It was 08:02 am in morning. Daniel lay on his bed staring at the ceiling with no emotions in his eyes. What was supposed to be a confession the night yesterday turned out to be a bust.
At least yesterday proved that something was definitely off with Sophia. She wouldn't be avoiding him without a good reason. And this initially began when that mysterious boy came to his class.
She got too friendly with him to the point that she began to spend more time with him. She even caught some vibes going on between them. Those thoughts depressed him even further. At this point, he had no desire to do anything.
His family was supposed to visit his cousin's family today located twenty miles away. But who cares? Not him.
A knock on the door temporarily woke him from his deep pit feeling. "You're not dressed up yet?" His mom asked with a frown. "I'm not going", Daniel mumbled.
"Oh come on honey. Don't tell me it's because of Sophia", his mom said softly and caressed his hair gently. The emphatic expression on her face caused the suppressed tears to freely stream out. He was never a crier.
"I don't...know why she would be treating me this way. I ask...I asked her on a date, and…" Daniel kept sobbing, preventing him from talking. At this point, his mother's heart whined in distress.
"Honey", she could only say. "Don't feel this way. It's not your fault. Sophia also has a lot going on with her", she said. Seeing it was not working, she changed her tactic. She hated seeing Daniel this way.
"What if I invite Sophia's family to dinner this Friday? At least you will be able to count the end of the year with her next to you. Maybe I can talk with her. Is that okay", she asked.
That statement caused Daniel to stop sobbing. He found the strength to sit up on the bed. "Why? Would she even come?" Daniel, who was already feeling hopeless asked.
"I will make sure that every family member joins us, including Sophia", she smiled. Cleaning his tears with his bedsheet, she said. "Now that's settled, I suppose you dress up and meet us at the sitting room, 'kay?" You even slept with your clothes from yesterday", she chuckled and exited his room.
Daniel watched as his mom closed the door behind him feeling relieved. Since his relationship with Sophia was already almost severed, he had to find ways to patch it up before it becomes worse than it would ever be.
He went into the bathroom and came out feeling slightly better. He didn't have the social energy to interact with his family, or anyone else, but for the sake of his mom inviting them to his home, he would do it for her.
He will not lose her, not now, not ever. He has invested so much of his heart and energy to even become friends with her, and no one, not even that random idiot would spoil everything that he was sure of. With that determination, he left his room and joined his family in the sitting room.
----------
James completed his last project and had sent it to his regular client, before deciding to call it a day. AI would continue with the more tedious tasks. He wanted to put his energy more into his storage device project.
It was December 26, 2023, a day after Christmas. Yesterday was full of activity. Everyone brought presents and exchanged with each other. Angel gave James a small present, and he gave her one too.
It was a TTS (Text To Speech) custom-made barbie doll he found on Amazon. He made a few modifications, before wrapping it in a present and giving it to her. The doll converts a written text into an audio version of it.
As simple as it may look, Angel immediately became addicted to it. To prevent the chance that she might get bored of it, he also added a voice changer function that directly converts her voice to custom-made celebrity voices. So far, it was only "Sofia the First"'s voice she'd been using.
"Alright, I'm going to rest", James said robotically to the AI and left his study table to his bed. "It might be that my custom vision camera is fuzzy, but I couldn't help but notice you appeared moody. Is it because of your family?" The AI asked.
"Partially", James unplugged his smartphone and launched the Call of Duty. "Of course I miss them, but something else bothered me", James said. "Tell me", the AI urged.
"You know that man that wanted to kill me, and the pretty woman that saved me?" James asked.
"I've been thinking, and I wish to meet my alternate self", he said. "Why would you want to do that?" the AI made a frowning gesture. "First, he's very smart. I mean he'd figured out parallel universe travel? And that woman, I don't know who she is. Could be someone I might meet in the future", James paused for a moment.
Sometimes, he tried to convince himself that it was a dream, but the duplicate CPU rig sitting back to back with each other said otherwise. Everything happened for real.
But now that Charles was dead, was he now safe? He wouldn't assume that. That cruel person might have other aides around the country might want to take over him.
He wanted to infiltrate his company's database, but he decided that it would be for next year. He had so much on his plate already.
"I have limited information on the multiverse, with the one I can whip up in my database, I would presume that you shouldn't", the AI replied. "Why would I do that?" James asked.
"Well because there's a reason 'you' sent that pretty lady and not you. It's possible that he wishes to meet you in the future, but let him be the one to decide that, not you", the AI replied.
James looked up from his phone to the flat monitor that bore the AI's face. "You might be right", he said. "I'm always right", the AI smiled. "So what's your response to Sophia's request on the date?" The AI asked with a smile.
"First off, it's not a date, you know that. And second, I don't think it's the best idea to go", James shook his head, he joined a negatively. "Why?"
"It's going to be awkward", James paused and lowered his eyes. "How would you think she would react when the 'Simon Pierce' she's been chatting with was a nerdy classmate that disappeared from her school suddenly?"
"I guess she might either be delighted to see you, or she might be terrified. But I'll choose the former", the AI said and became sober. "James, I'm not asking you to see her because of nostalgic causes.
"I have a feeling that she wants to see you", the AI said. James paused his game and sighed. "You can't be sure of that. I didn't even tell her I was leaving her school. She might not want to see me", he said.