Chapter 8: Ranking

Liam stared down at the charred lump of food, his throat bobbing.

He didn't eat.

Eva stood beside him, unable to hold back a laugh.

That was Liam for you. Always full of grand words, but the moment anything actually cost him something, he backed down faster than anyone.

Ivy turned to look at him, her eyes going completely red. She covered her face and ran off camera.

Marcus didn't spare her a glance. He worked his way through Julian's group's dish and Amelia's group's dish one by one — one barely passable, one unremarkable — giving both somewhere between five and six points, then walked straight to the last plate.

Eva and Sebastian's dish.

Pan-seared sea fish, golden and crispy on the outside, the flesh inside white and tender. Next to it sat a thick-cut steak cooked to medium-rare, the juices sealed in perfectly.

The plating was what really got everyone.

Sebastian had used the leftover black pepper sauce and basil leaves to create a minimal decoration on the white porcelain plate.

It looked effortlessly high-end.

Easily on par with a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Marcus cut a small piece of fish and put it in his mouth.

He chewed twice, then stopped.

Everyone around him held their breath.

Marcus set down his knife and fork and looked up at Eva and Sebastian.

"I'm starting to wonder if you two secretly ordered takeout behind the show's back."

He gave a thumbs up.

"Full marks. Tonight's grand seafood dinner is yours."

After dinner.

Everyone gathered on the sofas in the living room.

Ivy had touched up her makeup and settled back beside Liam. But her expression had gone stiff — she couldn't hold onto that effortless sweetness anymore.

The big screen lit up.

Marcus walked in front of it with a microphone.

"Everyone, that's a wrap on day one. Now let's see what the audience actually thinks of you."

The live stream comments from the day began scrolling across the screen. The production team had pulled out a few of the most talked-about moments.

The first clip was the high heels on the beach.

Comments flooded across the screen in a thick stream.

[I'm dead — she wore ten-centimeter stilettos to the beach? Did she think she was walking a red carpet?]

[Sebastian's line "Are you here to plow a field?" was absolutely legendary. Well done!]

[I used to think Ivy was pretty sweet, but today she just seems so high-maintenance?]

[Right? She kept pushing herself in front of Sebastian and got absolutely roasted. So cringe.]

Ivy sat on the sofa, her nails digging hard into her palm. She kept her head down, fighting to hide the humiliation on her face.

The second clip was the cooking segment.

[Eva gutting that fish was so cool — clean and decisive, no hesitation at all!]

[Can we talk about how Eva and Sebastian barely said a word to each other the whole time but their chemistry was just insane?]

[The contrast is brutal. Ivy blew up the kitchen and then had the nerve to cry and fish for compliments.]

[Liam is such a joke. He wouldn't even touch that plate of charcoal. And this is love?]

The mood in the room dropped to freezing.

Julian's face went dark. He couldn't keep quiet.

"These people online have no idea what actually happened. Ivy never had to do this kind of thing growing up — of course she struggled. What gives them the right to talk about her like that?"

Eva leaned back against the sofa cushion and looked at him coolly.

"Nobody asked her to make a perfect French dinner. She didn't even have basic common sense — she set the pan on fire, and instead of owning it, she tried to guilt-trip everyone with tears. The audience is calling her out. Are they wrong?"

"Eva!" Julian shot to his feet. "Do you have to go after her at every single turn?"

"Go after her?" Eva laughed. "She's the one who put her face in front of the camera. What does that have to do with me?"

Julian was shaking with anger, but he had nothing to say back.

Marcus clapped his hands and cut the argument short.

"Alright. You've seen the comments. Now I have a new rule to announce."

Everyone looked up at him.

The comments disappeared from the screen, replaced by a ranking board.

All ten of their names were listed on it.

Eva's name sat at the top. Ivy's was second from the bottom. Dead last was Tiffany.

"This is the audience's real-time popularity ranking."

The smile left Marcus's face. His tone went serious.

"Starting today, this board stays live. One week from now, at this same time, whoever is ranked last will be eliminated and will have to leave the estate."

The room erupted.

"Eliminated?!" Tiffany shrieked. "The contract said nothing about an elimination system!"

"It does now." Marcus shrugged. "This is a competition, not a vacation. The audience doesn't want to watch boring people take up screen time."

Ivy stared at her name in second-to-last place, her breathing going shallow.

The room went so quiet after the announcement that you could hear people breathing.

Ivy couldn't take her eyes off that position on the screen. Her nails were nearly breaking the skin.

She was used to being the one everyone put on a pedestal. Used to being the center of everything, always.

Now her image was in pieces, and she was staring down the possibility of being cut from the show.

Eva leaned back on the sofa and took a sip of water.

Can't take it already? The fun is just getting started.