<h4>Chapter 79: The Thirty-six-year-old Teen (Part 2)</h4>


    ****** ASTRID:


    I stayed in that Kintech facility for just one month, and I never saw him again.


    I roamed the corridors in my free time, and went to the cafeteria at different hours of the day, but nothing. And I was too stubborn to ask if someone knew about him.


    Why did I want to see him again, anyway?


    Once I moved back to the Caelum headquarters, I wished to forget all about his annoying, persistent memory... But how could I? I was surrounded by adults... Scientists, engineers, programmers... And the only guys my ''age'' were others in the Somnium Project. Cocky, whiny, spoiled brats. So his stupid memory became a nuisance!


    I wished nothing more than to get him out of my head! And it kind of worked. Six monthster, I could not even remember his face or the name that woman called him.


    I was free.


    Until I saw him arrive at Caelum, 1 year and 7 monthster. There he was, applying for a chance to board the Santa María in the booth beside mine. What were the freaking odds!


    Destiny, was that you?


    I recognized him right away, despite lying to myself that I wanted to forget him. His presence became a distraction, an obsession all over again. Why did I feel that way?!


    I had spent most of my life glued to test pods and stuck to machines, growing up in fake environments, testing whatever the developers had made up that week, and getting mentally older inside those virtual sandboxes while my body remained in its teenage years, that I was too upied to even think about getting close to someone!


    I desperately needed to know how it felt being close to anyone...


    Maybe trying it out with him would satiate this bloody, aching feeling.


    Days passed, and finding him became difficult again. The anxiety of not being able to meet him before getting inside the Novus was eating me, for I wanted to interact with him in the real world before it was toote. I wanted to talk and see him with my own eyes, not through the system''s.


    After learning that he had volunteered to help inside the facilities, I knew how to reach him, and I waited in that corridor like a predator. Maybe Aston knew what he was talking about when he used to call me a lioness.


    But... oh, no, anxiety again! Was I acting too stalkerish?! No, bad Astrid, don''t think like that! It''s toote now! There he is! No time for cowardice now! Go, lioness, and devour him whole!


    I Intentionally crashed into him, forcing him to help me collect what I had ''identally'' tossed, and... Wait, no, no! I wasn''t ready yet! While his eyes were busy grabbing the nkets, I quickly hid the crafted pendant he gifted me inside my clothes.


    Stupid, stupid me.


    He didn''t recognize me; I realized it immediately. I had finally let my hair grow after protesting with the Caelum engineers that shaving my head again would not improve their readings anymore, now that The Novus was at its final Beta build.


    Our first talk after two years...


    I smiled at him, shyly at first, and I noticed that his eyes looked absent, the same as mine, before imposing myself on this secret mission. Could it be that he had also been chained to ab or workshop, forced to grow up to meet the expectations of a selfish adult?


    Maybe we had more inmon than I expected.


    ***


    **


    *


    We spent a week knowing each other, sharing the same table at the cafeteria every day, and spending most of our free time together.


    And I''ll never forget those days...


    Although technically, my mind was that of a thirty-something woman, he made me feel seventeen again. Around him, I could be as childish and immature as I wanted, and he would find it adorable. He made meugh, and I made him ufortable every time I held his hand.


    Even though we were both tech-savvy, we rarely talked about the subject. We would rather spend our free time imagining what a dragon wearing a tuxedo would look like, or wondering if pegasi and unicorns really existed. ording to our research, yes, hundreds of years ago, they were as real as monsters called typus and kangaroos.


    On the seventh day, when we boarded the Santa María, I realized that we were now alone. I remember grabbing his hand as he gave me words of encouragement.


    I had been surrounded by adults my whole life until turning into one, and now, when the spaceship had left Earth''s atmosphere, I only had him.


    I felt happy for having him by my side and sad about leaving everything and everyone behind.


    Never in my entire life, I had felt that way.


    I asked him to be my boyfriend just before getting into the Cryo-Chambers, demanding that he should find me inside.


    Later, when he woke me up in the Renovatio Caves, I cried and hugged him. I wanted to bang my head against those rocky walls for not hugging him earlier when I still had the chance and it was still real. But crying on his shoulder calmed all the doubts, anger, and self-hatred I was still holding.


    I realized I loved him.


    ***


    I loved him during that wonderful week, having adventures and leveling up before he disappeared.


    I loved him while I waited for his return.


    I loved him while I had to move on and take care of the guild.


    I loved him even more when he finally appeared again.


    His presence reminded me of how shy and inexperienced I was about love, so much so that I couldn''t even think straight around him and would constantly look away in shame.


    Then the incident happened...


    And the dark entity within me awakened.


    Did I really love him? Or was I just infatuated with the idea of Him?


    It had been 5 years since I had met him, and we had only stayed together by a measly 15 days...


    Maybe we were not meant to be together, ever, but my stubbornness wouldn''t let him go.


    As... if I was upset with life itself for denying me the happiness I always wished for.


    If destiny was getting in my way, I would punch its stupid metaphorical face and rebel against it!


    I like how He makes me feel, so what''s wrong with that?!


    I rebelled against destiny when I asked Monique Ascencio to have an eye on Him and inform me about his every move!


    I rebelled when I bought His Beginner''s armor set and his old sword from that Kristoff dealer and put it on a mannequin in my room! Oh, his Beginner''s Shirt is so huggable... If only the system could keep the smell and odor of sold stuff! Hu, hu, hu.


    And now... I will definitely rebel now that the RED BITCH IS GETTING IN MY WAY!