Chapter 23: After Thoughts

Mark walked back home with a rather happy expression on his face, after having worked hard to maintain his composure with Elayne, he was finally able to walk back home. It wasn't that he didn't like being with her, but it simply was… too overwhelming. His heart was beating very fast and he felt like it was going to explode out of his chest at any moment. It was quite the overwhelming feeling that only made him more nervous, although he couldn't help but feel like his heart almost skipped a beat when she hugged and kissed him. It was an expression of closeness that Elayne did to those close to her such as her friend Rita and her daughter.

He wasn't used at all with this kind of treatment. He never thought that being hugged and kissed on the cheek was something that people actually did. After the pandemic of Covid-19 that happened over ten years ago, society was never able to fully recover from the damage caused by the intense lockdowns and the enforcements of social distancing, things like hugging or kissing a friend became something that slowly faded away from society, and basic expressions of closeness were only shared between very close family members now.

However, Elayne was a woman with Mexican family, and her grandmother's culture was always about being close with the people they cared for, family or not, friends were friends, and her grandma always said that friends were like your second family, and that you have to love them and take care of them, so they didn't go away. Due to this, Elayne didn't really care about how society now saw such basic human interactions and was very open, she had never done this with Mark, but she did it out of instinct pretty much. Mark felt overwhelmed by her cuteness and deep down had the urge to hug her back and kiss her as well, but he thought it would be awkward, so he stopped himself.

He caressed his cheek gently as he walked back home, his face was as red as a tomato. Due to his youthful face, he looked like an adorable teenager embarrassed over his crush noticing him.

"I can't believe it… S-She really just kissed me…" He thought aloud.

Mark walked back home without heading back into the minimarket. Instead he jumped into his bed and sighed in relief after he reached it.

"Hahh… I am tired…" He sighed. "T-This is way too much for me."

It could be said that his love for her had just increased in a single day… But who wouldn't in such a situation? Elayne was too good of a woman to be true. If it wasn't because she was already married and had a daughter, way more men would be circling around her like flies. Mark was just one of those men that didn't care about those things. Hell, he was even willing to become Elena's adoptive father, but that didn't seem to be realistic in the end, as Elena disliked him and seemed to see through his intentions, realizing he wanted more than a friendship from her mother.

He felt a bit embarrassed with himself in that regard, because he made Elayne's daughter think he was just some perverted guy only interested in fucking her mom, while Mark just wanted a love relationship. After all, there was a very bad misconception about all men just wanting to desperately have sex with the woman they're interested with, and although there were many men like this anyways, there were also many that aren't like this. Some people were only seeking love, and Mark was one of such men.

But would Elayne love him back? Well, he didn't lose anything if he tried his best…

"Well… It's 6 PM already… Ugh, I'll take a nap and maybe if I wake up with energy, I'll play a bit." He thought, as he took out his shoes and changed his clothes into some more comfortable ones. Then he rolled on bed and slept over it.

Mark walked away from my house after our lunch, he stayed for a bit more afterwards and we chatted a lot while drinking the nice wine. I had asked him to bring it back with him because it was way too expensive, but he said that I could keep it… Wow, I was very surprised about that, actually! How come he was telling me to keep it?! It was very expensive! But then he told me that it was okay and that we could share it again on another occasion… Geez, I guess he already tied me down to another date? Well, it was nice to have a new friend to distract myself from my daily routine for once.

While drinking wine I really noticed that he was pretty handsome, like really handsome… Was this the alcohol making me feel dizzy? Well, he was indeed a handsome young man… Men my age were often not that pretty, he still had that youthful spark that made him so adorable as well… Ah, what was I even thinking? I shouldn't think such things, I was not some weird perverted old woman that was into younger men! Also, wasn't he like around 25 or something? I was older than him by over ten years! I really sound like some perverted grandma or something… Ugh, being alone for five years really did this to a woman, I should calm myself.

I don't think he's that interested in me, he was doing this mostly out of courtesy, right? Although I was sure that he still liked me as a friend, and that was for the best. I wouldn't really know what to do if he actually liked me, but I am pretty sure he's closer with Jenny, so he's probably trying to find a way to date her. Although unlike what I thought, he didn't ask me for advice at all… Is he really planning to do it or not? Maybe I should give him some courage next time. He was still young after all, he gotta take the risks while he could! And well, quite honestly, he was not risking anything much.

