About four years ago, that was my last memory when I dared to have a conversation with a girl other than my family.

At that time, I was working on a school project. I wasn't alone, of course. Like any other school project, this one was meant to emphasize teamwork, or at least that's what the school expected.

My group consisted of five people, three boys and two girls. The two boys in my group were named Dani and Alax, and the two girls were Xhelone and Shappire.

Dani and Alax were like true best friends. Whatever they did, they did it together —whether it was eating, going to the restroom, skipping school, or not participating in group work. Yes, they often skipped group work, leaving me with just two girls to complete our project.

Xhelone seemed diligent, at least in my opinion, because she always submitted all her school assignments on time, even though I never saw her working on them. However, Xhelone really helped us in completing our project by doing Dani and Alax's parts as well, of course it required more time for her.

Shappire was different from Xhelone. She wasn't diligent, quite lazy in fact. She often submitted her school assignments late or sometimes didn't submit them at all. However, what stood out the most and what both I and the teachers admired was her intelligence. We were lucky to have Shappire because she greatly assisted us in completing our project.

The first meeting was a little awkward for me, being the only boy in the group. However, Shappire made it easy. Everyone received their tasks, allowing me to focus solely on my work without having to worry too much about interacting excessively with Shappire or Xhelone.

On the other hand, Xhelone also seemed a bit awkward, but she could easily lighten the atmosphere, especially with Shappire. I thought maybe it was easier because they both were girls, but thinking about it again, it doesn't seem so because I still couldn't lighten the atmosphere as easily even with other boys.

The next meetings went smoothly as well. Until one time when Xhelone was absent, not only from school but also from our project work. That day, Xhelone was absent from school again, but this time she returned to work with us. It was then that I saw a weak old man standing next to her, gently patting her head.

Xhelone immediately explained the presence of the old man next to her —not directly, of course. She probably didn't even know that there was a ghost next to her. However, She explained that her absence was because of her grandfather's recent passing, the grandfather who loved her the most. Too obvious, right?

I tried my best to avoid eye contact with Xhelone's grandfather, even avoiding looking at Xhelone. But it was hard to ignore something that you could see but others couldn't.

The following days, I kept doing the same thing, avoiding looking at Xhelone. I knew and I can say for sure that both Shappire and Xhelone noticed my changed behavior. It became evident with the rumors that were spreading between Shappire and Xhelone, implying that I might have disliked Xhelone.

To prevent adding suspicion or spreading their gossip, or even worse, creating new rumors about why I didn't want to look towards Xhelone, I had to glance at Xhelone from time to time.

Turns out, the choice I made was really RoB. I don't know where that idiom comes from, but its meaning turned out to be accurate for me. Maybe you've heard it before, but if not, let me explain a little.

Imagine you're in a restroom, and someone offers you a red tissue or a blue tissue. If you choose the red tissue, you'll be stabbed to death by the ghost. But if you choose the blue tissue, you'll be strangled to death by the ghost. In essence, no matter which tissue you choose, you'll die.

It was exactly like my situation, right?

If I chose not to look at Xhelone, the rumors would spread, and I would gain a bad reputation. But if I chose to look at Xhelone, what happened was, would it be me making eye contact first with Xhelone's grandfather, or even worse, Xhelone's grandfather recognizing my ability. Then, the grandfather who loved his granddaughter so much would start talking to me.

Responding to or ignoring Grandpa Xhelone's words also proved the idiom "Red or Blue" for me. If I chose to ignore him, he could escalate by disturbing me or even harming me, possibly taking control of my body. However, if I respond to him, he'd probably get hooked and keep talking to me all the time or even ask for help in communicating something to Xhelone.

Although I hadn't experienced it at that time, many people in Ghostpedia had shared such experiences.

And it was true. I looked at Xhelone, and unintentionally, I made eye contact with her grandfather. After that, Xhelone's grandfather spoke to me about many things. I tried my best to respond without being noticed by Xhelone and Shappire.

Everything was going smoothly so far, even though the two of them looked at me differently, as if I were a person with a mental disorder.

However, that situation changed when Xhelone's grandfather asked me to tell something to Xhelone. I repeatedly declined, but he seemed determined to try to take over my body to tell it himself. So, reluctantly, I accepted it.

The message was simple and common, so I thought it would be safe to tell. "Eat a lot, drink plenty of water, get plenty of rest, take vitamins, study hard, and pray a lot." That was the message, quite common, right? I wrote it on a piece of paper.

I intended to tell the message to Xhelone in two ways. The first was to tell her directly. The function of the letter was for me to memorize it. The second way was just to give her the letter.

