Mia Ryman’s

Bachelorette Challenge Mzyra

Last Time on Mia’s Bachelorette Challenge: Rodney got booted out after failing to talk to any one of the kids, as
well as being behind on Mia’s score too. There wasn’t any shouting or anything, but he was obviously not
best pleased, leaving very coldly, making Mia feel bad and uneasy, but there was nothing else to be done.
Now there are only two bachelors left and Juan is currently winning, but Chephren could still pull it back with
some extra effort with the kids…
“So, it’s just down to you and me now then…”
“Yup, Rodney’s gone,” Juan smiled, very satisfied by that situation.
“We won’t have any hard feelings, right?”
“No,” Juan considered Chephren, “I think you’d treat Mia right and be okay with the kids, so I’d be fine if she
picks you. Though you might have to watch out for Rodney if you win, he didn’t seem happy.”
“Yeah,” Chephren said, looking out anxiously at the way the taxi had gone. “That’s a bit worrying.”
“Ah, you’d handle it, I’m sure. You might just have to be prepared not to be so nice sometimes. He’s crafty, that
one.”
Meanwhile, out back, the beach had been opened up for general use now that it was so close to the end. And the
kids wanted out there anyway.
“Wow… It’s so pretty. I wish we had a view like this back home.”
Jose was less interested in the view and more interested in playing with the sand, constructing castles from it.
“Hey Lyle, how am I meant to make it keep its shape?”
“Huh?” Lyle snapped out of his daydream of snorkelling. “I don’t know. Do you think Mum would let us go
swim in the sea, Jose?”
“Maybe, but I’ve heard the sea’s cold, so I wouldn’t really want to.”

[Liv was definitely banned from the beach after we found her trying to get to it to ‘eat sand’. Bad times.]
The bachelors weren’t so interested in the beach though. Once again, Juan sat down to a solitary game of chess
instead. Even he was beginning to wonder if he had some kind of problem with the amount of time he was
spending on it.
Especially when he could have been upstairs in the hot tub with Mia, like Chephren was.
“Juan’s never going to join us, is he? I’m not sure why he dislikes hot tubs so much.”
“Maybe zombies have an aversion to water?” Chephren shrugged. “Still, I’m happy to spend time alone with you
when I get the chance…”
Mia smiled knowingly. “And what proportion of the day do you think you’ll spend in here this time?”
“Um, well… I don’t know, it’s so warm and nice in here, it always seems such a shame to get out.”
“If you say so,” she replied, rolling her eyes jokily.
Juan was even so engrossed in his games of chess that he didn’t even notice when he started glowing and some
guy came and tried to congratulate him for playing games all the time.

Seriously, I’m sure it can’t be usual that bachelors max a hobby enthusiasm during a bachelor challenge.
 Though if hot-tubbing contributed to any kind of hobby then Juan probably wouldn’t be the only one glowing…

Darkness came again and Mia got out of the hot tub, though Chephren hardly noticed, practically drifting off to
sleep in the warm bubbles.
And Juan too carried on his activity well into the night.
“Must perfect this strategy…”

Are you suffering from hobby addiction? If so, call 1-800-YOU’RE-MEANT-TO-BE-TRYING-TO-WIN-A-CHALLENGE-YOU-

MORON to get yourself some serious help, now!
Though at least nobody was trying to grab Juan’s attention as he played. Once again, Liv failed to pull somebody
out of the hot tub to play with her.