Although I remembered that he once told me that he had dated coworkers before, but he disliked them afterwards because all of their intentions were always about money and being given raises in the job. They were never truly interested in him romantically, which really sucked. I really hope he didn't see me as one of those people… But I think he didn't because he was very nice to me. He was a good man and I'm sure he deserved a good woman as well, so I hope his love life can receive what he deserved one of these days. I was sure that when he gets a family and has children all of them will be as cute as him, I could even be their nanny…

While washing the dishes, I checked the time and it was around 6 PM and close to 7 PM already… Well, time surely flew by, perhaps we'll just have some instant ramen for dinner I guess? I doubt my daughter and her friend will come out now. If they would, it was probably only to go to the bathroom. They got all the snacks of the world, so they'd probably be going to take breaks between and eat their snacks, so the girls were going to be fine for now. Phew, I really filled up my stomach eating a lot of croquets though, I was full, and there was also that wine… Should I go play the game while being slightly drunk? I think they advised against that… So I should probably take a little nap before that.

I moved back to bed and jumped over it, and then I set an alarm clock for around 8:30 PM and then I dozed off…

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Ding! Ding!

"Uwah! Eh?"

When I woke up, the alarm clock was ringing, it was already dark outside, and I slept a big nap for around two and a half hours… Well that was a long nap, but I used to do this all the time when I didn't have much to do, but now that I got the game, I should play it again. I checked the alcohol levels in my blood, I am still in the moderate, a few cups of wine won't go away with a nap… Nonetheless, I feel way better now and not drunk like before, so I guess I could play the game better for now. However, before I could play, I checked my phone and found some messages from Mark and Rita, my two friends.

[Rita: Hey, Elayne, are you there? How have you been enjoying the game, friend? I'm going to play it next week, what's your char? Race and Job Class? My son felt embarrassed to introduce me to that stuff so I had to research myself, hahah!]

[Rita: I was researching about how to make money quickly on the game, it says that production-based classes are very rare and those make money off selling what they make, but it sounds a bit complicated… Nonetheless, it is better than working outside to be honest.]

[Rita: I also saw one about being a sex worker! Apparently, the game allows for close interactions with those you add as friends, so you could even become some sexy race like an Succubus and have sex for money! And because it is all virtual, it is not real, isn't it? Wow, I wonder how virtual sex feels like, ohohoho~]

Yep, that was Rita, she hasn't changed a single bit. She's really quite a pervert sometimes. Did the first thing she thought about the game was having sex on it? I am pretty sure her husband was still with her! Wouldn't it be like cheating?! Yeah, I hope she was joking around and not for real, but you never knew, this woman had been like this ever since high school.

I decided to answer her right away so she doesn't get weird ideas. I had to stop her before she did anything weird. If she wanted to, I could help her craft stuff or something. Acorn was an Alchemist so he might even help us out in that regard.

[Elayne: Rita don't joke around like that! It would still be like cheating your husband, don't ever think about doing that! I am not letting you! No way! …Also, my in-game name is Planta, I made a Dryad with the Farmer Job Class because I saw that they can grow a farm and there are various activities that don't relate to fighting, and I really don't like fighting… Although I still have been forced to do it sometimes. But it was still pretty fun! Apparently, each race has a different spawn place, but we can gather in the Free Market City, where any player can teleport to automatically.]

She was probably busy doing something else because she didn't read the message right away like she often did, so I left her that message and moved towards Mark's messages. He seemed to have left something small…

[Mark: Thanks for inviting me to eat today, it was very fun, and your cooking is amazing, Elayne. I am looking forward to eating again with you one of these days so we can finish off that wine. I hope you don't drink it until then…]

I guess it was a very polite message, I should leave him something short as well to not annoy him that much.

[Elayne: Okay! Thank you, Mark! Good night!]

That should be enough! I had never been that much into chatting online, I really just preferred to talk with people in person, but that nowadays made me someone very rare, huh? Well, for now, I should log into the game again, I think I was Level 4, and I have yet to check my Status. I should probably get some new Skills or perhaps level up a few others? I had to think about this a bit more deeply though.

I put on the VR headset and then dived into the game… I don't think I'll play that much longer though. I liked to sleep early.

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