My Virtual Lover

Live 2: Foreign Home of Jury Crawford

Near the car window there sit a young woman, Jury fell asleep rather quickly after passing several blocks from the airport. Anxious with the new city she’s about to live in, sweat glistens her fair-skinned face. Her heavy eyelids disregarded her insecurity, sending her to the realm of dreams. A travels back in time, a journey back into Whitechapel Street, her fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle’s works inspires her to become a detective.

She sees her child self walks on the street with her parents, she spokes of murders and treasons as if it’s something common for the girl. Her curiosity with the unknown stems after her mother reads her a bedtime story about Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet. Jury finds the mysterious Sherlock Holmes as her role model.

Reading storybooks about murders and unsolved cases excites her, not long after her fascination moves to games and animation. Such is the life of Jury Crawford. However, her childhood wasn’t exactly the happiest moment in her life. Her quirkiness and interest in mystery make her quite alienated from her peers.

Remembering such dark times isn’t exactly pleasing, Jury pinches her cheek when she sees the small figure before she lays in the middle of the library, alone. The young glasses girl silently sobs while she waits for her savior, the one who can fully understand her.

“Jury, we’re here” a calm voice snaps Jury back from her indescribable memories.

The glasses girl blinks a few times before she can bounce back from her short nap. Her memories fade away, replaced by the sight of a luxury-looking apartment before her. It’s a thirty-story building standing tall before her as she gets off the cab. Her father pays for the cab as she tells Jury to haste her steps to the lobby.

Jury asks her father where they’re staying, he smiles while pointing up toward the top floor. It’s somewhat located at the top of the building, a condominium for them to temporarily stay in Surabaya. He’s proudly telling her daughter of his connection with the owner of the Oakdale Apartment.

The owner of the apartment is her father’s close classmate, thus he receives a cheaper price than the original price. Jury claps at her father’s achievement, although somewhat unimpressed with his boast. The bell boy carries their belongings, but Jury refuses to hand the bell boy her belongings.

She merely bows at the bell boy, telling the tall man that she’ll be alright. Jury picks her sports bag and hoists it over her tiny shoulder. Her petite body causes the bell boy to worry about her capability. However, she reassures the bell boy that she will be fine as long as she doesn’t hurt her wrist.

The bell boy then proceeds to lead the two foreigners to the top floor, the luxury condominium awaits them at the top floor. At least, that’s what they’re expecting to see.

*   *   *

“I’m sorry, Julius! It’s my wrong in this part! I forgot about our promise” a man across the phone begs for Julius’s mercy.

Her father doesn’t look too please when he found out that the condominium they booked was already occupied by someone else. Julius crosses his arm in disdain while clicking his tongue, his impatient feet taps on the shiny marble floor in contempt. The man shakes his head and tells his friend his disappointment with the lack of service he offered.

Somewhat feeling threatened, Julius’s friend offers the man to give back his money along with a month of free rent in an executive suite. Julius seems to like the idea and accepts it immediately, Jury just watches his father smile in satisfaction while standing in front of the elevator in boredom.

She needs to Livestream after she moves to a new place right away, it’s her career in the lifeline. Jury’s silvery cellphone vibrates in her left jean pockets, indicating that her manager has been messaging her nonstop. The young woman fixes her glasses annoyedly, knowing that it’ll take a while for them to move all their things.

“Honey, we’re going to move to the twentieth floor” Julius taps the petite girl’s shoulder. “The executive room is on the mid-floor, let’s follow the bell boy”.

“Alright” she responds plainly while opening her vibrating cellphone. “My manager is looking for me father, we need to haste”.

“I understand, but first we need to find clothes and all other necessities for our long-term stay” Julius scratches his hair. “Can’t you tell your manager that we will be busy for a few days?”.

Jury nods with a sigh, closing her cellphone when she sees the first text messages she received from her manager is horrifying. Her manager has been asking for her replies, probably wanted to make sure that her talent arrives safely in the vicinity. The two foreigners follow the previous bellboy to the twentieth floor.

The elevator moves to the twentieth floor in an instant, Julius grins satisfyingly in the lit elevator due to the error his classmates made. He is somewhat grateful that at least he’s compensated for the grave error the apartment did. Jury doesn’t care less as she keeps wearing her headphone to listen to her weeb music.

The sound of a beep alerted the passengers of the elevator that they have arrived on the twentieth floor. There’s only three-room on the twentieth floor, and they’re all the same type of room. The bellboy receives instruction from the walkie-talkie as he nods obediently. The man opens up the executive room in front of the elevator, revealing an expensive apartment room.

Julius and Jury scan the interior of the executive room, the long-style couch that stems from one corner to another is fascinating. There’s also a minibar, suitable for Julius’s love for wine. Jury immediately heads to her bedroom, she chooses the one with a single bed and a lovely nightstand next to it.

Not to mention, next to the bed is a wide window where she can see the entirety of Surabaya City from above. Her smile rises when she can imagine the beautiful city lights she can see every night. Thankfully, there’s also a work desk inside her bedroom which is great since she needs to set up her laptop to do a Livestream soon.

However, her father bursts her bubble when he yells from the living room that they need to do some shopping for their dinner and also other necessities. Her father has always been tactless and quick in his actions, he’s rarely gotten tired from an overseas trip since he’s used to it. Sometimes Jury had to follow her mother as well, but this time she couldn’t.

Julius turns on the onyx LED TV in the center of the living room, he spots a familiar figure standing in the middle of a war. 

“It’s your mother Jury! Don’t you want to see!?” Julius yells yet again.

Jury rolls her eyes and walks to the living room, her eyes lit up when she sees her mother is yet again in a dangerous place to report Pakistan and Israel conflicts. Deep inside, she wishes that her mother wouldn’t search for such a dangerous job. However, like her, Cynthia Crawford is a mystery hunter.

The woman won’t be satisfied if she can’t get on the site and report the event live for everyone to see. 

“Your mother is a brave woman Jury” Julius laughs dryly. “Are you lonely that you can’t go with your mother at this time of the year?”.

Jury raises her brows, doesn’t seem to catch on to what her father is implying. He points at the calendar next to the LED TV, reminding her that it’s that time of the month again for her period. Not only protective, but her father is also somewhat gentle and understanding of women’s hardship during their period.

Perhaps, the cause would be the time when he receives a slap from her mother when she’s upset about the fact Julius ate her favorite muffin without her consent. It somewhat traumatizes Julius in a way more than one. Causing him to be on high alert when Cynthia is on her period, he wouldn’t want to accidentally anger her again.

“I’m not like her, please” Jury laughs slightly. “But you’re right about being in a bad mood, perhaps I am in that phase”.

She sits on the couch with a heavy sigh, feeling rather exhausted from their long journey. However, her father insisted that they should do some shopping before they could take a bit of rest. 

“Don’t worry, it should be quick!” Julius cheers her daughter up. “I know what are we going to eat for dinner, not to mention you need new clothes Jury! You would need a new wardrobe in a new environment!”.

“If that’s what you said father” Jury grimaces slightly. “Then, shall we go to the mall? Which mall are we going to? You said that our apartment is located near a mall”.

Julius peeks from the window and shows it to her daughter, a gigantic mall across the apartment called Galaxy Center Mall. He tells her that it will be their first stop after arriving at the apartment.