My Virtual Lover

Live 39: The Red Strings of Fate

From Kevin’s side…

A waiter stumbled on the carpeted floor, accidentally poured the syrup on his newly bought shirt. It doesn’t take too long for him to be completely overwhelmed by a sour mood. He walked to the restroom and there he met the woman who asked about the restroom earlier. She bumped her forehead on his chest, the syrup sticks on her forehead.

Kevin almost lets out a small laugh, but he holds it in so that he doesn’t sound improper. The young woman is cold and rather sarcastic, she doesn’t hold her punches when she wants to comment on something. Somehow that part of her reminds him of a certain someone with the first letter ‘T’.

Not to mention, her voice is certainly familiar with someone he knew. The two are easily connected after the syrup incident, a part of Kevin’s heart wants to thank the waiter who accidentally made his clothes wet. They’re talking near the entrance, away from the crowds and the center of the party.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Kevin asks her. “What’s your name again?”.

“Oh, it’s Jury Crawford” she replies. “A forgetful one, aren’t you?”.

He apologizes awkwardly, then asks her if she’s interested in any drink since she doesn’t show any sign of wanting to return to her seat. She answers him shortly, asking him a favor to fetch her a glass of milk since she’s thirsty. The young man is surprised with her choice of drink, milk sounds like a child drink.

Not to mention she’s shorter than him, he wants to laugh but since they’re not close then it would be improper to mock someone’s physical appearance on their first meeting. Kevin asks the waiter who just passed by as he walks by, asking if there’s any milk or water for them to drink.

“A milk? And mineral water? Wait a moment” the waiter nods at Kevin’s request. “Please excuse me, I shall fetch them”.

Kevin leans on the door, his onyx gems watches the crowd unenthusiastically, the stages are currently showing dancers in fairies costumes dancing strangely to please the children. The young man asks why the woman doesn’t want to return to her seat, Jury chuckles slightly when she looks at the stage.

“Socializing isn’t my forte” she shrugs. “I don’t want to think about that thing anymore”.

“But you’re socializing with me” Kevin chuckles. “You’re going against what you said”.

She giggles, somewhat lowering her guard after Kevin made a joke about it. Jury punches his shoulder lightly. 

“You’re a funny person” she smiles. “I like you”.

“In what way if I may ask Ms. Jury?” Kevin looks into Jury’s orange-ish gems. “I want to know what are you thinking about me, young lady”.

The young lady is stunned that Kevin made his move, it’s visible for Kevin’s eyes to see. Rather, even Kevin himself is surprised that he initiated a flirtation right on the spot. He had a feeling that he knows her for a long period. However, he’s uncertain whether the woman feels that way as well toward him.

Her voice tone, her mannerism, everything about her reminds him of the Discord girl who always texts him with memes and chats with him regularly. The woman’s voice is also similar to another figure, he can’t pinpoint who it is but he feels like her voice is famous as well. Jury tilts her chin, asking the wandering man if he’s alright.

Before he could answer, the waiter bring them a glass of water and milk as Kevin instructed. Jury picks the glass of warm milk while Kevin pick the glass of mineral water, he states that he’s quite surprised that Jury likes milk. Choosing milk in a place as grand as a five-star Chinese restaurant doesn’t sound common.

“I like milk, in general” she drinks her white warm milk. “They taste good, not to mention the benefit of the milk”.

Kevin almost bursts into laughter when she mentions the benefit of the milk with a deadpan expression. He holds it in, holding his laughter from escaping the sly smirk he tries to hide. The woman does resemble the dense Tempesta in Discord, no doubt about it. Her voice mannerism is also similar to her.

Wondering with the truth, he thinks about the possibility of Jury Crawford being Tempesta, he remembers Tempesta’s occupation is a freelance graphic designer, perhaps he could start from that part to know whether his hunch is wrong. He braces himself to ask the stranger about her occupation.

