The screens went dark and soft music began to play. It was a Korean love song and a light female voice over the piano. Before Emilio could take his words back, simple images flooded each screen. It was a shitty morning in Berlin like so many others. Outside the rained poured. Marilyn and Emilio were sitting at the corner table of a coffee shop, invisible as ghosts to the patrons. A small man with a large umbrella pushed the front door with his small pale hand. The bell rang but no one noticed. As the umbrella folded dripping over the carpet, there was the face of Kaï, Emilio's assistant. Emilio tried to get up, but Marilyn grabbed his wrist and insisted he stay silent. He knew this was only a digital vision, so he did. He swore to himself fearing where this was going.

The Taiwanese approached the counter. "A small latte," he asked for himself.

"What name?" asked the cashier holding a black marker and ready to write the name on the cup.

"Emilio," offered the assistant.

It did not take a mind reader to understand what was going on. The President was unable to watch what came next. The barista gave coffees to other patrons then grabbed Kaï's cup and read out loud Emilio's name. On the man's face, the President saw for the first time past the man's thick armor. Kaï smiled just hearing the name. For a second the Taiwanese imagined Emilio was there with him, getting a coffee and that warmed his heart.

Then the coffee shop vanished.

Marilyn and Emilio were invisible but this time sitting on stools at the counter of the Jonny Rockets where Emilio loved to go late at night. The young Taiwanese pushed the door open. As he did, he looked in the direction of the empty presidential booth reserved to Emilio. He looked down and took a seat in a different booth. The waitress just yelled his way "the usual?" He nodded and she dropped in minutes a cup of hot green tea and a large cheeseburger and fries. The Asian man pushed the burger across the table to the empty seat unable to look at it as he drank his tea. "Anything for you!" launched the waitress. Kaï did not show any emotion but instead grabbed the cup with both hands. The warmth of the liquid would have to do. In the assistant's mind, he wished Emilio was there, eating.

Emilio was about to speak and the visions vanished.

This time the young Asian man was home listening to the music which had been playing during both first visions. He was eating curry rice by himself. Kaï opened his wallet and pulled a small piece of paper. It was a photo of Emilio during a press conference.

"Enough!" yelled the President.

In a flash, Marilyn and Emilio were back in the white room. "Hard to be as gifted as you, dear President are yet be that stupid." She hunched over and gave him a resounding slap. "That's for all the pain you let this poor man endure. It's been going on for years."

"I did not know."

"Of course you did. You did. But you felt it more convenient to insulate yourself from these emotions, or is it because you refuse to admit to yourself anything but perfection? Why do you think you ran for Office a second time, then a third time? Me? Them? That’s not how any of this works." Emilio stood up and dropped the glass on the floor. "I told you you needed only a single question. You did not believe me. We will finish this with Laurent. Go discover the real meaning of life. We are watching, he was."

She slapped his cheek but this time in the most loving way.

"Tell me I am wrong next week if you can."

***

A billion people watched Emilio's tube still located on the stage of the Sorbonne in Paris unseal. They had visibly kept the same audience both rounds. In the slightly different audience his assistant stood up. Having watched himself order coffee or a meal in front of the whole world was obviously a problem. He had been publicly ashamed and thrown into this. Kaï turned without making eye contact with anyone and walked off stage with his head looking at his feet. He needed to leave and did. The President, released from the digital reality opened his eyes and pushed out of the tube as quickly as he could. He was upset at himself. He was so good with many things yet he had missed something so obvious. Images flooded in his gifted mind showing him the signs. He saw the hundreds of small hints, the touches of secret love. Each was more painful than the last to watch as he ignored each; god he was a fool. Everyone in the room pointed to the door just closed after the man's attempt to exit unnoticed. Even Francois was upset at the stupidity and carelessness of his hero.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Emilio knew what to do, he ran after Kaï. His heart was beating faster than it had in decades. His mind was upset and exhilarated images flashed. He almost fell, the alcohol had kicked in. Marilyn kept filming, finding cameras along the route as both ran out of the University ground past large metal doors and heavy security. This was real life. Over the feed she superimposed a light filter to illustrate the rare Rho waves. What came next was broadcasted on every screen in the known solar system.

