“Happy birthday Dee!” Felicia came into the dining room with a big smile on her face, carrying a cake with two lit candles shaped like a 2 and 7 sitting on top of it.

Darius stared at the cake, eyes slightly wide.

“Why is it so ugly?”

“...” She gently set the cake in front of him and said stiffly, “I made it myself.”

“You made it?”

“Yes.”

“You did?”

“Ha ha ha, YES.” She sat down with a thump and glared at him. “Make a wish and blow out the candles.”

He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, blowing them out in one go.

“What did you wish for?”

“That the mobile phone R&D is designing will be successful.”

“How is the touchscreen portion of that coming along, by the way?” She asked as she platted a slice of her “ugly” chocolate cake for each of them.

“Not bad, just—” He poked the cake with his fork, still skeptical. “—trying to lower the cost to something affordable to most people. You really made this yourself?”

“...I did.” She took a chunk out of her slice and put it into her mouth. “It’s good.”

Only after watching her closely and deciding she wasn’t faking, did he take a bite.

“It’s ok.”

“...such a harsh critique.” She pouted, looking more upset than she was feeling. “I baked this with all my sisterly love.”

“Your love tastes slightly of chemicals.”

She laughed angrily and glared at him, “You can forget your birthday present.”

“...I’m sure the chemicals just means your love has a long shelf life.”

This time she gave a genuine laugh. After they finished eating, she handed him two boxes. A small and large one. He opened the smaller one to find a dark blue tie with white math formulas on them.

After staring at it for several seconds he set it down without comment and opened the bigger box. Inside was a large, heavy photo album. The front was leather and had “The King Family” stitched on it. When he opened it on the first page and found that there were some very old drawings and photos with names listed underneath: all of them Kings. As he turned each page, it went through different generations. Sometimes there was no photo at all, but newspaper clippings or handwritten letters.

When it got to his father, he stopped turning the pages.

“What is this?” He asked, a little confused.

“I couldn’t find some new math thing to get you this year.” She reached out and touched the open page. “I thought I’d go sentimental instead. Show the history of the King family,” she chuckled lightly, “all the way up until now.”

“I’m in here too?”

“Mmmhm.”

He flipped to the back of the photo album and picked a page at random. It happened to be pictures of Felicia when she was 6, on her first day of school.

His lips barely formed a smile as he stated, “There you are.”

“Naturally. It wouldn’t be a proper King family history without me.” She tilted her and then pursed her lips, “Even Mom’s in here.”

He snorted.

“I know, but I couldn’t avoid it. Unless you didn’t want me to put Daddy’s wedding photos in here?”

“Point taken.”

He went back to the first few pages to get a closer look at the content.

Watching him read in silence for several minutes, Felicia finally asked, “Do you like it?”

He thought for a moment and then nodded.

“I haven’t seen some of these photos before, it’s interesting.”

“Right? I had to scrounge high and low for some of this.”

“When did you start putting this together?”

“Oh mmm… two years ago?”

He glanced up at her in surprise, “That long?”

“Like I said, some of this took a while to find.”

“I see.” Darius looked back down, his expression soft. “Thank you, Fee. This is… thoughtful.”

Felicia saw that he genuinely liked it and grinned.

“Your welcome. Oh yeah!” She stood up and went over to her purse, taking out an envelope, she handed it to him.

He took it curiously, “What’s this?”

“Golf membership.”

“....golf?”

“Yep. Don’t you know?” She acted snooty. “Golfing is what rich people do.” Then she smiled, “Plus it’s not too crowded and you can enjoy nature. It’s a good way to get outside.”

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“I run every morning.”

“For exercise,” She tapped the envelope, “This is for fun.”

He looked at the envelope skeptically.

“Come on Dee, at least try it. I got the membership for a year.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Did you get one too? A golf membership I mean.”

She looked horrified, “Me? Golf? I’d turn into a lobster, even slathered with sunscreen!”

“...”

“What?”

“So I have to try it but you don’t?”

“We all have our strengths and weaknesses. My weakness happens to be skin that doesn’t tan. Your strength happens to be skin that tans beautifully.”

“You just don’t like golf.”

“I admit it’s boring.”

“But it’s okay for me to be bored?”

“I doubt you’ll be bored.”

“And why’s that?”

She made a golf club swinging motion, “I suspect you’ll enjoy trying to get a hole-in-one way more than me.”

