Right before my promotion match, my online boyfriend got called away for "training." I put on my sweetest voice, practically purring into the mic. "Good luck with your scrimmage, babe! I'm going to head to bed. Don't forget to miss me~" Hilarious. He's really getting into this 'pro gamer' act. My online boyfriend reluctantly left the game lobby. The moment he was gone, I turned around and hired four top-ranked players. "Don't worry, I'm a god-tier jungler. A win is guaranteed." "Hey, hey, what song do you wanna hear? I can sing for you to pass the time." "Just stick with me, I'll protect you." I was blissfully soaking in the attention, surrounded by my personal entourage. The next second, my mid-laner spoke up, confused. "Hey, uh... why do you have a couple's icon with the enemy jungler?" I glanced at the enemy jungler's ID, which looked terrifyingly familiar, and immediately swiped the game off my screen in a panic. 1 The enemy jungler, ID name [HardCandy], had appeared in my line of sight completely out of the blue, sporting a level 52 couple's icon with me. My mid-laner pressed, "Hey, do you know the enemy jungler?" The top-laner chimed in, clearly enjoying the drama. "Of course she does. One's GummyBear, the other's HardCandy, and they have the couple's icon. Tsk, tsk." The ADC's tone was laced with insinuation. "You're playing with the four of us... won't your boyfriend get mad?" A jolt of pure adrenaline shot through me. I frantically swiped the game away. A new message popped up on my phone. AAA Gaming God: [Babe, are you asleep?] Guiltily, I dismissed the notification. AAA Gaming God: [Did you lend your account to someone? Should I go easy on them?] A lightbulb went off in my head! I immediately logged back into the game. "Sorry, guys, my connection dropped." "And no, I don't know him." Seeing I hadn't replied to his text, Aidan tried the in-game chat. HardCandy: [Is that you?] I typed back without missing a beat. GummyBear: [Hi, I'm the account owner's friend.] Aidan went silent. He must have bought it! But then, a prickle of annoyance surfaced. What happened to his "scrimmage"? Here I was, catching him red-handed playing a ranked match in the game. Liar! I couldn't resist testing him. [The account owner told me you're a pro player?] HardCandy: [I am.] Hilarious. Keep up the act. [Then don't you guys have scrims to play?] His teammate jumped in. [Miss, we're in a five-stack with our team.] Wow, they were really committed to the bit, even had backup actors. I hopped onto my jungler's character. "Kai, take them down!" "As you command, my queen!" Kai replied. The next second, both Kai and I were mercilessly slaughtered by Aidan and sent straight back to our base fountain. The voice chat went dead silent. The ADC who loved to sing was quiet now, huddled under our turret, whispering, "Uh, this enemy team seems... kinda strong." The jungler who'd sworn to carry us sounded strained. "Don't worry, if we lose, I'll pay you back double…" I watched as my team of top-ranked pros got absolutely demolished by HardCandy. I couldn't take it anymore. This was my promotion match! "You guys, get over here, now!" I led my ADC and jungler to hide in the brush where Aidan always liked to lurk after taking down the main boss monster. Sure enough, after securing the objective, he headed straight for our hiding spot. Kai, with me on his back, unleashed his full combo. The ADC followed up with a barrage of damage. But Aidan's reflexes were insane. He escaped with a sliver of health. HardCandy: [?] My teammates thought he was taunting them. Only I felt a sudden jolt of terror. Did he figure me out? I didn't dare make another move. I just clung to my teammates like a scared limpet. Soon, all three of our high-ground towers were gone. One more push, and my promotion match would be lost. I gritted my teeth and decided to take a gamble. "They'll probably go for both boss monsters. The jungler is likely at the top one with his support. Let's sneak over." This was Aidan's usual strategy when he played with me. The four of us crept towards the top lane. And there he was. Aidan, taking on the boss monster all by himself. We were ecstatic. If we could just rush in, take him out, and steal the objective, we could turn this whole game around. Just as we were about to pounce, four beefy dudes leaped out of a nearby bush. They wiped out my entire team, sending them all back to the fountain. Aidan stopped attacking the monster and walked over to stand in front of my character. HardCandy: [Molly. Talk.] HardCandy: [Stop pretending. I know it's you.] I clenched my jaw and played dead. [I told you, I'm not her. Let's just start the next game. Stop wasting time.] Just my luck! I refuse to believe I'll run into you guys again next match! To my horror, Aidan walked past me and positioned himself and his team in front of my base's main crystal. My teammates were about to respawn. I quickly recalled to base. I jumped onto my ADC to help him clear the incoming wave of enemy minions. Aidan