Divine Celebrity 106 (Patreon)

I didn’t rush upstairs immediately the moment I noticed her message, though that was less about my lack of enthusiasm, and more about not wanting to create a scandal, so I moved around for a while, making sure that I wasn’t followed by a curious follower. 

I wasn’t afraid of a scandal, per se, as I would have loved to have some excess Intent regardless of the source. I held back for two reasons. The first was the ongoing scandal that I was involved in. Things were complicated enough that without adding an improper relationship a school employee would give the Dean a hand to play. 

And while Lauren had only been an employee for a few days, with absolutely no power over me, I doubt tabloids would care too much about that aspect. And, kicking the Dean was more important than that. 

The second problem was simpler. I didn’t know how her family react, and things were complicated enough dealing with a rich family. No need to add another, even richer one. 

Of course, the truly smart thing would have been never to involve with Lauren in the first place … but what was the point of having magical superpowers if one didn’t take selfish decisions once in a while.

Still, selfish and reckless were different things, so rather than hurrying up, I put in some effort. First, I had gone to the reception and asked for a room — which they were happy to give to me as a gift, though more of a marketing ploy with the commotion that was going on — making sure it was on a different floor. 

Ultimately, I would have preferred driving away in my car and sneaking back in, maybe stopping by a shop to pick a new cap. Unfortunately, today was really a bad day for such a move, and would actually ruin my desire to stay concealed. One photo, and it would have just fueled the scandal instead. 

Maybe I should do that while trying to trigger a scandal.

I just used the elevator to climb to the other floor, trusting that, the hotel wouldn’t reveal that part. The only advantage, the time that passed was not exactly wasted. I spent my time trying to replicate the trick of Professor Argus to empower others, mostly bugs and other small animals.  

I wasn’t successful, but the results were promising enough. 

After all, it was an expensive hotel, and at best, I was a local celebrity. Certainly not enough to trigger a huge crisis... 

No one spoke to me, but that didn’t mean I avoided external attention completely. 

Both at the elevator and the lobby, many observed me curiously, luckily staying away as they tried to decipher me. I acted unaware of their gaze, doing my best to look like I had nothing to hide as I pressed a higher floor than anyone else in the elevator. I waited until everyone else had left the elevator to change my destination to the penthouse. 

I checked my phone as I walked toward, sending several requests to Megan about how to spin the issue, along with some promises for further favor — though as I checked, I had seen that her number of followers also increased radically, showing I wasn’t the only one benefiting from the issue. 

She had her own flaws, but she had her way with PR. 

 After that, I turned my phone silent, with only a few exceptions, not wanting to deal with the resulting chaos. Already, I had hundreds of messages, commenting about the event, and the less that was said about the notifications, the better. 

As I knocked on the door, I put the phone in my pocket, ignoring several unanswered calls and a great number of messages filling the screen.

I heard a shuffling at the other side of the door, and the distinct click of a button as Lauren no doubt checked the security system to see who was it. 

I heard the door click, but it didn’t open all the way. Instead, I heard her footsteps, getting away. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I realized she lacked the courage to face me. 

I could imagine her face as she scuttled away, passionate yet anxious as she realized maybe she had taken too big of a step by inviting me to her room, only to realize it was too late. A chuckle escaped my mouth as I walked in and close the door behind me — a glance enough to confirm no annoying accidental observers present — and found myself in a nice entrance that was three times bigger than my dorm room. 

Though, I paid only fleeting attention to that as I started walking forward, amused by her escape. 

Then, I arrived at the large living room, even larger and more opulent, connected to many doors, though only two details truly grabbed my attention. 

One was a great number of clothes, ranging from interesting yet bulky dresses to miniskirts. Then, I noticed that, they were not limited to that, but also had some even spicier clothes underneath. 

The other detail was Lauren, peeking from the cracked door. 

“Someone’s prepared for the bet,” I said, unable to suppress my chuckle. She murmured something, too soft to be heard even with my enhanced abilities. “Louder, sweetie,” I said with a chuckle. 

“Yes,” she whispered after a soft delay. “Feel … free to pick what you wish,” she added, clearly hoping that whispering would be enough to hide her arousal. 

She was wrong.  

I thought about teasing her by canceling the bet, but after all the trouble she had gone through, it wouldn’t be too fair. I doubted neither the clothes nor the room was expensive for her — despite her supposed lack of support from her family after her ‘brave’ decision — but the same didn’t apply to the courage to go and buy that many sexy clothes in a short time considering her shyness. 

I could imagine the extent of her blush as she picked some of the naughtier pieces of underwear, and certainly appreciated the effort she put in. 

Enough to reward her properly.

Still, she put in far more than I had expected her, even with her obvious attraction. For a moment, I frowned, thinking that I might have misread her. Then, it clicked. Between then and now, another event happened, my spectacular victory. 

And, she was obsessed with chess enough to react that not too different than cheerleaders reacting to my achievements on the football field. 

I carefully examined everything she had bought, and settled on a nice pencil skirt, a white blouse, and a blazer, creating a perfect impression of a secretary. Underwear, I searched more, until I could dig a black set that shocked me that she actually picked it. The panties were sexy enough, but the real selling piece was the bra. It was just a long frame, and the fabric of the cup was absent. 

Not transparent, but completely absent. 

I completed the set by picking black stilettos and fishnet thigh-highs to fit her look perfectly. 

“Have you…” she muttered. 

“Wait a moment, sweetie. With this many excellent options, it’ll take a while to pick,” I answered, not committing to it immediately. It was a good set, I thought as I lay them on a couch, trying to understand what was missing. 

It was lacking in sexiness, I ultimately decided. Not completely, but still a waste of the first impression, especially the blouse. I searched, trying to find another blouse, but came up empty. There were other, sexier tops, but they didn’t fit well with the sexy teacher aesthetics, which fit Lauren’s serious yet shy personality perfectly. 

I wanted to create a mental clutch for her to rely on. 

A sexy one, of course. 

Then, a solution clicked on me, an obvious one that somehow avoided my attention for a while. I made that change and bundled them, and passed it to her. She didn’t open the door fully, just reaching to take them before slamming the door. 

“What a nice hurry,” I chuckled as I sat down. I grabbed a spoon, channeling some of the Intent through it to practice, trying to get an even better sense of it. 

“T-terry,” came her voice a minute later, interrupting me, but it was a welcome one. “A … piece seems to be missing.” 

“Are you sure?” I answered. “I have passed all the items I had picked.” 

“But the blouse is nowhere to be —“ she started, only to be interrupted by her own gasp. “No!” she cried. 

“Yes,” I answered, my smile wide. 

“But, the bet…” she started. 

“Was for me to pick what you wear if there was something to celebrate,” I completed her sentence. “And I picked exactly what I wanted, nothing more, nothing less.” 

She said nothing, but the rustle of movement was all I needed to know it worked enough to push her into action. 

I didn’t ask her to hurry up, just enjoying the continuous flow of Intent — nothing compared to the spike during the game, but still enough to be enough for experiments and more. 

Then, the door cracked open…