CHAPTER 15
SIERRA
My eyes almost bugged out of my head, the remnants of my sleep washing away in seconds at what I came into sight.
I stilled for a moment, rooted in the spot before dragging my feet over to Matty, whose brows were pinched in deep concentration while his fingers pumped the buttons on his controller at a rapid pace.
An excited butterfly flew in my heart as I dropped to a seat next to him, but before my ass could touch the couch, his huge hand grasped my wrist and effortlessly maneuvered me to the other side.
Caught off guard, I went bouncing on the couch, and a whoosh of air left my lips.
What was that about?
Even though it only lasted for a second, I could still feel the sting of his touch, weaving through my veins as they ascended straight to my heart.
“Why did you do that?” I muttered in annoyance as I eyed his side profile, so beautifully sharp, almost as if the sun deliberately sculpted the contours of his face.
He shrugged, barely sparing me a glance as his eyes remained fixed on the screen.
I let his weird obsession with seating arrangement slide as I focused on what shocked me earlier.
Matty Evans was gaming. And not just any game. He was playing Fantasy Legends —the game that I’d dedicated my entire life to. I didn’t know he gamed. Every day, I learned something new about this man, and at this point, nothing surprised me.
“You play?” I nodded toward the TV.
He side-eyed me like I’d asked the dumbest possible question. “Obviously,” he muttered before he snapped his gaze back to the game, just as the mini-boss started to attack him from every end. He was losing health by the minute, and his moves were getting too sloppy to win this round. My hands itched for me to grab the controller from him and ace this like a pro, but I bit my teeth as I watched him play with fascination.
Because Matty Evans was a fascination.
Even at this crucial moment, he was calm, barely a word out of his mouth as he battled on screen. At times like this, any seasoned or amateur gamer would scream or curse their guts out. But not Matty.
A small sigh left his lips as defeat splashed across the screen, and he set his controller aside and leaned back on the couch as he waited in the lobby for the next game to load.
He was playing solo with NPCs as his teammates. Judging from his skills, he wasn’t a newbie.
“How long have you been playing?”
“Not sure, ten years maybe…since high school.”
I nodded innocently while the next game started. “Is this your favorite?”
“Yes.”
“Are you any good?”
“I’m not bad. Why, do you want to play?”
“No,” I blurted. “I would probably suck at it,” I said, averting my gaze. I didn’t like lying to him.
“I could teach you if you want.”
If only he knew that it was I who could teach him a few things.
“That’s okay,” I mumbled as I watched him play the next round exactly like that last one. He relied too much on his sword, which was a good weapon to have if you had perfect accuracy. Weapons like those did a lot of damage but had processing delays between attacks, giving your enemy ample time to wipe your health down. So unless you could land a hit, it wouldn’t be my first choice of weapon.
It was on the tip of my tongue to voice my opinions, but I didn’t say anything out loud. Instead, I spied his gaming techniques like a noob.
It took two more tries, and in the last one, he luckily outmaneuvered the boss and captured the enemy base, finally winning the game.
Even then, he showed no reaction, just a simple nod of acknowledgment to himself.
“I didn’t know you played Fantasy Legends ?” As far as I knew, it wasn’t in the public records, but Matty didn’t share much about his personal life. The only glimpse we would get is from the rare magazine interview here and there. And I’d never seen him play, and it’d almost been a month since I started living here.
“Yeah, I’ve been keeping myself away from it till I wrapped things up with the launch. It’s a treat for me,” he said, his head rolling down the back of the couch as he shifted his eyes to me. “You don’t play, but you know the game, though?”
“Yeah, a friend of mine is really good at it.” Only the friend was my alter ego living inside me. “So I know quite a bit about it. Is this the only game you play?”
“Among others, but this is the one I’ve always stuck to.”
“Is it for fun, or do you follow the pro leagues?”
His eyes never wavered from me as he answered, “For fun, but I do watch some gameplays.”
He did? Swallowing, I asked, “Like streamers?”
He nodded. “The pro streamers, so I can learn, but most times, I watch it for fun.”
My heartbeat picked up a notch. That meant there was a chance that Matty could’ve watched me, could’ve seen me play!
