Future Love Contract (GL) - Chapter 9

“Hey, you probably heard my call earlier, right?” Gresya got straight to the point.

“Uh, uh, uh, what do you mean…” Zhao Xinyun was a bit speechless. Who talks like that? And what if she had actually fallen asleep and hadn’t overheard anything? But since she was honest by nature, she could only admit the truth: “I did.”

“Mm, she’s my friend, Luo Peichen, working over at the First Base. So I was thinking, when we’re both free, we could go on a double date. I suppose you overheard that part too, right? You don’t mind, do you? I mean, it’s just acting.”

“No problem… Wait, why are you going so far with this fake relationship, even planning a double date?!”

“Going too far?” Gresya feigned innocence. “It was never fake to begin with, so how could it go too far?”

Zhao Xinyun was speechless. “Stop messing around…”

“I’m just joking. Since we’re pretending, we have to make it convincing, right? We should treat it like counterfeiting—strive for perfection and make the fake indistinguishable from the real!”

“Even if I have to admit your logic is sound, why use counterfeiting as an analogy?! Were you in that line of work or something?” Zhao Xinyun suddenly imagined Gresya wearing sunglasses, flanked by armed bodyguards, meeting with a middle-aged, burly man who looked like a gang boss. She’d take two black briefcases from her guards and say coldly, “That’s thirty million—priced at three kilograms of gold.” What nonsense!

“Of course I was! Don’t underestimate counterfeiting—it takes a lot of technical skill. Making something that even bank scanners can’t detect? That’s tough. And risky too, since it’s illegal. Plus, you’ve seen it—everything’s fingerprint payments now, paper currency is barely used. The industry’s dying. That’s why I washed my hands of it.” Gresya winked while talking nonsense.

“Washed your hands? More like washed them with Venusian water.” Zhao Xinyun had to admit, Gresya sometimes really drove her crazy. But if she thought about it more carefully… sometimes, she actually enjoyed it… Wait, wrong line! Even if she couldn’t argue back, and sometimes even had fun, wasn’t this the classic first step in a rom-com before falling in love? Turning fake into real? That absolutely must not happen!

—But why not? Because she had no idea what Gresya’s true intentions were. And as they say, “If you take it seriously, you lose.” If she fell first, she’d definitely be the one who lost. Determined not to let her first love end in such a ridiculous way, Zhao Xinyun vowed to avoid this outcome at all costs. At least until she found out why Gresya wanted to pretend to be a couple—or until Gresya told her herself—she needed to stay cautious.

So how could she avoid actually falling for someone? Maybe by repeating “Gresya is a big dumb meanie” three times every morning and night? That sounded like something only grade-schoolers would do, and usually, it backfired. Instead of making her dislike someone, it just made things worse. Even if it worked, that wouldn’t be great either. Gresya was actually a good person. Zhao Xinyun still hoped they could be good friends after this whole fake-couple thing was over.

So a better method might be to strictly define the boundary between friendship and (that one-in-ten-thousand chance of) love. Constantly remind herself that she and Gresya were just, and could only ever be, friends. No other feelings allowed. Drill that into her brain until it became a reflex.

Though that might not work either… Zhao Xinyun sighed.

“What’s wrong? Deep in thought about something?” Gresya’s face appeared in front of her.

“Uh, nothing,” Zhao Xinyun was startled out of her thoughts. She should probably be glad Gresya couldn’t read her mind just now. She quickly tried to come up with a topic that matched the thoughtful expression she must’ve had. “I was thinking about something I heard a few days ago—you probably heard about it too, right?”

“What?”

“The renewed interstellar exploration project.”

“Oh that! Yeah, I’ve heard about it! As far as I know, both the Starship Federation and Earth have been planning it for a while. Joining forces and uniting humanity’s strength—that’s the best idea, isn’t it?” Gresya’s eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of space exploration, and she didn’t ask further about Zhao Xinyun’s earlier dazed expression.

