Okay. Let's review her life choices.
Jennifer had her peppy dress up montage.
Then she met Shilem at her lobby—because of course he "just happened" to be in her neighborhood with flowers after work.
Urgh. The cockroach.
Then she met Sebastien… or at least she thought he was Sebastien.
And now she was in a speeding black convertible with a Pandora Hero named Tien on a supposed date.
This wasn't even the way to the airport.
"Urm… Seb… I mean Tien," Jennifer was still 10% sure it was Sebastien, "I don't think this is the way to the airport."
"Well no, my queen." Tien grinned. "But your dragon is flying from the military base."
"Uh, okay." Jennifer supposed that made sense, since Rolly was flying for a mission.
"Why… I mean, if it's okay to tell me (and you won't have to kill me after) are you on a mission too, Tien?"
Yeah. It was better not to ask whys or what. Jennifer gave herself a mental pat on the back.
Tien chuckled. Unlike Sebastien, Tien laughed quite freely and leisurely.
"An alley cat told us that there was a pandora box found near the military base today."
"Oh."
Wait.
"An alley cat?"
Jennifer tried to remember if she had written any literally talking cats in her novels. Just in case. But no. Unfortunately not. It would have been a nice idea though.
If the world survived the cockroach apocalypse and she didn't get eaten, maybe she would write a story about talking cats.
But no, the alley cat was the underground society's intel. So they got it through Frank who had let slip the "rumour".
Tien drove through the military compound like he lived there, then parked his car carelessly by the side of the road.
"This way, my queen."
By now, Tien was also wearing a black crow mask.
Oh.
Jennifer felt her heart skip a beat.
Who the hell did she just follow into some secret military base?
Just as Jennifer was about to enter full panic mode, a Pandora official stopped them at the door for ID.
Jennifer was very relieved to see someone in uniform.
Tien showed his badge and shrugged. "She's with me."
The Pandora Official shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't allow her entry, sir."
Tien huffed impatiently.
Another Pandora Official approached.
Adrian.
(What was he doing here?)
Jennifer had never been so happy to see that butter-in-the-sun smile.
Adrian waved them in easily. "Hello, Tien. It's been a while."
"Adrian. How are you?"
Wait. Don't you two live in the same building?
Did Adrian not know Tien was Sebastien?
"But sir—" the poor Pandora Official tried again, "the lady—"
Adrian led Jennifer in with a hand at the small of her back. Then he turned with another brain-melting smile.
"Don't mind it. She's Ronan's girlfriend."
Ronan's girlfriend.
Poof.
Jennifer's face exploded into a red tomato situation.
"I…" she fumbled to explain.
But they were already walking into a large open building filled with uniformed personnel moving with brisk, purposeful urgency.
The two men walked her in tandem.
"Why did you bring her here, Tien?" Adrian spoke over her head to Tien—formerly known as Sebastien the royal butler. Jennifer couldn't vouch for that anymore. She was just very glad Adrian was here.
"You know portals might open anytime, and the goddess…" Adrian continued, worried.
Tien just laughed it off. "Wouldn't my queen ensure our victory then?"
Apparently, the only portals that hadn't resulted in serious human casualties were the two that Jennifer had been present at.
"Even so…" Adrian persisted.
Should Jennifer be worried too?
She was here to see Rolly, but this was really not playing out like the romcom rush-to-the-airport-in-a-pretty-dress confession scene she wanted to be in.
Another awakener hero joined them.
"Oh, goddess, allow me to introduce you to Shaun," Adrian said. "Shaun, our goddess."
By now, they had passed enough people for Jennifer to notice that everyone was in uniform. The only exceptions were the heroes still wearing their Pandora Online livestream costumes. They looked exactly like they did in the game—except now everyone knew it wasn't a game at all.
This was real life.
"My IGN is Aerial." Shaun gave a respectful bow. "It's an honor to meet you, goddess."
While Shaun was the ML and handsome superstar actor of her webnovel, by pure ML fortuity, he was also the awakener, Aerial—a black-winged awakener hero who could fight in the air and fire feathers like missiles.
Both Aerial and Tien wore the same black crow masks—not because of costume overlap, but because these were standard-issue Pandora Awakener gear.
They weren't crow masks.
They were oxygen masks—issued to awakeners who needed to breathe at high altitudes (Aerial), or when passing through solid walls (Tien).
"Please grant me your blessing and wisdom too," Shaun said.
Adrian stood beside him looking like a proud parent.
"Uh…"
There were many correct responses to this situation.
"Okay."
She should have said, I'm not the goddess.
But she was too close to Adrian for any brain function to fully engage.
They continued walking.
Jennifer in her pretty dress and increasingly painful high heels.
Adrian in his Pandora Corps official suit and his tablet.
And two black crow-masked, extremely dangerous-looking men.
If this were a webnovel, she would either be a hostage or a villainess.
Since she had also gotten into a car with an 80% stranger (20% was Sebastien), she was probably a hostage.
Eventually, they reached a large hall with glass panes across one wall. Beyond it, Jennifer could see planes lined up outside.
Jennifer felt quite relieved.
At least she was in a legit airport.
"We have cadets from PAU on site too," Adrian told Tien. "They're attached to ground security tonight."
"They should have cancelled the exercise," Aerial-Shaun tsked, like the responsible twenty-year-old he was.
Jennifer huffed.
He was old enough to work as a kindergarten assistant teacher.
"The night is young, and love is fleeting," Tien shrugged.
Who was actually currently Jennifer's kindergarten assistant teacher.
That is, if he was indeed Sebastien in the first place.
But no matter what happened, Jennifer had to fix things with Rolly before he flew out on his mission.
It would be better if Jennifer could think of a good quote to express her determination. So the quote was definitely not, "If you love someone let him go..."
She remembered the hurt on his face.
She was every kind of idiot.
But she wasn't going to be the idiot who let Rolly fly out broken-hearted.
She didn't have the right words.
But she didn't need perfect.
She just needed to not run away this time.
For lack of anything better, "Strike while the iron is hot."