Chapter 2: No Game, No Husband
After a few hours, Eva did come over. As soon as she entered, she inhaled in an exaggerated manner.
"Ahh! This is how a room should smell. So good, so fresh!"
With eyes closed, Eva placed her left hand on her chest while her right hand motioned air towards her nose, enjoying the aroma.
Eva pressed the switch near the door. Coco couldn't help but squint her eyes at the brightness.
The crazy woman ignored her and elegantly walked around like she's in some commercial, "I can travel around without stepping on something disgusting."
She ran her fingers on the bedside table's smooth surface, "No speck of dust anywhere."
Her long black hair swayed as she turned 360°, "The room is sparkly. And most of all..."
In big strides, Eva made her way towards Coco, who is covered in sheets on the bed. She flipped the bedsheet to expose what's under the bed.
"No more trash. Good, good, good!"
Nothing could escape her scrutiny. There was nothing to pick on. Everything is perfect. Except for one thing...
"Hey! Are you done being sad?" Coco felt the cushion beside her sank.
"Nope. So go away," a sulky voice escaped from Coco's mouth, "And don't forget to turn off the lights."
Eva sighed, "I know you still feel bad. I saw all of your posts on social media."
"Who told you to hire so many people to clean my apartment? I can barely pay my rent, you know," Coco grumbled.
"You know we're not talking about that."
With a sigh, Coco removed the blanket from her body. She turned on her television and set up the otome game she loved playing, Heartstrings: Sweet Lullaby.
Before playing, she turned off the lights, "Too bright."
She sat infront of the television and started the game. After a while, Eva softly laughed, "Danté's Route again?"
"He's my ideal type, after all."
"Good looks, caring and most of all, he is good at cleaning," both of them recited at the same time. They shared a knowing look and giggled.
"It's been a while since I had a good laugh like this," Coco paused the game and put her console aside, her gaze turning to Eva.
Eva wore an all knowing look on her face as she commented, "That's because you are a miserable person who irresponsibly vents her emotions on social media. Really. I pity all the people that you harrassed for the past few months. It's a miracle that OtomeHub is not deleting your accounts."
"Their fingers will sore if they do that. I have 143 dummy accou—"
Eva flicked her finger's on Coco's forehead before the latter could finish.
"Aw!"
She shook her head at Coco, "I don't know what to do with you. You've been shutting in ever since you had a falling out with your family."
"Adoptive family," Coco corrected.
It has been six months since she had a falling out with her adoptive family. It didn't really surprise her that their relationship will reach that point. She never mixed well with them. To say that she was the black sheep was not false.
Growing up, she was always picked on. Free loader, they call her. What else? Stupid. No life. Good for nothing gamer.
What hurt her the most is when they told her, "We never saw you as family to begin with!"
She knew it from the start, but hearing it from their mouth is another thing. Her tears only fell when her family was out of her sight. No, ex-family. Maybe she held a little bit of hope that she belonged somewhere.
Coco knew that she could no longer keep on living with them. On her 18th birthday, exactly six months ago, she moved out. It was not the best decision, she knew. She was not even a high school graduate, she doesn't have a stable job and her savings are not enough to get her by. But she did not regret it. She'd rather suffer than be with people who can't stand the sight of her.
It was Eva who helped her find a cheap but decent apartment. She even offered to pay the rent until she graduates from college. But Coco refused. Eva is her friend and it doesn't feel right to take advantage of her kindness. Just knowing her good intentions are enough.
'I can't eat good intentions, though,' she dryly laughed in her mind.
Coco retracted her gaze from Eva and continued playing the otome game. They met each other because of this game when she was still on middle-school.
A poster of a handsome anime character was displayed on a mall's game stall. There she was, gawking at the handsome 2D specimen from an otome game published by Madison Soft. She really enjoyed playing that game on her classmate's house. A pity she can't finish it. Her parents will not buy her anything, even a smartphone. She can only enjoy playing Serpent on her thick Mokia 3210. It was an ancient phone passed from generation to generation of the family. She calls it the family heirloom.
Eva saw her gawking at the poster and approached her. At first, Coco was distant and only expressed her love for the game. She didn't notice when, but she became really comfortable talking with Eva. Her true personality broke free. Eva received a shock.
"Don't worry. It was a good kind of shock," Eva giggled, "It reminded me of the old times."
