The Ultimate Couple Challenge

The café buzzed with its usual mid-morning crowd when the door swung open with theatrical flair, nearly slamming into the wall.

"Guess who's back!" Freen declared, arms spread wide as if she were a conquering hero returning from battle.

Becky, standing behind the counter, didn't even look up from the tray of muffins she was arranging. "Is it the delivery guy? I swear we're still waiting on the syrup."

"Nope. It's me! The icon, the legend, your favorite chaos creator," Freen said, planting herself dramatically at the counter.

Orm walked out from the kitchen carrying a stack of clean mugs. "Freen," she greeted, raising an eyebrow. "Weren't you supposed to be on vacation for another week?"

"I came back early!" Freen replied, waving her hand dismissively. "What can I say? I missed all the action. Especially," she leaned closer with a sly grin, "to see if the Ice Queen and her barista girlfriend are still alive."

Lingling, sitting at her usual table, barely glanced up from her tablet. "We're doing perfectly fine, thank you."

Freen smirked. "That's what I like to hear. But you know what would be even more fun? Testing just how fine you really are."

Becky joined Freen at the counter, her grin almost as mischievous. "I like where this is going."

Orm frowned, setting the mugs down with a wary glance between them. "Why do I feel like I'm about to regret this?"

Suzie, carrying a tray of lattes to a nearby table, perked up at the commotion. "Wait, what's happening? Are we scheming? I love scheming!"

Freen clapped her hands together. "Here's the deal: we're going to have a little couple's quiz. You know, to see how well our lovebirds really know each other."

Becky snorted. "Oh, this is going to be good. I'll grab a whiteboard."

Lingling finally looked up, her cold gaze zeroing in on Freen. "A couple's quiz?"

"Don't look so scary, Ling," Freen said, undeterred. "It's just for fun. Unless you're worried you won't know the answers?"

Lingling's eyes narrowed. "I don't worry about things. Ever."

"Perfect," Freen said, grinning wider. "Then you won't mind playing."

Orm groaned, leaning against the counter. "Do I get a say in this?"

"Nope!" Freen, Becky, and Suzie chorused, already dragging chairs to set up the makeshift "quiz show."

Within minutes, Freen had transformed a corner of the café into a stage-like setup. Suzie wrote "Lingling vs. Orm: Battle of the Lovebirds" on a chalkboard, while Becky scribbled questions onto index cards.

Freen held up a clipboard like an official game show host. "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first-ever Ultimate Couple Challenge! Our contestants: the Ice Queen herself, Lingling, and her endlessly charming girlfriend, Orm."

Orm slumped in her chair, muttering, "I didn't sign up for this."

Lingling, however, sat with perfect posture, her expression unreadable except for the slight twitch of amusement at the corner of her lips.

Freen cleared her throat dramatically. "First question! What's Orm's most embarrassing childhood nickname?"

Becky practically cackled. "Oh, I know this one!"

Orm groaned, covering her face. "Becky, I swear—"

Lingling tapped her pen against the notepad Freen had handed her, then wrote something down with a faint smirk. "Done."

Orm reluctantly scrawled her answer on her own notepad.

"Three, two, one—reveal!" Freen announced.

Lingling flipped her notepad: Orm-y Wormy.

Orm sighed, revealing the same answer. "My dad thought it was cute," she mumbled as Freen and Becky burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you got that right," Suzie said, amazed.

Lingling glanced at Orm, her smirk growing. "Becky might have mentioned it once."

The questions ranged from sweet to downright hilarious:

"What's Lingling's guilty pleasure?" (Answer: Cheesy rom-coms, much to Orm's delight and Lingling's embarrassment.)"Who's the bigger neat freak?" (Unanimous agreement: Lingling.)"What's Orm's weirdest habit?" (Answer: Singing to coffee machines during cleaning hours.)

But things heated up when Freen asked, "Who gets more jealous?"

Orm raised both hands. "Ling. Hands down."

Lingling's eyes narrowed. "That's debatable."

"Oh, really?" Orm said, crossing her arms. "Shall we talk about that one customer who smiled at me for more than five seconds and got the death glare of the century?"

Lingling sniffed, unbothered. "They were being overly familiar."

"They just wanted to know if we had oat milk!" Orm exclaimed.

The group erupted into laughter as Lingling muttered, "It was suspicious."

By the end of the quiz, Lingling and Orm were tied. Freen and Becky declared it a draw, much to Lingling's annoyance.

"I don't tie," Lingling said, her arms crossed.

"Well, you do now," Freen teased, earning a glare.

As the café quieted down and Freen and Becky cleaned up their makeshift stage, Orm leaned over to Lingling. "You know, for someone who claims not to worry, you were pretty competitive."

Lingling raised an eyebrow. "I don't like losing."

"You didn't lose," Orm said, smiling. "And for the record, I think we did pretty well."

Lingling's expression softened. "I suppose we did."

Lingling leaned closer, her voice dropping to a playful whisper. "Also, I'm totally going to use 'Orm-y Wormy' as a discount code for the café now."

Orm rolled her eyes but couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped her lips. "You're impossible."

"And you love it," Lingling quipped, grinning.

"I do," Orm admitted, her voice quiet but sure.