Chapter Twenty-Six

Twenty-Six

"Y ou're lying," I say to Martin, in denial.

"I'm not," he replies, and his dry tone makes it clear he wished he was.

This can't be happening. Erik wasn't even running for the position. He joined the events as my boyfriend , and then suddenly he got the position I wanted?

Fuck this. Fuck Lars.

I rub my face, feeling an intense need to scream.

"How long has he known?" I need to know if Erik betrayed me too.

"Lars told him just now," Martin says with his usual expression of disgust. He massages the bridge of his nose and grimaces even more. "Then the fucking bastard broke my nose."

"Why?" I can't understand how Martin was suddenly involved.

"He left the meeting room, came to the bathroom, and I was here. He punched me for ‘all the stuff I did,'" Martin says with a scornful smile. "He should have punched Lars though. The decision was his. I didn't even tell him about your lies."

I shake my head. "I don't understand... Where is Erik now?"

"He left."

"Left?" I raise my eyebrows. Did Erik simply go home without talking to me?

"He's pissed." Martin tries to take a deep breath but instantly returns the paper to his nose when he resumes bleeding. He tries to give me a smug look. "I guess you were a real couple after all."

I need a moment to digest everything he's said. Nothing makes sense.

"So, Erik got angry and left? But he was offered a great job..."

"To work on his own project, yes." Martin's voice rises, more nasal and scornful than ever. "And yet, he said no. Because of you."

My eyebrows climb my forehead. "He said no?"

If what Martin is saying is true, Erik just got the opportunity of a lifetime. He can make his app happen. He can direct it at Scorpio Games and turn it into whatever he dreams it could be. He can have the money and resources to do a much better and more successful product than he could ever do on his own.

It's ridiculous to say no.

And yet he said no because of me ?

I lean against the wall, trembling.

He knew it would destroy me. He knew I would go back to Brazil, because how could I stay here without the job I wanted and knowing he got it? Having to work in the same company as him in a role I no longer believe matches my skills?

I laugh like a maniac, and Martin looks at me a bit scared. How dare I think things were going to be fine! It's a ridiculously bad situation. Erik saying no to the job doesn't fix anything.

Maybe him coming to dance with me meant something, but the meaning got lost in the news we just received. The news that changes everything.

I have no wish to work at Scorpio anymore. How can I work for a man who dragged us through the most unorthodox hiring process ever just to end up choosing someone who wasn't even in the picture to begin with?

I simply can't imagine returning to Scorpio Games after the holidays. Especially when Chiara won't be here and Martin will continue to sneer at me every day.

I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm feeling worthless.

"Erik was an idiot for rejecting the position," Martin says, and I must agree. Erik gave Martin what he wanted because it's obvious that Lars will pick him as his second option. And Martin knows that. It's why he's unbearably smug even with his nose bleeding. "Erik was an idiot for having so much consideration for a liar."

I look up, meeting Martin's gaze. I'm a ticking bomb. He's lucky his nose is already broken, or I might have aimed for his jaw.

"Fuck you, asshole," I pronounce every word clearly. Then I turn around and walk away with feverish determination.

I fear nothing anymore. It's time to tell some truths. I'm going to do what I should have done long ago.

I walk through the party so determined, I don't care who I bump into. Erik is nowhere. He really left.

I can't go home yet though.

I spot Lars and run toward him. I grip his shoulder and turn him around.

"We need to talk."

He sees the fire in my eyes and nods.

We go upstairs, where it's empty and quiet, and sit in a small glass room intended for private meetings. I get straight to the point, and I'm not even feeling nervous. I'm just eager to let it all out.

"I have a couple of things to say. First, I quit."

He raises his eyebrows, though not overly surprised. "Is that because of the talk I just had with Erik?"

I smile with no humor. "Well, you gave him the position you had promised to either me or Martin, even after I did everything right and impressed you. But apparently, you only had eyes for him."

Lars is opening his mouth to reply, but I'm not giving him a chance. I don't want to hear his lousy excuses. I am doing the talking today.

"Which leads me to the second thing I want to say." I raise two fingers, gazing intensely at him, as calm and confident as I never have been in front of my boss. "We lied to you. And this is all on me. Erik and I weren't a couple, we just lived together. I brought him to our Fun Season meetings because I felt pressured to have a boyfriend. I felt you would give me more consideration if I had strong ties to Denmark. A reason to stay."

