Ring ring
Ring ri- Click
"Hello? Sil?"
"Aunt Louise, are you busy? Am I bothering you?"
The moment she asked who the caller is, I instantly knew she was busy. I was in such a good mood, I forgot that she could be working at this time.
"No no, you aren't. In fact, I'm glad I got your call. It's been a while since I spoke to you or even heard your voice. How are you doing Sil? Is school going well? Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"
Aunt Louise barraged me with a lot of questions, but as she asked her tone softened and it eventually began to sound worrying.
"Haha, well I've been busy in the lab lately. And that research project I started working on last semester? Yeah, that one. I finally made a breakthrough. We had an holiday recently, but I was stuck in the lab, sorry I didn't call or come home. And uh… oh yes! I developed a new hobby thanks to Ronald, he introduced me to some novels that I now enjoy reading and… it seems that's it. How are you aunty?"
"Haha", His aunt's gentle laughter came from the other side of the screen as she listened to him chatter.
No matter how serious he made himself to be, he was still this playful child filled with cheekiness.
'Haa… it was a pity he had to grow up so quickly, I should have taken better care of him.'
Louise got lost in her thoughts, as she stared at the screen in front of her filled with data analysis and all sorts of business oriented stuff. To her right was a phone she had deactivated, so she wouldn't have anymore calls and-
"Aunt! Aunty, are you okay!?"
Sil's voice came from the other side of the screen and Louise finally snapped out of it, and quickly composed herself.
"I'm fine, Sil. I just got distracted by work for a bit"
"Should I call back?", he asked worriedly, and she felt bad her mere act of spacing out had worried him.
"Nope you don't need to hang up, I have time to talk."
"Okay, then. So how's work going?"
"It's not bad and I'm doing fine. Oh how are things going for you and friends? Was it Donald? No… it was Ronald, yes Ronald and derrick, how are they?"
"…"
He did not know how to respond to her sudden question. It would have been fine if she just asked about Ronald, but it became complicated the moment she mentioned derrick.
"Sil, Sil? Is there something going on between you and your friends?"
"No no, it's not like that. It's just that I've been too busy recently and I haven't been able to hang out with them. But I spoke to Ronald recently and-"
"Sil, you need to be more social and interactive with your friends lest they abandon you for being too boring. Don't worry about your studies, you'll eventually get there-"
"But-!"
"And don't worry about Aunty, she'll take care of herself. Just live your life and be happy.", His aunt gently coaxed him.
"Come on, aunty when you say it that way, you make it sound as-"
"I mean it, Sil.", she said sternly.
"…Okay, I'll try.", and I gave in. I had nothing to lose anyway.
"B-"
"Oh yes, do you have any plans for your birthday this week?"
I suddenly remembered and quickly spoke up before she hung up.
"Birthday? Ahh it's July already. I'm kind of busy this season, so I'll probably throw a small birthday party this weekend"
"Wow you actually have something planned.", he exclaimed in awe that his work-minded aunt actually put in so much thought into something not related to work or him.
"Hmph, does aunty look like someone who doesn't care about her birthday?", she suddenly pouted and asked somewhat childishly.
Sil was stunned by her sudden change in demeanor and just laughed. Seeing different sides of his aunt so suddenly was usually a pleasant sight and memory for him.
"Are you laughing at me?"
She had once more changed her demeanor, instantly returning back to her original personality.
"No no, I just thought of something funny and laughed"
"Would you like to share it with me then?", She seemed to have believed his lie, but there was still suspicion in her voice.
"No", he said awkwardly.
"…"
"If that's all then, goodbye."
His aunt finally spoke up after the initial silence.
"Wait! Would it be okay if I came home this weekend? To celebrate your birthday with you and maybe help out?", he asked hesitantly, because he knew she might just refuse and-
"No. Don't you have any plans this weekend?", she said resolutely. Solidifying the notion in my mind once more, Her refusals had always been absolute.
"I have none, none at all!"