I’d always kept my face hidden while streaming and attempted a deeper voice, so it was hard to connect me in real life, just in case Mommy dearest got wind of it. Yes, people did see my face in tournaments, but it was a different crowd, and media coverage during the events was very minimal and limited to gaming blog posts. Unless you went to the deep depths of the internet, you wouldn’t find a picture of me.
“My friend streams too, so I watch with her sometimes,” I lied as if trying to make a conversation, but my insides were on the edge, bursting to know everything he knew. “Do you have a favorite?” I asked, holding my breath.
“Like a gamer?”
“Yes,” I replied, licking my dry lips. He paused, his eyes dropping straight to that motion before his gaze focused back on my eyes. It was quick, a fast second, and I almost would have missed it if I hadn’t been watching him so closely.
I somehow always caught him staring at me.
Did I have something on my lips, and he was too polite to voice it out? Knowing me, I probably had some Cheetos crumbs stuck somewhere on my body.
“I do have a few favorites, but there is one I really like.”
“Who?” I asked, leaning over. “I do know a few players.”
“I like the Shadow twins,” he started, and the balloon of hope deflated from my heart like it had been shot with a ton of needles.
He liked Vincent and Alice, the arrogant siblings with pompous heads. I wish he’d said anyone else instead of my main opponents.
“They’re so fast that it’s engrossing to watch their gameplay. I’ve seen them knock a game out in a mere five minutes, but still, I think they’re a bit too confident at times, and it makes them slip a lot. And I think as a pro gamer, that’s the worst attitude to have.”
“I agree.” I nodded along with him before I even realized what he had just said. “Wait...” I said, my eyes widening. “So your favorite is someone else?”
“Yes,” he replied in a grumpy tone. “I do like the twins, but personally, Daisy Luna is my favorite.”
“What!?” I shouted, cupping my hand over my mouth.
What the fuck did he say?
Me!?
I was his favorite?
A confused look crossed his eyes. “Yes, Daisy Luna, do you know her?”
I schooled my expression, trying to tame my wild heart, which skipped a beat and another before banging against my rib cage. It was so loud that I almost feared that he could hear it. “I do know of her. My friend is her fan,” I muttered, blinking. “What about her do you like?” I asked before I could stop myself.
He thought for a second. “Everything—she’s perfect in everything,” he praised, a subtle hint of awe in the undertones of his voice. “She’s got the best dagger skills I’d ever seen. She flows with it in a way that she never misses a blow. I learned they called her the dagger princess because of that. But even then, she’s good with every weapon. She whips up strategies at crucial times, and I’ve never seen anything like that. I don’t admire many people, but I admire her gameplay. It’s flawless.”
I’d never heard Matty speak so much at once, well, except for his speech yesterday.
“Admire her?” I whispered. “Like a fan.”
He lifted a shoulder. “You could say that.”
I swooned on the inside, melting against the couch.
Matty Evans was my fan , mine, and who could’ve guessed that?
My favorite celebrity’s favorite gamer was me?
I was his fan, and he was mine, and only I knew the truth.
But my devious mind had already devised a selfish plan.
Like a craving, I couldn’t get enough of…
I was already here, so why not dip my feet a little further?
What Matty didn’t know was that Daisy Luna was soon going to be his friend.
I didn’t just watch him play. I also secretly memorized his gamer ID.
Lootbot10124.
And in the world of anonymous gaming, he would hardly recognize that it’s me.
It was risky, I knew that, but any chance to get closer to him, any chance for a bit more of him, I wouldn’t miss.
He was a craving I wasn’t supposed to have, but we always wanted what we couldn’t have, right?
MATT
“That was good,” Emmie said, nodding toward Raphael, who was grinning like he had just won a Grammy award.
Still had a far way to go on that, but assuming the trajectory, he would easily be standing on that stage one day.
“Good song,” Emmie added. “But it’s very rough, and the lyrics could be much better.”
Raphael gave him a nod instead of arguing like he usually did. The kid did surprise me. For a sixteen-year-old who loved to act recklessly, the level of commitment he gave to his music was unprecedented. I could tell that this really was his dream.
As much as I wanted to voice my opinions, I wanted this record to be his vision. So I gave him full rein over it and told him to bring me his best pieces that could work as an album.