This can at least be considered an early lesson for Liv: men can be extremely frustrating sometimes.
Look! A bachelor actually sleeping! At night!
I apologise for pictures like this, but I’m getting mushy about bringing (good) fathers and children back together
– there is actually a wall separating them here, but it disappeared when I zoomed in through it. But then
again, if I didn’t have pictures like this it would nearly all be hot-tubs and chess, so it’s better than nothing,
right?
Now excuse me while I have family-orientated spasms over the potential adorableness of it all.
Elsewhere other people were still not asleep, but had at least left the hot tub for other needs.
*It’s so quiet around here at night… I think I can even hear the sea…*
Other people were up bright and early the next day for more construction.
“Okay, this time I’m going to get the turrets right! And it’ll have six bedrooms and four bathrooms and a
swingset-”
Jose was a bit overambitious in his castle building. If it was even going to turn out to be a castle, he couldn’t
quite decide.
Jose wasn’t the only one up though, both Juan and Lyle had got up too. Naturally Juan headed straight for the
chess board again, and Lyle decided to join him.
“So… this really counts as a game? I guess I can kind of see why, but computer and video games seem more…
game-y.”
“Yes, but this teaches you tactics.”
“There are lots of shooter games where you have to be tactical or you get shot, though.”
“Yes, but you have to look at the big picture here, rather than just one person.”
“Huh. I guess so. But you’re blatantly going to beat me and I don’t really want to take your pawn.”
“Not necessarily and… sometimes you have to fight back. It’s self-defence, if nothing else.”
“Hmm, I guess…”
Back upstairs it was time for Mia to start with the one-on-one interactions again. Finding Chephren first, she
pulled him into an intimate hug.
“Hey Cheph, how’s it going?”
“A lot better just now,” he smiled.
“I think I can make it even better than this, you know…”
“Oh really?”
“Really,” she said, kissing him passionately and hoping that she wasn’t disturbing her daughter in the process.
Liv watched them for a couple of seconds before getting bored and looking out the window instead. Adults did
odd things and clouds were prettier anyway.
Mia then proceeded to give Chephren a backrub and thought to herself as he couldn’t see her face.
She liked Chephren, she liked him in a romantic way. She might even go so far as to say she loved him, but… as
a husband? As an adoptive father of her children? He was a nice guy, so there shouldn’t be any issues there,
but, then again, you could never be quite sure… She guessed that was why the kids were there too – to tell
her what they thought was best for them. It’d be interesting to see what they said on the subject.
Then it was on to conversation.
“How’s it been with the kids since yesterday lunchtime?”
“Er, well, I did spend a lot of time in the hot tub, but I’m sure it’ll be okay. It’s a lot easier to bond with kids
when you have a TV or something that you can be doing so the focus isn’t purely socialising. I think that
tends to put kids off a bit if they’re shy like Jose.”
“Yeah, I suppose, but we don’t have a TV back home, so I wouldn’t get overly dependent on that…”
“Hmm, what else do you think you could bond with stepkids over?”
“Well, since the older ones are boys and you’d be their effective father, maybe you could go with like DIY or
mechanical things that I don’t normally do?”
“Woah, no, I wouldn’t be much good at that kind of thing. And what if it goes wrong? Working with plumbing or
things could flood your house and working with electronic things could electrocute somebody! It’s
dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing!”
Mia supposed there was some logic behind what Chephren was saying, but it wasn’t massively interesting or
attractive to hear a man listing off why he was unwilling to do something that, on the face of it, seemed
pretty simple. She’d better go find Juan before she said something insensitive or rude by accident.
Mia came downstairs and was delighted to see Juan teaching Lyle how to play chess – that was definitely
something a father should do for his son, in Mia’s eyes at least. She almost just wanted to standby and watch,
but she was running out of time before she had to decide.
“Hey guys. Lyle, you don’t mind if I borrow Juan, do you?”
“Huh? No, go ahead, he was trying to make me take his knight anyway and I can’t figure out how to end this in a
draw yet.”
“Oh. Right. Um, keep trying?”
“Maybe after I grab a bite to eat,” Lyle responded and headed off to the dining room.
“That was so unbelievably sweet to watch, Juan. Have you told him that you’re…?”
“Am I allowed to?” he asked, surprised.
“Well, it wouldn’t really be fair if you did since that would probably bias him, so it’s just as well you haven’t.
But we can tell him after my decision later.”
“I guess, even if I lose, I have a good foundation for a relationship with him, if not with you and the other
kids…”
“I hope he wouldn’t be too angry if that did happen. It must be infuriating to come so close…”
“I may be able to vouch for that soon…”
“Well, either way-”
“I love you Juan Harris, whether we’re together forever or not.”
Jose came in from playing on the beach to try and find his mother, only to find her giving Mr Juan a backrub. He
watched them a bit. When his mum got married he’d almost certainly get less attention from her, but looking
at her now she looked so happy and content… He could share his mum if it’d make her as happy as she was
now. And of the two men left, Jose liked Juan better. Maybe it’d stay like this: what he was seeing now. That
would be nice. And then he could get a girlfriend and wife of his own to make happy. That’d be nice too.
