It Could Be Worse

Every year, Alset Inc.'s top salesperson wins a two-week all-inclusive trip to a luxury resort, and this year Fabio Cuckingham was sure to win the trip to the Keys! And with good reason: one month before the year ended and the company closed for the vacations, he was more than $300,000 ahead in sales, and no one had ever sold that much in four weeks.

He's already savoring his revenge: last year, he finished second behind Thomas, but this year, he's well and truly in the lead!

This Thomas is Thomas Hamilton, an interior designer, like Fabio, and as brilliant as he is. He is also the son of Senator Hamilton, which makes Fabio think that he is helped by his father's connections. Fabio regularly teases him about this...
Thomas is also (or even more so) known for being a handsome man who turns women's heads, and many of his clients are women! This did not prevent him from being dumped a month earlier by his girlfriend.

It is in this context, while Fabio is bragging and already celebrating his victory, that a $362k contract, previously refused, falls from the nowhere for Thomas, allowing him to beat Fabio on the line!

Thomas, irritated and always on edge, decides to teach this braggart a lesson. He throws him a daring bet involving Natasha, Fabio's long-time fiancée. The stake: a trip to the Keys for Natasha. But with whom? Fabio or... Thomas?
As stupid as presumptuous, and not wanting to lose face, Fabio bets!

You'll play as Natasha and you'll join the protagonists of this story during the traditional office party, one week before the vacations...

How does that sound?

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Natasha

The main character. She is a pretty, slender and athletic woman.
She's hard-headed. For her, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Having a child has always been in her life project. Having one with Fabio seems obvious, but she is in a phase of slight final questioning.

Childhood - Education

Natasha was born in a provincial town 30 years ago.
His father is a doctor and his mother writes children's books. She has a little sister, 4 years younger.
She went through high school, but became an excellent student once she got to college where she studied physical therapy.

Love life

She has been dating Fabio, her childhood friend, two years older, since high school. Both of their parents are friends.
In high school, she almost fell for Julian, Fabio's stalker and all-around stud.
She found Julian attractive, but didn't want to be dumped like a piece of shit once "consummated".
So she resisted! A disappointment for Julian, but the pride of Fabio, for once "winner".
Since then, she has also resisted all attempts of seduction. She is often approached by men but remains faithful to Fabio.
There is only one colleague of Fabio who has made an impression on her since they moved to Cleptown: Thomas; but she has had very little contact with him. 

Active life

Fabio and Julian left high school the same year. Julian was lost to her.
When she graduated, she was hired at the city hospital of Cleptown, where Fabio was already working.
They moved into an apartment and saved up to buy a house.
They have been living together for 7 years.
There was never any question of marriage, as long as having children was not on the agenda.

Relationship with Fabio

Fabio has always been her best friend. And her boyfriend since high school.
She loves him, for his kindness, his will, his perseverance, the attention he has always had for her.
She always thought he would be a very good husband.
Of course, he has his faults, but who doesn't? However, as time goes by, everything gets a little blunted, and people change.
Fabio of course, who is a little less caring, and who has become more venal and pushy. His career as to count more than anything!
Natasha doesn't like this too much, nor the way he has taken his two second places behind a colleague in terms of sales figures.

Fabio

Fabio is the perfect example of the type neither beautiful, nor ugly. He's the kind you see most...
He is not stupid at all and has a generally affable character.
On the other hand, he is envious and above all, a careerist who sometimes tends to put himself forward.

Childhood - Education

Fabio was born in the same provincial town as Natasha, 32 years ago.
After high school, he started studying economics, imposed by his father, but failed twice.
He then succeeded graduating in what he really wanted: interior designer.

Love life

He has only ever known Natasha, his childhood friend since high school. It was their parents who decided on their relationship, but he was fine with it.
He was bullied by Julian, a stalker who was hitting on Natasha in high school, but she resisted! A pride of Fabio, for once a "winner".
Fabio is not a flirt. He doesn't have much charisma, but he has always been a kind and caring companion for Natasha, with whom he has always been very much in love.
With time the routine has settled a little in the couple, but not to the point of destabilizing him. He is not naturally jealous, the episode of the stalker rejected in high school reassured him of Natasha's loyalty.