That's right, they had quite the age gap. Eva was a woman in her late 20's. She was the lead writer of the otome games from Madison Soft.
Maybe she was happy that someone liked an otome game she helped in making, Eva gifted her a copy along with a set she could use to play.
"Why give me something precious?"
"Let's just say, you remind me of my youth."
____________________
"HEY!" A shout waked her from her memories.
"Let's go out."
'That came out of nowhere.'
"I don't see you that way, Eva." It was better to be honest from the start. Although she loves Eva, she can't see her more than a friend. She's too precious to be a mere lover.
Eva looked perplexed, "What are you talking about? Let's go out! Unwind. You've been shutting yourself in this apartment for so long, playing otome games. Seriously."
'Oh. So it's like that. Thankfully she did not notice my dumb reply .'
"I'm not shutting in, I'm working. You were the one who got me to work as an otome game reviewer at OtomeHub in the first place," Coco gave a proper reply this time. Her reply held some truth. Being a game reviewer is one of her jobs. Eva helped her land this job to earn a living now that she's independent.
Eva placed both hands on her waist, "But that's not a reason to be so into a game."
In the end, Eva was able to drag her out of the apartment. They went shopping, had their mini adventures and ate their fill every time they enter fast food restaurants. It was one of her best days with Eva, a friend who's more like a family. She wanted to tell Eva how much she appreciates her but that would be too embarrassing.
After their hang out, Eva drove her home. It was almost midnight when they arrived.
"Don't go harrassing people on social media again, okay? Have mercy!"
Coco just laughed as she stepped out of Eva's yellow car.
Indeed, she harrassed a lot of people. She won't use her sadness as an excuse, though. It was her sick satisfaction to make herself feel better by venting on people who doesn't know her personality.
"Yes, Ma'am!" She waved her hand at the yellow car zooming out from a distance until she could no longer see it.
When she entered her apartment, she dropped on her bed, dead tired. She noticed they both forgot to turn off the television before leaving. Her hands searched for the console under her sheets and she started playing the otome game again.
A familiar background music was heard. It has a sweet and engaging tone. It's a song that takes you to the spring of life.
Heartstrings: Sweet Lullaby.
All of the capturable targets were handsome. They were pleasing to the eyes. She could make all of them her husbands. Actually, she already did. She completed every route multiple times over. When she gets sick of those horribly cliché otome games, she just plays this game. Her fingers danced as she press the buttons of her console.
While playing, Coco felt a sudden pain on her temple. Massaging it, she searched for her scented ointment on her drawers. The minty smell she inhaled only relaxed her for a while. She clutched the bedsheet as she felt continuous pounding on her head.
"Argh."
Her body must be playing her. The pain on her head has yet to subside when she felt something rush from her throat.
"Uuk," she covered her mouth subconsciously.
She disorientedly made her way to the sink in her bathroom. She almost bumped on the floor lamp along the way. She felt terrible as she tasted the food she already swallowed once more. Cold sweat trickled on her back, her grasp on the sink tightened.
Her body must be shocked because of her sudden activities after months without any.
The vomiting stopped but it felt like her soul was being sucked out of her body. She gargled and wiped her mouth with her sleeves.
Weakly, she dragged herself to the bed. She stumbled before ultimately falling in front of the television. She felt her consciousness sipping out of her.
She can't hear anything except for the background music of the otome game she's playing. It has a sweet and engaging tone. It's a song that takes you to the spring of life. But now, it felt like a song that takes you to the abyss of death.
She just helplessly layed on the floor, lacking strength to even utter a word.
Her dull eyes met the disdainful eyes of the game's rival character, Colette Corliss.
'Yeah. I deserve to be the subject of such eyes.'
The three human needs? She lacks it all.
She lacks money.
She lacks a house of her own.
And she lacks lovelife.
That's right. She did not even had a boyfriend since birth. Boyfriends and husbands from otome games don't count!
She lives alone and the only friend who can visit her just left. She doesn't even have enough strength to call emergency hotlines.
Her breathing became more desperate. She did not notice how long she struggled. All she knows before her consciousness left her is that...
Her suffering has ended.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
DalangTala
DalangTala Fun fact: If Coco is a guy, the title of this chapter is No Game, No Wife. A pun for the anime No Game, No Life.
This chapter is also available at: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/37306-merge-riot/chapter/37406/
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