“Yeah, it really is a great idea. If you get selected and end up discovering aliens, becoming a hero, just remember me, okay? At least give me a cameo as a random background character on the news.”

“Why?” Gresya looked genuinely surprised by what seemed like a silly joke. “Don’t you want to go too?”

Zhao Xinyun shrugged. “Of course I do. Who wouldn’t? But I don’t think I’d be chosen.”

“You really have no confidence!” Gresya held her hand and looked at her earnestly. “The project is so big—why wouldn’t you be selected? Besides, we don’t even know which of us would make it. As an Earth native with Venusian development experience, you should be pretty popular.”

Zhao Xinyun’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Why would I lie? Luo Peichen’s workplace is somewhat connected to the exploration project. You can ask her someday.”

“…No need, I trust you. Just saying.”

“And another thing. There are actually fewer people interested in the project than you’d think. Some just don’t like adventure. Others in the Federation feel that their ancestors already wasted too much time and energy on fruitless alien exploration, and they don’t want to repeat that. Of course, they’re ignoring all the scientific advancements and the Mars and Venus development that resulted.” Gresya added with sarcasm, “And plenty of Earth folks think the exploration project back then was idiotic, leading to the creation of the Starship Federation. ‘Why explore space when the solar system is big enough?’ they say.” She rolled her eyes. “It takes all kinds, who knows what those people are thinking.”

Zhao Xinyun was again at a loss for words.

“Anyway, from everything I’ve learned, you don’t need to worry about not being selected,” Gresya concluded, patting Zhao Xinyun’s hand. “And if by chance I get picked and you don’t, I’ll just register you as my accompanying family!”

“…You seriously plan to keep up this fake relationship all the way to space? I didn’t sign up for that! This is practically contractual fraud—even if we never signed anything. Though if it means going to space, maybe it’s not completely terrible—wait, did you say accompanying family? Does that mean we have to get married?!”

“Not sure. I’ve heard both—some say marriage is required, others say a stable girlfriend is enough.”

“Why go through so much trouble?! Marriage is a huge deal, you know. I might back out. And also—if this benefits me, why are you being so proactive about it? You really don’t mind?”

“Because I know you really want to go to space, but as the one supposedly getting the ‘benefit,’ you’d feel awkward being too eager. So I’m just helping you be eager. It’s part of my generous and helpful nature.”

“Helpful, my butt!” Zhao Xinyun nearly jumped out of her chair.

“I’m kidding. The whole exploration project doesn’t even have a draft yet. It’s still early—we can talk about this when there’s an actual proposal.”

“True. So do you know what kind of preparations we’d need to get selected?” Time for the mental reminder again: Gresya is just a friend. Just. A. Friend. Absolutely no feelings beyond friendship or gratitude allowed.

“I have no idea,” Gresya shrugged.

“I thought with all your enthusiasm you’d know everything, but you’re telling me you don’t?”

“I really don’t. There’s no draft yet. All the stuff circulating in public is unreliable—some say genetic testing, others mention ten rounds of exams, and I even heard one that said they’d just draw lots from qualified applicants…”

What kind of nonsense… Zhao Xinyun now understood why Gresya said she didn’t know. If this were the 21st century, reposting this five hundred times would probably cause some kind of disaster—it was better not to know.

“Don’t stress too much. You, me, nobody really knows anything yet. Once the proposal is released, we’ll all find out. And I can always ask Luo Peichen—maybe she knows some insider info.” Gresya casually scooped up a big spoonful of pudding.

“Speaking of your friend… can I ask, is the fourth person a guy or a girl?”

“Oh, you mean Luo Peichen’s boyfriend? Of course he’s a guy.”

Even though the phrasing felt a bit redundant, Zhao Xinyun was once again struck by how open-minded future society was. In the 21st century, seeing a (fake or real) girl-girl couple double-dating with a guy-girl couple would still be quite rare.