[Skylar's viewpoint]

Karma glares at someone behind me as I watch his blood drip on the floor and a familiar metallic smell filling the air. His arm. The bullet grazed his arm. He moved at the last moment but why? To protect me...

"Why did you protect me?"

"I can't have you die just yet," he smirks at me and walks past me. I turn around and see Zion standing with a gun in his hand. This bastard. One of these days, I swear I'll kill him.

"A gun? Seriously, Zion? You just can't face me like a real man, can you?" my voice comes out sharper and more agitated than I intended.

"Why are you surprised, Skylar? You betrayed me," he speaks nonchalantly.

"So?" I raise my brows with a questioning look, "Rylee is still alive so isn't it fine? No, I dare you to kill me."

"I would love to but Karma," he looks into his eyes, "why did you take the bullet for her? You love her or something now?"

"She is just my new muse. And I'll kill you if you touch her before I'm done with her," Karma's voice is cold distant now when it was so playful just a while ago.

"Give me a break," Zion scoffs, "when you play with a new toy, you destroy them. Both mentally and physically. Always. Skylar will eventually meet the same fate."

"None of your damn business," he walks toward Zion and punches him across the fast so fast that he couldn't even blink once. "This was just a friendly warning for now. Don't. Touch. Her."

"Got it," he laughs mockingly and looks at me, "congrats for taming him, Skylar. But mark my words. He will destroy you. And you won't even see it coming until it's done," he winks at me and walks in the front, clapping his hands once to get everyone's attention. "All the candidates are requested to go back to the mansion, freshen up and be in the conference room in 2 hours. There will be an announcement regarding the next game."

With that, he leaves the room as some medics and gang members authorizing the game enter. A girl in a casual but outstanding outfit walks to Karma and hugs him.

"I missed you," she looks at him and smiles, "handsome as ever, aren't you? Let me get your bullet wound treated."

"Norah, can't say that I'm not pleased to see you here. Give me a minute," he walks to me as his lips twitch upward. "Skylar, meet me in my room later?"

"Why would I?"

He rolls his eyes as if unamused, "I saved your life back there so you owe me one, don't you?"

"Did I ask you to save me?" I raise my eyebrow and look at him with a smile, "You took the bullet for me because you wanted to. Not my responsibility that you treasure me so much." I shrug my shoulders and start walking away.

I see Norah move closer to him in my peripheral vision and hear her words spoken to him. "How ungrateful. But that just makes her more endearing to you, doesn't it?"

I smile to myself as I keep walking to return to the mansion. It's more fun playing with Karma than I thought it would be.

After I had a cold shower rinsing off most of the stress of the entire damn test, I had pasta as dinner in my own room. It seems much more peaceful having the maid deliver it here and eat it alone than facing the other people in this mansion beside me.

Just as I plopped down on the soft bed, letting my body sink in and remembering how much I missed a bed, an announcement started from a speaker in the room's top corner. Just how annoying and creepy is it to have a speaker fixed in everyone's bedroom? I'm not even surprised anymore at Zion's ridiculous ideas. I roll my eyes in utter annoyance as I hear his voice on the speaker.

"Everyone, congrats on finishing and surviving the test! Before I announce the results and rewards tomorrow, every one of you is requested to come to the rooftop to meet some new candidates. You will be participating in the next test with them so might as well get to know each other, right? Well, have a good night y'all!"

Meeting new participants? For what? So we establish camaraderie now and might as well kill each other in the next test? No, thanks. I prefer my bed much better.

On second thought, if I was gonna be competing with them in the next test then it's better to analyze them and see what they are like. Gosh, I fucking hate socializing. Regardless, I got up from the bed with a groan and walked to the door. I walked down the familiar white marble-floored corridor but stopped in my tracks abruptly seeing an unfamiliar scene before me.

Karma was pinning a girl with strawberry blonde hair to the wall and kissing her roughly. She ran a hand through his hair pulling him closer and wrapped herself around him. I let out a small shocked and amused gasp and unknowingly mutter, "Wow."

At my voice in the silent corridor, Karma pulled away from her and turned to look at me. I saw a glimmer of surprise in his eyes but he quickly replaced it with a cold one and turned to speak to the girl by his side.

"Go to the rooftop first. I'll be there shortly."

"Who is she?" she asked glancing briefly at me.

"Just my partner from the previous test. You should go," he said in the latter sentence in a tone that felt more intimidating than it should have.

