Thomas didn''t know how to respond for a moment. He subconsciously touched his ear, just as he heard a voice from the production staff through the earpiece.


    Production Team: "Mr. Taylor, the task isplete. Thank you for your hard work." Thomas said, "Understood."


    He breathed a sigh of relief, removed the earpiece, and showed it to Yvonne. "A task."


    Yvonne nodded, understanding. "Is it over now?"


    "Yes. We should be able to leave." Thomas stood up, walked to the door, and pulled


    it open.


    Yvonne followed him out of the room.


    A staff member was waiting for them right outside the door.


    "Congrattions, Mr. Taylor and Yvonne, on being the first toplete the task." The staffer handed them a card with the number one on it.


    Yvonne epted it with a yful smile. "Are we that good?"


    Staff: "Yes, you are."


    Thomas added, "Yvonne is very smart and observant."


    "Thank you for thepliment, Mr. Taylor, but I don''t deserve it," Yvonne replied with a polite and modest smile.


    “Please, head to the lounge and rest for a bit," the staff member said, guiding them to a waiting area.


    Since the other contestants were still busy with their challenges, the lounge was empty except for the two of them.


    Thomas picked up a bottle of water from the coffee table, twisted it open, and handed it to Yvonne. "Have some water."


    "Thanks," Yvonne said, epting it.


    Thomas took a bottle for himself and, after a sip, asked, "Did you just get off the ne?"


    “Yeah, came straight from the airport, right into this prank," Yvonne said with a helpless shrug. "What about you?"


    Thomas replied, "I arrivedst night and had a look around. There''s a historie food street near the hotel. We could check it out sometime if you''re free.”


    "Sounds good," Yvonne responded with a smile.


    "That was so awkward back there. It''s my first time on a show like this, I was


    breaking out in a cold sweat," Thomas admitted.


    Yvonne nodded. It had definitely been awkward.


    "If I hadn''t noticed the earpiece, what would you have said?" Thomas asked curiously.


    Yvonne thought for a moment. "Thanks, but you''re a really nice guy."


    Thomas couldn''t help but give a wry smile at her answer.


    The unspoken second half of ''you''re a nice guy'' was always ''but I''m not interested.''


    She would give Bet a marriage certificate, but all she could give him was the friend zone.


    A brief silence settled between them. The lounge remained empty as the other celebrities had yet to finish their tasks.


    "Are you regretting joining this show? No wonder the first page of the script was nk. It was all a setup for pranks," Yvonne vonne said, trying to lighten the mood.


    Thomas was taking a drink of He finished before replying, "No


    regrets. At least it gave me a chance to confess my feelings for you in


    front of everyone."


    His tone was clearly joking, but he kept his eyes lowered, hiding whatever emotions


    Yvonne could only take it as a joke andughed it off.


    Finally, other contestants started to trickle in.


    Dn entered with a young male actor. They had clearly been paired up for a


    challenge and were both soaking wet.


    Yvonne asked, “Didn''t you get to skip to the next round?"


    Dn exined, "The next round was an ejector seat. We had to answer questions


    to test our chemistry. We gotunched over a dozen times."