We’d spent the entire morning listening to his ideas, and I must say he had some brilliant songs taking shape already.
I’d already worked in my head to cohesively arrange it into one fine product.
I’d asked if he wanted to collaborate with anyone in the industry for a particular sound or tone, but he denied, saying he wanted to only work with me and trusted we both could bring his music to life.
His style fit into a dark, moody alternative rock with a light air quality, where the notes flowed perfectly with each other. It was similar to our band’s sound, so I agreed to make this record with him rather than bring in someone else.
I wanted True Beats to represent all genres instead of solely sticking to one. We’d soon bring in more talent and staff to make this a smooth-running machine.
“What do you think I should work on first?” Raphy questioned, taking his notes to Emmie, and they chatted in low whispers while Mikey groaned, tossing and turning on the couch.
We’d all been holed up in the studio the whole day. The expansive recording room had every possible equipment and instruments, our own offices, and a wide lounge area equipped with a TV system and a huge snack bar where we all were currently lounging.
We spent the first few hours working on our own album. Emmie had written some incredible stuff, and we couldn’t wait to see what we could cook up with it. Today was just a start.
For the first time in our lives, we didn’t have a strict deadline. Our previous label worked us to the bone, sucking every drop from us. We hardly had time to catch our breath because we were making one album after the next, days blurring as we hopped from one city to the next and faked smiles at events and parties we gave zero fucks about.
Now, our schedule was as fluid as it could get. It made us fall in love with music all over again now that we had our own creative control.
Only, we’d hoped Lan was here with us. At least he finally texted the group that he wanted some time off but that he would be back soon.
I considered Lan as my own fucking brother, and my gut told me whatever was going on with him had something to do with Katy. When I questioned her, she gave me the worst excuse she could come up with. These days, there was a nagging doubt in the back of my head, like somehow, I didn’t know my sister as well as I thought I did. And that somewhere along the way, I had failed as a brother.
I thought she was happy, but now I fear my assumption wasn’t the actual truth.
And it only worried me more.
Needing a break, I powered the TV and threw a controller at Mikey’s face.
He leaped, shooting me a glare as he caught it effortlessly.
“Careful, I do have my face insured, but it’s my precious asset,” he complained but brought himself to a seat.
I didn’t even bother rolling my eyes as I got the game started, already itching for some game time.
Gaming was my one true escape. An indulgence I didn’t mind spending hours on. I strictly enforced control in every aspect of my life except when it came to Fantasy Legends .
I loved keeping my hands busy as my brain worked the reflexes, the whole while my blood pumped with a kind of energy that I could only closely compare to playing my drums.
“So the square is jump, and R2 is reload, right?” Mikey questioned, cocking a brow.
“No, square is reload, and R2 is attack.” It didn’t matter how many times I explained it to him. He never got it into his brain and ended up pressing all the buttons at once, but somehow, it worked. Having him was better than having no one at all.
I was never comfortable playing with random people in the open world. Some of my buddies who played the game tagged me along on their team at times, but I preferred duos or solos.
The loading screen popped into the gaming lobby, and a frown marred my forehead when I saw a notification waiting for me.
I hardly got notifications. To protect my identity, our security team made sure to add veils of extra protection so one couldn’t track us down. That way, my fans could never get wind of the fact that their favorite rock star loved to play Fantasy Legends . It was my refuge from reality, and I wasn’t going to let it be ruined by an obsessive fan. Trust me, I loved my fans, but I hated when they poked themselves into my private bubble.
When I clicked it, shock unlike anything surged through my system. “What the fuck?” I muttered, checking to see if my eyesight was right.
It fucking was.
There in bold was a friend request from Daisy Luna. I thought it might be fake, but the verified ranking next to her name confirmed that it was really her.
Why the hell was a pro player requesting a nobody like me? Was it for some streaming challenge?
My fingers dragged the controller to reject her, but I stalled. If it were anyone else, I never would’ve entertained it, no matter how fucking famous they were.
But it was her.
The woman whose gameplay I studied like a diligent student, whose gameplay astounded me no matter how many times I watched it, and the only gamer I never missed a stream from.
