Legacy of the Betelgeuse

"Ugh... I hate this when it happens every time I logged out from the game."

I\'m downstairs sitting at the dining table while massaging my head. My phone then rings. I check who is calling me and it\'s Emma. I pick up the phone.

"What\'s up, Em?"

"Can I come over to your place?"

Emma\'s voice is so quiet and weak.

"Yeah sure, my door is unlocked. You can just get in when you arrived."

As soon as I said that, my door is opened. I leaned back to see who entered my house and it\'s Emma. She was in front of my house when she called me. A scarf covered half of her face and her eyes are red. I approached her.

"What\'s wrong?"

Emma weakly pulls the scarf away from her face.

"I\'m having a massive migraine right now. Can I use your couch?"

I helped her walk and lay her down on the couch. I sat beside him.

She\'s massaging her head weakly and groans. I\'m watching her while massaging my own head as well. We both have the same issue.

"You want me to massage your head, Em?"

Emma raises her eyebrows.

"That would be awesome."

I sit on the floor behind her and start massaging her head. She\'s moaning with relief. She\'s making a noise with the same tempo as my hands massaging her head.

"This sure feels nice. I wish I can live with someone so they can massage my head whenever I needed it."

I scoff.

"Find a boyfriend then."

Emma is scratching her eyebrow.

"Tell me how. Who wants to be in a serious relationship with a stripper?"

I chuckle.

"Not me, obviously."

Emma chuckles and lifts her head to look at me in the eyes.

"Really? I thought you were going to say that you would."

I\'m done massaging her head and go to the kitchen to brew coffee. She sits down and leans her head while staring at the ceiling. She lifts her hands and squeezing them as if she\'s trying to grab something. She looks at me.

"I haven\'t paid my rent for this month."

I\'m brewing the coffee.

"Yeah? What\'s the due date?"

Emma yawns.

"The day after tomorrow. I\'ve been thinking to not pay the rent until the landlord kicks me out from the apartment."

I\'m pouring the coffee in the cups while looking at her.

"Why is that? Are you short on money?"

Emma is chuckling.

"That would be a lie if I said that I am. No, I\'m thinking to move out of my apartment and I need a push to do so. But I don\'t know where to go, since I haven\'t found a new place to stay."

Our eyes met and she grinned.

"Can I move here?"

I walk towards her and her eyes are following me as if she\'s waiting for my reply. I put cups of coffee on the table and sit on the sofa beside her and lean back. I look at her.

"Can I know the reason first? I mean, you have a lot of friends. From all of those people, why me?"

Emma grabs the coffee and blows on it. She nervously squeezing the cup.

"I think you\'re the only friend I can rely on. You\'re way mature compared to all of my friends. I had been thinking if I moved to my other friends\' places, I would feel the same way when I\'m living on my own like right now. But when I\'m with you, I feel comfortable. Basically, you\'re like an older brother that I don\'t have. I also know for sure that you\'re not interested in me in any kind of way. We have been friends for what? 8 years now? I trust you more than anyone, even more than my parents."

I take a sip of my coffee while nodding.

"Well, you\'re not wrong that I do care about you. You can say that I\'m your older brother since I\'m way older than you. How old are you again? 27?"

Emma sips the coffee and nods.

"I\'m 28 in a few months."

Emma nervously playing with her cup of coffee.

"So, what do you say?"

I shrug and take a sip of my coffee.

"I don\'t mind at all. But, you can think about it overnight. You can stay here for tonight and make your decision tomorrow morning if you think this place is your liking. How about that?"

Emma smiles and nods.

"Thanks, Trev. I\'ll do that."

I stand up and pointing at the guest room.

"I still have your clothes from a few months ago when you puked your clothes in here. I washed them for you and it\'s inside the drawer. I have a spare towel for you as well."

Emma is embarrassed. She grins.

"Right, I did that, didn\'t I? I\'ll take a bath then."

I nod.

"Then I\'ll be in my room looking at the game forum on my computer."