Emilio ran out into the street, looked around until he saw the small man. It was easy, Kaï was the only one under the light rain without an umbrella or even his coat. His dark hair was getting wet for the first time in a long while. The beautiful assistant was never caught without his umbrella. Kaï was trying to hail a cab with no great success as Marilyn behind the scene made sure destiny helped. Emilio walked up to Kaï. Without a word, he used both hands to turn him around. Their eyes locked and Emilio just reached over and kissed him passionately in the rain. The kiss seemed to last forever as anybody with a pulse in the world felt warmed. Waves of red color were being produced. Both men let themselves go. The rain hid the young man's tears. After an eternity, Kaï pulled away and slapped him on the same cheek as had Marilyn moments ago. But this was different and the waves were a different color. Emilio grabbed his hand as a car finally pulled up. It was a limo and both men jumped in it under the watchful eyes of the secret service.

The filter hinted at the fact a lot of Rho waves were produced by a single kiss. Even more were produced by the slap. The couple went to Kaï's humble residence. Emilio's world would stop for some time.

He would discover that two things, not only one made his restful mind stop the visions, the first was alcohol, the second was love.

There was not a dry eye in the world.

The man deserved some happiness and the world could end for all everyone cared. Emilio was learning, in the relative silence of a small Berlin condo, the real meaning of life. Seen from a distance, there were flashes of color of the waves. Marilyn showed the house from a distance, the waves were being generously produced and spread like a sonar into the universe. The images zoomed out. In the city of Berlin, that night about a hundred couples were falling madly in Love. Like fireworks filling the night sky, the energy filled the void of space.

***

The viewers were back in the white digital room.

This time she spoke to them directly. "Have you ever wondered why we live a hundred years only? Why each species from the fish to the cricket reproduces in pairs, the same way?" said Marilyn as the lovely couple made its way home. "The Multiverse wants us to fall in love, to fight, and to hurt. Every living creature is designed with a single purpose in mind, to serve as a battery of feelings, to vibrate and live. Think about it, since the Multiverse needs you to feel and you must sleep to regenerate, at night we dream. These dreams have one common thread, they are nightmares or even missed connections. Each is designed to create and fuel emotions."

Above her shoulder was a small screen. There were images of the newly formed couple, walking up stairs and then in foreplay. "Look at this scene seen with a filter of these Rho waves." From the couple, there were waves pouring like solar flares out of the corona of the sun. The view distanced itself until the viewers saw hundreds of cars driving. Over Berlin, the energy was pulsing out and radiating with color. "The meaning of life is, in its simplest form, emotions. This is the strongest of them all. Pure and simple love. Look at this." At this moment, nothing else in the universe mattered to the couple. Emilio's mind was a rest and he slept that night like he never had slept in his life. Kaï as unable to sleep at first. He looked at Emilio sleep and finally was brave enough to kiss his forehead and cuddled next to him. He touched the President carefully as if he feared the man was the figment of his imagination and once touched would vanish. Kaï learned Emilio was not a light sleeper.

They slept as if nothing else in the world mattered.

***

"Oh my lord!" said Sophie watching the President from Mars. She was looking at the love affair with Susie and Milly. The three women were passing a box of tissue between them and were unable to control their emotions. Sophie's state of mind did not help others stay emotionless.

"This is so sweet," sobbed Milly. The two older women were unable to compose themselves.

"So sweet," agreed the doctor.

The fact that Sophie was also sobbing did not help calm matters down on earth. Everyone was touched by the new couple's situation, even the rare person who was not watching television felt warm inside. Across the world, every soul felt kind and romantic. Children called their parents, lovers reunited, and even animals cuddled next to their owners.

***

"Really?" asked Georges to Marilyn. "You took him off the board, that was stupid."

"Don't tell me you don't feel all fuzzy inside? The world may end, but he got what he deserved. I will no longer use humans. I am powerful enough,” she acknowledged.

"You are not... yet."

She knew she was. This needed to end and fast, she told herself.