Chapter 15: 12th Fragment – Consolation

Morning comes with sunlight smeared over Tantoris without clouds as its filters. Apparently, today will be a sunny day, along with the chirping of birds that spoiled Valerie's ears. The blonde man is in the middle of preparing his hot coffee and places it on his desk as he sits down casually.

Valerie inhales the aroma of his coffee for a moment. A wide smile appears as he takes a sip of the dark water. Slowly, the bitter liquid of acidity flows down his mouth and throat.

 

"Oh, perfect."

 

A stark contrast to what happened next to his table. Rio is looking at his monitor screen with a gaze like a dead fish. His fingers moved automatically to open some of his work files here and there. However, when Valerie looks carefully at his friend, Rio is not reading anything. Just staring without focus.

Then Rio closes his files to open another file. Still, Valerie could tell that Rio's brain wasn't fully functional yet, so occasionally, he stared at the monitor for the next few minutes without really doing anything.

Valerie takes another sip before he starts to open the data needed to start work this morning. He thinks that if Rio doesn't start talking about the rejection he received yesterday, he will keep quiet for a while so Valerie won't offend him.

 

At the very least, I wonder how Rio will do next if his heart is broken like this, he said this to himself with curiosity and being nosy merged into one.

 

So, he decided to overlook how Rio's current state was until he vented on his own accord. However, after several days had passed while observing his friend, Valerie had enough.

Several times Rio got scolded by the boss because he frequently made small mistakes. Such as late reports, often inaccurate work details, and several other things that give Valerie more stuff to work on due to Rio's errors. At other times, Rio spilled his coffee all over the floor because he wasn't paying attention.

The blonde man slaps himself on the forehead.

 

"Rio turned into this mess, huh..."

"What did you say?" Rio caught Valerie's soft mutter.

 

He tried to get closer to Rio and bring his lips to Rio's ear. After all, there was little work to do for today, and their superiors were nowhere to be seen in this room.

 

"I said you suck, you know!"

 

Rio pushed Valerie away and covered his left ear without expecting that kind of answer right beside his ears.

 

"What's your problem, Val?"

"I should be the one who asked that! It's clear as day that something definitely happened when I left you with Arisa at that cafe. So, would you be so kind as to tell this clueless me what actually happened at that time?"

"I-that…"

"You don't have to hide it from me since it was pretty obvious. Come on, tell me everything. I will listen to anyone who confides in me. Although, at this point, I can already guess what you're going to tell me."

 

Rio bit his lower lip slowly. Seeing that, Valerie prepared a seat in front of his desk before sitting in his chair.

 

Rio sits with his head down, looking at the floor as he can't see Valerie in front of him. After a moment, he turns his gaze in another direction as long as he does not see Valerie right in his face.

The blonde guy snorted.

 

"Rio, are you really won't tell me after we've been together for years?" asked Valerie with a gentle tone.

 

Being asked like that made Rio realize his friend's intention. When he is done adjusting his jumbled feeling back in order, he looks at Valerie now and approaches the chair that had been prepared.

 

"Alright. Please bear with me since I don't know where to start."

"Take it easy, huh. It's just two of us at this place, so we got plenty of time."

 

Rio tells everything that happened after Valerie left the café and why Arisa rejected his feelings. The attractive man listened quietly.

When he is done pouring his heart out, Rio breathes a sigh of relief while leaning his back on the chair.

 

"It feels like déjà vu," Rio murmurs as he stares at the ceiling, "back then, you were in my position. To talk about how your ex left you and whatnot."

"Oh please, spare me. Can we not talk about her?" Valerie laughs it away dryly.

 

His mind drifted back to the moment they were alone in the classroom. At that time, Rio was surprised when the automatic door opened with the figure of a blonde-haired guy who looked annoyed with puffy eyes behind it. His breathing was ragged, and sweat was around his neck. Rio, who was reading on the hologram screen, didn't understand what had come to him.

 

"Rio, I need to vent."

"Huh, what's the matter?"

"Listen to me first!"

 

Rio can't forget the moment Valerie lowered his head, lamenting his fate because his girlfriend left him because of someone else.

