Online Dating for Noobs
Short story
My stupid ex-boyfriend once told me that my head was full of clouds. Or was it that my head was in the clouds? I had no intention of meeting up my ex, who would undoubtedly say, “I told you so” straight to my crying face without mercy, just to ask what it meant.
I merely translated it as me being fluffy and cute, but that’s beside the point. Someone said it again to me, and to make matters worse, this person was the person I was currently dating.
In the game, that was.
We met in the newest and coolest MMORPG rather quickly on my second day of playing the game. I was a total noob, and my brother, who was supposed to teach me how to play it, abandoned me (he had work), so I went and just ground with the auto mode.
When I reached level 120, I suddenly received a gift from someone named Cloud: a bouquet of red roses that had the value of 1,000 favor points. I had no idea what it meant, but I liked receiving my most favorite flowers.
So, I PM’ed and gifted him back an item as well: a nice-looking earring, which also had the “1,000 favor points” in its description. To my surprise, he replied immediately.
He made the most hilarious jokes and endearing memes that never failed to make me laugh or smile. He even sent me a friend and team invite. We clicked instantly. It’s ridiculous.
It came to the point that I bluntly messaged him, “Meet up, same time tomorrow?”
Common sense returned to me after I clicked the send button, but I agonized how I couldn’t delete the message. I anxiously stared at the typing symbol from Cloud’s side when he replied.
“Sure. I was about to ask you, but you beat me from asking.”
And there was a smiley with dimples.
Oh, no. That was the cutest thing ever, and I couldn’t even see his face. I think that I just developed a crush on my new virtual friend.
Just for that dimple.
When my brother returned from work and took one glance at Cloud’s profile, he straight out laughed out of nowhere. He laughed even more, when I told him about the gift, saying that I unintentionally accepted to be courted virtually.
Wait, what. My still laughing brother explained that the earring, I gave to Cloud was a courtship earring. I eyed the game I was playing, lost in how to feel at being courted online.
Crying over spilled milk already is no use.
I talked to Cloud about the courtship and found myself getting into a deeper crush. Apparently, he wanted the marriage buff and tried his luck with me, feeling kinship from my character for her name being Rain, mentioning how their names formed rainclouds.
He’s using weather puns to flirt, and it worked wonders with my geek side. I was honestly pathetic in the romance department. Even one push to my soft spot and I would turn into a melting goo. It was that easy for me to like someone if they knew what things I wanted the most.
After I survived that unexpected attack on my heartstrings, I accepted courtship, making my first relationship online. For additional power-ups, of course. The fact that I was paired up with my crush was just a bonus.
For two straight months of my summer vacation, I met up with Cloud and enjoyed playing with him, but the classes were just around the corner. When that time came, I wouldn’t be able to meet up with him in our usual gathering, so I braced myself to tell him the first personal information.
I didn’t expect him to get angry and say the same words as my ex when we broke up, that I shouldn’t be stupid enough to give personal information online. Needless to say, I also got angry. I wasn’t a kid who didn’t know how to be cautious when giving information online. This was the same argument I had with my ex, the main reason I even broke up with him in the first place.
“You sound like my ex!” I accidentally messaged my thoughts, and the silence on Cloud’s part was telling at how I messed up. Big time.
No longer fearing the worst, I continued on, “I don’t like being treated like I don’t know any better… I know that online people can’t always be trusted, but I played with you for two months by now, and you never did anything bad to me. I thought about it long and hard, and I decided to trust you, despite not knowing you in real life.”
Now, the hardest part…
“Yes, I had an ex. Frankly, I still like him,” despite my secret crush on you. “It’s just that we had the same argument because I hated how he didn’t trust me enough to realize that I am careful when I interact with people online. Even if I don’t seem like it.”
Cloud did not reply nor was typing to reply. I felt my heart drop.
But, then, I received a notification.
“Marry me?”
I stared blankly at the pink box in front of my game’s screen. In pure disbelief.
And it didn’t help that my phone popped up a new message.
Claude de Castro.
My ex just sent me a PM.
“I think that you spilling your guts out to someone called Cloud does not prove your point, but I always like how your mind is in the clouds. Sorry for making you feel that I didn’t trust you, and I still like you very much. I courted you online, but would you want to be coupled in a game called reality again, Rein?”
So, that’s why my brother laughed.
I was really dumb, not noticing the familiar cheesiness.
