Getting back to the Gentle Hotel, Asher walked in with his disguised face, which simply faded as his real face appeared once more. He handed the car key to the hotel staff at the lobby reception desk. With that done, he stepped into an elevator and headed to his room.

Upon getting to his room, Asher collapsed onto his bed as he stared at the ceiling. He had really had a long day. As he continued staring at the ceiling, he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, as though he had done this before with Arianna. But Asher didn’t bother thinking too much about it, as he understood how déjà vu worked.

With a sigh, he rose into a seated position as he stared at the large glass window panel before him. The sky was already dark, as he and Arianna had been outside for hours, doing as many activities as they had wanted.

After a moment, Asher rose from his bed and headed towards the bathroom, taking off his clothes along the way. His mind couldn’t help but flash back to the day he had spent with Arianna. After bathing, he walked back into his room with the hotel robe draped over his body, then sat back down on the bed.

He opened his phone and saw messages from his friends. They had purposely not asked how the ’date’ went just in case Arianna managed to come across Asher’s phone, so they had only asked if he was back.

But Asher needed rest, not a press interview, so he simply plugged his phone into the charger and slept off. He had already eaten with Arianna earlier, so there was no need to order more food.

The next morning swiftly came. Asher woke up with a yawn as he stretched, as though relieving himself of yesterday’s stress. Since it was a free day and he had nothing to do, he went through his usual morning routine and decided to spend the whole day watching movies and playing games.

But alas, Finch and the rest were already here. They knocked on the door with excitement in their eyes. They simply couldn’t wait to hear Asher’s answers.

Asher’s eyes shifted towards the clock standing on the nightstand. It was 1 p.m. in the afternoon. He sighed and rose to his feet to open the door for this gossiping group of men and women.

The moment Asher opened the door, they rushed inside and closed it behind them. They hadn’t even properly entered the room before they began asking Asher about the so-called date with Arianna.

"So tell us, how was it? Did you two hold hands?"

"You two at least kissed, right?"

"Or at least kissed the back of her palm?"

"Did you escort her to her hotel room? That is a sign that at least you’re a bit trusted and might be invited in next time."

"Aside from the race track, where else did you two go?"

"Is it official yet? Did either of you confess your feelings?"

They shot off questions like the endless barrage of a machine gun as they stared at Asher, as though they wanted to split open his skull and pull the answers out directly instead of waiting for him to explain and answer their questions one after another.

Asher sat on his bed with calm indifference as he stared back at them without answering a single question. Seeing Asher just sit there like a statue, they couldn’t help but sigh while clicking their tongues before they finally sat down and relaxed.

Seeing them finally settle down, Asher finally spoke. "First of all, I don’t know what you four are expecting. I’ve said this from the jump. This isn’t a romantic date or anything of the sort, so the answer is no to all your romantic questions," he said, his tone flat.

Vaelric, Ryaen, Finch, and William were all speechless. They couldn’t understand how Asher had spent the entire day without making a single move. Was the bold and forthcoming Asher now shy when it came to matters of women and love?

They couldn’t help but remember what William had said. Truly indeed, Asher was dense, absolutely fucking dense.

Asher saw their expressions. He could sense their emotions. He could feel their urge to facepalm themselves. But Asher couldn’t understand why these people were pushing this matter so much when they weren’t the ones who had gone out with Arianna.

Even if he, Asher, was dense, his Emotion Perception ability was a passive ability. He could use it on Arianna and sense her emotions. And yes, his Emotion Perception ability had worked on Arianna, and she had simply been happy throughout the set of events, like the tennis match and everything else they had done.

Love? Asher hadn’t sensed it or anything even remotely close from the woman. Well... not that Asher was looking for it, as his current goal was to reach the Crownstar Life Rank. Relationships, romance, and everything associated with them were things he naturally placed far below his current ambitions.

"At least tell us she won the race," William spoke with a sigh as he finally got over Asher’s hopeless condition.

Asher stared at him for a moment before replying, "Of course I won."

His words caused another wave of silence to sweep through the room.

"You truly have no hope with women, do you?" Finch couldn’t help but comment.

Vaelric, who was sitting on a couch, spoke. "Well, at least I’ve found something I’m better than Asher at," he said, his tone a bit playful.

William sighed as he spoke. "How did you even get into your former relationship with that attitude of yours? If you don’t change, your first relationship might as well be your last," he advised, as he didn’t want his bro to die single, although he knew that probably wouldn’t happen.

Asher sighed and decided to explain. If he didn’t, these four might genuinely start looking down on him.

"Look, I only decided to win because this wasn’t a romantic date. If it was, I would simply drive slower or not use some skills and techniques," he stated. "Besides, during the table tennis game, I allowed her to win. After all, I can’t keep being the only one winning," he added.

Hearing Asher’s words, William sighed as he spoke, "Glad to see there is still hope for you," he mused.

Ryaen, who had been silent until now, finally decided to speak. "While we women are almost the same, a few wouldn’t care about the outcome of the race. Like me, for example, I wouldn’t. But winning the table tennis match would certainly make me happy, so I guess Arianna losing the race but winning the table tennis game only made things better because she lost the first and won the second," Ryaen analyzed calmly.

Hearing Ryaen’s analysis, the three men nodded their heads in understanding. They couldn’t help but look at Asher, wondering if this had been the play he was making all along. But they immediately killed the thought. They simply didn’t believe it. They were certainly overthinking things.

"So, tell us about the other places and things you both did on this not-so-romantic date of yours," Ryaen followed up with another question, as she too was interested in hearing the full gist.