My Virtual Lover

Live 29: One-sided Loneliness

It was a long night for the cafe owner, the cafe is crowded with couples, and family who spends their Christmas holiday dining. He barely gets any rest in the cafe, even with the upcoming year; nothing changes about his relationship status. He is still single after his tragic breakup with his previous girlfriend.

Slapped by his previous girlfriend somewhat brings some omen in his future relationship with a girl wherever he goes. She curses him to be unhappy forever, the burden of the words of his previous girlfriend still haunts him until this day. It was an unhappy relationship, a tragic one that was caused by none other than jealousy and misunderstanding.

Anthony despite his good looks is quite terrible with his luck, he never gains immense luck, nor he ever gets any good sign. It is as if the curse truly haunts his life forever, he doesn’t know what to do at this point. The new year of 2022 has come, but a resolution has yet found its way into his mind.

“You’re not doing anything this holiday, darling?” aunt May asks the lonely young man whose eyes are wandering to the cafe’s ceiling. “We closed the cafe during the thirty-first of December, hoping that I can give you a good time rest”.

“Oh that’s true, I guess” he chuckles awkwardly. “Did you have a nice vacation, Aunt May?”.

“Oh, my husband and I had a trip to Batu! It’s a small city but at least the weather is cold” she laughs endearingly. “We’re staying from the day after Christmas, hoping that the small city isn’t too crowded by the time we arrive there! But boy, I was wrong!”.

“Is it crowder?” Anthony asks his aunt with a big smile on his face.

She nods, somewhat dissatisfied that her prediction is off-mark. Aunt May is hoping to find herself in a cozy nice resort, away from the visitor’s eye. Oh, how she was wrong when she sees seas of vehicles lined up in the four-starred hotel they’re going to stay in. His uncle is the one who does the driving, but boy he’s an impatient man.

Unlike aunt May, his uncle can be blunt at times even though he is a friendly man. Anthony can imagine his uncle’s raging expression when he sees the crowded vehicles blocking his way. Fortunately, it’s quite a breeze after they arrive at the resort. She tells him her experience living their best life in the resort.

The bedroom and the bathroom are beyond her expectation, it is indeed a luxury room. Night has fallen to the sky, the bright sky is no longer to be seen. He spends yet another time alone on the first of January, expecting something would change as the year passes by. Anthony picks his cellphone from the back of his pocket, waiting for someone’s reply.

The graphic designer who works on the cafe’s branding has been progressing a lot these few days, she’s also providing a good explanation with the tagline and the visual of the cafe logos. It’s going to be done soon, and a part of his conscience feels as if he can let this slide. He can’t leave the relationship as it is, he doesn’t want their relationship only partial for job-related issues only.

He wants to become closer to the cold and professional graphic designer, he had a feeling that he can get along well with her.

“Wow, you’ve been staring at the screen of your cellphone” Aunt may grinned with a smirk. “Is it from your girlfriend?”.

“No, it’s nothing like that” he chuckles. “It’s just someone I know online”.

Perhaps, his loneliness causes him to fool himself and his feelings. However, he wants to talk with someone among his peers. Someone firm and not dramatic enough to cause any disturbance in his life. So far, the people he finds in his life cause him drama and trouble along the way.

He either makes someone accidentally likes him, confessing their feelings for him which ends up him rejecting the feelings. The man hates his unlucky streak of relationships and events, but there’s nothing he can do to avoid that. Perhaps, it’s the curse for hurting his ex-girlfriend with a meek personality of his.

“I wonder if she’s different than any girls I encounter in Holorealm” he thoughts to himself as he scrolls the chat history of Jury Crawford.

He finds himself captivated by her lone wolf attitude, she’s not as approachable as the people he finds in Holorealm but at least she’s not hiding behind a mask. Anthony finds some similarities between the freelancer young woman with the Holorealm celebrity with the username Tempesta.

Both are motivated, cold, and serious when it comes to things they truly like. However, if angered; they can explode like a nuclear bomb. Her words are blunt and as sharp as the knife, venomous without her knowing.

