My Virtual Lover

Live 38: The Arrogant Crab meets the Cold Tempest

At the day of the Ball…

“Are you there?” a lonely text message shows on the screen of her cellphone.

Nullworld messages are received by Jury who is already wearing her dress, her father is driving the jeep. Her discord notification pops out, showing the Nullworld username on her friend list. He’s the shy man who likes Pokemon, he’s been a diehard fan of Pokemon for a long time. The man once told her that he’s been playing the Pokemon series since he was a child.

Jury decides to reply to him since she’s bored, Nullworld is a nice man after all. It’s not like he’s one of those online predators, he’s just a sensitive man in need of a companion. She texts her back, asking if Nullworld needs anything since it’s quite rare to see the introvert Nullworld text her out of the blue.

“Hey Null, what’s the occasion?” Jury asks the shy man. “Is there something I can help with? If so, please tell me what it is since it’s unusual for you to message me directly”.

“Oh, I just want to ask how are you doing? You haven’t shown yourselves in the discord server lately these days, are you busy with your work?” Nullworld asks Jury.

Jury sighs heavily, telling him that she’s busy with the ball that her father’s friend hosts for his daughter’s birthday. It was an extravagant party, way too extravagant for a mere birthday party. One can tell the riches have too much free time in their hand, she just growls annoyingly at the thought of showing herself for the ball.

“You don’t like parties, huh?” Nullworld asks her. “I find a party to be the place where you can socialize and find a new connection”.

His answer surprises her, she always has thought that Nullworld is a shy man, his answer is rather business-like rather than introverted. He admits that he loves knowing and asking strangers about themselves, he was born in a friendly family that prioritizes connection. Not to mention, he’s the cook of his family.

“A cook? You’re into cooking then” Jury replies enthusiastically. “What do you cook?”.

“Lots of things, I like experimenting anyway” he replies with a smiling emoji. “But I mostly cook Indonesian food since that’s what my father taught me”.

She was about to ask more but her father arrives at the ball, it’s in a large Chinese restaurant in the Surabaya Center. Jury bids her farewell to Nullword as she gets off the jeep with her cellphone on hand. She notices that the people who attend the ball have a certain stench on them, the stench of riches and pricey brand etches on their look.

She sees familiar dresses pattern from the riches, some are manufactured, and the others are popular brands like ZARA. Jury looks at her simplistic dress, she doesn’t mind the simplicity since she won’t be dancing at the ball. Julius even states himself that the theme of the party doesn’t suit the five years old child.

“Sometimes I’m confused with their mind” Julius walks side by side with his daughter. “People these days are confusing”.

“I have to agree with you on that, father” Jury rubs her forehead. “It’s a taxing birthday party to attend”.

They’re welcomed with a helium balloon on the entrance, a bunny clown costume standing at the entrance while handing the balloon to the participants. Jury declines the balloon as soon as she got the offering from the bunny costumed clown, she doesn’t fancy holding a balloon that might pop out in front of her face at any minute.

“But if you don’t fancy carrying it, I have another method for you” the bunny suggests in a friendly manner. “I can tie it on your waist if you like, everyone is doing that you know”.

“No, which part of ‘no’ you don’t understand?” Jury crosses her arm in annoyance. “Father tells him-”.

“Sure, tie it around her waist” he answers nonchalantly.

The bunny costumed man nods as he ties the cord around Jury’s waist, the young woman raises her eyebrows at her whistling father. Julius tells his daughter to ‘relax’ while they’re at the party. He tells Jury to relax at the party since she barely has time to have fun at home, he notices that Jury rarely sleeps on time.

The eye bags below her eyes is apparent for her father to see, hence he’s somewhat worried that Jury is not enjoying herself. Julius pats his daughter’s shoulder, whispering to her that she should enjoy the feast while she can. He knows that she will return to her work mode tomorrow, hence it’s also the reason why he wants to invite her.

“You barely talk to anyone outside that Livestream of your Jury” Julius advises his little ones. “It’s time for you to make your move, spread your wing, talk to real people instead of the virtual one”.

“I know that thank you father” she answers sarcastically. “I bet you’re thinking why your daughter looks more antisocial than the others”.

Julius shakes his head, smiling slightly at her pouty expression. He tells her to be patient as the party goes on. The two take their chosen table, the daughter sits first while Julius greets his coworkers at the party. At that moment, she feels a sudden urge to open her cellphone to play her game, Fate Grand Order.

It’s a Japanese game made by Aniplex based on the popular visual novel series called Fate. They also adapted the visual novel into anime, the war between historical figures in a survival battle in a certain city in Japan. The mobile game is hot among Fate fans since the gacha game includes popular anime characters.