I thought the second method was much easier and required minimal interaction, making it safer. So, when Xhelone and I were alone, I quickly gave her the paper. Fortunately, she accepted it without saying much.

I immediately continued working on that project again.

"Who is this message from, Robert?" Xhelone asked.

Without thinking too much, and because my mind was back focused on the school project, I simply answered, "Your grandfather, Nhiel."

Xhelone immediately ran away to hide.

I was confused about what happened.

But it was explained when Shappire arrived.

Xhelone warned Shappire to stay away from me, saying I was friends with a demon. Xhelone was so sure because the message on the paper was exactly the same advice that her grandfather always gave her.

I thought it was exactly the same if indeed Xhelone's grandfather had given that advice. But my mistake was not in the message itself. After reading it, Xhelone didn't run away, if you remember.

Xhelone also added another piece of evidence that I was friends with a demon because I knew her grandfather's name was Nhiel even though Xhelone never mentioned her grandfather's name to anyone.

I'm screwed. Shit, Nhiel.

Since then, nobody wanted to be close to me, and some of them were even scared just by looking at me. I was isolated in school because of that, and I ended up having no friends.

There were a few who had been my friends, but it ended because they either bullied me, used me, or were disapproved by their parents. Like my friend named Hekael, his parents even transferred him abroad so that he couldn't meet me again.

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Since then, I became even more isolated than before, more solitary. Especially with girls, I hardly ever talked to them again, except when necessary at school, and even then, they were afraid, and some even fainted.

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That day, I managed to convince my mother to let me attend my tutoring session. Not forgetting, I also asked Desmon to come along with me.

Desmon actually suggested bringing one of his female ghost friends to help me communicate with Chloe. I didn't refuse, but for some reason, whether human or ghost, all women still didn't want to be friends with me.

This made me anxious again, but Desmon encouraged me once more. "It's easy, just say what you're thinking. Be yourself, but don't talk about ghosts," Desmon's advice, which we both knew was a cliché advice that might be correct less than one percent of the time.

During the trip, I planned, arranged, practiced, revised, replanned, rearranged, practiced again, and revised again the opening line I would use when introducing myself to Chloe.

The rhythm of my heartbeat echoed loudly, similar to the sound of war drums in my ears.

I was sitting in the front seat beside my mother in the car, in the midst of a not-too-scorching yet non-rainy midday. However, I could feel the flow of water rushing rapidly from my wrist towards my palm like water streaming from a mountain to a lake.

I didn't know what I wanted to do or what goal I wanted to achieve. But I had been continuously tapping my hands on my knees. Even now, the knee part of my pants looked as if it had spilled water.

I was nervous. Extremely nervous. And I knew it.

Not only me, but Desmon also knew it.

"Relax, buddy. Relax. You want to meet a girl, not a phantom," Desmon's attempts to calm me down only made me more anxious. It was useless.

"Are you okay, honey?" My mother asked, noticing my state, which I hadn't been aware of.

"Nervous," I replied shortly.

"Do you want to go back? It's okay if you want to go back, I can turn around."

"No need, Mom. Let's just move," I said, trying to smile at my mother, although I wasn't sure if I was smiling or displaying a different expression, "As I said, if I miss tutoring, I could fall behind in all my lessons. So let's just go to the tutoring center, okay?"

"Okay. But wipe your sweat first."

I did what my mother asked, but the sweat kept flowing.

###

When at the tutoring classroom, there was only me. Both of us already knew Ryan had disappeared somewhere, while Chloe seemed to be running late.

It had been twenty minutes since the session started, and there was still no sign of Chloe. Was she not coming? Or had she quit the tutoring? But if she had quit, why was her name mentioned on the attendance list? I didn't know.

Forty minutes had passed, and there were only twenty minutes left before the session ended, yet Chloe hadn't shown up.

My nervousness began to fade when there was still no sign of Chloe's presence.

My tutoring session finally ended with Chloe's absence.

Where did she go? Did she disappear like Ryan? Or maybe she just had some 'ordinary' urgent matters? I didn't know.

Actually, from what I observed —if I remember correctly, Chloe wasn't the type who enjoyed studying. Going to school or tutoring might just be for her to find friends. So after several days of both Ryan and me not being here, maybe she felt like she didn't have any friends here, so she decided not to come anymore. Who knows?

After my tutoring session ended without Chloe's presence, I lost all enthusiasm for the next session. Remember, my goal was to meet Chloe to find out about the ghost girl. So because my goal wasn't achieved, I decided to go home.

Before leaving, I messaged my mom to ask for a pickup and, of course, the reason why I didn't want to attend the second session. I could have gone home by myself, and usually, I did go home without being picked up. But I had already promised my mom to ask for a ride in exchange for her allowing me to attend the tutoring.