charged in, killed the ADC in a flash, but left me untouched. I turned and jumped onto my jungler. The jungler was sent back to the fountain. Our mid-laner couldn't believe it. "Their four teammates aren't even moving! They're looking down on us!" "Come on, get on me, I want to see—" Before he could finish, he was also back at the fountain. The top-laner, guarding his 1-5 score, kept his distance from me. "Hey, this is my main account, these ugly stats are bad for my image…" "Please, just go talk to your boyfriend, ask him to let us go…" HardCandy stood before me, his massive virtual sword gleaming. [Talk.] Their super minions were bigger than my character. They chipped away at my fragile crystal, one blow at a time. I stood beside it, small, helpless, and pathetic. Aidan and I were locked in a silent standoff. The super minions did their work. After the crystal exploded, I logged out, my mind a chaotic mess. On my phone, messages from Aidan kept popping up. [Why did you lie to me? Didn't you say you were going to sleep? Why were you playing with so many other guys?] [Did I do something wrong? Is there something I'm not giving you?] The image of him making me stand alone, facing him as my world crumbled, flashed in my mind. A wave of indignation surged in my throat. [I hate you! We're breaking up!] He was the one who lied about being a pro player, the one who lied about having a scrimmage and bailed on my promotion match. And now he was acting like I was the one who betrayed him! I blocked him. Staring at the game icon, I felt nothing but irritation. I deleted it. Out of sight, out of mind. 2 Half a month drifted by in a state of listless boredom. I couldn't even bring myself to open my drawing tablet. Sometimes, my fingers would itch to play a game, but then I'd remember my newly ex-online-boyfriend, and my chest would feel hollow. In the end, I never logged on. I'd scroll across a funny video, hit share, and then the chat interface would pop up. Seeing his name missing from the top of my list, I'd remember we had broken up, and a sharp pang would hit my chest. I guess this is what online relationships are like. Once you leave the game, leave the chat app, you just disappear back into the vast sea of people. Maybe one day we'd pass each other on the street and not even know it. On nights when I missed him terribly, the thought of adding him back would cross my mind. But then I'd think of all the lies between us, and I'd let it go. It was a relationship that wasn't real and had no future. Better to cut my losses now. Then, out of the blue, my super-busy older sister contacted me. She'd been off in the mountains filming for the better part of a year and had finally made a rare trip home. "Molly, honey, can I borrow your game account?" "What for?" I asked, completely devoid of energy. Isabelle was meticulously primping every single strand of hair. "There's a gaming event tomorrow. Your account has all the cool skins, right?" "Lend it to your big sis for a bit." "I'm going to absolutely humiliate Serena at the event." Serena. My sister's arch-nemesis in the entertainment industry. Those two competed over everything, everywhere they went. From high-end jewelry to red-carpet gowns. They were locked in a bitter battle for the title of the industry's most beautiful goddess. And now, apparently, their rivalry had spilled over into the gaming world. My sister added in a hushed whisper, "Besides, I got chat-banned a few days ago for flaming someone." "I can't let Serena find out." "She'll never let me hear the end of it." … I was speechless. I'd witnessed my sister's combat prowess before. She once used a voice changer to flame some blame-shifting teammate so hard they burst into tears and rage-quit on the spot. I wasn't the least bit surprised she'd gotten chat-banned. I waved a dismissive hand. "Take it." I hadn't been online in ages anyway. I figured Aidan had probably already deleted me from his friends' list. It took so much shameless persistence on my part to get him to add me in the first place. After I dumped him so suddenly and bizarrely, he must have deleted me in a heartbeat. It was a shame about our couple's icon, though. We'd spent a fortune on virtual flowers to get it to level 52. 3 On the day of the event, I was watching the livestream out of sheer boredom. The host was introducing the guests on stage. The camera panned across them one by one. When it paused on the second player, my eyes lit up. Wow, he's handsome! How could the pro-gaming scene have someone that good-looking? He could easily make it in the entertainment world. The host's voice boomed, "Let's give a warm welcome to our pro player, Anki!" The guy looked into the camera, his thin lips curved into a faint smile, the corners of his long, narrow eyes lifting. "Hello, everyone. I'm back." The cheers from the audience instantly grew louder. The live chat exploded. "After more than half a year, Anki is finally returning to the competitive stage for the upcoming Spring