Chapter 7: The Emotional Advice Streamer, C

Rhys's POV

I tossed my training jersey onto the bench, restless. Chloe had hung up on me out of nowhere, and it made me realize that for a while now there had been an invisible wall between the two of us. The reasons she'd given for moving out were flawless — my match schedule, her own streaming grind to climb the leaderboards — but for some reason I couldn't shake a nameless loneliness, a quiet dread.

What's actually wrong between us? Is there something I'm not doing well enough?

"Hey, Rhys. What are you sitting here spacing out for? You're frowning hard enough to squash a fly."

Milo came over with two bottles of sports drink and tossed me one, studying my brooding face with open curiosity.

I rubbed my aching brow and spoke, my voice heavy. "Milo… I feel like Chloe's been incredibly cold to me lately. But I've thought it through — I haven't missed any important dates, I've been training hard and taking on endorsement deals, working toward our future. I honestly don't know what I did wrong."

"Chloe's been cold to you?" Milo's eyes went wide, incredulous. "That doesn't add up — you two grew up together! But a woman's heart is a deep sea. Half the time, what they're really upset about is something no man would ever guess in a million years."

I sighed. "So what do I do?"

"Ask a professional!" Milo pulled out his phone and opened a streaming app with practiced ease. "There are plenty of sharp relationship bloggers online these days — people who do nothing but answer questions about marriages and couples. Here, let me find you one."

He hunched over the screen, scrolling and picking at random, then suddenly pointed at a livestream flagged as trending. "This one. She goes by 'C.' She's blowing up lately — I heard she recently matched up a brother and sister who aren't related by blood, and her analysis is razor-sharp."

With that, Milo tapped into the stream and held the phone out in front of me.

On the screen, a woman whose face was hidden was answering her followers' questions. Her voice had a soothing, almost hypnotic quality, and every sentence she spoke was lucid, wise, cutting straight to the heart of the problem.

I sat there listening in silence for a few minutes, and something in me jolted.

I had to admit it: every principle C laid out was thoroughly professional and fair-minded, each word landing exactly where it ached. I even found myself thinking that if anyone could see what was really eating at Chloe, it would be her.

"So? She makes sense, doesn't she?" Milo raised an eyebrow and nudged my arm, looking rather pleased with himself.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. She really does. Milo, how do I put a question to her — get her to break down Chloe's situation for me?"

"Ask a question? Easy." Milo pointed at the tip icon at the bottom of the screen. "Just send any gift, then put your problem out there in the chat or apply for a call-in. The host sees it and answers them one by one, in order."

"Fine."

Without any hesitation I opened the gift list, scrolling past a clutter of elaborate flowers and hearts until I stopped at the last item on it — a towering, intricately detailed building icon. The Luxury Castle.

The castle model was beautifully made, I thought, and it was sure to get C to notice me and answer my question. At the thought, I lifted my finger and tapped it several times in a row, unthinking.

The next second, the stream's big screen erupted with countless dazzling castle effects.

[User "S" gifted host C Luxury Castle ×1]

[User "S" gifted host C Luxury Castle ×5]

The chat feed collapsed instantly, flooded with the fans' shock and cheers:

[Good God! Where did this rich guy come from? That's tens of thousands gone just like that!]

[C, look at your number one! This guy is loaded!]

I looked at the gift notifications on the screen and turned to Milo, who was staring with his mouth open. "So what happens now? I just send my question out, right?"

Milo swallowed hard, looking at me like I was some kind of monster. "Dude… I said send one. Any one. You just cleaned out her whole leaderboard! Fine, fine — just type your question already!"

I quickly typed a line into the input box and sent it:

[My wife and I have been together for years, but lately she's turned extremely cold toward me — she's even moved out to live apart. I'm certain I haven't done anything that crosses a line. What on earth is wrong with her? How do I win her back?]

In the stream, host C finished a polite word of thanks, spotted my question, repeated it under her breath, and then went quiet.

A few seconds later she spoke slowly. "Mr. S — very often, what a man believes is 'not having done anything wrong' is really him overlooking the disappointments a woman has accumulated in the small details of daily life. A lack of companionship and communication erodes a marriage far more easily than a clash over principles. My suggestion: find a time and have a proper talk with your wife."

Her answer left me thinking for a long while.

She was right. Lately, between business deals and club matters, I really had been spending much less time with Chloe. And C had pinpointed the problem from a mere few sentences of mine — her skill was astonishing.

I thanked her, closed the livestream window, and turned to Milo.

"Milo, that new project your company's been preparing — weren't you still short a professional psychological counselor?" I asked, a little hesitant.

Milo blinked. "Yeah. PR's been tearing their hair out over the pick. They've talked to several so-called experts and none of them felt genuine."

I looked at the darkened phone screen and said, thinking out loud, "I think this C would be a good fit. Her analysis was spot-on, her grounding in psychology is solid — she's more than capable of handling it. Tell PR to get in touch with this streamer's agency and find out whether she'd be willing to work with us. As for terms and pay, we can negotiate all that in detail."

Milo agreed at once, grinning as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Nice one, Rhys. Good idea! I'll go coordinate with PR right now and have them make contact."

With that he turned and headed out of the lounge, pulling the door shut behind him.

I raised my hand and ran my fingers lightly over the wedding band on my ring finger. With guidance from an expert in matters of the heart as wise and professional as C, the distance between Chloe and me would surely be resolved before long.

And yet, the moment I thought of the cold, flat look in her eyes when she looked at me these days, my chest sank heavily again.

She avoided me at every turn now, had moved out altogether. Even if I knew the solution, would she really be willing to sit down and have a proper talk with me?