Chapter 4: The Contest

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Victoria was invited to join in the contest for Hudson's place at the company. She sits in the chair along side Hudson as Thakur goes over some of the events of the contest.

"Okay, I'll go copy this and I'll be right back." Thakur leaves and shuts the door behind him.

"Well, Victoria your last game has amazed me. You really do have a creative mind."

"Well thank you Mr. Rivera-"

"Please, call me Hudson. No need for such formalities." He says soothingly.

"Okay...Hudson, why did you want me to be here? You are the person who determines the winner." Victoria asks slightly amused.

"Well, like I said. I want to get to know you and I just want the best company possible." Hudson leans a little foward his seat.

Before Victoria could speak, Thakur came back and sat down with the two programmers. Going over the list of the programmers participating in the contest.

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The contest begins and one by one, the programmers in Tuckersoft have presented their games to Hudson. Victoria spectates and so does Thakur.

Only two left: Stefan and Colin. Colin was able to go first. He ignored Victoria and only pretended that Hudson and Thakur were in the room. Victoria didn't even look at the game. She stayed quiet and didn't pay attention.

"I like it. Colin is a genius here at Tuckersoft." Thakur praises.

"I definitely see it. It's amazing Colin. Thank you." Hudson says.

Colin nods and leaves. His eyes meet Victoria's and he walks out. A ping of sadness hits her but is quickly recovered by Stefan walking in.

"Alright Stefan, I know you are going to wow, Hudson. Show him what you got mate." Thakur says excitedly.

Stefan presents the game and let's Hudson play it through.

"Wow...I think we found our winner. Congratulations Stefan. I'll discuss the terms with you and I'll be back." Hudson leaves the room.

Thakur claps his hands. "Good job mate, I knew you would be great as always. Have you been working on the other game I assigned to you yet?"

"Yes, it is such a great idea too Mr. Thakur, I never understood why you didn't put it out there publicly?" Stefan says.

"Wait, Thakur. You made a game? Seriously? I can't really picture that." Victoria says.

"Well yes. But I wasn't an advanced programmers like you all. I kept it a secret so that way Stefan could work on it and maybe pass it to you and Colin to make any changes or fix any errors. This game will help raise up the company. We might even be bigger than Hudson." Thakur says in excitement.

"No one else knows about it?" Victoria asks.

"No one. Only you, Colin and Stefan. And it needs to stay that way." Thakur says.

Hudson makes it back to the room "Congratulations Stefan, I'll be in touch for your job position at my company soon. You have some potential kid."

Hudson says his goodbyes and pulls Victoria to the side. Colin watches them by the elevator.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Victoria and maybe we can spend some more time together?" Hudson says

Victoria sees Colin and looks back to Hudson, her lips turn into a flirtatious  smile. "I would love to Hudson. Maybe you could give me your number so we can get to know each other and meet up.

"I would love that." Hudson smirks and gives Victoria his number. As he says his goodbye to her, he presses a kiss to her hand and steps into the elevator.

She heads back to her desk, Colin's gaze never leaving her. She sits down in her seat and continues coding on her game.

As she is about to do a test run, Colin's hands land on the side of her. Trapping her with his body, he leans down. His voice husk, masking his anger. "Say hi to your boyfriend when you see him again. Or better yet, how about you just jump on his boner for you."

Victoria sits there, her blood boiling with anger. But she doesn't say anything, she leans back in her chair. She repeats his words back to him. "We broke up, Colin, We haven't established anything. Remember. "

Colin's hand wraps around her throat gently. He whispers in her ear. "You say I'm an asshole? Fine. I guess I'll be one."

He lets go and goes back to his desk. Victoria sits there, unable to focus.

Stefan sees the commotion but doesn't say anything. He doesn't want to get involved, but he had a feeling that he should've.

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Victoria packs up her things and walks with Stefan to the lobby. As they are in the elevator, Stefan decides to ask her.

"What's going on between you and Colin? Everytime I see you two together, it's nothing but hate. You two were so close and now...nothing." Stefan rambles.

"I guess we are just drifting away." Victoria says sadly

"And you and Hudson. What's that about?" Stefan asks

"Just being professional and was trying to make Colin jealous. Which of course backfired. But I might take Rivera on his offer."

As the elevator doors open to the lobby, they see Mary packing up her stuff as well.

"Hey, heading out for the night?" Mary asks

"Yeah, I have to go to a family thing tonight. My mother kept calling about it. But I bet Stefan doesn't have any plans, right?" Victoria looks to Stefan, trying to hide a smile.

"Yeah...I have no plans." Victoria sees a scarlet, red paint Stefan's cheeks. His eyes not leaving the floor.

"Well Stefan, do you want to go get some coffee and maybe catch up?" Mary asks nervously,

Stefan finally looks up and smiles a bit. "Sure, shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go. Goodnight Victoria." Mary says happily as she leaves with Stefan.

Victoria giggles to herself as she watches her two friends leave. The elevator doors open and Colin walks to the door. Ignoring Victoria, he walks out the door.

She wanted to go after him, but she instead went home.

She goes home and takes a shower. She changes into different clothes and looks in the mirror

 She changes into different clothes and looks in the mirror

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She grabs her stuff and her phone "Time to face the music."

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