A notification came into my phone, causing my phone’s screen to momentarily light up. I took my phone and read the message, finding Caleb’s name on the top end of the message.

“Wanna play?”

I glanced at Emily, who returned to her tasks after dinner. She noticed my gaze and turned her head toward me.

“Something up?”

“A friend invited me for a game.”

A multiplayer game relied on how well its players communicate, which required me to speak. If I accepted Caleb’s invitation, I may be forced to speak in tense situations, giving information to my teammates. I would be disturbing Emily’s work, but if I kept rejecting game invitations, then Caleb would probably be worried about me. I couldn’t guarantee that by the time Christmas arrived, I would be living my normal life again, and I couldn’t exactly deny him with excuses like ‘a lot of tasks’ when it was the holidays.

“Give me a few seconds.”

Emily said as she turned back toward her book and started scribbling something.

“Are you sure?”

She didn’t reply but instead closed her book and started sorting her things.

“I could do some rearranging. I hope you don’t mind me staying a bit late, though. Still have some things I need to study.”

She said as her hand moved from the empty space down to another space. I could see as she grabbed and let go of things, even though I couldn’t see the item myself. As I saw her go and forth and then moved something to the side, I couldn’t help but wonder which item counted as clothing and I could see, and which item would stay invisible even when touched.

I do feel grateful that all the clothes were visible. Both of us would die from embarrassment had it not been the case. I threw those thoughts out of my mind and returned my attention to the Fine app opened on my phone.

“Still, are you sure?”

“Don’t worry. I could postpone my study session, but you can’t.”

“Be there in five minutes.”

I typed it in and sent it to Caleb.

“Thanks, sorry for disturbing you.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll both need to get used to disturbing each other. I also wanted to try this.”

She held something up and brought it to my face, before quickly pulling it back.

“Sorry, I forgot. They're earphones.”

She plugged them into her ears, still staying invisible. She fiddled with her phone and went to bed. She lay down and held her phone above her face. I couldn’t hear what she was listening to, nor could I see the phone and earphones.

“Can you still hear me?”

She looked toward me.

“Loud and clear.”

She replied. I let out a frown, realizing just how tough things would be moving forward. There was no telling how long this whole ordeal would last, that and we couldn’t keep minimizing our words. We would be forced to learn to ignore the other and focus on our individual worlds. I could only hope the entire thing would be easier than I expected because I sure as hell expected a lot of confusion and misunderstanding facing our path.

I couldn’t even call it my path anymore, dammit.

I opened up my game and turned on Chatcord. I hopped into our personal server and started a call with Caleb.

“You’re still alive!”

“Of course, I am-”

I realized that I was talking a bit too loud and glanced back at Emily with an apologetic smile. She waved her hands and turned her attention back to whatever she was doing. I searched my mind for an excuse that could explain me not speaking much. If only I had unlimited uses for my excuse, because if that was the case I would just say that someone was in the room with me every day.

Technically it isn’t a lie, is it?

I could imagine my mother barging into my room if I kept using that excuse, though. I still didn’t understand how Caleb got my parents’ number, both of them no less. She did come by often back in high school, so I guess they traded contacts at some point? Maybe say something like ‘look after my son’ or something?

It didn’t take long for us to enter the game and start our warm-up. Since we played a shooting game, I needed to move and click my mouse a lot. My headphones did a lot to help reduce the noise that reached my ears, and Emily couldn’t hear a thing, but every click felt uncomfortable. I kept telling myself that as long as I didn’t speak, I wouldn’t disturb her.

“You’re alright Simon?”

“Hu- ah? What makes you think so?”

“You’re really silent. If this was the normal you, you would be complaining about how you still don’t have a girlfriend by now.”

I jerked my head backward, looking at Emily. She glanced at me and lifted an eyebrow. I let out a breath of relief and turned back.

“What are you even talking about?”

“Why are you denying it now? You’re always going on and on about how you wanted someone to care for you-”

“Stop that! This isn’t the time!”

“Ah, I see…”

I glanced at my rear, at Emily who lay on the bed. She couldn’t hear Caleb, so, of course, she wouldn’t react, but I couldn’t help but feel wary for some reason. Even if I knew Caleb’s words had no effect on her, I still wanted him to shut up. I did feel bad for letting Emily go through this, to be honest.

“You know, if something’s up, you can always tell me.”

“Am I behaving that differently?”

“Yeah. Oh, the match is starting.”

I gave the game a silent thanks and focused on the match.

“How did it go?”

Emily asked after seeing me rise from my chair.

“Terrible.”

Not necessarily because we lost, though. We played two games, despite being used to three or maybe more games a night, and out of those two we only lost one. While the results themselves weren’t terrible, Caleb refused to stop asking about my condition, about how silent I became.

