= Chris POV =

  Just as I was quietly swooning over Sarah’s bright smile and adorable reactions, a rge, animated hand appeared out of nowhere on the screen, patting her on the head.

  “What the—how did that happen?” I quickly typed into the chat.

  “Just use the paid commands in the command box. I know you want to— isn’t Sarah the cutest?” MaiseBell replied, clearly trying to rope me into participating.

  Curiosity got the better of me. I opened up the sidebar beled Commands, and my jaw practically hit the floor. There were so many options! You could pat her, smack her, scold her, tip her, or even send her special deliveries anonymously.

  “This is wild…” I muttered, scrolling through the options.

  My fingers hovered over the Pat button. But then, a prompt appeared asking for card details. My heartbeat quickened—was I really about to do this? As Sarah continued chatting with her audience, I hastily keyed in my information. Once the card was approved, the command list lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “Okay, let’s see…pat her, scold her, kiss her…” I mumbled to myself, testing out command after command.

  Suddenly, the screen burst into chaos. Disembodied hands and limbs flooded the frame, reaching toward Sarah from every angle. She gasped dramatically, clutching her headphones. “Woah, woah! Slow down there, CatChef67! I’m gonna get dizzy with all these commands coming at me at once!”

  The chat exploded:“Chill out, CatChef!”“Looks like someone’s trying to break the system!”“I haven’t seen this much spam since that one guy who got banned st year.”

  Mortified, I frantically typed, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it would be that bad. This is my first time trying the commands!”

  As Sarah ughed and waved it off, a small pop-up appeared in the corner of my screen. Curious—and still red-faced—I clicked on it.

  It was a private message from MaiseBell.

  “Dude, I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re new at this, but as a mod, I’ve got to set some boundaries. Next time you spam commands like that, I’ll have to ban you. Use them sparingly—like once every fifteen to twenty minutes. We all love Sarah and want to support her, but you’re gonna scare her off, and that’ll ruin it for everyone. Got it?”

  I stared at the message, feeling like I’d just been called to the principal’s office. “Got it, sorry!” I quickly typed back, vowing to tread carefully from now on.

  As I returned to the stream, Sarah was still ughing, brushing virtual confetti off her shoulder. “Alright, alright, everyone. Let’s give CatChef67 a break—they’re just figuring things out. But seriously, CatChef, take it easy on the commands next time, okay?” She winked at the camera, her good humor taking the edge off my embarrassment.

  Even with the mortifying mistake, I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe this streaming thing wasn’t so bad after all.

  “Yes, I’m so sorry! I’ll pace myself. I won’t spam the chat like that again,” I typed, adding a “bowing” emoji for good measure to show just how apologetic I was.

  “Alright, well, you seem cool enough,” MaiseBell replied. “Just chill and talk normally, and everything’ll be fine.” With that, the private message box closed.

  I gnced at the time. Twenty minutes had already passed since I’d excused myself to the "bathroom." I really needed to head back, but my eyes drifted back to the stream. Sarah was still smiling, chatting animatedly with her audience. She looked so cute, and I wanted to properly make up for the chaos I’d caused, but I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself in the chat.

  As I hovered over the screen, I noticed some extra options on the sidebar: a tip jar, various commands, and…a wishlist. Curious, I clicked on it and scrolled through the items. One in particur caught my eye—a drawing tablet.

  So she really is trying to get back into art. The tablet was pricey, but something about the thought of supporting her made me smile.

  “I’m sorry for the disturbance earlier. As an apology, I’ll buy you that drawing tablet to help you on your artistic journey,” I typed into chat, pressing “Check out” on the tablet.

  Sarah paused mid-sentence on stream, her brows knitting together as she leaned closer to her screen.

  “No. No way. CatChef67. That—that item is ￥120,000. You did not. You did not just check out that item,” she said, her voice dropping into a disbelieving whisper.

  “Again, I’m really sorry for causing everyone trouble,” I typed quickly, my fingers almost trembling from the rush of adrenaline. “I hope the tablet helps you get back to drawing. Maybe we’ll even get to see some of your art soon! I have to go now, but I’ll see you all around.” I added another bowing emoji before hitting send.

  The chat exploded:“OMG CatChef67 is LOADED.”“MARRY PINKIE!”“Or marry ME, Sugar Daddy~!”

  I couldn’t help myself. Before closing the browser, I typed one st cheeky response:

  “That’s Sugar Mommy to all of you. ?”

  The chat erupted in ughter as I closed the tab, my heart racing. I wasn’t sure why I’d done it, but as I tucked my phone back into my pocket and headed out of the rooftop garden, I couldn’t stop smiling.

  Sarah’s face couldn’t have been any redder. She kept gncing down at the chat and then up at the webcam, looking confused, as if she was in disbelief at what she had just been gifted with.

  “I don’t know what to say… thank you. Thank you, Cat, I really, really appreciate it. I will definitely use it when it arrives, I am so grateful, and I promise to make the most of it, Sugar… Mommy” She said nervously and I think I just died there on the spot.

  Now it was my turn to cover my mouth and swallow hard. She wasn’t even near me, and she was doing things to my heart with those doe eyes and trembling lips.

  As I said my goodbyes amidst the torrent of hooting hollering and cheering happening in the chat, I closed the ptop reluctantly and stood up.

  So, she wasn’t doing anything wrong it was commendable that she was hustling so hard by streaming when she wasn’t at work. However, this now meant that I had one more reason to work hard as well because I was hooked!

  The image of how I made her blush just by buying her something from her wish list, was making my stomach do flips. I wanted to see that look on her face again…and again….

  I opened the streaming app on my phone and went back into the chat and saw that I wasn’t subscribed. I hit subscribe. That was ￥1 500 a month, and I thought fuck it, there’s an option to gift subscriptions. I’ll gift a subscription to everyone else in the chat who also isn’t subscribed. What was another ￥ 20,000 in the face of such a lovely little streamer who worked so hard to pay off her debts to her cruel oppressive ndlord?

  Even with the sound off Sarah’s reaction to all the gifted subs was was priceless – she fell off her chair.

  I closed the app and grinned. I could get used to this.