She plays the game in her seat, still greeting her father’s friends while her fingers move on her cellphone screen secretly, hiding her cellphone beneath the table. Jury only hopes she can get this over with, she’s not fonds of parties. She barely remembers what the mc said on the stage, she pays attention to the cellphone on hand.

A five years old child comes up on the pink stage with a fairy dancer on her side, guiding the little one to the center of the stage. Jury can feel her eyes grow uncomfortable the more she sees the bright colors on the stage irks her eyes. Afterward, the mc thanked everyone for coming to the little one birthday party, it’s another mundane speech before a birthday celebration.

“I want to go to the toilet” she stands up from her seat poking her father. “I’ll be back”.

She exits the dining hall, her eyes peer for the restroom sign on the place. As her eyes explore the ceiling, she stumbles upon a young-looking man who stands near the exit door. It’s a fair-skinned man, wearing white-rimmed glasses while leaning on the exit door. His hands focus on his cellphone, along with his attention.

While the others are fascinated by the dance on the stage, the young man is unimpressed as he clicks his tongue.

“Excuse me, may I ask you something?” she pokes the young man’s shoulder nervously to draw his attention. “Do you know where’s the restroom is?”.

The man is slightly surprised at her touch, jolted even at his spot since he’s too focused on something in his cellphone. He coughs awkwardly as he fixes his posture, pointing toward his left area. 

“Um sure, it’s around that corner” he points to the left corner. “There’s a door behind the brown partition, that door leads to the restroom”.

His voice is somewhat familiar, she felt as if she heard this awkward and nervous tone of his somewhere. Not to mention his sultry lazy tone, accompanied by a hint of arrogance. He is somewhat similar to Kani, his voice reminds her of her APEX rival and possibly a crush that she wishes to defeat.

She nods, thanking the young man as she walks to the left. However, the man suddenly grabs her wrist. He fixes his spiky black hair while his onyx gems gaze into her soul. As if he realizes what he’s done, he shakes his head in shock. His pupils dilated, he looks at the wrist he grabbed so suddenly. 

“Oh, um sorry” he lets go of her hand unwillingly. “I’m sorry for grabbing your hand so suddenly, I don’t know why I did that”.

“It’s okay, I’ll be going” Jury answers uncomfortably as she heads to the restroom.

Heading to the restroom, her mind is filled with questions instead of answers. The familiar voice does remind her of the annoying online friend she had, which is Kani. He sounds nerdy and smart from his voice, and the young man earlier depicts what she had imagined about Kani before.

“There’s no way, right?” she questions herself. “He lives on Bandung, there’s no way he would end up in here for no reason”.

She peeks behind the partition, looking at the restroom sign above the doors. It appears the restroom is unisex, she opens the door only to see herself in the restroom alone surrounded by a marble sink and the smell of freshly cleaned restroom. She goes into the restroom, letting out the anxiety inside the lavatory.

*    *    *

“That was relaxing” she exits the lavatory with a relaxed expression. “Seeing lots of people in this party kinds of irritates my stomach, making me nervous”.

She washes her hands in the marble sink, looking at her reflection on the mirror. There seems to be a show going on in the dining hall, the laughter of the children echoes through the hall. Something fun must have happened in the hall, and it’s none of the young adults’ problem so far as she knows.

She opens the door to the dining hall, she bumped into a hard surface as soon as she rushes outside the restroom.

“Sorry about that!” the same familiar voice speaks to him. “I want to clean my clothes, can you step aside?”.

Jury looks up toward the glasses man, his clothes is stained with a liquid on the chest part. The color of the liquid is not visible on his brown shirt, but Jury can feel the liquid on her forehead since she bumped into him. She can feel the sticky liquid on her forehead, she tries to brush it off but it won’t come off.

“Oh, I’m sorry! The syrup must have hit your forehead!” he looks concerned. “You’re not going to wash that off?”.

Jury nods silently, she gets inside the restroom again while looking at her sticky forehead. He apologzies to him, a waiter bumped on him and pour the syrup on his chest by accident. 

“That sounds cliche” Jury responds snarkily. 

“You got that right” he chuckles as he pours some of the sink water on his handkerchief, wiping it on his chest area. “How’s on your end?”.

She wipes her forehead with the tissue from her sling bag, wetted by the sink water of course. Her forehead doesn’t feel that sticky anymore.

“Should I treat you something?” he asks nervously. “Sorry to bother your night”.

“We can think of that after we get out from the restroom” Jury chuckles amusingly at his offer. “You’re a nice guy”.

“I am taught to be a nice guy, otherwise I’ll get yelled at” he shrugs with a peal of awkward laughter.

The two then exit the restroom, they talk face-to-face on the same spot where Jury asked him earlier.

“I’m Kevin Darius” he introduces himself. “You are?”.

“Jury Crawford” she answers hesitantly.