"You didn't have to lie about that, Sol," he says, and it's like he knew the truth already. Martin said he didn't reveal my lies, so maybe Erik did.

"I know that now," I answer.

When I moved to Denmark, I wanted to find myself. I wanted to be my own person, separate from my family and my culture. But that didn't mean I had to become someone I'm not.

"I was too afraid to be myself," I tell Lars. "Too afraid of how I would be perceived by you, with all your standards and preferences. But I shouldn't have bothered. Because in the end, it didn't matter. I still wasn't good enough for you."

"This is not about you, Sol," he says, looking mildly affected. "And I heard you. I thought about what you said at that meeting when you were angry that we were going to work on an idea you claimed belonged to Storm." Lars leans forward, his fingers interlaced on the table. "I realized I made a mistake with Storm. I shouldn't have let him leave Scorpio to work on his project. I should have promoted him and let him make it here ."

I lean back, studying him. I'm glad he could see his mistake. It's a good reason to have chosen Erik now. Erik deserves the consideration. The recognition.

He should have said yes.

"Yet you didn't consider how I would feel about all this," I say because I can't help it. I'm hurt.

Lars nods, looking down at the table with something that resembles humility. "I know. And I'm sorry."

I nod, accepting his apology in silence. "We were pretending at the start, you know... Erik and me." I look at my own hands, suddenly shy but wanting to let it all out. "And then this whole Fun Season thing brought us together, and what was fake became the truest thing in my life."

Thinking about Erik makes me teary. Because he will be nothing but a memory once I embark on my trip back to Brazil.

But just because I can't be happy here doesn't mean that Erik shouldn't.

"You need to convince him to accept the position, Lars," I say firmly. "It is the right thing. I can't stay here anymore, but that doesn't matter. I wasn't happy at Scorpio, that is the truth." I look down at my green glittery nails. "I hate licorice and liver paté, by the way. The Str?get is my favorite place in the city. I find black clothes boring, and I love flashy accessories. I suck at quiz games, I only recently started biking, and I'm far from a healthy eater. Ah, and I've never been to Noma. I wouldn't eat ants or live sea creatures even if someone paid me a million bucks."

He laughs, and I let my lips stretch into a smile.

"You're a wonderful person, Sol." Wait, has he learned to pronounce my name correctly? "You are unique and lovely the way you are, and you don't have to change that for me or anyone else. I'm glad Storm found you and you found him. You should be together."

My face goes blank. It's too late now.

"Tell me something, Sol." Lars leans forward again. Yes, he says Sol with the proper accent now! "What is your dream job? Tell me about what you enjoy doing the most."

I think for a moment. If he had asked me this question at our last one-on-one in this room, I would have told him that my dream job was to be a game director at this company.

Why did I want that? Probably because of the salary, the security of a full-time job at a big studio, the creative freedom I would have in the role, and the decision-making power I would be given over a project. But that is not the answer that comes from within. I think about how much I enjoyed working on Love Birds...

"I want to be an indie developer," I tell him. "I want to make my own games and apps with a small passionate team, being free to innovate and have a high level of influence over the whole process."

Lars gives me a large smile. "Now, that is a good answer, Sol. Now I can let you go knowing that I'm doing you a favor."

My mouth twitches up, moved by a strange spark of happiness growing in my chest, near my heart. "When can I leave then?"

"You don't have to come back in January if you don't want to."

"There is no notice period?"

He waves his hand dismissively. "Let's not worry about that."

"Thank you, Lars." I'm about to get up, but something keeps me in the chair. "And please, try talking to Erik again, okay?"

We will meet at home at some point. After all, I have to pack my stuff. But I don't want to talk about any of this with Erik. Maybe I can go when he is not there so we can avoid each other entirely. Seeing him now would only make everything harder.

I get up, but Lars is not done. "I want to tell you how our conversation went."

I sit back down, listening eagerly.

"Being a game director at Scorpio Games is also not his dream. That was clear during our chat. And he showed me the app."

"The...app?"

"He finished it."

I stand up. "No way." He could do that in one week —while also learning how to dance forró ?

Wow.