“Say, Ms. Jury may I ask what is your occupation?” Kevin asks her, swallowing his saliva. “Sorry if I sound too straightforward”.

“I’m a graphic designer, a freelance one that is” she smiles at Kevin. “I also have another part-time job but it’s not that important to be mentioned”.

Kevin can sense Jury’s discomfort, at least she reveals the part that she is a freelancer except for the other one. She’s guarded against strangers, Kevin knows how tall the wall she built for herself is to avoid social interaction. He barely could scratch the surface of the invisible wall she built for herself.

Distant and a loner, Jury keeps her info locked inside her chest. Her tight-lipped personality doesn’t help with the face she does look different from Tempesta who can be cheery and blunt at times. Perhaps, his guess is off-marks, there’s a little chance that Tempesta and Jury are the same people.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but she might be her,” he thinks again. “The way she can be blunt and straightforward sounds like her, strangely enough, this one is a bit mysterious than Tempesta”.

Jury leans next to Kevin while drinking her milk, her husky eyes looking at the performance on the stage. She’s uninterested in the birthday celebration, not showing any ounce of joy from her eyes. Her expression is as plain as a dead fish; she lacks vitality while Tempesta is the loud tomboy girl. 

“Yup, I might be wrong” he reassures himself. “There’s no way she’s Tempesta, that’s too good to be true”.

The two then spend their time together standing side by side, enjoying their non-alcoholic drink. They laugh in unison, talking about various games and jokes. It’s pleasant to talk with Jury, he would never have thought the petite woman would know anything about games, another trait she shares with Tempesta.

Both of them don’t pay attention to the festivities on the stage, not caring anything in the part as they stand closer every second pass by. Kevin notices the gap of their face is merely a few centimeters, a quiet otaku like him can initiate a conversation with a cute woman is a rare thing to happen.

“Rhapsody must have possessed me, telling me to be courageous” he punches his fist in the air. “Thank you, Goddess!”.

Before he could ask another question, Jury cuts him off with a curious smirk. She pulls his collar toward her, she smiles at his confused look enthusiastically.

“Can you tell me where do you come from?” she asks rather menacingly, her brows are furrowed. “You sound similar to this boy I know from online”.

Oddly, they’re sharing the same brain wavelength, maybe his hunch isn’t a hunch after all. He starts to ask the woman if she’s using an app called Holorealm, straightforwardly as the knife. Jury nods, telling him that she’s quite known in Holorealm due to her bluntness and straightforward attitude.

She was involved in a series of dramas due to her annoying online friends, but all of those were taken care of by cutting her ties with those friends.

“Ouch, you’re a mean one huh” Kevin bites his lips. “That’s so Tempesta-like”.

Jury widens her eyes when he mentions the word ‘Tempesta’, she asks him if he knew something about Tempesta’s character. Kevin tells her that he’s also playing Holorealm with the identity of Kani, his username means Crab since he’s a closet otaku hiding behind his shell. Jury is now more shocked than ever when she learns Kevin’s username.

“You’re KANI!?” she gasps. “That APEX player Kani!?”.

“You know me? Does that mean we know each other in Holorealm?” he questions the woman. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re the person I’m thinking of”.

The two grimace awkwardly, they decide to say the Holorealm persona at the same time to make it fair for both parties. They agree with that as they look into each other eyes in curiosity.

“Kani”.

“You’re Tempesta!”.

The two notice that they’re thinking of the same thing as they speak in unison. They guess each other Holorealm persona correctly, in that fleeting moment the two stand in shock when they meet each other in real life by accident. As if an invisible crimson thread connect their pinky fingers, interlacing their life.

Still distraught with their finding, they ignore the crowd cheering along with the magic performance on the pinky stage. The time stops for both of them, their eyes are onto each other gaze, a mixture of emotions interlace in their eyes. Not knowing what to say next, they stand in silence, letting their eyes stare into each other depths.