at the third, barely looked at the fourth, and gave the fifth a small nod before returning to the first.

Then he looked at the tags.

One hundred ninety.

Two hundred thirty.

Two hundred sixty.

He stared.

Apparently, people really did this.

They saw $259.99 on a piece of fabric and decided that was a reasonable exchange.

Adrian wondered if there was a support group.

A minute later, Rose took the first dress into the changing room.

The curtain moved.

Rose stepped out.

Adrian looked up from his phone just in time to forget what he’d been checking.

The dress fit her around the waist and shoulders well enough that he understood why Stan had picked it. Rose also seemed to carry herself differently in it, standing a little straighter.

Adrian’s eyes moved over the dress before stopping at the neckline.

They stayed there a little longer than necessary.

Rose was already looking at him.

"What?"

Adrian took a second.

"It fits you."

Rose blinked.

"That’s your review?"

"It looks like the dress is fitting you instead of you having to adjust yourself to it."

A small smile appeared on her face.

"There’s that charming mouth of yours."

"Looks like somebody missed it."

Rose laughed quietly.

Stan stepped closer and checked the fit.

"The fit is good, but try the second one before you decide. I think that one might work better for dinner."

Adrian glanced at him.

The fact that Stan wasn’t trying to sell the first dress made the recommendation easier to believe.

Rose nodded.

"I’ll try the second."

She disappeared behind the curtain again.

Stan looked at Adrian.

"You should probably change too."

Adrian frowned.

"I’m fine."

Stan gave him a polite smile.

"You’re meeting your girlfriend’s mother."

Adrian looked down at his shirt.

"She’s meeting me."

"Exactly."

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do with that.

Stan returned with a dark overshirt, a neutral shirt, and tailored khaki trousers.

Adrian took them without asking how much they cost.

"This would keep things casual but polished," Stan said.

He looked at the clothes.

"At least you left the shoes alone."

Stan smiled.

Victory.

While Rose changed again, Adrian pulled out his phone.

A System notification was waiting for him.

[SYSTEM — Upgrade Evaluation Progress: 87% Complete.]

Adrian stared at it.

Eighty-seven percent.

That was new.

He still had no idea what an upgrade meant.

More cashback?

New functions?

Additional restrictions?

With his luck, probably something ridiculous he’d have to pretend was normal.

He closed the notification and opened the investment interface instead.

The habit was becoming automatic, which bothered him more than the number itself.

Rose — 74%.

He switched to the target list.

Jennifer Brooks — 51%.

His eyes moved between the two numbers.

74%.

51%.

He caught himself comparing them.

When had that become normal?

He knew what the numbers meant, and they weren’t the reason he helped Rose or Jenna.

Still, there was something vaguely unpleasant about how quickly the numbers had stopped feeling strange.

Maybe I’m actually a bit of an asshole.

He considered that, then locked the phone.

Not enough to stop helping either of them. Just enough to admit the thought probably wasn’t completely unfair.

His phone buzzed again.

This time, it was Jenna.

Jenna: We need to talk.

Adrian stared at the message.

They’d literally just separated.

He couldn’t think of anything that normally required we need to talk that quickly.

He typed a reply, deleted it, then tried again.

Adrian: What’s wrong? Can it wait until I’m free?

The reply came quickly.

Jenna: No. I need to talk to you now.

Adrian frowned.

That narrowed things down.

The next message appeared almost immediately.

Jenna: It’s Maya.

His thumb stopped over the screen.

He stared at the message.

He didn’t know what had happened, which somehow made it more irritating.

Before he could ask another question, the changing-room curtain moved.

Adrian looked up.

Rose stepped out.

For a few seconds, Jenna disappeared from his mind.

The second dress was different.

The deeper wine-colored fabric sat closer around her waist, while the neckline framed her naturally. It didn’t look like the dress was trying to make itself noticeable, which was probably why it worked.

It just was.

Adrian’s eyes lingered.