“At least she’s not as dramatic as I thought, I’m sure we get along” he convinces himself that and texts her.

“Hey, are you there?” he asks with a smiling emoji.

It was a short text to ask if Jury is around to respond to her, he waits while delivering the customer’s order and cooking the recipes in front of his face. It was tiring work, neverending crowds of customers even after the new year ends. It’s almost as if nothing changes, the flood of customers keeps going nevertheless of the vacation.

He waits for her response but no one is there, he expects a reply but she’s not around. Perhaps, she’s busy with something in real life. He suppresses his overthinking, his bold move on approaching him is stupid as it is. If his aunt knows about this, she would probably shake her head in disappointment.

* * *

“Good job today! You’re multitasking your work as usual!” his aunt hits Anthony’s back playfully. “I guess your skills lie in the kitchen! I am so proud of you! The review of our cafe is getting better and the rebranding is almost complete”.

Reminded by the short time of the rebranding, he can guess that after the job is done; he had to be departed from the graphic designer. Jury is nothing but professional, she’s also kind enough to respond to his text even if it’s not work-related. Even if her replies can be a bit cold and short, she doesn’t waste any time with trivial topics.

However, the replies have gone off, cold for eight hours now. The young man can’t help but sigh heavily, knowing that he’s going to spend his Saturday yet alone again. He already joined the Crimson, but the members lack the initiative to start a conversation. One can tell that the group is dominated by mostly introverts in every corner.

Anthony uses his bicycle as he cycles home to his dormitory, he’s going to log in to Holorealm, meeting his online friends. Hopefully, he can see Tempesta in her house talking about games topic again. Since Jury is not being responsive to her text, he needs to confide to someone about it.

Anthony parks his bicycle and locks it tightly in the garage beneath the dorm, he’s certain that the bike is rather clunky after he got into an accident the other day. Thankfully, his injury is not that much but still his unluckiness going strong in his daily life. He was hoping to end his unlucky streak, but one can only dream.

He opens his new cellphone, log in to the virtual world of Holorealm once more with his butler avatar. As expected, he finds some of his online friends are already there.

“Hey there! Nullworld! So good to see you” the girls are waving their hand to Nullworld, thinking that he’s there to say hi to them.

Anthony passes by his online friends, noticing that the girls are looking at him meaningfully. It always ends up with someone crying, the young man knows what will befall him if he contacts these girls and they get the wrong idea. He would be burdened yet with another guilt for breaking someone’s heart accidentally.

“Oh, you’re the guy the other day” a familiar face pops out from his right.

It’s Yellow, Tempesta’s closes online friend that she considers as her brother. He waves his hand to Anthony, asking if the young man is currently free since he wants to meet Tempesta after this. Hearing Tempesta’s name cheers the man’s heart to the fullest, he follows Yellow obediently like a puppy as he walks away from Anthony’s group of online friends.

“I thought you’re close with them, what’s wrong?” Yellow asks Anthony who treads behind him carefully, passing the seas of Holorealm City Square as quietly as possible.

“It’s girls problem, I don’t want to think about it” Anthony rubs his forehead. “Let’s just meet Tempesta, I can’t wait to see her now”.

“Wow, someone is pumped up” Yellow raises his eyebrows. “So you’re a big fan of her, huh? Color me surprised”.

Anthony’s blushing madly, letting Yellow teases him along the way with a slight smirk.

“Can’t say I’m surprised, the woman is a tough-looking one” he stops on the sidewalk, leaning on one of the streetlights on the city square. “Some of the guys are into that kind of girl you know, the rough one! I guess you’re one of them”.

“Wha-!? You’re mistaken!” Anthony shakes his head strongly as he covers his face. “It’s just that I admire someone like her! Someone who is frank and dares to speak her mind! It’s just that simple! Don’t think too much of it Yellow! You’re getting the wrong idea!”.

Yellow just chuckles and shrugs him off, telling him that the person will be meeting them shortly.

"Tempesta will be here any minute, so don't worry" Yellow winks. "You'll meet her soon with him".