"He did," Lars says, smiling. "And it's fantastic, Sol. The two of you did a wonderful job."

Okay, so Lars knows about my participation, that I'm a traitor.

Who cares? I quit already. And he doesn't seem bothered. In fact, he looks strangely...proud? Amazed?

"We couldn't possibly use the idea in another way. It's your idea, and it should remain yours. So, my proposal to him was..." He sits straighter, and my heart is killing me, pumping at the frantic rhythm of my expectation. "I told Storm that Scorpio Games will publish Love Birds if he agrees to a partnership between our companies. Tropical Storm Interactive will remain the creators of the game, while Scorpio will simply invest in it."

My jaw hits the floor. Holy shit.

HOLY. SHIT.

I stand up again. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm not."

And then an important detail gets processed in my brain. " Tropical Storm Interactive? Not just Storm Interactive?"

"He changed the name of his company." Lars shrugs.

To include me.

OH. MY. GOD.

Erik loves me.

"I need to go now." I head for the door and glance back at Lars. I turn the knob and look suspiciously at him again. "You are serious, right?"

Lars smiles. "He said yes, Sol." I'm on my way out, but his voice stops me. "Don't forget to take the stuff you have on your desk. And make sure to turn off your computer."

"Sure." I nod hurriedly. "Thanks, Lars. See you."

I don't even wait for his farewell. I rush to my desk to get my stuff as quickly as possible so I can go home to Erik.

I pack my things and sit in front of my work computer to delete any remaining personal files and then turn it off. As my desktop is always clean, I instantly notice the new icon in the middle of the screen.

LOVE BIRDS.

My heart thumps in my ears. Erik shamelessly hacked me. He knows the password I use to unlock all my devices. I giggle into my hands in delighted disbelief.

I click on it and the app opens.

It's the welcome screen we designed. I'm asked to make an account and fill in some personal information. Then I'm on the main screen, my bird avatar walking around in a bird playground surrounded by other identical birds, each one with an anonymous, numbered label.

One of the birds has a name though: ERIK_STORM. We are Acquaintances. A few seconds later, I get a Friend Request from him, which I accept. We are Friends now.

I roam around a little more, wondering what I should do, and a notification pops up in the middle of the screen, reading:

ERIK_STORM has answered your question!

VIEW / IGNORE

I haven't asked him a question. But maybe I did, in the real world? I click on VIEW.

YOU asked ERIK_STORM: Why are you here if you hate dating apps?

ERIK_STORM answered: I don't hate dating apps. It was thanks to Cinder that I found you. And it was right. We are a match.

I smile, my heart pumping so hard, my stomach so full of butterflies, that I can't stay still in the chair.

The app is ready. It's beautiful. It even has music and sound effects. And we can keep working on it. Just us and whoever else we want to bring on the team. We are funded. We are secure.

Another notification pops up.

ERIK_STORM has sent you a Date Request!

"Meet me where we first met."

ACCEPT / IGNORE

Smiling from ear to ear, I click on ACCEPT and get the message: Congratulations! ERIK_STORM is now your Date.

I laugh alone in the dark, sitting at the desk that no longer belongs to me. Tears of happiness stream down my cheeks, and I'm almost getting up to rush to the English pub when my phone vibrates.

It's not him. I have a bunch of unread notifications from my family, as usual.

This time, though, I don't ignore them. I'm in a hurry to meet my date, but I can squeeze in a couple of minutes to answer my messages.

Dad: How did it all go? Did you get the job you wanted?

Sol: No... I got the job I needed.

Mariana: Tell me your HOT boyfriend did something DELICIOUSLY SEXY (and a little romantic) to get you back!

Sol: He became a forró dancer and made a dating app to ask me out. All in one week. Pretty sexy if you ask me!

Mariana:

Mariana: If you come back to sleep in this bunk bed with me after this, I'll kick you out of your own room!

Sol: Don't worry. The room is all yours. I intend to stay right here.

Larissa: My family will join yours for Christmas Eve and you're FaceTime-invited from 11pm–6am CET for some virtual turkey, dad jokes (involving the pavê dessert of course), corny karaoke, and a Secret Santa with cheap-looking gifts under R$20. RSVP so I can put your name in the Draw Name Generator.

Sol: Count me in! Even if I go to Jutland with Erik, I won't miss that.