I\'ve been reading the forum for an hour and everyone is still talking about the VoW. It seems that they are in the area where Emma and I killed the Mini-Bosses earlier. Then Emma came into my room, she approached me and looked at the screen,

"What are you reading?"

I turn around and pointing at the thread I\'m reading.

"Read it for yourself. I think you\'ll be surprised."

Emma rests her elbow on my desk and leans towards the screen to read them. She\'s mumbling when she\'s reading them. Then she looks at me while raising her eyebrows. I chuckle at her expression. She sits on her knees.

"Are we became famous because we killed those Mini-Bosses?"

I stand up and pull a chair for her to sit. She then sits on the chair. I clear my throat.

"Yeah, we are. Luckily our names were censored so nobody actually knows who killed them. But it won\'t take a long time for them to find us unless we stay low for a while. It\'s if you don\'t want to be famous. You can just go back online and you\'ll definitely be famous as soon as they see you there with that title of yours."

Emma shakes her head.

"Nope, not interested. Being famous is the last thing I want. Being a stripper in this city is enough for me to become famous and that alone already a pain in the ass because a lot of new guests came just for me."

I chuckle.

"Did they do something on your ass?"

Emma squints her eyes and then pinches my nipple. It hurts and stings.

"I\'m sorry, I\'m just joking!"

Emma leans on the chair. She\'s thinking about something then she looks at me.

"I think I\'m positive about moving in here. I\'ve been thinking about it thoroughly while taking a bath."

I\'m scrolling the mouse up and down while looking at her.

"Well, if that\'s your decision, then you should prepare to move your stuff here. Want me to help you out with that?"

Emma is peeling her lips.

"Yeah, I need your help. When are we going to move my things?"

I look at the time.

"We can start now if you want to. It\'s still 6 p.m., and we can grab all your clothes first and maybe some other things in one go."

Emma jolts from the chair.

"Okay! Let\'s do that!"

I chuckle and we both immediately go to her apartment.

We put her stuff in the car and right now, the car is full of her belongings. When we are about to leave, a kid at least 20 years old with brown hair and black eyes wearing a jersey and slippers with groceries on his hands walking towards us.

"Miss Emma!"

Emma turns around and raises her eyebrows.

"Evening, Willy."

Willy is looking at me and he\'s hiding his face a bit.

"Where are you going, Miss Emma? Are you going on a trip?"

Emma shakes her head.

"No, I\'m moving out from this apartment."

Willy looks devastated. I look at him and I think he has a crush on her. Emma is looking at his grocery bags.

"You\'re buying a lot of ramens again? I told you to stop eating those and have proper food!"

Willy ignores her and just standing there in silence. Yeah, he definitely has a crush on her. I turn around and chuckle. Emma noticed that my shoulders are trembling and slap my back. I think Emma knew about that kid has a crush on her. Emma frowns.

"Are you ignoring me, Willy?"

Willy panicked.

"N-no. I was thinking about something. I have to go. I have the assignment to work on. Bye!"

Willy rushed to the apartment and went inside. I look at Emma.

"Hey, you should ask him out. Maybe he could be a great boyfriend."

Emma pinches my sides and it tickles and hurts at the same time. Emma sighs.

"Let\'s put this in your house. We need to get back here again and grab the rest."

I scratch my head.

"Yes, yes. Let\'s go."

It\'s 12 a.m. and we managed to get everything done except for one thing. Her VR device is still there and we planned to use the delivery service since the device won\'t fit in my car. We bought fast food and ate it immediately.

We both are resting on the couch with so many her stuff on the floor. She sighs.

"I don\'t want to do this ever again... It\'s so tiring!"

I groan and lift my body to sit straight.

"Yeah. Next time, just use the delivery service... I don\'t care if it\'s expensive."

Emma weakly lifts her hand and gives me a thumbs up.

I slap my knees and stand up.

"I\'m going to the bed. I\'m exhausted."

Emma stands up as well.

"Me too. I\'ll see you tomorrow."

I nod and wave at her while going upstairs. We both go to sleep immediately.