Letting go… Or not.

I was starting to feel like I was losing my sanity, so I made the conscious decision to stop caring. Simple, huh? Yeah, it didn’t work perfectly, but it was better than looking at every woman that walked past me hoping she might be either one of the two I was looking for.

I mean, it’s ridiculous, right? I was hyper fixating on two women I had barely shared two sentences with, only because they were extremely attractive and I had a hunch that… we could have something together. It was ridiculous, not to mention one-sided. These two women… couldn’t be as interested in me as I was in them, and even then my interest began to border on obsession.

It wasn’t healthy, for me or the other girls, so yeah, I decided to stop actively looking. I started to feel a little better. I even spent the whole Friday after school locked in my room playing a just-released game I’d been looking forward to. Hadn’t done that in a while.

I knew Noelle was live-streaming the same game, too. I tuned in for a while to see how she was doing, but when I did she was still on the character creator, making…

“Wait, is that me?” I said out loud, feeling my cheeks heat up.

“Hmm, no, his features are a little softer…” she said as Yuria. “Maybe his cheekbones should be a little higher?”

The craziest thing was… the character on screen did start to resemble me after a few more tweaks. I texted her.

-Oliver: Hey, I’m watching the stream. Are you sure you should be… making me?

“Oh, crap. Chat, we got found out!” Yuria said to her audience, laughing. “He’s texting me.”

-Noelle: Sorry! I saw your hairstyle and couldn’t resist. Should I not? I want to.

-Oliver: It’s not that I mind, but… Won’t it risk you getting found out if someone from our school is watching?

“Oh…” Yuria exclaimed.

-Noelle: I… kinda already let it slip that I was creating my boyfriend. I haven’t named you, though! And it’s not like I can get it to look PERFECTLY like you. This could be anyone.

-Oliver: Well, so long as you’re sure.

“Um… Chat, for the sake of privacy, we’re gonna name him… Olivier, like that guy from the other game we played.”

I slapped my forehead.

Well, whatever. If she got caught, we’d deal with it. I was already on the internet, anyway, and my and Isabelle’s classmates knew it. Besides, Noelle had nothing to be ashamed of.

Anyway. I let Olivier’s adventure in Noelle’s hands, closed her stream and focused on my own game for the rest of the day. It felt good.

The next day, on Saturday, I went through my usual routine. Woke up early, went to the gym with mom, then headed to work after a shower. It was a particularly busy day, as if to make up for the quiet Tuesday we had. What was strange was that, throughout the day, Maria kept approaching me to talk about something, but we were always interrupted by customers leaving and more coming in.

“You’re gonna need to hire more hands,” I told Maria in passing.

“I know! I can’t put it off any longer, can I?”

“And I need a raise.”

“Don’t push it.”

“I tried,” I said, moving to deliver the next order.

Things calmed down at around lunch time. We were a coffee shop, not a restaurant, so people looked for other places. We closed for the meantime to have our own lunch, and it was then, as my boss and I sat together at a table eating takeout from a nearby place, that she dropped the bomb on me.

“Oh, yeah. Oliver, I need to ask you something important,” Maria said, reaching for her phone inside her pocket.

“I’d like to take more shifts, but I’m not sure I have the time.”

“Bummer, but it’s not that.” She shook her head and began to type. Then, she set her phone on the table, screen up and facing towards me. “You’ve seen this woman before, right?”

It always shows up when you stop looking for it, doesn’t it?

“W-Wait, she’s…!” My jaw dropped.

It was her, the receptionist from the fancy love hotel! It was a picture of her in the same work clothes I’d seen her before, that white shirt and black dress pants.

Maria smirked. “So you DO remember her!”

I swallowed hard, staring at Maria. “You…” knew I was looking for her? That was the first question that came to mind, but, “...know her?”

“Of course I do. She’s my best friend. Diana Black, by the way, so you can put a name to the pretty face.” Maria’s smile said she was entirely too happy to watch my stunned expression. I questioned why, but didn’t ask yet. I had a feeling she’d tell me herself soon enough.

Still… “Your best friend?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since freshman year in university.”

I groaned and rubbed my face. “I swear, this city is smaller than the maps say…”

Maria chuckled. “Isn’t it?”

“But… Why show me that?” I asked her cautiously.

“Well, given by your reaction, I’m betting she left quite the impression on you. But here’s the thing. It’s the same the other way around.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“Turns out you’ve run into her more times than you think, Oliver. You know a love hotel called ‘Intimacy’? She works as a receptionist there.”

…

…

…

Then… the person behind the black glass…

…

…

My face began to burn hotter than the sun, and I wanted nothing more than to have the earth split beneath my feet and drag me down to its burning core.

Patreon.