"Then something might just come up, you know you need to keep your schedule open"
"But I missed last year's, and I also want to use this opportunity to come home and take a short break. I've been busy all semester and… it's just this one thing, please…"
I spat out all the excuses that I thought of, but still ended up begging her.
I had learned to respect my aunt's wishes, since that was the least I could do for her right now. And even though it was sometimes bothersome, it was like second nature to me and I didn't hate it.
Louise leaned back and stared at the ceiling, thinking deeply.
'Let him do whatever he wants. Plus it's not such a bad thing for him to come visit.'
She sighed softly, and finally gave in.
"Haa… alright do as you wish, but you don't have to come if you can't, okay?"
"Okayy!"
"If that is all I'll be off, bye~", she said softly and felt slightly sad at the thought of hanging up.
"Bye bye", he greeted in a cute way that left goosebumps on his skin. And the long phone call eventually got cut.
"Haa… it happened again", he sighed, resignedly.
…
I stood in front of the personal workshop I won from a departmental contest, and stared at the number on the door.
E023
Aunt Louise was weirdly different today. She was very chatty, inquisitive, funny and cute today, when she was usually so strict and serious but caring in her own way.
It seems this must be one of the days she has a personality switch, one of the side effects of the second stage of the mysterious plague, or Myst a term coined by scientists.
A personality switch was one of the aftereffects common to those hit by the Myst.
Its severity varied, but it rarely happened to those in the first stage, was common to those in the second stage and permanent for those miracle patients.
'Whatever, act normal and go with the flow.'
That was one of the things they were advised to do whenever it came up.
But it still felt strange, to suddenly have a whole different personality at any given time.
But for some reason, it was always a refreshing sight for me to see.
I once wondered if it happened because of the memories she lost, or she recalled something she couldn't say.
But if that was the case, what could it be?
It was such a random thing back then, her memory loss. But it didn't seem to affect her life in any way, as if what she lost was not important.
And that was a problem, at first, partial memory loss wasn't recognized as a symptom of being affected by the plague, until it happened more than once to certain individuals, and someone remembered what they forgot and fell into the unyielding slumber.
That person was the one who revealed partial memory loss was also a symptom, but they unfortunately died two months after they fell asleep. And a select few followed suit, seemingly in the same manner.
Since then the partial memory loss, had been recognized as a symptom. And they had been advised by the government to have a logbook so they could determine if they had been affected and when the infection happened.
It wasn't an order, just an advice, one I did not take. I spent my time studying diligently or researching in the lab, so if I was affected by something like partial memory loss, I'd know I or it'd reflect in my studies!
"Haa… there's no point in thinking about this."
I reached out for the plaque, suddenly intrigued by the alphanumerical combination.
Ping!
A notification startled me from my mesmerized state and I hurriedly pulled out my phone from my pocket.
'Oh Jupiter posted another chapter'
After two weeks of continuous reading, he had finally caught up to recent chapters and eventually stopped collecting his rewards.
At first he collected Queenvalforever's rewards and they even begun chatting, even though they had a clear conflict due to the character's they supported.
But later on, they became fast friends and even started to support the novel as much as they could.
Ka- Cha
He finally opened his workshop and walked in, his gaze sweeping over the entire workshop and his unfinished project.
A miniature robot with a personalized Ai.
I dropped my bag, and found myself a seat in the dusty room.
It had been a while since I came over, and now that I was around I should clean it up, but…
Jupiter's new chapter! I have to read it before that simp!
I clicked on the notification and was directed to a novel.
HTFL: Valeria Aidan.
Oh, it was the side story. I forgot How To Find The Female Lead is on hiatus.
I was a little annoyed that Jupiter stopped the main story to write about the Villainess, but I still read it for since I was fascinated by the novel and the author's writing style.
But I regretted it. The story was good, but it wasn't told from Valeria's point of view, which made the side story pointless, but made Valeria out to be more obnoxious.
'Can a child be this bratty, why was she so against everyone?!'
Eegh, yup the villainess is not for me.
It was a pity though, I found no other works under Jupiter's name, and I was really looking forward to this side story.
I dropped my phone and stood up.
"I should clean this place," I said whilst looking around.