I even had notifications set in my phone for her videos, and that was something I never fucking did for anyone, not even my favorite music artists.
I had no clue why she requested me in the first place, but if watching Luna was so mesmerizing, how the fuck would it be to play with her?
It wouldn’t hurt to try a match, right? I could unfriend or block her anytime if it turned out to be a prank or something weird.
I pressed the accept button before I could talk myself out of it.
Her name appeared at the bottom of my friend list with a bright green light flashing next to her name.
Fuck, she was online.
She was probably thinking she had sent a request by mistake when she noticed my name among her other friends, which I was sure was a hundred or more, given her popularity.
But not even seconds passed when my chat box lit up.
DaisyLuna: Wanna game?
What in the actual fuck?
“Hey fucker, are we playing or not?” Mikey’s voice snapped my attention to him.
“I don’t think so,” I muttered. “I think I’m going to play with someone else.”
“Who the fuck would want to play with you?” Mikey asked, tossing his controller aside as he sprawled back on the couch. “You always lose.”
“No, I don’t, and it’s Daisy Luna.”
“Who the fuck is that?” he questioned before sliding his gaze to the screen. “Wait, it says she ranks sixth. Isn’t she that fucking gamer that you obsess over all the time and secretly watch her videos when no one is looking.”
“I’m not obsessed,” I mumbled as I typed to her. “And I watch to learn. She’s good.”
LootLord10124: How did you find me?
“So what are you guys friends now?”
DaisyLuna: I find random players to play with all the time
DaisyLuna: To improve my skills.
“Looks like it,” I whispered to him as I read her message.
And before I could reply, another one came through.
DaisyLuna: So still wanna game?
Wow, she really did want to play with me.
LootLord10124: Will you be streaming this live?
DaisyLuna: No, I won’t be streaming for a while since I’m training for the tournament. Hence, here I am, challenging myself with new players.
Hmm, that did seem plausible.
“She is insistent,” Mikey said, throwing me a grin. “Her name is Daisy Luna, but she could be a dude trying to honey trap you.”
I shot him a glare and switched the chat box to my phone so I could keep it away from that fucker’s eyes.
LootLord10124: Sure then, let’s play.
DaisyLuna: Inviting you to the party.
I accepted, and within seconds, I appeared in her lobby in my wraith night skin, who was a dark warrior lord with shadows swirling around him.
Luna was in her signature skin, celestial lunar guardian, where the character had long, wavy caramel hair cascading down to her hips with a mid-fifteenth century gold armor plate that swept down to a flowing skirt almost as if it were made of stars and air.
DaisyLuna: Do you have access to a microphone?
Before I could type a response, Raphael jumped from Emmie’s side and sauntered over to me. “Wait, are you playing Fantasy Legends ?” His wide eyes trained on me. “With my sis…no wait, with Daisy Luna?” he shouted in glee.
Why was me playing Fantasy Legends suddenly the hot topic of conversation? Only yesterday, his sister gave me the same reaction when she saw me gaming and asked a bunch of questions that I had no problem answering at all. When it came to her, words just flowed out of my mouth on their own accord.
“Yes,” I answered Raphael.
“Man, I can’t believe that little shit.” He grinned, scrubbing a palm over his face.
I frowned. Little shit?
“Have fun,” he called out, still grinning as he headed back to Emmie, who was too busy smiling at his phone. Pretty sure he was texting Evy, whom he’d just seen a few hours ago, and she was just a floor away, yet here he was acting like a sappy fool. It would take me more than a hundred tries, and I still wouldn’t understand their love.
Thankfully, Mikey was already snoring, deep asleep so I could play in peace without being interrupted every five seconds by his offhanded remarks.
I shook my head as I switched to my gaming headphones and connected them to the chat. A static flowed through before a feminine voice whispered, “Hello.”
Her voice sent a pang through my chest for some reason.
It was soft and deep, like it held a ton of maturity, yet the undertones were almost innocent and young. And something was oddly familiar about her voice that I couldn’t put my finger on, but maybe all girls spoke on the phone that way.
“Hi,” I mumbled back.
“Hmm, so what do I call you?”
“Matty… that’s my name.” I clearly wasn’t thinking when I said that. I’d actually given a random person on the internet my real name. But Matty was pretty common, right? It wasn’t like she could connect me with just my first name.