My mom was still worried about me. But without her knowing, I was actually kind of looking for trouble by trying to find out about that ghost girl, which people and Desmon considered very dangerous. Rebellious?

While waiting, I browsed the internet for more information about the phantom. Nothing was trustworthy, and many wrote nonsense about the phantom. Why was information about the phantom so hard to find? I didn't know.

"Sorry, the session is over, right?" The voice of the girl came from the door. She was still wearing vibrant-colored clothes, but this time more towards red and green.

"Y... yes...," It seemed like there was a slight nervous system disorder from my brain to my mouth.

"Hm... You're Robert, right?" The girl continued as she stepped forward, step-by-step of her long and slim legs.

"Y-yes..." My nervous system disorder got worse. It seemed like I needed to see a doctor.

"Oh, hey. How are you? Where have you been? Haven't been here for a long time? I thought you were smart, that's why you didn't come to the tutoring."

The girl then took a chair in front of my table, turned around it, and sat down. Now we were talking face-to-face, closer.

When I looked closely, the girl wore two layers of clothing. The first layer was shiny and yellowish-white, while the second layer was made of quite thick fur —didn't she feel hot?

The accessories she wore was quite varied, from rings on both her ring fingers and one on the middle finger of her right hand, bracelets on both her wrists, and a necklace around her neck. But they all had one thing in common: they were all made of sparkling gems or glass —I didn't really understand accessories.

Besides the accessories, I could clearly see she was using earphones in her right ear. I didn't know what she was listening to, but from this close, I could hear the music she was playing, although very faintly in my ears.

Her aroma was quite soothing, with a blend of citrus, lavender, and rosemary.

But there was one thing familiar about the girl's face. Her eyes seemed like someone who was still sleepy but had to wake up because something was important, especially the dark bluish area beneath her eyes. Her smile was also sweet but seemed forced.

Maybe she didn't actually want to go to tutoring, but her parents forced her to.

"Do you want an orange?" She offered, peeling an orange.

"Eh, no thank you." The nervous system disorder was fixed. Somehow, seeing her comfortably talking to me without fear made me feel comfortable as well.

"So, how?"

"How? What do you mean?"

"Ah... You didn't pay attention to people talking earlier? I asked earlier, how are you? Where have you been? Haven't been here for a long time? I thought you were smart, that's why you didn't come to the tutoring."

"Oh... Sorry... I didn't hear it earlier. I was..." Before I could answer, she interrupted me.

"Not hearing or mesmerized by looking at me?" Again, her smile looked sweet, but this time it didn't seem forced.

"Uh..." What should I say? Yes or no? Would she be offended if I said no? Would she actually be offended if I said yes?

"Hahaha... I was just kidding, go ahead and answer."

"Hehe..." I laughed along, but very softly, "So, I'm okay for now. Before, I was sick, so I couldn't attend the tutoring."

"Oh, really? What kind of illness?"

"I don't know, I forgot the disease's name." Honestly, I didn't know if I forgot or if Dr. Klio hadn't told me the disease's name.

"Well, thank goodness you're recovered and back here. Unlike Ryan, he just left without a word. So, it's just me. And it's not good to study alone, you know why?"

"Why did Ryan leave? Or why is it not good to study alone?"

"Just ignore him. I also don't really like him, he's too mysterious and weird."

"Weird, why?"

"I said just ignore him, why you ask about him?"

"Sorry... I was just curious because it's been a long time since I haven't been here, so maybe there's some info I missed."

"By the way, do you have an FWC account? Maybe you can add me, so we can chat later?" The girl asked while taking out her rollable smartphone.

"Sure, here's my account name..." I shared my account and added hers to my friends list. This was the first time someone asked for my social media account. Even she looked confused because the number of my friends was less than ten, judging from her slightly raised eyebrows when seeing my profile on FWC.

We continued our conversation on the topics of the subjects I had missed. Opposite to my previous assumptions, this girl was very smart. How could she not be smart, she could memorize and explain complicated formulas and theories. So, why was she attending tutoring? My earlier assumption seemed to be correct, she was just looking for friends at tutoring.

Without realizing, we had been chatting for more than 20 minutes, equivalent to eating 8 oranges. How did I know? Because the girl herself counted how many oranges she had finished.

"Sorry, the oranges are gone. So I'll go to the cafeteria first." She said.

I glanced at my smartwatch for a moment, which blinked. Turns out, it was a message from my mom saying she's arrived. "Sure, I also want to go home, my mom has come to pick me up."

"Oh, Alright. So, goodbye, Robert." She waved her hand with a smile.

"Bye, Chloe."

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