As for now, some TV seemed good, so he left his mother and hopeful-father-to-be alone again.
And then to conversation again.
“I don’t look forward to going back to Simfield after all this sun and warmth out here.”
Juan laughed, “You think Simfield is bad? You’ve clearly never been to Three Lakes; we have no such thing as
Spring or Summer, I swear. It’s just Autumn and Winter, so little else than rain, snow and hail all year
‘round.”
“Oh yeah, you come from Three Lakes, don’t you? If… If I do choose you we’ll have to take the kids out there.
Even if you don’t win you could at least take Lyle though – show him his heritage.”
“Yeah, that’d be nice. I’d rather take all of you though,” he replied with a genuine but sad smile.
Meanwhile, Chephren was out watching the sea. It reminded him of home. From what he could tell, there was a
shoreline in Simfield, but the Rymans lived nowhere near it. Oh sure, they could go on holidays to Twikii
island and maybe they could stroll down to the shoreline now and then, but… it might not be the same. And
if he couldn’t get some (or all) of his family to move nearby, what would he do without them? He was so far
from home… But if he’d found true love, he couldn’t abandon that after so long…
“Right kids, it’s final decision time. I need to pick a husband.”
“Couldn’t you decide on your own?” asked Lyle.
“Erm, not exactly, no. I love them both and care about them pretty much evenly. I’m not sure I could pick on my
own right now if it weren’t for you kids.”
“Oh. Well, since you’re asking…”
“I’d choose Chephren.”
“I thought you spent a lot of time with Juan today?”
“Well yeah I did, and I like Juan and he’s a nice guy and I have nothing against him as a friend, but I know
Chephren better and I think the two of you are better suited. Chephren seems a lot more like you in
personality.”
“Hmmm… What about you Jose?”
“Choose Juan!”
“Really? I didn’t think you spent that much time with him.”
“Well… I wouldn’t necessarily call him a friend like Lyle did, but he’s nice and I do still like him… And I don’t
like Chephren.”
“You dislike Chephren?!” Lyle exclaimed.
“Just a little bit I guess, but it’s still bad. If you have to get married, marry Juan.”
“Oh,” Mia said, a little shocked. “I didn’t expect anybody not to be getting on, but if that’s really how you
feel…” Jose nodded while Lyle just continued staring, flabbergasted. “Anyway, there’s still one more person
to vote, I’d better go ask Liv as a tie-breaker…”
The boys seemed a little sceptical at that, both wondering whether a toddler could make a genuine decision, and
Jose a little worried that she might have been easily won over by Chephren and something shiny.
Meanwhile, Juan’s addiction to chess was solidified by his managing to max out his logic skill in 6
(uncontrollable) days. It could be considered a serious problem.
Back to Mia:
“Morning Liv! Momma’s got an important decision to make today – she has to choose your new daddy! Who do
you like best?” Liv just stared up blankly and then began squirming, wanting her toys. Mia figured she ought
to try a new method. “What do you think of Juan?”
Liv looked and brightened up at this “Yu-ah! Yu-ah!” before looking around, wondering whether he’d come in.
Mia took that as a good sign.
“Okay, what do you think of Chephren?” All this got was a blank look. Mia repeated herself and Liv looked
thoughtful before touching her ears questioningly. “Yes, he’s the man with the pointy ears.” Liv just looked
down and started squirming for her toys again. It seemed a pretty clear ‘Meh’ to Mia, and therefore a pretty
clear result.
Opinions taken, Mia gathered Juan and Chephren (still in his dressing gown) down on the beach for the final
decision - she figured that they should make the most of the beach and sea while they still had it before they
headed home again, this time as a full family.
“So this is like the award ceremony, huh?”
“If so, I guess that would make me the trophy since we don’t have any other prizes I’m afraid.”
“Unless you count a six day holiday by the sea…” Juan mused.
“Yeah… So, results? There’s a lot of anticipation going on.”
“Well I can’t do results without the friendship speech first:
I hope you both know how much I like you, as friends, as best friends and even as romantic interests. I love you
both and I hope we can remain best friends forever whether I choose you or not. Having said that, I can only
have one of you, so…”
Mia paused to think for a minute, just to double-check that there was nothing she’d forgotten to take into
account, that there weren’t some more feelings deep down that might change the result… No, she knew the
right decision for now.
“Hey Chephren, I’m afraid… It’s not you. But we can still be best friends, right?”
“Oh…”
“Of course we can still be best friends! That’s most of the reason I was willing to participate in this in the first
place, because I had the chance to at least make new friends. I mean… I wish I had won in a way because
I’ve been looking for somebody to love for so long, but… I guess it’s just not meant to be.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, I was beginning to wonder whether it might be too difficult as it was; my family living so very far
away, not being able to live beside the sea anymore… That’s practically what my family was founded upon.
I… I think I would have given it up for you, but I might have been sad deep down. Now I won’t have to
make that separation and you get to be happy too. But you can feel free to come visit if you ever get some
spare time and want to travel the world more.”
“Thank you.”
“I hope Juan is as good a husband to you as I would have been.”
“Me too.”
“Anyway, goodbye and good luck Mia Ryman, I’m sure you’ll be happy.”
“You too, Chephren Bephalet.”