“You should just play normally.”

Emily said. She set aside whatever she was doing and brought her attention to me.

“How about you?”

“If you can handle eating nothing but cabbage soup, then I can handle hearing nothing but your voice.”

“Those are two entirely different things.”

I didn’t get why she would compare them in the first place.

“Wanna go to bed?”

I asked, only to remember that she had some studies to do. Emily looked at me with an embarrassed expression, before roughly shaking her head from side to side.

“What’s… oh, but we did it the night before, didn’t we?”

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach as her foot landed on it with a large force. I took two steps back, my rear nearly hitting the table.

“Phrasing, mister!”

“Sorry…”

She averted her gaze and got off the bed. She walked to my right and headed somewhere, so I headed to the bathroom. I took my toothbrush and brushed my teeth.

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“Despite complaining you’re still going to do it? How about your studies?”

She asked as she squeezed something with her left hand, her right hand holding another thing.

“Lost the mood.”

“Sorry for that…”

“No, it’s not your fault. Something else entirely, so don’t worry about it.”

“Well, if you say so.”

I decided to trust her on this one, as I couldn’t do a lot of things either.

I had ended the night with Caleb, and I had studied a lot today. Getting enough sleep was essential as well, especially since I heard film students would soon face a lot of tasks that require us to stay up late, so I planned on getting some sleep while I still have the chance. The idea of sleeping beside her did make me uncomfortable, as I couldn’t roll around the bed like I used to. I now need to take her comfort into consideration. I didn’t even know if I snored or not. I felt like a newlywed husband thinking about all of this, except unlike probably all newlyweds, we didn’t talk much in the years before we got ‘married’.

We slept together the night before, but not many things passed my mind, unlike now. We were really tired by the time we finished yesterday, though, so maybe our minds simply stopped working. I felt grateful that despite the chaos yesterday, we managed to adjust ourselves rather quickly. Well, quickly considering the scale of things that happened.

I brushed my teeth, giving extra attention to make sure I didn’t smell. I could see Emily doing the same.

“We really do look like newlyweds.”

I voiced my thoughts, which caused her to cough suddenly. She turned on the water and rinsed her mouth.

“You’re alright?”

I asked. I thought about patting her in the back, but I remembered that she wasn’t choking on food.

“Could you not mention those kinds of things so casually?”

She complained to me, holding something at me.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect you to react that way.”

I gave her a wry smile and moved backward. She let out a puff and turned around, picking up her toothpaste again. I finished up and returned to my bed, dragging her with me. She ended up brushing her teeth in my wardrobe, while I prepared to turn in for the night. I shut down my laptop and returned it to my backpack. She finally finished and appeared out of my wardrobe.

She walked toward me and without a word turned me around, facing away from her, before walking away. I knew better to turn back and simply stood there fiddling with my phone as I waited for her to do whatever she needed to do.

“You can turn back now.”

I looked around and found her already changed into her pajamas.

“What do you… think?”

She asked, looking bashful. She wore a set of cute lemon-yellow long-sleeve pajamas with lemon patterns.

“... Why are you asking me again?”

I asked. She went red, walked to the bedside, picked up something, and threw it my way. The only warning I received was when a soft part of something crashed into my face, and by that point, it was too late.

“Idiot.”

She grumbled and walked toward me. She picked up the pillow or something on my feet and started smacking me with it.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, okay?”

I said as I tried to defend against her strikes.

“You look cute.”

I commented. She stopped momentarily. I watched as she turned red, her face tensed up, and resumed smacking me. I let out a little laugh while trying to grab the invisible weapon. Eventually, she got tired. She pushed me down, lay beside me, and rested her head on my chest.

“Reminds you of the past, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

Back in middle school, we were almost inseparable. We spent most of our time together. I, admittedly, regretted how we lost contact after separating, so I felt glad that I could see her again, although if I could choose, I would prefer any other circumstance.

“They used to think we were dating.”

She said, her words faint and weak.

“We used to be that close, huh?”

“Mmhhmm… don’t say you forgot?”

“Of course not.”

With the amount of time we spent together, it would be impossible for me to forget, although all those memories weren’t in the forefront of my mind, either.

“Can I…?”

I remembered something that we used to do when we were children, but our simple minds thought nothing more about it back then. I decided to ask her, just in case she felt uncomfortable. She didn’t reply, but instead, she pulled herself closer.

“I’m… scared…”

She mumbled, her fist clenching my shirt. I brought her closer and pulled her into my embrace.

“Me too.”

Anyone would be scared at this point. We could use various excuses when facing this yesterday. Maybe we were just dreaming and everything would be alright. A day would pass and things would get back to normal. But, only now after an entire day had passed that everything started to truly sink in. There may be a chance that we would be stuck like this for the rest of our lives.

