“Heya!”

  A cheerful voice rings behind me. I look towards the source of the voice and find a cheerful senior student waving her hand in my general direction. Naturally, I don’t care. I don’t want to be that guy who raises his hand in return only to find out she’s waving to another person behind me.

  So, I just turn around and continue walking towards my classroom.

  “Hey! What the hell was that?!”

  Oh, she’s still going. Whoever she’s talking to is going to have a hard time. Women like her seem to be expert naggers. Suddenly, a shoe comes flying towards me.

  “Ouch! What the heck’s your problem?!” I protest.

  The shoe bounces off my head and hits the floor as the owner slowly walks over to retrieve it. People around us stop talking and instead shift their focus to us.

  “Isn’t that Alice? What’s she doing here?”

  A random student whispers. I look around, puzzled.

  Who the hell is Alice?

  “I was waving at you, and you didn’t stop.”

  She looks at me with puppy eyes as she fixes her clothes.

  “Me?”

  I point at myself.

  “Yes, you.”

  She repeats.

  It seems like time stopped when she thrusts her finger towards me. Her ash gray hair dazzles in all its glory as the force of her sudden movement urges it to wave around. I take a good look at her, admiring her elegance. She seems out of this world, wearing brand clothes from very popular fashion designers. Her fashion sense is as pinpoint as it can get.

  In conclusion, she looks like a goddess.

  Now, what does a very good-looking woman want from me? I can’t think of a reason why she’d approach me. I’m the polar opposite of her. I’m gloomy, have messy hair, wear glasses, and spend most of my time playing games and watching anime.

  In conclusion, I’m a goblin. Not literally, but close to it. I know I’m not green… maybe.

  “I saw you at the arcades last night, and you were having fun. Teach me how to play that game!”

  She grabs my hands and pulls me closer to her.

  Hey, hey. Don’t you realize how big a commotion you’re making because of this? Look around you, woman!

  “Uhm… I- uhh…”

  I fumble my words; I mean, who wouldn’t? The most beautiful woman, probably, in the whole university is holding your hand, looking at you with hopeful eyes, and asking you to teach her how to play a video game.

  It would’ve been perfect if the setting were different. Here, we’re in the middle of the hallway with lots of students looking at us, with some of them having murderous eyes locked at me, ready to strike the moment she leaves the vicinity. I wonder if I should use her as a meat shield. Yeah, that’d probably work.

  “Hey! Look at me! I’m talking to you!”

  She vies for my attention. But I’m way too focused on not getting killed right now. See those pens and pencils in their hands? Yeah, those are stationeries but they’re still sharp objects that they can use to stab my neck. Is it just me? Am I being super paranoid right now?

  “HEY!”

  She yells as she sandwiches my face with her hands and forces me to look at her directly.

  “You finally looked at me.”

  Which also translates to “You’re gonna die.”

  ***

  I wasn’t always like this. Back in high school, I had a lot of friends, only to lose them during my senior year. A popular girl had a crush on me back then, but I had to turn her down because I wanted to focus on reviewing for the college entrance exams.

  So, in return, she spread rumors about me pushing her down and taking advantage of her. Being the most popular person in the school means you have a blind following who’s willing to believe everything you say, even without basis. Which in turn had me ending up with no friends and everyone’s venomous glares directed at me.

  At that point, I didn’t care anymore. I lost everything I had in an instant.

  ***

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Can you tell me one last time why I'm walking home with you?”

  I glance at the woman cheerfully skipping beside me.

  “You’re gonna teach me that arcade game!”

  “Right…”

  I don’t dare to disagree. She has me by the neck like a lion pinning a deer down.

  ***

  I was a boring girl who never really asked to be put on this pedestal. It just kinda happened on its own. Nobody cared about me ’til I reached my junior year of high school. Before then, I was timid. I didn’t speak much, rarely communicated until I needed to.

  I just wanted to be left alone.

  I just wanted to play my games.

  But of course, nobody knew that.

  Everyone thought I was just some random girl with NPC qualities. Nobody even bothered to get to know me until I paid actual attention to how I looked.

  I started putting on light makeup, started to dress properly, and started to take care of myself. Paired with the natural change my body’s going through, it was a lethal combination. But before anything else, put yourself in my shoes. Imagine this.

  You were a nobody before, you never really liked talking with other people, and suddenly there’s a huge crowd around you. Guys asking for your number, trying their best to take you out on dates, and girls suddenly hating you because of the attention you’re getting.

  It’s… overwhelming.

  It took me months just to be able to accept my situation and even more months just to be able to talk to other people normally.

  And more of that just to get to where I am now.

  ***

  The arcade is packed, but Alice insists we go in.

  She drags me around from arcade box to arcade box, even beating me in some of them. She particularly has fun with the rhythm games and fighting games. It makes me wonder, just who the hell is Alice? Maybe she spends a lot of her free time gaming? All I know about her is her reputation. That’s it, nothing else.