Rose noticed before he could pretend otherwise.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

Adrian glanced at the first dress still hanging nearby.

"This one."

Rose smiled.

"That’s your entire review?"

"The first one looks like it was trying too hard."

She looked down.

"Meaning?"

"This one doesn’t."

Her smile widened.

"You really like it."

"Yeah."

The answer came quickly enough that she laughed.

"Interesting. You needed so long to decide about the first one."

"I was thinking."

"And now?"

"I’m done."

Rose shook her head, then glanced at his phone before looking back at him.

"You still haven’t changed."

Adrian looked down at the clothes in his arms.

Right.

"Forgot."

"You forgot?"

"Jenna texted."

Rose’s expression changed slightly.

"Is it important?"

"Something came up," he said. "I’ll explain later."

Rose studied him for a moment.

Then she nodded.

"Okay."

The word was simple.

The look wasn’t.

Adrian nodded once.

"I will."

Rose glanced toward the changing room.

"Now go."

"Where?"

"Change."

Stan was already trying not to smile.

Adrian looked back at Rose.

"You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

Adrian sighed and walked into the changing room.

The clothes fit better than he expected.

The dark overshirt sat neatly across his shoulders, the neutral shirt kept things simple, and the khaki trousers felt tailored without being restrictive.

He stepped in front of the full-length mirror.

His reflection looked different enough to make him pause.

His shoulders looked broader, his arms more solid, and the trousers made his waist and height more obvious.

The Enhanced Physique was becoming harder to ignore.

Then he checked the tags.

The overshirt was $189.99.

The shirt was $79.99.

The trousers were $94.99.

Adrian added them up before he could stop himself.

$364.97.

His brain automatically started calculating whether he really needed the overshirt.

The thought stopped almost as quickly as it started.

He could afford it.

He left the tags where they were and stepped out.

Rose looked up.

Her eyes moved over the overshirt, his shoulders, and finally his face before she looked away.

Adrian noticed.

"Something wrong?"

"Um. No..."

The corners of her lips curved.

"Didn’t expect you to look so good without warning me."

Adrian frowned.

"I don’t look good before."

Rose smiled without answering.

Harsh.

Adrian’s eyes swept over her again. The wine-colored dress followed her figure closely, and the neckline made it difficult to look away immediately.

"You look good too."

"Mm. Really?"

Adrian nodded.

Rose turned slightly toward the mirror, checking herself from both sides as she studied how the dress fell over her curves.

"So which one do you prefer? This one or the first?"

"Definitely this one."

The answer came too quickly.

Rose gave him a look.

"That was quick."

Adrian dipped a hand into his pocket.

"I’ve already seen the first."

Rose narrowed her eyes.

He could already tell she was about to call him a hentai.

Instead, she looked at herself in the mirror one more time before nodding.

"Okay."

She turned to Stan.

"I’ll take this one."

Stan stepped forward.

"Excellent choice. Do you want me to take off the tags so you can wear it out?"

They both nodded.

He smiled as he looked between them.

"So, is that all?"

Adrian glanced at Rose.

She glanced back.

They both looked pretty good.

"Yeah."

Stan gestured for them to follow him.

They made their way to the counter, with Stan gathering everything while Rose stayed beside Adrian.

The dress was $239.99, and Adrian’s clothes brought the total to $679.95 before tax.

He barely looked at the number before handing over his card.

The payment went through almost immediately.

A second later, his phone buzzed twice.

Debit notification.

Then another notification appeared underneath it.

Cashback.

Adrian tapped on it.

Total expense: $239.99

Net gain: $150.72

He stared at the amount for a moment.

Right.

The cashback wasn’t for the total spending.

His own $364.97 was still an actual expense, and he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.

Still, getting $150.72 back on a dress Rose was going to wear tonight was difficult to complain about.

He locked the phone.

Stan removed the tags from their clothes and handed the dress bag to Rose.

She thanked him before moving toward the exit.

Adrian followed, but his phone buzzed again in his pocket.