Chapter 15: The Real World!
Aakesh walked out of the device and stretched his hands.
Click!
Thirty seconds later, the device closed on its own while Aakesh left the room and went downstairs.
***
"No, no, let me ask him first!"
As Aakesh was coming downstairs, he heard his mother's voice. Since no voice came in response, his mother must have been talking on the phone.
"I will tell you the time after talking to him. Bye!"
As Aakesh reached the hall, he saw his mother cut the call.
On the sofa, his mother and father were both seated. His mother was talking on the phone while his father was listening to the conversation.
"Who were you talking to?" Aakesh casually asked as he joined his family on the sofa.
Aakesh didn't expect a response since it was usual in his family. He would ask his mother whenever she was on the phone, and in response, she would ask him another question.
"Taruna mausi!" This time, the mother answered, taking Aakesh by surprise.
(A/N: Mausi is the term for mother's sister.)
"Is she alright?" Aakesh calmed down and asked.
"Do you remember Shachi?" The mother asked another question.
"Who?" Aakesh tried to remember Shachi, but since he couldn't, he responded with a question mark.
"The girl you used to play with when we lived on Greater Extension Street."
"Oh, her! I remember her," Aakesh recognized after the mother cleared some fog from his memory. At the same time, the maid came and poured the tea for him.
"Taruna Mausi was telling me that Shachi's father is looking for a suitable groom for her."
Spit!
Aakesh had only taken the first sip of the tea when he heard his mother. He couldn't help but throw out.
"I am not ready for marriage," Aakesh responded immediately before his mother created any strange ideas in her head.
"I told you. He would refuse immediately," The father chimed in.
"I would have accepted your response, but-" "You have to start trying for marriage now." The mother stated, but her voice suddenly stopped midway, and soon she changed what she was going to say.
Aakesh understood what his mother meant at that time, but he was going through the same rush his parents were feeling.
It was the second time his mother brought the marriage up in the conversation. The first was several months ago, when Manish was alive. At that time, his mother had stopped asking after he refused to do it so early.
But now that Manish wasn't here anymore, the parents were going through indescribable feelings. Aakesh has always been a silent type, so he rarely had male friends, let alone female friends, while Manish was the exact opposite.
Before Manish's untimely demise, the mother could accept even if Aakesh were not to marry, as Manish was there to extend the family and give her some grandchildren. But now that window has closed.
Only Aakesh was there, and for some reason, an ill-boding feeling had shrouded the mother's heart since the cremation. It was as if something terrible was going to fall on her family. That feeling created a sense of urgency in her heart about Aakesh's marriage.
"You have to at least meet her," The mother told Aakesh with no hint of refusal in her tone.
Aakesh could only look at his father for help and saw the same facial expressions as his mother.
"Fine, I will meet her, but I can't guarantee you that I'll say yes to marriage." Aakesh could only sigh and respond.
"We won't force you to marry someone you don't like, but you will have to at least try to like girls," The mother added with a smile.
The mother then picked up her phone again and called her sister.
"Aakesh has agreed to meet Shachi. Talk with her father and set a date for their first meeting."
"He agreed with this easily. He must be waiting for the marriage conversation to pop out."
Aakesh's lips twitched when he heard the voice coming from the other side.
***
"Did you enter the game?" Aakesh asked his parents, as they finally stopped talking about his marriage.
"No, I don't have that much free time," The mother replied, while the father only shook his head.
"I am telling you, you need to enter. It's very important," A helpless expression spread across Aakesh's face as he stated. Soon, a round of war erupted between the son and mother.
At that moment, the battle with the wolf seemed to be easier than making his mother understand the importance of the game.
"I will enter after eating the evening snacks," The father said, trying to calm both Aakesh and his wife.
The time was several minutes past six. Since it was the arrival of the winter season, the sun was close to setting down.
After Aakesh pleaded to his father to make his mother join the game as well, Aakesh left the house.
Even though Aakesh had only spent twenty hours in the game world, he still became mentally tired.
Aakesh understood that it wasn't the game but rather the information he had read in the diary.
Even though having a fresh breath of air in the city wasn't possible, Aakesh still wandered around the nearby areas as he wanted to remind himself of the city. Everything was going to change on that day fourteen months later, so he wanted to prepare himself.
"Damn it! The game is shit!"
"Eh! Don't complain just because the NPC beat you."
As Aakesh was wandering, he came across the conversation of a group of teenagers.
Aakesh couldn't help but stop and overhear them.
"What level did you reach?"
"I am Level 2."
"Eh! Only Level 2, I am Level 3."
"So what if you're Level 3, didn't you get beaten by a NPC?"
Aakesh couldn't help but smile as he listened to the banter of the teenagers.
At that moment, a rumble seemed to explode in his head.
'Everything will change, but won't that happen in the future? Isn't it just a game now?' Aakesh couldn't stop himself from thinking.
The pressure he had been carrying on his shoulders was going to break him—if not today, then tomorrow, but it was going to happen.
Aakesh's heart seemed to feel lighter as the thought appeared in his heart.
"What's so great about Level 2 or Level 3? I have reached Level 4, and I have not even died once," Aakesh smiled as he chimed in with the group of teenagers.
Unaware, the game was changing Aakesh's personality from the first day itself.
The group of teenagers stopped and looked at Aakesh in surprise.
"Aren't you too old to play games?" One of the teenagers didn't like Aakesh, so he asked, clearly looking down on him.
***
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