New York.
Duncan's Apartment.
Ring... Ring...
The phone rang.
"Ignore it!"
The octopus, MAX, stopped Adam from answering the phone.
"Don't be ridiculous."
Adam got up with MAX in his arms and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"It's me. Is this a good time?"
On the other end, Juno's voice came through, sounding different from usual.
"Hold on a second."
Adam's heart skipped a beat. He pried MAX off, firmly held her back as she playfully lunged at him, and gave her a warning look before walking out of the bedroom.
In the Study Room.
"What's going on?"
After locking the door, Adam's voice turned serious.
"Are you still writing that manuscript?"
Juno asked.
"Yes, I am."
Adam's heart tightened.
"Delete it."
Juno sighed, "Forget about it."
"..."
Adam was stunned. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Juno's tone was firm.
"Got it."
Adam already had his suspicions, so he didn't hesitate. But before hanging up, he couldn't help but call out, "Juno!"
"Hmm?"
Juno was taken aback.
"Be careful."
Of all the words he wanted to say, they condensed into that one sentence.
"Heh."
After a brief silence, Juno laughed softly and hung up.
"Heh."
Hearing the cheerfulness in her laughter, Adam also smiled, his earlier shock and worry completely dissipating.
To have a confidante like this in life is enough!
He turned on his computer and looked at the manuscript of Gone Girl, nearly 200,000 words long, with its terrifyingly cunning character, Amazing Amy. The gratitude he felt for Juno surged within him.
This whole situation had nothing to do with Juno, yet she did all this for him!
How lucky he was!
He deleted the manuscript from his computer, then took out the hard drive and physically destroyed it. Afterward, he returned to the bedroom and hugged MAX tightly.
MAX initially wanted to squirm playfully, but feeling the strength of Adam's embrace and his overwhelming emotions, she lay still, refraining from any flirtatious jokes, quietly savoring the warmth of the moment.
That Night.
"Oh, come on!"
Chandler exclaimed as Adam brought him to a nightclub. Seeing the energetic dancers, he shouted, "This is what you meant by donating to help underprivileged students?"
"Exactly."
Adam held him close, preventing his escape as they sat by the stage. "Many of them are students who can't afford tuition. Shouldn't we do some charity work?"
"But what does this have to do with Kathy?"
Chandler asked in frustration.
"It has everything to do with her."
Adam grinned. "Scientific research shows that a man's brain can only store a limited number of... indescribable images. Right now, your brain is completely occupied by Kathy, which is why you're so obsessed.
What we need to do is help your brain store as many new images as possible to dilute or even replace those of Kathy. Then you'll realize just how ridiculous it was to think you needed her."
"Will this really work?"
Chandler was skeptical.
"You don't have to trust me, but you should trust science!"
Adam declared with mock seriousness.
"Alright."
Chandler did want to get over Kathy, so he reluctantly agreed. As he looked over, his eyes widened.
The dancers here might not have the most beautiful faces, but they definitely had great figures and mesmerizing dance moves. For a man, that was more than enough.
Even Adam was enjoying the view.
After watching for a while, Adam noticed Chandler staring in disbelief at the dancers' jaw-dropping moves and couldn't help but chuckle.
These types of clubs were perfectly legal and respectable in the U.S.
Joey, Barney, and Howard were regulars at places like this.
Even Penny, Bernadette, and Amy had been to one.
And yes, that included Monica.
Watching the performances was no big deal, really.
In How I Met Your Mother, Lily had a doppelgänger who was one of the dancers, and she even paid her to switch places so she could experience dancing on stage herself.
If this could lessen Chandler's obsession with Kathy, it would be perfect.
Otherwise, Adam was out of ideas.
He couldn't exactly persuade Chandler to engage in more... direct charity work, could he?
No matter how touching the story, it wouldn't change the questionable nature of it.
As for setting him up with someone new, Chandler clearly wasn't in the right headspace for that.
So, Adam could only hope that Barney Stinson's MAXAM Theory would actually work.
Even if it helped just a little, it might be enough to get Chandler through until Joey and Kathy broke up.
Even then, Adam still wouldn't approve of Chandler dating Kathy, but for Joey's sake, that would be enough.
As long as Joey didn't mind.
"Here."
Adam handed Chandler a bag full of dollar bills. "Don't just watch—tip them. It's polite and part of the experience!"
Chandler looked at the stack of dollar bills, torn between amusement and embarrassment.
Meanwhile, one of the dancers, noticing the commotion, gracefully made her way over to Chandler and started performing right in front of him.
Caught off guard, Chandler awkwardly followed the crowd's lead and began tipping her.
Over the Next Few Weeks.
Adam continued helping Chandler battle his emotional turmoil while quietly monitoring any news about Amazing Amy.
Just as he expected, news reports gradually started to surface.
Amazing Amy was missing.
Her parents realized they couldn't reach her about a week ago and reported her disappearance to the police.
But the authorities had no leads whatsoever.
Amazing Amy had crafted the perfect persona—surrounded by friends with no apparent enemies.
There were no suspects, no clear timeline of her disappearance, and certainly no motive.
Her parents turned to the media, pressuring the police to solve the case. But with so many cold cases each year, public interest quickly waned.
Unless new evidence emerged, her case would just be another file in the cold case archives.
No one would think to investigate further, nor would anyone suspect the real story behind it all.
Amazing Amy would never reveal her dark side, and her parents were too ignorant to realize that she had plotted against Adam, only to be preemptively thwarted by Juno and her team.
Juno had chosen the perfect timing and method, leaving no trace because they seemingly had "no motive."
Although Adam didn't know the details, he could piece it together after seeing news that Amy's parents had settled in New York.
Compared to publishing a novel that exposed Amy's potential schemes, eliminating the threat entirely was far safer for Adam.
For that, he felt even more grateful to Juno.
In this dangerously unpredictable world, having a 'guardian' willing to go to such lengths for him was truly a gift from above.