Kamron stared at Chelsi's wet, flushed face on the monitor. His throat felt tight. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.
He could hear his own heartbeat thudding rapidly in his headset. He hated losing control. To cover up his sudden, intense physical reaction to her, he slammed his finger down on the left mouse button.
A deafening, digitized ship horn blasted through the audio feed.
A massive, diamond-encrusted luxury yacht slowly sailed onto Chelsi's side of the screen, taking up the entire visual space.
The global system announcement flashed in bright purple across the entire Apex platform: Morningstar has gifted a Luxury Yacht to Chelsi_V! ($10,000.00)
The animation was so heavy with gold coins and flashing lights that Chelsi's old phone completely froze for three agonizing seconds.
When the screen finally unfroze, Chelsi physically jumped backward. Her spine slammed hard against the cold bathroom tiles.
She ignored the sharp pain in her back. She grabbed the phone, her eyes wide with sheer panic.
"Did you click the wrong button?" Chelsi yelled into the microphone, her voice cracking. "That's too much! I can't take this!"
Kamron watched her panic like a startled deer. A genuine smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but he immediately bit the inside of his cheek to suppress it. He forced his face into a mask of cool indifference.
He pulled his microphone closer to his mouth.
"That was for forcing you to wash your face," Kamron lied, his voice dripping with fake boredom and an edge of commanding authority. "Consider it an apology. My money, my rules. Now drop it and don't make a big deal out of it."
Kamron's chat went wild.
An apology?! Since when does he apologize?!
Bro is down bad!
Morningstar is a simp!
Because of the global $10,000 broadcast, thousands of random users clicked the link and flooded into Chelsi's room.
Her viewer count skyrocketed from a few dozen to over five thousand in a matter of seconds. The number kept climbing.
The new viewers were instantly hit by her flawless, bare face. The chat moved so fast it was unreadable, filled with marriage proposals and heart emojis. The same fans who had bullied her ten minutes ago were now throwing five-dollar gifts just to get her attention.
AlphaRoach: Seems someone finally opened their eyes.
Kamron saw AlphaRoach's comment. A sharp spike of territorial anger flared in his chest. He wanted to snap back, but he bit his tongue. He couldn't let anyone see how much this girl was affecting him.
He needed to escape before he did something stupid.
"Whatever," Kamron muttered to his camera. He moved his mouse and violently clicked the disconnect button.
The split screen vanished. Kamron was gone.
Back in his penthouse, Kamron let out a long, shaky breath. He dropped his head back against the chair. But under the desk, where no one could see, his hand grabbed his phone. He searched for Chelsi_V and hit the follow button.
On Chelsi's end, her screen returned to a single frame. She stared at the viewer count in the top right corner. It had just crossed ten thousand.
Her brain short-circuited. She couldn't breathe properly.
She picked up her phone and stumbled out of the bathroom, walking back to her dark bedroom. She clamped the phone back onto the stand. Her hands were shaking so violently she nearly dropped it.
She looked at the waterfall of compliments and money flowing across her screen. It felt entirely fake.
She leaned close to the microphone, her voice trembling.
"Thank you," Chelsi whispered, bowing her head slightly. "Thank you everyone. I... I'm really tired today. I have to go."
Ignoring the thousands of comments begging her to stay, she slammed her finger onto the End Stream button.
The screen went black. The only sound in the room was the low, electric hum of the cheap ring light.
Chelsi collapsed into her chair. Her lungs heaved as she gasped for air. She frantically tapped her screen, opening the Apex creator dashboard.
She clicked on her wallet.
After the platform took its fifty percent cut, the balance sitting in her account was enough to pay her rent for the next six months.
A heavy sob ripped from her throat. She buried her face in her hands, the tears flowing freely. This time, they weren't tears of despair. She gripped her phone tightly against her chest, knowing her life had just completely changed.