Day 6 Scores:
1st: Juan; 100/93  +100/21 + 34/21 +
96/45 = 510
(100/89  + 100/21 + 36/24 + 95/45 =
510)
2nd: Chephren; 99/94  + 96/33 + -4/-
3 + 0/0 = 315
(100/94  + 90/33 + -4/-3 + 0/0 = 310)
I don’t know what was happening between Chephren and Jose that
made their scores negative again, but that was genuine. Not that it
really affected the actual scores; Juan was leagues ahead thanks to
Liv. If Chephren had just got out of the hot-tub when Liv had
wanted to play with him…
And as you can see, Mia’s scores actually wound up equal for the guys
because of the bad conversation with Chephren, so theoretically she
couldn’t have decided, though Chephren was ahead on the lifetime
score so he probably should/would have won if it weren’t for the
kids. And curse you, hot-tub addictions! *shakes fist*
But it was better than the first run: he went out first then…
“Right, so… I’m not sure I ever expected this to happen since you disappeared the first time, but… you win.
Want to move in with me?”
“I’d have to be crazy not to say yes at this point, wouldn’t I? Of course I want to move in with you. I want to be
a father (figure) to your children, I want to grow old with you and then be a grandfather (figure) to your
grandkids. Mia, I never want to leave your side again. It’d take at least ten evil warlock cousins to prise me
from you this time, I swear.”
“Well that’s good, since I only have eight first cousins anyway.”
“You understand what I mean, don’t you?”
“Yes… Though we’re going to have to get all the way through the wedding before I dare to believe it.”
“You can chain me to the wedding arch if it’ll make you feel better.”
Mia laughed, “I don’t think we’ll have to go that far.”
And so the new couple cuddled up together on the sand, imagining their new future.
“I’m going to make you very happy, Mia Ryman.”
“You better had,” she teased, “or I have three brothers and a sometimes particularly vicious sister who’ll want to
have ‘a word’ with you…”
“I’ll be sure to stay on my toes then.”
They continued to watch the bright, clear sky and listen to the sea for a bit.
“I think maybe we should tell the kids, don’t you?”
“Yup, and then we can start living again, together, as a family.”
So it’s finally come to an end… I never would have thought Juan would win, nor that Mia had technically picked
the right man in the first place!
As a reminder, the results were: 1st Juan, 2nd Chephren, 3rd Rodney, 4th Noah, 5th Andy, 6th Bernardo, 7th Zack

Thanks to Dorylis35 for Chephren Bephalet, BethKeebleLegacy for Noah Aldrich, Chemic for Andy Rocker and
joandsarah77 for Bernardo Mobacy. Shame none of them made it, but at least Mia can be happy now, which
was the whole point!
 Out-takes!

Group watching-the-sea fail – as interesting as I’m sure the back of Mia and Chephren’s heads are, it
would be good if people would, you know, sit next to each other, rather than in a sit-down conga-line.
Chephren makes a last-ditch effort not to lose, but to no avail.
Finally, in case any of you were wondering (I know I was) – zombies can tan and this is what it
looks like!
So, everyone, meet the new and improved Ryman family with its new (or old?) fifth member.
I don’t know about you, but I find it extremely adorable.
Back to regular chapters extremely soon! 