A feeling of dread washed over me. I had expected to spend a few years with her, chasing our respective dreams, but what if this didn’t end there? What if even after reaching our dreams, this phenomenon continued? How would we adjust our entire lives based on that fact? Every word, every action, done with consideration for the other side?

Our freedom ripped apart, taken away from us without any warning whatsoever. Even if we learned to live together, we would need to abandon the comforts that we took for granted in our past.

I want to do something, I need to do something, but…

Looking at the shaking Emily in my embrace, I realized that I was truly helpless. I couldn’t do anything, neither of us could.

How long will it stay like this?

Eventually, we both calmed down. We shared a deep look at each other, Emily forcing a smile onto her face. I caressed her hair, her silky smooth light brown hair intertwined in my fingers.

“So you still remember…”

She muttered.

“Of course. You always calm down when I pat your head. Does it really feel that good?”

“Mhmm.”

She let out a sound and let my hand go through the hair. She reached her hand out and started touching mine.

“Woah…”

I thought it would be unfair if I was the only one patting her, so I let her soft hand go through my hair, caressing it slowly.

“Your hair… how do I say this…? They’re… smooth?”

“Yours too.”

“But I’m a girl.”

“What does that get to do with it?”

Emily chuckled and I let her go.

“Let’s go to sleep.”

Emily averted her gaze, her cheeks red.

“Can you not say it that way?”

I let out a grin.

“Fine, fine. You go first.”

Emily turned around and faced the other way, toward my wardrobe. Seeing her do that, I turned and faced toward the side of the balcony. I moved myself, being as close to the bed’s outer edge as possible. Unfortunately, my room didn’t have enough room for a floor mattress, and I would probably catch a cold If I slept on the floor. With a whisper, I heard her voice.

“Good night.”

“Night.”

Thursday came, and with it came the last day of university for this week. My schedule only lasted up till Thursday, so I could take some rest on Friday. I turned around, looking for the girl who slept with me last night. As expected, she wasn’t there. She instead appeared from the walls above me, since I was still lying in bed.

“You’re awake?”

She showed her face through the wall, looking like a ghost greeting me in the morning.

“Yawn… yeah.”

“Told me next time. What if I’m in the middle of changing when you wake up?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Simon!”

“Just joking.”

She pouted and turned her face away, making some of her disappear behind the walls. I pulled myself up.

“So, can I face you now?”

“Yeah, I’m done.”

“Sorry for making you wake up earlier.”

I said as I turned around.

“You got morning class?”

I asked to be sure. Emily shook her head.

“No. My earliest is at nine.”

I looked at her. She had changed into her outside clothes, which consisted of long pants and a pink collared shirt. I checked the time, finding it to be a few minutes before seven.

“Are you sure you’re wearing that this early?”

“My place had air conditioning.”

She said as she sat on the bed beside me. She pushed me off it.

“How about you get prepared?”

“If you say so.”

I started going through my morning routine. Emily adjusted herself so that she couldn’t see me. I felt grateful that she was willing to go through so much just for me.

“Are you sure it’s alright, though? Getting up this early, I mean?"

“You want to see me change?”

“Of course not!”

She wore a teasing smile.

“Should I have said yes?”

“You…”

Her smile turned into a sharp glare. After a few seconds, her expression changed once more, looking more relaxed and laid back.

“It’s not like I have anything else to do anyway, so just relax.”

“If you say so.”

I finished up my morning routine and took my backpack. Before I exited the room, Emily took up position on the bed and started lazing around. She rolled around the bed, holding something in her hands. With how hard she worked, seeing her lazing around like a normal girl looked alluring. She glanced my way, so I assumed that in her eyes, she could still see me.

She seemingly realized something and shot upright.

“Umm…”

“Truly interesting.”

She perked up when she heard my comment. She stood up and headed my way, before lightly punching me.

“Forget that, forget that now.”

She muttered as her hands went back and forth.

“Nah, I like cute girls doing cute things.”

“I’m not asking for your preference.”

She looked down shyly, her face red. I didn’t understand why she felt so embarrassed about that, though. Was rolling on the bed something to be ashamed of? I ignored her and went out of the room. I closed the door behind me, with her in the middle.

“Ouch!”

She exclaimed as the wood hit her.

“Ah, sorry!”

Due to how often she went through walls and furniture, I had completely forgotten that anything I held would count as an object to her.

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized once more as she moved behind me. With now the door clear, I pulled it closed and made sure it was locked. I was about to turn around when I felt a sharp pain in my back. I held it in and turned around.

“That’s cold.”

“Now we’re even.”

I couldn’t complain and instead moved toward the elevator.