  “Hey! It’s free!”

  Alice points at the arcade box that was the original purpose of the excursion.

  “Let’s go!”

  She doesn’t even wait for my reply and just drags me by the arm. I don’t hate her dragging. It‘s… something fresh, I guess? It’s not something that happens to me all day. Heck, it has never really happened to me before. Ever since that incident, I just distanced myself from people… romantically.

  Sure, I’d still be their friend. But as soon as I caught a whiff of romantic feelings from the other person, I’d try my best to put up a wall that they can’t breach.

  Alice is different.

  She went in before I could even put up a wall. She didn’t have to breach. Because she was already inside. A pincer attack conducted just by one person.

  A strategic genius.

  ***

  Hmm, it seems like he doesn’t care that much about getting dragged around. But he hasn’t uttered a single word since I sat in front of this game. He just stays behind me with a stiff body and a confused facial expression.

  “Hey, sit beside me. What are you doing over there?”

  I drag an empty seat beside me and pat it.

  “Come on!”

  He seems flustered, but he recovers almost instantly and sits beside me.

  “A-Alright, so…”

  He starts to explain the basic mechanics of the game. But if I’m being honest, I don’t need any of that. I already know this game through and through.

  It’s all a ruse.

  I just want someone to come with me to the arcades. Someone who actually has fun in places like these. Anyone I invited went with me because they thought they’d have a chance to be with me, but they didn’t enjoy themselves at all.

  During one of those times, I saw him and his eyes were sparkling. His movements were theatrical. He celebrated each of his wins and got frustrated every time he lost. It‘s like watching a small kid discover video games for the first time.

  I didn’t care about the game anymore. I was mesmerized by him.

  After he explained some of the mechanics to me, I offered my seat because I told him I needed some demonstrations.

  He agrees and switches places with me.

  ***

  I breathe deeply and clear my head as I start the game. I don’t want to look lame in front of her. The game progresses smoothly with me making small mistakes, but not enough for a newbie to notice.

  I can feel her sliding her chair closer to me, though, not sure why. Maybe to get an even closer look? Yeah, probably. I can’t really check since I need to focus on the game. Just a split second of looking elsewhere can be fatal.

  After a few minutes, I beat my best record. I pump my fist and let out a celebratory cry, forgetting that I have Alice beside me.

  I slowly turn my eyes to her. She probably thinks I’m a no-life now.

  I mean, who celebrates just because of a video game, right?

  I check her reaction only to see her smiling at me.

  “Uhh… Sorry.”

  I apologize, rubbing the back of my neck.

  “No, don’t worry about it.”

  She just smiles and says nothing else.

  I offer her the seat back, but she stands up and tells me:

  “It’s fine, I got what I wanted. Let’s go?”

  She offers her hand.

  She looks different this time. She radiates the energy of a mother looking at her son. It’s surreal how someone can change into something like that in mere minutes.

  ***

  He looks at me with puzzled eyes, not sure what to do with my outstretched hands.

  Sensing that we’ll get nowhere if I wait for him to make a move, I grab his hand and exit the establishment. I can still feel that he’s really puzzled as to what’s happening, so I give his hand a tight squeeze just to say, “You’ve got nothing to worry about, I’m here.”

  It’s already dark when we leave the place. The surroundings are flooded with salarymen walking home and families walking around, admiring the decorations around them.

  And as if on cue, snow starts to fall.

  A White Christmas.

  ***

  I didn’t expect snow today, but it’s a good thing I wore my coat.

  I look over to her and realize that she didn’t have much protection from the cold aside from a thin jacket. So I take mine off and put it on her. I can survive with my long sleeves.

  “Thanks.”

  She smiles as she makes herself comfortable with my jacket around her.

  “No worries.”

  I replied.

  We continue to walk. This time, towards a nearby park with a shed.

  ***

  Thank God it’s still there.

  I let out a sigh of relief as we both sit down under the shed.

  “You alright?”

  He asks.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  I smile.

  Despite his gloomy and “I don’t really care about much” appearance, it’s still there.

  The warmth in his heart.

  I’m so glad to have been able to find it.

  And I’m so glad that I fell for him.

  ***

  She just sits there quietly, looking at the snow.

  What was once a very noisy girl has suddenly stopped talking and is pondering about something. I can’t help but stay silent as well and think of all the stuff that just happened.

  She just… appeared out of nowhere. Like I said, a one-man siege machine. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t realized it. Maybe she’s just thinking that she’s out having fun with someone she just met.

  It’s normal for them. I’d know since I was one of them before. But now, it’s a different story. She’s on the light side, I’m in the dark. Alice, associating herself with me, will only sully her reputation.

  And it’s just wrong.

  But if I have one last question I could ask today, it would be:

  Is it wrong if I fall in love with her?