This caused him a moment of pause. There were a lot of things to calculate in golf… So she might be right...

“Alright, I’ll try it once.”

She grinned widely, pleased.

Since she couldn’t get him into a relationship with anyone, having an out-door hobby seemed like the next best thing. Even if he didn’t take up golfing immediately, hopefully a few years from now he would, and that would help him balance work and play.

~*~

[User, Jenny has died.]

Felicia had just returned home.

‘Ah… so she really did die…’ She sighed heavily. ‘How did it happen?’

[Car accident. She was having a date night with her husband—]

‘Woah, is Mr. Dentist dead too?!’

[No, he survived. However, he was severely injured.]

‘...wow… all at once…’ She grimaced. ‘Who’s going to take care of their kids?’

[Jenny’s parents live in the same town.]

‘Ah, that’s right. I almost forgot…’ She felt a little better knowing the two girls had family nearby. ‘So it was a car accident?’

[Yes. A drunk driver ignored a red light.]

‘Ugh. That’s terrible.’ She pressed her lips together. ‘Tomorrow, I’ll make sure to send some money over anonymously.’

[That’s very compassionate of the user.]

She grimaced, ‘If I was all that compassionate, I would have tried to stop her from dying somehow.’

[It is fate, the user could not have stopped it.]

‘Whatever.’

[And how could the user have predicted dying from a drunk driver?]

‘That’s true…’

[Does the user want to leave now that the main goal has been completed?]

Felicia hesitated and then shook her head. ‘Not yet.’

[When the user is ready, let me know.]

She discovered that when the time finally came, it was hard to let go. Rather than saying she was attached to this world, she was comfortable with it. She understood it, the good and bad.

And her heart was unwilling to leave Darius.

DARS insisted he would live a good life without her but…

Would he really?

She would never see him again after this. That thought made her sad.

But staying wouldn’t make her less sad, it would only make her dread leaving at the end more. The tighter she held on to this place, the harder it would be to let go later. If she stayed until she was old and gray, she wouldn’t have a choice and she’d just die...

How would she die when she was old? Would Darius die first? DARS didn’t know, it was too far in the future for him to calculate. It was all up in the air if she stayed.

But she knew that if she left now, it would be quick. And when she got to that white room, she wouldn’t feel sad about leaving. All her attachments to this place would be gone. No more anger, sorrow, happiness… it would all fade away. All that would remain was the knowledge.

And Felicia.

That was the important thing. She would know what it meant to be herself again.

Several days passed, then weeks. Almost 6 months passed until she finally felt ready.

When DARS heard, he said, [I will arrange your departure for you.]

‘Arrange it? Can’t we go now?’

[No.]

‘Then when can I go?’

[When it is the appropriate time.]

‘...you’re so vague…’

DARS didn’t respond to her complaint.

After almost two weeks, she was starting to get annoyed. Every day she’d ask if today she was leaving and DARS would say no. That particular morning she decided not to ask.

The weather was nice, great for a morning jog. After getting winded at the airport, she’d been trying to work out regularly. She got her workout clothes on and did a light stretch before leaving her house.

She lived in an upscale neighborhood. The entire thing was enclosed, with a gate guard at the front. Weaving through the houses was something like a garden and park. There was a paved runners path that she’d been using.

Lifting her fist in the air, she promised herself, “Today I’m going as far as I can go!”

She’d never done a full circuit. Since she didn’t know when she was leaving at this point, she might as well try to check this small thing off her list.

At about the halfway mark, DARS said, [User.]

‘Yeah?’ She stopped running, wondering if now was time.

[Nothing.]

‘...nothing?’

[Correct.]

She gave him a puzzled looked and went back to her run. She’d only taken a few more steps when:

[User.]

She stopped again.

‘Yeah?’

[Nothing.]

‘....are you SURE it’s nothing?’

[Yes.]

She huffed loudly and started running again. Was he playing a weird practical joke? That would be a first!

[User.]

‘What?’

[User.]

‘I’m not stopping a third time until you tell me what you want!’

She actually sped up, as if trying to run away from him.

[User.]

‘Gah, I can’t hear you~!’

[User.]

She ran even faster.

[Felicia.]

“WHAT DID YOU— Gah!”

At hearing her name, she was so startled she lost her balance. Her feet tangled underneath her and she fell heavily. There was a sharp pain in her head and then…