Rahul watched the massive Range Rover drive away, shaking his head with a helpless smile.
This was just absurd; he had just been sneakily kissed by an heiress.
Standing there on the sidewalk, Rahul felt a strange mix of emotions toward Samina. Despite the absolute chaos of the day, spending half the afternoon with her had been genuinely fun. It was an entirely new experience for a twenty-seven-year-old middle-class guy like him.
It wasn't just the fact that she had bought him a lavish lunch and bulldozed a police station to get him justice. It was Samina's entire vibe.
She was proactive, fiercely decisive, and completely unpretentious. If she wanted something, she just went for it. For someone born into massive wealth, she wasn't haughty or reserved around him at all.
But Rahul kept his head grounded. His feelings for her were strictly surface-level right now; he wasn't planning on jumping into a serious relationship. It wasn't because she lacked looks—she was absolutely stunning, easily one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. But they were from completely different worlds and cultural backgrounds.
Not to mention her elite family status; even if he wanted to date her, dealing with a billionaire South Asian family was a different beast entirely. Plus, he was only in Dhaka for a month.
Glancing at his vlogging camera, Rahul pushed the complicated thoughts aside and walked into the hotel lobby.
As he passed the reception desk, the two girls were still staring at him like lovestruck teenagers. They both leaned forward, clearly eager to strike up a conversation. Not wanting to be cornered, Rahul practically speed-walked to the elevator and headed straight to his room on the fifth floor.
Swiping his key card and slipping inside, he didn't exhale until the door clicked shut behind him.
Apparently, looking like a Greek god had its downsides—you could never just exist in peace!
He briefly wondered if this crazy Succubus Attribute would work the same way back in India. But more importantly, how exactly did he earn these Charm Points?
Dragging his exhausted body across the room, Rahul collapsed onto the slightly lumpy bed and mentally summoned his system panel.
The moment the translucent blue screen appeared in his vision, he froze.
His Charm Points, which had been sitting at a big fat 0, had ticked up to 1!
And his Proficiency had leveled up from 1 to 2.
Oh? A change! A surge of excitement hit Rahul.
Did getting a surprise kiss on the cheek trigger the condition for an 'ambiguous relationship'?
Wait, it couldn't be that simple. If it was just about physical contact, he could just stand on a busy street, let random girls kiss his cheek, and farm Charm Points all day long. The system's definition of an 'ambiguous connection' had to be mutual.
Rahul thought back to the moment. When Samina had kissed him, he hadn't pulled away in disgust. In fact, he had felt a genuine flutter of appreciation and fondness for her. It wasn't love, definitely not, but it was a solid, mutual attraction.
Did the system require genuine mutual chemistry to award points? After thinking it over, Rahul figured that had to be the secret mechanism.
Well, the only way to find out for sure was field testing.
Rahul shelved the theory for later and shifted his attention to the system's Reward Store.
With exactly 1 Charm Point to his name, his shopping options were incredibly limited. The physical enhancement packages required 5 points, and even those wouldn't turn him into a superhero. They just optimized his fitness, giving him perfect stamina and a flawless eight-pack.
But Rahul didn't care about abs right now. He needed language skills.
Getting a grip on the local tongue was an absolute priority. Otherwise, he was going to get scammed, lost, or misunderstood every single day of his month-long trip.
Luckily, a "Language Mastery Pack" only cost 1 Charm Point.
Without a second of hesitation, Rahul cashed in his single point for the 'Fluent Bengali' module.
As he confirmed the purchase, a sudden, heavy wave of dizziness hit him. The grogginess lasted only a second, immediately replaced by a crystal-clear sharpness in his mind. Thousands of vocabulary words, grammar rules, and local slang naturally integrated into his brain.
Do I actually know Bengali now? Rahul thought. Let's test it out.
"Kemon achen!" he said out loud, using the polite Bengali greeting for 'How are you?'.
His pronunciation, tone, and the subtle Dhaka accent were utterly flawless. He sounded exactly like a local.
This is ridiculously overpowered!
The system was literally incentivizing him to go out and flirt! The more romantic connections he made, the more insane upgrades he could unlock. If he wanted the high-tier rewards, he was basically destined to become an international playboy!
Wait, he justified to himself, if we aren't officially dating and it's just harmless flirting, it's not actually being a scumbag, right? Look at Bollywood stars or famous influencers. They have thousands of girls swooning over them all the time. Compared to them, his player stats were still in the minor leagues!
Successfully justifying his future actions, Rahul dragged himself off the bed. Completely wiped out from the travel and drama, he stripped off his sweaty clothes and took a long, cold shower in the cramped bathroom.
Stepping out, he plugged his phone and his DJI camera into the wall outlets to charge. Then he face-planted into the pillows and was asleep before he even took a full breath.
The exhaustion was absolute. He slept straight through the evening and the entire night, logging a solid twelve hours.
Rahul woke up, stretched his stiff muscles, and walked over to pull back the cheap curtains, letting the bright Dhaka morning sun flood the room.
He walked over to the desk, unplugged his fully charged gear, and picked up his phone, which had been on silent mode.
The screen was lit up with notifications. Fourteen missed calls! All of them from Samina.
Rahul also just noticed that when Samina had saved her number in his phone yesterday, she had literally added two red heart emojis next to her name.
"Seriously? Her controlling streak is intense," Rahul muttered, staring at the screen. "Who spam-calls someone fourteen times?"
Wanting to establish some boundaries, Rahul tossed the phone onto the bed and didn't call her back immediately. He dug a clean t-shirt and shorts out of his backpack, threw them on, and headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.
When he walked back out, the phone screen was vibrating on the mattress again.
"Wow, she does not give up."
Towel-drying his hair, he finally picked it up and hit accept.
Samina's frantic voice practically burst through the speaker in English. "Rahul! Why are you only picking up now?!"
Without skipping a beat, Rahul casually replied in absolutely flawless Bengali: "Relax, your highness. I was dead asleep. I picked up as soon as I woke up."
Dead silence echoed on the other end of the line.
After a long pause, Samina switched to Bengali as well, her voice dripping with sheer shock. "Rahul... how do you know Bengali? And why is your accent so perfect?"
Rahul smirked, deciding to play it cool. "I stayed up and crammed some basic Bengali last night so you and the police couldn't secretly team up and scheme against me again."
Realizing that sounded a bit ridiculous, he quickly added, "I have a knack for picking up languages, okay? I just learned it... naturally."
Samina gasped over the phone. "Wow! No wonder they say Indians are so smart with languages! You picked all that up in one night?!"
Rahul really didn't want to dig himself into a deeper hole explaining his magical language skills, so he quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, why did you call me a dozen times?"
"Oh! Because I was worried you were starving," Samina said, her voice softening into a caring tone. "You didn't eat anything for dinner last night. You must be famished. I'm coming over to get you right now."
Rahul's stomach rumbled right on cue. Free breakfast sounded great. "Alright, come on over."
Then Samina casually dropped a bombshell.
"Perfect. After we eat, I'm taking you shopping at the mall to get you some proper clothes. My parents want to meet you."