Afterlife Dream

I had no answer to HellWitch\'s question. If it was true, what was I even supposed to do? Was I required to do something?

HellWitch crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her weight to one leg lazily while waiting for me to answer.

"I..."

I was unable to answer.

After waiting for some time, HellWitch decided that I did not have anything to say beyond the pathetic "I...".

The girl scoffed at me and stalked toward the STAY door. She turned the knob, went inside, and closed it behind her. Even after the door slammed shut in front of me, I still stood there for at least three minutes before I slowly walked toward the door and went back to the entrance cave.

Afraid of running into HellWitch, I did not immediately leave. I waited almost half an hour before I made my way to the other end of the tunnel to board the fiery carriage. The whole time as I made my way back to Frozen Tundra Land, I could not for once stop thinking about HellWitch and Lazarus. And what they said inside the raid map.

I wish I could shake Lazarus by his collar.

HellWitch?

HellWitch liked me?

This had to be the worst joke of the century.

Why would she like me?

And then, what?

What exactly should I do when a girl liked me?

I...

I didn\'t know!

Was I supposed to know?

Did I miss something?

Hello??? Could someone please tell me what I did wrong?

The questions plagued me like a disease in the days to come.

After sending another batch of ten people out of the game in the last raid, ZhaoYun and Livina no longer organized another run. They wanted to wait until more people reached 120 and then maybe they would do that. There was no plan to do the level 125 raid because, heck, everyone wanted to leave! There were not enough people and there were not enough DPS attackers.

The target level for all the players in Afterlife Dream was 120 and no more than that.

That being said, I lost my only opportunity to meet up with HellWitch again. That sucked.

I was sure that she avoided me. Why? Because, in the past, I always managed to see her in the midst of our busy gaming life. Suddenly after we finished that one Black Chimera raid and her brother told me that she liked me, she completely disappeared from my radar. It was almost as if she knew where I was and thus made sure to never run into me, ever again. I didn\'t even know if that was possible. I only knew that it greatly annoyed me.

HellWitch and Cecilia had gotten close in recent weeks, probably because all of Cecilia\'s good friends had been swallowed by the game and she needed a girl to fill the void.

I was hoping that she would show up at Oakstone Tavern from time to time, but even after hogging the tavern for days, I failed to see even her shadow. I even tried changing the time I showed up at the tavern. Morning, afternoon, evening, she just never came to visit anymore

That day, I was especially bad-mooded. I accidentally sold a potion for a tenth of its original price. I was pissed. To drown myself in sorrow, I ordered a huge glass of ginger ale and downed it in one go. Cecilia laughed when she saw my face.

"What is it, Antares? Why the long face?" she asked.

I stared at Cecilia.

Right.

Cecilia was a girl.

Maybe she could tell me what was going on with HellWitch.

"It is about HellWitch," I told her openly.

Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "Ah. What about HellWitch?"

"More ginger ale, please," I shook my empty glass before Cecilia.

She took my glass and filled it without taking her eyes off me.

Once I had another sip, I continued.

"HellWitch is mad at me."

"Aha. And why is she mad at you?"

"I don\'t know," I honestly said.

Who the hell knew why? She had been angry at me for a while.

"Why don\'t you just tell me what happened and maybe I can help you with it," Cecilia offered. She took a seat next to me and leaned her head against a palm. Her elbow rested on the counter to support her upper body.

I took another sip of the ginger ale.

"HellWitch said that I liked Auren."

Cecilia poured herself a glass of ginger ale.

"Did she? And, do you?"

"I..."

I bit my lip. "Fine, I did. But that was back in the past before I knew that Auren was dating BlackPuma. I already got over it a long time ago."

Cecilia pinned me with an unusually cold glare. "Continue?"

"After that Auren and the others went missing and. You know."

I did not want to elaborate further but she must still remember that I was a total ass to HellWitch afterward.

"Mm-hmm," Cecilia hummed, saving me from having to bang my head against the counter.

"And then recently we ran the Black Chimera raid together. HellWitch was trying to get Lazarus to leave but he did not want to. And then, and then..."

I stammered.

I was not sure that Lazarus was right. All I knew was that HellWitch continued to be mad at me. In the end, I decided to tell Cecilia the whole story in form of a long rant.

"And then Lazarus accused HellWitch of liking me. Liking me! That was supposedly the reason why HellWitch did not want to leave the game yet. So I asked HellWitch whether it was true or not. She challenged me instead. She asked me what I would do if it were true. How am I supposed to know???"

At the end of my story, Cecilia pursed her lips at me. And then she laughed dryly.

"Oh, Antares. You stupid, stupid boy."

I gaped at the girl. How was I the stupid boy, now?

"She asked you a question and you couldn\'t even answer it. And then you dare to come here and question why she is angry at you? My Lord."

Cecilia sucked in a sharp breath and glared at me.

"Men are generally stupid but I have never met one that is as stupid as you," she declared dramatically.

"Heeey!!!" I protested. "That is too harsh, don\'t you think???"

Cecilia broke into a grin. "Sorry. Sisterhood solidarity. Antares, of course, she likes you. She has liked you for a while now. It is understandable if you don\'t like her the same way. She will get over it. Just give her some time."

"She really likes me...?"

I couldn\'t believe it.

"Since when? Why?"

Cecilia squinted at me and shook her index finger at me. "You speak as if you have never been liked before."

I spelled it out for her. "I have N E V E R been liked before."

How could I? I did not spend enough time at school to draw any girl\'s attention or fall for any girl. In the last years of my life, I stopped going to school and spent the majority of my time going back and forth between my house and the hospital. The women that I met at the hospitals were nurses and my adoptive mother. So how was I supposed to experience the feeling of "being liked"?

Cecilia sighed.

"Never mind. I guess it is rather unfortunate that HellWitch just had to fall for you."

"Heeeeyyy!!" I shouted at Cecilia again. "Why are you being mean to me?"

Cecilia dismissed my indignation with a wave of her hand.

"Sorry, sorry. Anyway Antares, just let her cool off for a while, ok? You do you and you let her do her. She will get over you and then you two can go back to being friends again."

Cecilia\'s words made me rather sad.

Why?

Why must we avoid each other just because she liked me and I... did not know how to respond to her?

"I don\'t want us to be strangers until she gets over me," I said. "I want to talk to her and make her understand that she doesn\'t have to feel awkward about me. I... It\'s not like I hate her."

"Well you don\'t have a choice," Cecilia said with a chuckle. "If HellWitch doesn\'t want to meet you, what do you want to do? Stalk her every day until she agrees to talk to you? Hahahaha..."

Hm.

"That is not a bad idea at all," I commented.

I climbed off my high chair and waved at Cecilia. "Thanks, Cecil. I will go stalk her then."

Cecilia\'s jaw dropped to the floor.

"HEY! ANTARES! THAT WAS NOT AN ADVICE! LEAVE HELLWITCH ALONE, DON\'T FREAKING STALK HER! HEY! ANTARESSSS!!! LISTEN TO ME!!!!"

But I did not care. I was determined to stalk HellWitch to all eternities until she agreed to talk to me. The consequences be damned. She could give me all the evil eyes she had until she ran out of them.