My Virtual Lover

Live 33: The Idle Banter

After a long shopping spree, another day has come but she’s not ready to open her eyes in the morning. Her phone alarm blares, her orange eyes gaze at the screen of her cellphone. The alarm shows that it’s already eight, she remembers they are supposed to play APEX together at ten. 

She showers for under fifteen minutes, wearing warm weather on top of her t-shirt. Jury is nervous now that she’s going to play APEX with him, a duel to be more exact. She’s not confident with her marksmanship, she knows how bad her aim is to the point that her friend is laughing at her ridiculous aim.

It’s unbelievable that she challenges the almighty Kani, the predator APEX player to a duel. She’s certain that he will beat him to death, not though. She plays APEX first while waiting for Kani to contact him, she practices her aim in the practice area for a while, waiting for Kani to be online.

Her heart palpitates faster, the ticking clock as a bomb for the flustered woman. She would never have thought he agrees easily, he was even somewhat smitten with her. Perhaps it’s her imagination but she loves it when he teases her until she blushes. She flustered into strawberries the more she thinks about it.

Jury then pauses her game, somewhat remembering the dress she bought last night. She finally chose the raven one, even if her father is somewhat against her decision. For her, that dress truly represents her personality pretty well. It is somewhat cyberpunk and cooler rather than showing any hint of elegance or femininity.

She prefers it that way though, she stands up, opening the wardrobe to see the cool dress she bought last night. Two more days, she had to wear that dress to attend some rich kids’ gala, even a child’s birthday had their gala. Rich people had it different for them, even a birthday party is a big deal for them.

“I can’t believe they hold a gala for that, geez” she sighs heavily. 

Her eyes gaze upon the black dress in the wardrobe, thinking if her choice is the right one. She then returns to her seat, practicing her aim before meeting her fated duel one. Her aim keeps missing the target even if it’s an easy target to aim, she is frustrated of course. Jury’s perfectionist attitude hits her like a truck.

She hates losing more than anything, even if it’s against her beloved. Her pride cannot take the loss, she’s a beginner in the first-person shooter games for sure but she forces herself to be excel in that game in more than a few weeks. She hates that she’s below Kani in marksmanship skills, she wants to beat him so that they can be on equal terms.

Jury runs from one corner to the other, practicing her movement in APEX so that she can be more flexible and quick on her reactions. Different from Kani who’s used to play with APEX and Yellow who likes first-person shooter games in the first place. She’s lacking behind in terms of skills.

“I hate losing to anyone that’s why I have to beat him to prove my worth!” she thoughts to herself as she aggressively clicks the mouse. “He will see that messing with me won’t get him nowhere!”.

After that, the man she’s waiting for calls her through discord. Kani calls her, asking if she’s already free which she answers confidently with a ‘yes’. He tells her that she had to go to the internet cafe because his laptop’s current spec is pretty bad, hence he can’t play APEX on his laptop.

They’re calling each other through discord calls, Kani asks the woman to invite him into the practice match.

“You’re ready for the duel?” he asks excitedly. 

“I don’t know, we’ll see” she is somewhat hesitant to answer him since she feels like her training is not enough, she somewhat had a feeling the man will obliterate her soul in a matter of seconds if she lets him have his way. She aims her R-301 Carbine at Kani, challenging him with a duel.

“Let’s see who has the superior skill Kani!” she grins at him menacingly.

The fight begins as they slide from the cable from one corner to another, they meet in the center as they fall to the ground. Both parties begin with weaponry in their hands. She uses EVA and R-301 Carbine while Kani uses Volt SMG with Wingman which capabilities resemble a revolver. It hits hard, but recoil is hard to control.

Kani smiles at her as he senses her excitement, his aim is excellent as he hits her vital part easily with Volt. He approaches her and switches his weapon to Wingman to aim at her head, but she avoids it with a smoke bomb using her favorite character. 

She runs to the higher ground to scope the enemy while running away. She escapes using the smoke bomb, she then crawls to find Kani.

“s**t, the smoke is covering my view” she grumbles under her breath.

Not long after, she can hear the sound of a footstep from her left. She turns her head to the left, but it was too late for her. He shots her head again for the last time, depleting her remaining health to zero. It was an instantaneous kill at the spot, she lost from the pro APEX player Kani, she knew that it will end this way somehow.

She restarts from the respawn point, overwhelmed with pride she once again challenges him into another battle. However, it was another win for Kani yet again; it was easy for him to overwhelm the inexperienced woman since she’s still new to APEX. Clenching her fist, she mutters under her breath, dissatisfied. 

“I’ve played this game for two years already, give up Tempesta” he grins at the frustrated woman. “I can teach you how to shoot properly”.

“I refuse to ask you, I will do it on my own” she growls. “Let’s go another round”.

Kani doesn’t object and does as he was told to, another duel with the brave gamer Tempesta. Jury senses her defeat only brings her mood down, her perfectionism only makes it worse for her to continue. She decides to stop dueling him, exhaustion shown in her voice tone. However, Kani doesn’t notice her irritation, he teases her losing streak.

“So you’re going to back down? What a shame” he laughs. “So that’s all, you’re all talk but no skills”.

“You better shut your damn mouth before I silence it” Jury is pissed at him, his comment only stabs her wounds deeper. 

Kani asks the irritated woman whether she wants to play ranked with her, which she accepted half-heartedly. They play for the longest time, Kani doesn’t talk about her loss again which is good since Jury feels better the more he shuts his mouth. Kani asks the young lady if she’s angry, the woman doesn’t answer anything.

“I take that as a yes” he sighs. “You’re a piece of work”.

The two of them silence their mouth as the game starts, they only talk when it’s necessary. Kani tries to initiate a conversation but Jury is still not in a good mood to talk properly, all of his answers are replied with short answers. Noticing her changing mood, Kani shuts his mouth as well with no clue what to do.

*   *   *

In the internet cafe…

Kevin is in disarray, he teases her too much because of her skill. He wouldn’t have thought that Tempesta would get angry because of that. The man is brutally honest with his opinion even if it hurts someone close to him. He scratches his hair as he thinks of a way to ask her about her real-life activities.

His hand is sweaty, not because of the games surely but because of her sour mood. He’s uncertain if his next word could hurt her in any way, remembering the fact that he had to leave tomorrow to prepare for the birthday party. His aunt and uncle are partially responsible for the ball on Surabaya.

“It sucks” he mumbles quietly.

“You? Yes, you suck” she grumbles at him. 

“Geez, brightened up a little” he laughs awkwardly. “You’ve been pretty tense these days”.

She becomes quiet, not wanting to rouse his suspicion that she’s in a sour mood even though it’s obvious that she is indeed in a sour mood. He tells her that there’s going to be a birthday party in Surabaya, and he is somewhat forced to join the party along with his aunt and uncle since he’s part of the family.

Jury raises her eyebrows, puzzled that they had the same schedule in the same city. 

The young woman doesn’t say anything, rather she sounds confused as if she wants to ask something. However, she swallows her question along with her saliva. Her hesitation speaks volumes that she doesn’t want to be interested in Kevin’s real-life persona rather than his internet persona.

“Anyway, you told me before that you’re in Surabaya, right?” he is somewhat perked up. “I wonder if I can see you there”.

She shrugs, trying to act as cold and distant as to shoo him off. 

“If fate let us meet then why not” she answers with a sarcastic smile. The two young adults as oblivious as it is, remain clueless that fate will let them meet in that city called Surabaya. Kevin is confused, while the woman remains as silent as the muted. Even with Kevin’s dense personality, he knows that hiding behind her silence is a raging woman with a superiority complex.