Page 27 of Liam

“Yeah? Well, you seem to excel at making things difficult,” I snap.

Aleria’s face contorts with anger, her retort dying on her lips as her foot catches on a root. Time seems to slow as we fall, our tied legs ensuring we go down together. I wrap my arms around her, twisting my body to take the brunt of the impact.

We hit the ground hard, the air rushing out of my lungs in a painful whoosh. For a moment, we lie there, a tangle of limbs and wounded pride. Aleria’s face is inches from mine, her eyes wide with surprise and something else I can’t quite name.

“You alright?” I manage, acutely aware of every single inch where our bodies are pressed together.

Aleria blinks as if coming out of a daze. “I...yes. Why did you do that?”

“Do what? Break your fall or make an ass of myself? Because I seem to excel at both today.”

A smile tugs at her lips before she catches herself, her expression hardening back into a scowl. “Both, probably. Though making a fool of yourself is clearly your default state.”

We scramble to our feet, both avoiding eye contact. The moment has passed, but something has shifted, an undercurrent of tension that has nothing to do with our earlier argument.

We finish the race in last place, our egos as bruised as our bodies. As Stephanie unties us, I catch Aleria massaging her ankle.

“You sure you’re okay?” I ask, torn between concern and my desire not to look like I care too much.

She waves me off. “I’m fine. It’s just a minor soft tissue contusion. Nothing a little RICE won’t fix.”

I blink. “Rice?”

Aleria rolls her eyes. “Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Honestly, Valeur, don’t you know anything?”

“I know we need to step up our game if we want to win this thing,” I reply, choosing to ignore her jab.

She nods, her competitive nature overriding her annoyance with me. “Agreed. We can’t keep... What’s the corporate jargon you’d use? Underperforming?”

I chuckle. “I was thinking more like ‘royally screwing up,’ but sure, let’s go with underperforming.”

A ghost of a smile tugs at Aleria’s lips. “Well, Mr. CEO, got any brilliant strategies to turn this around?”

“As a matter of fact, Dr. James, I do.” I clear my throat, adopting a mock-serious tone. “We’ll leverage our unique skill sets, synergize our efforts, and optimize for maximum efficiency.”

She groans, rolling her eyes. “God help us. You really talk like that?”

I shrug. “It works in the boardroom.”

“Well, this isn’t a boardroom,” she retorts. “And we need a real strategy, not corporate buzzwords.”

I nod, sobering. “You’re right. Look, I know we don’t always see eye to eye?—”

“Or eye to shoulder, given our height difference.”

I shoot her a look, then continue. “But we’re both intelligent, capable people. If we put our minds to it and work together, there’s no reason we can’t win this thing.”

Aleria studies me for a moment, then nods. “Alright, Valeur. You’ve got yourself a deal. Temporary truce?”

She extends her hand, and I take it, ignoring the spark that jumps between our palms. “Truce.”

As we approach the final puzzle, a cryptic set of equations paired with some obscure geometric symbols, our shaky cooperation is about to get the ultimate test. The setup looks like a cross between a math problem and a jigsaw puzzle, and it’s clear we’ll need both Aleria’s scientific brainpower and my business sense to crack it.

“Okay,” Aleria mutters, her eyes scanning the clues. “If we approach this like a multi-variable equation...”

“And factor in the shape and sizes,” I continue, catching on to her train of thought.

The words flow, bridging the gap between our disciplines. For a moment, the barriers between us blur, leaving just two minds working in tandem.