He is Enchanted

Romantic

Ethan did ask Roman, but that old man was silent while Guen gently thumped Roman's shoulder. Guen might be unexpected, but it makes Roman wake up from his thoughts.

"I will be at home and spending time with Miles and Niall."

That monotonous answer from the forty-eight-year-old man dissatisfied not only Ethan but also Guen. She was even more dissatisfied than Ethan, although she needs to be reminded that he indicated the answer to Ethan.

But on the one hand, Roman felt there was nothing mistaken with his answer.

"You can visit me at my home."

Ethan nearly spilled his drink, and even Guen almost stood up after hearing Roman's words. She didn't assume that Roman could tell that without any indecisiveness. 

"Isn't it too soon?" Guen opposed.

"Can I see your painting, Mr. Pearson?"

Roman shook his head. "No, you can't. Oh yeah, if Liana doesn't want to speak to you, you can play with the twins."

His heart winced; it felt as sick as munching into a decaying lemon.

Ethan leaned back and peeked at his shoes, which were not far from Roman's. Ethan gradually yanked his feet towards him. "Liana, huh? Can I give her a cake?"

"Of course."

Guen then takes Roman to her office because there are some things she wants to chatter to Roman about. Ethan gave her a wimpy nod when Guen asked him before turning his face away when Guen dragged Roman away from Ethan.

When Ethan couldn't see them from the corner of his eyes, Ethan rubbed his face roughly before falling his forehead to the table.

***

"What an annoying old man! I hate him!" 

Dante, Isaac, and Hunter were baffled. Which old man was Ethan referring to? Wasn't the enemy they were encountering was a gigantic green and blue vine with its tendrils the size of an adult's thigh that swung in all directions?

After all, they were close to defeating that monster because it would soon run out of XP. Ethan should have celebrated it, not cursing.

But Hunter instantly knew that Ethan's thoughts were not with them. Especially when the plant was preparing to burst, Ethan still fiercely pushed the space keys and battered that powerless monster. If the game's developers had decided to give the beast a mouth, perhaps it would have grunted in despair and begged Ethan to stop torturing it. 

When Ethan pressed the space bar, Dante, lifting his mug, was startled and almost spilled coffee on the keyboard in front of him. Maybe the story would have been entirely different if Dante's keyboard had been spilled. 

Even though the four of them were playing using voice chat, Dante didn't use earphones like the others, but he was still shocked by how depth the sound of he pushed the space key.

Usually, when Ethan was like this, even Emma would let him free all his gloomy feelings as long as nothing was damaged.

But in this situation, Dante, Hunter, and Isaac couldn't make sure the things around Ethan were still in their position. Does one of them have to check Ethan to ensure nothing was damaged?

"He's so annoying! I just imagined how lovely it would be to go to the water park or to go to the library, or the museum, or go to another cafe, but he mentioned someone else's name!"

"So there's someone else? How many people is he close to?" Hunter asked, taking the opportunity to drink his coffee. Of course, he didn't want to end up like Dante.

While Dante slowly put down his mug, he also just realized where this conversation was going. "Even though he doesn't look like someone who likes to cheat, it turns out he has a lot of people besides Ethan."

Maybe it wasn't just Isaac and Hunter who wanted someone to develop this technology quickly. Possibly nearly everyone in the world wished for it; If there were a technology that authorized one person to shut another person's mouth virtually, that technology would give the same outcome as when someone does it in the real world.

But unfortunately, for now, there was nothing to thwart Dante from declaring that.

There was a sound like a blunt object falling on a piece of wood. The three of them fell silent. Ethan must have hit his forehead on the table. 

"What the hell am I thinking? There's nothing wrong when he mentioned his daughter, Liana, who's supposed to be my fiance."

There's a saying that it's better late than never, but it doesn't seem to make any difference when Dante notices an error in a sentence too late and when Dante doesn't notice it at all.

"After all, my feeling for him are the ones who are in the wrong place."

Everyone's hands floated over their keyboards while the characters in their game fell silent as if they were sorrowing along with Ethan.

"Ethan."

Ethan raised his head then stared at the screen.

Isaac's character is a tall young man in black and gold armor, and he wears a white scarf with a pin in the shape of a circle that covers his left shoulder. He let his blond hair fall behind his ear, and he carried a black sword.

Whether Isaac accidentally turns his character's body to Ethan's character, now their characters face each other as if they're portraying Ethan and Isaac. 

"If you allowed me to give some advice, I'm gonna say this."

Ethan felt like Isac was present in front of him. 

"For me, love is something we should celebrate, and we applaud love with joy. Appreciate love while it is still with us."

He couldn't help it anymore, and his heart felt warm as if he was sitting in front of a fireplace in a winter storm. 

"Celebrating love?" questioned Dante.

"Right! Celebrating love, like going to romantic places, having a romantic dinner, saying good morning with romantic words!" 

Ethan rubbed his forehead, and his head suddenly felt dizzy by just hearing so many 'romantic' in one sentence. "We're not high school kids."

Isaac chuckled. "I think Mr. Pearson is someone like that. From his name alone, we can tell that he is a romantic lover kinda person."

Suppose Isaac knew the story about an annoying black butterfly that perched beautifully at a leaf nearby. Ethan is sure Isaac will regret his statement. 

And not forget to mention watering the plants and other annoying things. 

"It could be all kinds of celebrations actually, even the simplest ones."

Ethan leaned forward, his mind quickly sailing from that annoying butterfly to something else. Then he smiled. "The simplest ones? Maybe say 'I love you' to each other."

"Yes."

"What's the difference between that and sending a romantic good morning, Ethan?" says Hunter abruptly.

Ethan stomped his foot. "Of course it's different! My idea is much more elegant."

"I remember yesterday at the bookstore Emma and I accidentally found a book where the story is about a princess who is cursed. To break her curse, a prince must give her a true love kiss, but the trouble here, it turns out that the princess's curse is not broken after the prince kissed her."

Ethan shook his head. Dante burst out laughing while Isaac rubbed his forehead while closing his eyes.

Ethan wondered why Hunter could say it without feeling sick.

"You mean that kind of elegant, right?"

 "Why are you as annoying as that old man, Hunter!"

Now Ethan moves the characters in his game to jumping around, and he even makes his character swing his weapon at the Hunter character.

Even though Ethan knew that it was useless, he still did it because it helped Ethan to release his negative emotions.

Before Ethan finally stopped his movements, then he sighed, he plopped down on the back of the chair, then his eyes went to the empty ceiling of his room.

"There's one thing I'm worried about, but I don't know," said Ethan. 

"What is it about?"

"About our relationship, are we going to make it? It seems impossible."

Dante decided to keep quiet this time, afraid he would make the atmosphere cloudy as he did a few minutes ago. Luckily, Isaac was here, and it's hard to imagine how chaotic it would be if only Dante and Hunter were here today.

The chair squeaked as Ethan stretched his legs. "We are on the opposite paths of life, in separate times and generations. I am a young man, while he is a man with four kids."

"I see. You two have a separate world, don't you?"

Ethan nodded, though no one else could see the nod. "That's right, Isaac. Our paths coincidentally meet. One day, this path will surely diverge again as it should be."

Dante then sighed.

"As you know, I'm stupid. But in life, there is also such a thing called sorrow. Just as love, we must also pour out our sadness."

Isaac wanted so badly to hug Dante and tell him that he managed to make things better this time.

"I agreed with Dante for the first time and probably will be the last," Isaac said with a giggle. "But Ethan, if your love has to end, just like the happiness we celebrate, let's cry loudly."

So, in conclusion, be happy and sad as hard as you can, right?