Active life

Fabio and Julian left high school the same year and Julian disappeared since then.
When he finished school, he worked for a company in his town. When Natasha finished her studies, he was hired by Alset Inc.
He is a very good technical salesman and an excellent negotiator. His boss, Noel Skum, likes him.
Apart from his co-workers and some of Natasha's acquaintances, he does not have a very active social life.
His main hobby, apart from golf which he plays regularly, is gambling. Not to the point of being sickly, but he has a famous penchant for betting and gambling.

Relationship with Natasha

She has always been his only female friend. It's like he's not interested in other women.
And she's been his girlfriend since high school.
He probably loves her very much but his being demonstrative suits Natasha very well.
He has obviously never considered anyone else as a girlfriend and considers her to be a permanent part of his life.

Thomas

He is the handsome man of Alset Inc. Sportsman and graduate of university, he is with Fabio the best salesman of the company.
He no longer tries to take advantage of his good looks, except perhaps to get contracts when the client is a woman.
He had a rather tidy and classic life plan despite the fact that he comes from a rather rich and influential family.

Childhood - Education

He is the eldest son of a former US Navy pilot, now Florida Democratic Senator, Douglas Hamilton. He has a sister and a brother.
He first lived in Key West, while the father was still pilot, then in Miami, until the end of his studies. He graduated in architecture after a somewhat tumultuous school career.
He has always been an avid sailor, like his father and sister. They often sailed the Keys together from the house the family still owns near Key West.

Love life

He collected conquests during his teenage years, but calmed down when he met Jessica Hataway in college.
He fell in love with her and had eyes only for her. He followed her to the West Coast where they settled down and lived together for 4 years.
But Jessica's jealousy quickly proved to be very difficult to live with. Thomas tried to reassure her, but she ended up breaking up with him.

Active life

As soon as he finished his studies, knowing that Thomas was going to move to the West Coast, his father used his connections to help him find a job quickly.
Even though he didn't ask for help, Thomas met Noel Skum, the boss of Alset Inc., who had a temporary position as architect. At the end of his contract, Noel Skum offered him another contract as a technical salesman, which Thomas accepted.
Away from his hometown, apart from his co-workers, Thomas' acquaintances were mostly those of Jessica. With the breakup, the numbers got a little smaller.
Despite the practice of several sports, his main hobby remained sailing.

Relations with Natasha

At the beginning and while he was in couple with Jessica, Thomas never tried anything with Natasha. He found her very pretty, but respected her relationship with Fabio. He was not the kind of man to chase after every woman.
Two reasons made him change: his new single status, and above all, Fabio's jerk behavior.
While he hadn't been looking to meet Natasha in the city until then, after his breakup and the bet, he got caught up in the game and probably felt a little more attracted. Especially since Natasha remained simple, friendly and accessible.
At the company's end-of-year party, things got a little heated.

Julian

Julian Strafford was Fabio's bully for the last year of high school. Mainly because he wanted to add Natasha to his list of female conquests and couldn't stand that she resisted him, but was dating Fabio. His buddies teased him about it, which made him lose face. He found no other way but to blackmail Natasha by harassing Fabio and ridiculing him at any chance he got. As Fabio began to suffer seriously, Natasha finally agreed to a secret meeting with Julian so he would leave Fabio alone. Julian took her to a concert and party that night. What happened there? Only Natasha and Julian know. But Julian never bothered Fabio again...

Ten years later, Natasha and Fabio find him in the seaside resort. He is single and obviously as womanizing as before.
Obviously, Fabio does not see his reunion of a very good eye, and even if he ignores everything of the evening between Natasha and Julian, the prospect to see this handsome man turning around his girlfriend does not please him at all. He has enough with Thomas...
Fabio is going to learn what the expression "from Charybdis to Scylla" means.