The girl walks away with a small nod and I cross my arms walking towards Karma, an amused chuckle spreading on my face.

"Is she one of the new candidates? You seem to be getting along with them fine."

"She is my ex," he said nonchalantly as if that explained everything, "And I like you much better than her."

I narrow my eyes at him, "And what do you like about me?"

"Everything. But you playing so hard to get is getting me frustrated."

"Then you are better off forgetting me, no?" I flashed an innocent smile at him that got an amused twitch of his lips from him.

"Know this, Skylar. I won't ever give up on you."

The cold night breeze hit my skin as soon as I stepped onto the rooftop under a starlit sky. I was greeted by a few unfamiliar faces sitting around a bonfire while drinking, laughing, and talking.

Karma and I sit with them and their attention turns to us momentarily before Landon spoke up.

"Now that everyone is here, how about we all introduce ourselves? I'm Landon by the way." I'm sometimes jealous of his casual and friendly tone even among strangers.

"Why bother introducing ourselves when we can just see it on our watches?" a girl with silver hair spoke wrapping her arm around her knees, her icy gaze on the bonfire.

"I'm sorry on her behalf. She is my twin sister, Lynn. And I'm Jasper. Let's all get along well," Jasper prompted with a kind and warm smile.

"I'm Damien," he said shortly and went back to pouring himself a drink.

"Skylar here," I drawl keeping it short and pop a marshmallow in my mouth.

"Karma," he added from beside me with the same I-couldn't-care-less-about-you-worthless-humans attitude when I met him here the first day.

"I'm Martha. Let's help each other out!" the girl with the strawberry blonde hair from downstairs spoke in a cheerful tone and with a sweet smile. She really was pretty.

"And I'm Nolan. Now then," he stood up with an empty bottle in his hand and a wide smile spreading on his face, excitement gleaming in his emerald green eyes. "To get to know each other, why don't we play dare or drink?" he suggested.

"Sounds good. Everyone else agrees too, right?" Martha looked around at everyone and none seemed to object except for Lynn.

"I'm sleepy so I'll go back to my room," Lynn stood up and left not even paying attention to Jasper's futile attempt at stopping her.

"Anyway, let's spin the bottle, shall we?" Jasper looked at everyone with an apologetic sweet smile.

"I'll do it!" Nolan announced putting an empty glass bottle in the middle of our circle and spinning it. The spinning bottle stopped pointing at Martha.

"As we are all just getting to know each other and truth is also a kind of dare," Landon said with a small smirk tugging at his lips, "how about you tell us about your first time having sex?"

"Ugh, I refuse to entertain you guys with my personal drama," she said in her cheerful tone, sticking out her tongue at Landon. "What do I have to drink again? Tequila?"

"Nah. Anyone can drink Tequila," Nolan shrugged innocently, "I urge you to drink a shot of bitter gourd juice." Nolan poured a green juice from a bottle into a small glass and put it in front of Martha.

Martha scrunched her nose in disgust at its smell and closed her eyes gulping it down, her expression making it clear that she was trying hard not to puke.

"Nolan, I fucking hate you for that one," she glared at him but he just ignored her gaze with a guilty smile and spun the bottle again.

Nolan's smile falters for a while as the bottle stops at him. But the gleam of excitement quickly returned as he confidently said, "Give me a dare."

"I have one," Damien said with a calm yet hearty smile, "How about you jump from the edge of the rooftop to the pool down there?"

"Sweet one. We are like 3 floors above the ground and it's pretty chilly out here. What do you say, Nolan?" Jasper asked with content in his black eyes.

"I love it! Now then," he walked over to the railing of the rooftop and stood on its edge, directly above the swimming pool down there. He spread his arms around him, facing us and for a brief moment, our eyes met and he winked.

With that, he arched his body backward and fell down, his body gliding through the cool night breeze. We looked down at the pool after hearing a splash. He pushed back his wet black hair and smiles looking up at us.

"He is enjoying it. He loves anything that gives him an adrenaline rush," Martha said shaking her slowly with a soft smile.

After Nolan's return, we spun the bottle again and it landed on me.

"Dare. No way I'm drinking that bitter juice without throwing up," I said with a calm demeanor as they all looked at me and pondered over the next dare.

"Got it," Nolan looked at me, his eyes filled with mischieve and excitement, something that sent a chill down my spine. I don't like this. At all.

"Skylar, how about you let Karma kiss every mole on your body?"