Larissa: Are the two of you Thor and Natalie Portman again?

Sol: You could say so.

Larissa: Nice! And cool that you can be at two parties at once and drop out when the jokes become unbearable.

Sol: Not "at once" because you can bet Danish Christmas celebrations don't run that late. They don't eat dinner at midnight like us.

Larissa: Well, I'm jealous anyway. Your Secret Santa gift at our party will not be ugly socks or a crochet magazine. You'll get a GIFT CARD.

Sol: To some restaurant or shop I can't visit.

Larissa: Then you'll give it to me. Hee-hee.

Sol: Or I can make you take pictures of the entire store so I can pick what I want and then make you internationally ship the gift to me for five times the price of the product.

Larissa: You're okay, right?

Sol: With getting a Brazilian gift shipped here? Totally. Include some gummies in the package, please.

Larissa: I meant in general.

Sol: I'm better than ever.

Mom: Should I worry about you, Sol?

Mom: It's fine to come back, you know...

Mom: But it's also fine to stay.

Sol: Thanks, Mom. I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Not quite yet.

I look at the clock. Then I take my things and leave at once.

I find Erik in the English pub standing by the counter. He is as Viking-looking as when I first saw him. But even hotter.

And I have absolutely nothing against Vikings now.

I walk toward him, both of us smiling, and when I reach him, he kisses me passionately, lifting me off the ground. I laugh against his lips, and we kiss more.

"I'm so glad you came," he says. "I'm deeply sorry, Sol, for shutting you out, and for Lars—"

I put a finger over his lips, shutting him up. "I know, Erik. I know it all, and I'm so happy I could dance right here, in front of all these people. With you."

Erik's smile brightens the whole room. He leans closer, a hand cupping my cheek.

"I love you, Sol Carvalho," he whispers in my ear. Hearing his deep voice uttering those words—and saying my name in such a delicious accent—fills me with so many emotions I almost can't breathe. My vision gets foggy, blocked by the tears emerging in my eyes. I grip his nape, pulling him toward me, and he kisses me. Again and again.

"I love you, Erik Storm," I say with every ounce of truth in me. "And I'm going home with you."

With my face between his hands, he gives me another quick, powerful kiss. Then he puts some distance between our bodies.

"Let's travel to Brazil in the summer," he says excitedly, playing with my hair.

I smile. My family will be delighted to hear we're coming. "Only if Rio is in the itinerary," I reply.

"Absolutely. It's about time I do a north to south trip in your country," he says, referencing what we talked about on our first date here.

"And we'll be backpacking surfer dudes. No luxury."

He laughs. "I couldn't agree more." His fingers trace over the edges of my face. "But we won't be the unattractive kind, of course."

"No, of course not. You'll be the hottest Viking dude around even with flower swimming shorts and lobster-red skin."

His hoarse laugh gives me delicious chills. I kiss his sexy lips, but he stops me to speak again.

"Christmas at my parents' place? They can't wait to meet you."

I smile. "Do they know I exist?"

Erik raises an eyebrow in his classic Are you seriously asking me that? expression. He then kisses the corner of my lips. "What do you think I talked to them about all those days I spent in Jutland?"

My grin broadens, and he keeps kissing me. I slide my fingers through his hair, enjoying its softness. I imagine Erik opening up with his parents about his feelings for me. It makes me want him even more. I glue his body to mine, not caring that we are in a public place, probably being watched by the people sitting at the bar.

"They will love you," Erik says in my ear, the tip of his nose tickling my skin and giving me goose bumps. "And we'll take care of you. You'll belong here."

I pass my arms around his waist, hugging him tight. "I already do."

He touches his forehead to mine, and we smile at each other, silent for a couple of precious seconds, in which we tell each other everything we want to say without uttering a single word.

Lastly, he stretches out his right hand as if expecting me to give him a handshake. "Partners? For real this time?"

I look at his hand, smiling. "Don't you think mixing love and work is a bit wild?"

He stares seriously at me. "I won't let you down again. Ever. We'll be Team Sol & Storm to the end."

My smile returns, radiating out of my gleeful, sunny soul. "I think we're a great team."

"So...deal?" He moves the hand up a few inches, impatient.

I shake it. "Deal."