For a second, James stared at her from the mirror’s reflection.
"Uh... hi?" James replied, turning toward her.
The woman closed the door behind her and crossed the room until she reached him, beginning to look him over with her eyes.
"You shouldn’t be up yet, darling." she said, and although she frowned, there was more concern than scolding in her voice. "Come on, let me check you."
"Alright..." he said as he sat back down on the bed.
She knelt in front of him and began examining the bandages on his torso, pressing here and there with her fingers, making sure everything was still in place.
James could feel the pleasant warmth of those soft hands on his skin and the brush of her hair every time she leaned in to examine him more closely.
It was then that he became aware of the situation they were in.
He was sitting on the bed, half-naked, while she was kneeling between his legs, touching him all over.
His whole body tensed all at once.
’Thank God these shorts are loose...’ he thought, trying to hide his erection.
"You were lucky, you know?" she said without looking away from his wounds. "When you passed out on top of me, I thought you weren’t going to make it... You lost a massive amount of blood."
"Was it that bad?"
"Yeah..."
She kept working, completely focused on what she was doing, and neither of them said another word.
However, the silence they shared felt surprisingly comfortable.
"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, finishing the last bandage and looking up. "My name is Rosalía."
"James."
He stayed quiet for a moment, searching for the right words before speaking again.
"And thank you... for healing me and taking care of me all this time."
Rosalía seemed somewhat surprised by the thanks, as if she truly hadn’t expected it.
"You have nothing to thank me for," she said with a warm smile. "You saved me first, remember?"
The conversation continued completely normally, until James started noticing something.
Every time Rosalía thought he wasn’t looking, her eyes would slide all over his body.
And for James, that was new.
In his previous life, a woman like Rosalía would never have paid him the slightest attention.
’So this is what it feels like to be undressed with someone’s eyes,’ he thought as a smile escaped him.
Rosalía realized right away that James had caught her.
But instead of looking away or pretending nothing had happened, she did exactly the opposite.
And with a mischievous smile, she stopped pretending entirely.
She took her time looking over James’s arms, moved down his chest, and kept going all the way down to his groin.
"Now that I get a good look at you... you’re pretty handsome."
"Thanks," he replied without looking away from Rosalía’s tits. "You’re not bad yourself, sweetheart."
Rosalía couldn’t help laughing.
But just as she was about to say something more, a loud growl from James’s stomach interrupted the moment.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" she said, getting to her feet. "You haven’t eaten in almost a full day! Wait here, okay? I’m going to get you something to eat and don’t even think about getting up again."
And before James could say anything, she had already left the room.
He dropped back onto the bed with a long sigh.
"This is bad news..." he admitted out loud, staring at the wooden ceiling. "She’s pretty, she’s got personality... and I’m already liking her way too much."
Then a weak laugh escaped him.
Because, for the first time since he had set foot in this shithole of a world, things seemed to be going well.
However, before he could keep going with his thoughts, the familiar translucent screen appeared in front of him again.
"And what is it now?" James said with annoyance.
[New Side Quest Assigned]
[Name: The First of Many]
[Objective: Get Rosalía to kiss you.]
James stared at the screen for a few seconds, confused by how different this quest was compared to the previous ones.
"Are you a dating app now?"
The screen, true to its habit, ignored him completely and kept displaying information.
[Reward: REW̷A̴R̶D̷_̵E̶R̵R̴O̷R̵_̷0x000]
[Time remaining: T1M3_DAT4_CORRUPT]
[Penalty for failure: The User’s confidence when speaking to women will be reduced by 99%.]
James froze the moment he read what would happen if he didn’t complete it.
"This has to be a fucking joke."
Just a minute ago he had been enjoying the moment, but now that excitement had vanished without a trace.
"Well... at least it’s only a kiss," he said, letting out a sigh. "So it shouldn’t be that complicated."
What good was having the face and body to appeal to every woman if he ended up becoming someone incapable of holding a normal conversation?
A perfect ten body and the smooth-talking skills of a brick wall.
What a cruel joke.
And the worst part wasn’t the penalty, it was that he had no idea how much time he had to complete it.
"Why did it have to glitch right on that part?" he muttered, frowning. "It could be five minutes... it could be an hour... it could be a whole week..."
But as the minutes passed and the more he analyzed his situation with a cool head, the clearer it became that the quest wasn’t as complicated as he had first believed.
And the lustful looks Rosalía had been giving him were enough to reach a fairly clear conclusion.
She found him attractive.
"Alright... time to get to work," he murmured before leave the room.