Chapter 137 - Variety Show (38)

As the lights turned on and the audience began murmuring, Valentina wanted to squat and hide her face. She felt as if any dignity she had built up was gone. Looking at the footage, she truly understood why Yuri had been mad at her. From angles, it truly looked as if she were throwing herself at Rio each time she fell.

Each angle looked carefully calculated and she always looked graceful while doing it.

But she really wasn't! it was a complete accident!!

Once the lights were fully on, she immediately avoided eye contact with everyone, shifted away from Rio, and hid behind Shawn.

"Well Valentina, what do you have to say? I think the evidence is pretty conclusive that you apparently during the days you filmed you fell a grand total of 54 times. A new record."

"I didn't realize I was so clumsy." Valentina grumbled while looking embarrassed.

Seeing the gorgeous face turning red from embarrassment, Jimmy decided to have mercy on her.

"We'll let it slide for now and continue playing. Yuri, you're up with Shawn."

As the two line up to continue playing, Rio slowly made his way over to Valentina with an annoying smirk plastered on his face.

After glancing up at him, she calmly took two steps back.

As he stepped forward again, she backed away once more.

As he continued stepping toward her, she glared before just allowing him to stand beside her.

"Sore loser." Rio muttered out of the side off his mouth.

"Big cheater." Valentina grumbled back before elbowing him in the side.

As he elbowed her back, the two of them got distracted and childishly hit each other in what they thought was a subtle manner but was in clear view of everyone. To be honest, they looked like two elementary school students who were secretly friends but pretended not to like each other.

Audience: "..."

Vanessa: "..."

Jimmy: "...."

What exactly was going on here?

Did they not realize that even though they whispered, they were both mic'd up?

And where did this playful side of Rio come from?

He only showed this side of him when he was alone with Shawn and was comfortable. He had never demonstrated something like this before. It was almost like he was doting on…a little sister?

The fans couldn't bring themselves to think of the other option.

Even though Yuri and Shawn were hard at work playing, nobody was paying attention as they were drawn to the childish fight between two beautiful people.

"Ehem ehem." Vanessa cleared her throat, and Valentina looked at her with a guilty conscience.

"Moving on, the current score is currently 15 to 5, with Team Rio in the lead. Good job to Shawn for making up some points.

"Next up will be playing Puppet Master. Each team will choose a Master to yell instructions while the other person will be the puppet, wearing earplugs and a blindfold. You will have to help your teammate navigate from one end of the stage. Of course, we can't make it too easy, so we'll give each of the puppets a sword so they can dissuade their opponents however they want. Who will be the commander of each team?"

Shawn and Valentina stared at each other before Shawn held up his hand, "I'll be the commander, and you be the puppet? That way, you can get back at Rio and smack him with the sword."

"Sounds good." Valentina happily, both she and Shawn having devious smirks on their faces.

"I'll be the puppet for my team. Prepare to lose once again." Rio quickly chimed in before giving her a competitive glance. Rolling her eyes at him, she quickly put on the earplugs and blindfold before grabbing hold of the now-familiar sword. Before she knew it, a hand grabbed her shoulder, and she was spun around crazily until she was dizzy.

Don't throw up. You're on television. She continually chanted to herself while taking deep breaths to calm her roiling stomach.

 She stood still until she heard a faint horn and began listening carefully for Shawns' voice.

 Holding out her hand and swinging the sword like a bat, she did her best to go in the direction that was called out, making sure that her steps were steady so that she wouldn't fall.

As she felt something lightly hit her side, she immediately swung her sword as hard as she could, smiling as she felt a hard impact.

Laughing happily, she swung again before stepping backward, doing her best to dodge the attack that she couldn't see. Unfortunately, she was whacked right on the stomach.

Getting angry, she began swinging wildly, totally forgetting that the point of the game was to get to the other side of the stage.

Although she was getting her hits in, Rio wasn't slacking either and continued swinging his sword steadily as he walked around her.

As the audience watched the race that had devolved into a wild sword battle, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the ridiculous situation.

Did these two forget that the point was to get to the other side of the stage?

"Valentina Left! Go left!!!" Shawn yelled out as he saw victory once again leaving his grasp. Truly, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Rio, to the right! You have to turn around!" Yuri was also doing her best to correct Rio but he was completely ignoring her instructions.

At this point, Valentina had turned into a wild sword-swinging whirlwind, somehow looking graceful while clearly doing her best to attack Rio with all of her energy.

Rio, on the other hand, was entirely focused. Using his sword as a guide, he found his way to Valentina each time she hit him and easily snagged her sword, pulling it from her hands and throwing it off to the side. As her hands flailed around, he snagged one and used it to pull her to him.

Before she could react, he had grabbed her by the waist like an unruly child, lifting and tucking her to his side with one hand as he paused and began listening to Yuri's faint voice.

Vanessa: "..."

Jimmy: "…"

Yuri: "…"

Shawn: "…"

Audience: "…"

What was going on now?

Was there any part of the rules that said that you could pick up your opponent like a sack of potatoes?

And why did it…look so hot???

The audience, looking at one of their male gods, easily lifting a woman with one hand, began screaming once more.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh."

"Carry me too, Rio!!!!"

"I want to be picked up, too! Even if it's not a princess carry. Any way you lift me will make me happy!"

Vanessa: "In a shocking twist that has never been seen before in the entirety of this game being played, Rio has discarded his opponent's weapon and picked them up. What's his next move? Let's watch together and see."

As Shawn watched the scene happening before him, he wanted to sigh and shake his head.

Although he knew the two were acting as instructed, wasn't this going a little too far?

Restraining a sigh, he began yelling at Valentina, "Hey Val, fight back! He's ticklish, so make sure you tickle his sides! Get him right in the stomach!"

Unfortunately, Valentina couldn't hear him.