Season." "Let's look forward to his incredible performance!" The chat was flooded with fans screaming "hubby." I watched the fan frenzy with great interest. [OMG, ANKI! HE'S BACK! HE'S FINALLY BACK!] [Fans, don't get too excited. He hasn't played a competitive match in over six months. Who knows if he's still good enough for the main roster.] [Haters, pipe down. You don't need to worry about your daddy's skills.] [HUBBY! I'D LICK THE SCREEN!] [THOSE ABS ARE SO DEFINED I WANNA BITE THEM!] No wonder. So he'd been off the scene for half a year. That explained it. When I first met Aidan and he'd bragged about being a pro player, I went to check the official rosters. I scrolled through every single player's photo and never saw the name Aidan. And I certainly never saw a face that handsome and authoritative. So, I decided to brag too. I told him I was a famous actress. A relationship built on lies was doomed from the start. But from this moment on, I would forget the sorrow Aidan brought me and transform into a new fangirl for this handsome stranger. Before the exhibition match, my sister was showing off the Nine-Tailed Fox skin that I had spent over a hundred dollars trying to get, only for Aidan to gift it to me in the end. "This skin is so beautiful, isn't it? I feel more powerful just wearing it." Serena stared at her own grayed-out skin collection, forcing a smile. "Oh, I was just too busy filming back then, didn't have time to try for it." "I'll definitely get it the next time it's available." My sister smiled sweetly. "Well, I guess I'll just have to wear it for now." Both teams entered the loading screen. The host began, "We're looking forward to the first match between…" The host's voice trailed off. The director's camera feed froze suspiciously. The live chat came to a standstill. I looked up at the livestream, and my world shook. Dude, your name is HardCandy too? Holy crap, why is there a couple's icon?! The chat went insane: [ANKI AND ISABELLE?!] [SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP ME AWAKE.] [I think I drank too much soda and I'm drunk. I'm just gonna go for a walk.] [Matching couple IDs, a level 52 couple's icon…] [Where are my fellow wifeys at? Let's have a group cry.] 4 I was dumbfounded. The director immediately cut the camera away. The host cleared his throat and changed the subject. On screen, Aidan was staring daggers at his phone. Then he turned his head to look at my sister. Isabelle slowly turned her head and looked at Aidan. Their eyes met for a fleeting second before they both looked away. [DO YOU TWO HAVE TO BE SO OBVIOUS ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP?!] [And Anki, didn't you disappear for half a year to deal with 'family issues'?] [Did he go home for an arranged marriage?] On the other side, Serena's eyes darted back and forth between Isabelle and Aidan. I quietly opened Anki's fan forum and posted a question. A helpful netizen quickly answered: [Anki, real name Aidan Cross. Led his team WG to victory in last year's Spring Championship, then took a temporary leave for personal reasons.] [Sis, have you fallen for him too?] [OMG, your art is gorgeous! Can I commission a drawing of Anki with his abs showing?] My hand holding the phone trembled slightly. When I downloaded the game, he was already on leave. No wonder I couldn't find him on the official rosters. Which meant… He really was a pro player. But I wasn't a real actress… On the stream, the match had begun. Even in an exhibition match, it was obvious to anyone with eyes how protective the jungler was of his mid-laner. If even two enemies went missing from the mid-lane, he would rush over and hide in a bush, never letting his mid-laner get ganked alone. He was playing a hyper-carry jungler, but he'd still whittle down the blue buff's health to a sliver for his mid-laner, then silently invade the enemy's jungle to steal theirs. My sister, playing the mid-laner, tried to refuse the buff, but Aidan just stood there beside it, unmoving. With a sigh, she finally took it with a basic attack. The chat exploded with fans shipping them. But my heart felt incredibly sour. I was the one who initiated the breakup. Besides, it was an online relationship with no future. Who he dated next was none of my business. But he clearly still cared about "GummyBear." Even though it wasn't me using the account anymore. And my sister's celebrity status perfectly matched his expectations for who "GummyBear" was. Aidan and my sister's team won without any real suspense. I had no heart to watch any further. I listlessly turned off my phone and lay on my bed, playing dead. Not long after, my sister called. I forced a cheerful tone. "Hey sis, what's up? Did you beat Serena?" There was a few seconds of silence on the other end. My heartbeat began to quicken. My sister's voice suddenly shot up several octaves. "Molly! How dare you have a secret online relationship behind my back?!" "You've got some serious nerve!"
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