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It's because she has engaged with the said guy, he said. For whatever reason, she had to marry someone who wasn't Valerie.

 

"Please take note that I've changed now, not the same Valerie in that classroom at that time. I've become a better person," said Valerie.

"And also a playboy," Rio added.

"Hey, hey, I'm just being friendly to all people, especially girls." Valerie winks. Then, not long after, he smiled mockingly. "Let's not get derailed. Basically, Arisa dumped you, and that made you like this. So, I guess I have a few pieces of advice that probably you want to hear."

"Yeah, go on. Let me hear it from you."

"Easy. Be a playboy."

"Piss off."

Valerie chuckled. He couldn't imagine how Rio would tease every woman he met, "In my opinion, accepting and rejecting someone's feelings is totally natural, and Arisa is no exception. If she decides not to accept your feelings, then respect her choice. You shouldn't really dwell with her now that it has come to this because there are much other fish in the ocean! So, make yourself more attractive, and expand your social circle so that girls will come themselves.

"That suggestion is still too subjective, but I'll take it," Rio sighed.

"There's more. One way to get rid of that painful heartache is to keep ourselves busy. It sounds cliché, but it's always effective. If you're busy with something and focus on it, you won't have time to think about that rejection." Valerie snapped his fingers.

Rio smiled. "I'll take your advice. I guess that kind of thing is what I really need right now. By the way, I just discovered that telling all of this makes my head feel light again."

"Yup, sharing burdens from one's mind has been proven to make a person feel better," said the blonde man with a big smile. "Just tell me what's troubling you whenever you need it, buddy!"

 

Valerie gives Rio an open fist as he accepts the high-five invitation from his friend.

 

"Oh right, here's a thing. Do you remember about a certain feature of our communication ring?"

"Nghh–yeah. I remember. You said, there's something hidden in our device and then Rita came. What about it?"

"Turns out, if you can activate it, any of your wishes can be true, no matter how impossible it is. Maybe you want to use that feature so you'll forget Arisa easily."

Rio chuckles a bit. "Really? How convenient and illogical at the same time."

"Well, it called an urban legend for a reason."

"But, nah. I won't use it even if it were true."

"Alright, man."

 

Feeling satisfied, Valerie got up from his chair to get a glass of water to clear his throat from his coffee.

 

"Ah, right. Rio, are you free when our workhour is finished later?"

"I think so. I got no schedule at all."

"Nice. Let's hang out somewhere then. Rita will join us too."

"Good idea," Rio accepted.

 

Break time was over, and everyone returned to their desks. When Valerie glanced at his best friend, Rio could do his job again. Valerie's decision to ask Rio to tell everything that troubled him was a good call.

He must often do that, though. It's not good to keep everything to himself, Valerie said to himself.

In short, the late afternoon comes when they have finished their work for today. Rio stretches his muscles for a bit before tidying up his table and shutting down his work laptop. Valerie is already at the door, looking at Rio without any shred of patience.

 

"Come on, quickly!"

"Oh my gosh, it's barely just seconds ago when our work hour ended!" Rio replied.

"Why can't you do everything fast, anyway!"

"If you're in such a hurry, then you can go yourself!"

 

The two of them got into a very petty argument until someone knocked on the door. It's just that Rio and Valerie didn't pay attention because they were still arguing so fiercely. Rita could hear from outside and decided to go inside since she's been ignored for a few minutes.

 

"Good afternoon, friends. I see that you're still energetic after the work we had to do a whole day. So, we're going to the café in the city's tower, right?" asked the girl with the short hair to reconfirm.

 

She finds Rio and Valerie pulling each other's cheeks and turning their heads toward her.

The two of them pull off their attacks on each other, straighten their clothes back, and nod in agreement.

 

"As planned, we will go there right now. I heard that the view of the city from a height is quite fascinating, "said Valerie.

Rio nods firmly while adjusting his collar, "Let's go."

 

As long as Rita got her answer, she had nothing to worry about. 

Maybe the rest of this day will be pretty fun for Rio to hang out with his friends after a while.

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