“Nice to meet you, Matty,” she replied softly. “You can call me Luna or Daisy. I really don’t mind.”
“Okay, Luna, ready to play?”
“Hell yeah,” she said, and I could almost hear the smile in her tone.
Sixteen minutes and forty-five seconds was all it took.
All it took was for us to win the game.
To say I was baffled would be an understatement. I remember the days I used to spend hours playing a match and losing terribly.
And now here I was. Even then, the credit wouldn’t go to me.
I didn’t do much except follow her around like a bot while she fired commands at me. She aced the enemies like a pro, flying and jumping in the air with her dagger, the movement so fast and fluid that it was almost a blur.
“Told you we could do it, Matty. Change the setting to advanced. Let’s play another one.” Her excited voice came through the microphone.
I hesitated. I’ve only played amateur level. “You sure?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, Matty. As long as you have me, I won’t let you down.”
“Okay,” I muttered as we entered the game.
“So… what’s your story?”
“My story?” I asked as we both farmed the minions for gold and extra XP.
She cleared her throat. “Yeah, everyone’s got a story, right? What’s yours?”
“Nothing much.”
“Hmm, you’re a man of very few words, aren’t you?”
“You could say that.”
“Wait… you are a man, right?”
I blinked. “It would seem so, given my voice,” I deadpanned.
“It’s just that…” She let out a shaky laugh. “You could never trust anyone on the internet these days.”
“That you can’t.”
“Fifty-six.” She sighed.
My brow furrowed. “Fifty-six?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “That’s how many words you’ve spoken to my thousand sixty.”
My lips twitched. “You’re keeping count?”
“Definitely not, seems tedious. But you know it wouldn’t hurt to add a few more words to your sentence. People do say I speak a lot sometimes. I ramble when I’m nervous, a lot… to the point people have given me weird looks.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am,” I muttered.
“Of course you are, teammate,” she said, her tone dripping with joy. “Do you want to raid my cave?”
I choked on my next breath. What the fuck did she just say?
I heard a squeal before a yelp. “Not my cave,” she shouted. “Definitely not my cave. I mean, I don’t even know you, and you can’t be raiding my cave, right? What I meant was the cave… Yes, the cave, so we could gather some more loot before we meet the final boss,” she huffed out, and I could hear her breathing hard on the other end.
“Sure.”
It only took thirty minutes this time before victory splashed over the screen. The entire time, Luna danced with her dagger while I tried my best to keep up with her commands, among which she spoke a thousand miles an hour about anything and everything.
Like how much she didn’t like to drive, how much she thought waking up early should be a crime, and how much she wanted to win the tournament more than anything.
For some reason, I listened to every word she said, like Sier…
My breath hitched. I hadn’t thought about Sierra once since I started gaming with Luna.
Ever since Sierra Chan entered my life, there hasn’t been a minute that slipped by without her invading my mind. It was either about the way her soft lips curved into a smile, or the way her cheeks pinkened at my vicinity, or the way she would peek at me through her lashes when she handed me my coffee.
“So I must say. I like playing games with you, Matty.” Luna’s voice snapped me back to the present.
“Likewise,” I replied, still cramming my head with thoughts of Sierra.
“We should play often then.”
“Okay.”
“Friend me in Gamer Legends.co.”
Gamer Legends.co was a social media app for the game, where people can share their stats, pictures, and chat with other players, and do whatever else they do on social media these days. I did have my own social media accounts on other platforms but my team managed it because it was never my thing.
“I don’t have one.”
“Ah, then create one.”
I could create a dummy account without showing my face or giving away my identity, but still, did I want to? It seemed like a hassle that I would never be bothered with under any circumstances.
“Matty, you there?”
“Yes.”
“Can you create one? I mean, you don’t have to show your picture or your name or anything. It’s easier to chat for us so I can invite you anytime.”
I hesitated for a second before I found myself nodding. “Okay.”
“Great, I’ll wait for you.”
Wasn’t a pro gamer like her busy?
I took out my phone and downloaded the app.
“So, Matty, other than gaming, what do you do?” I’d never seen her before, but for some reason, I imagined her spinning around her gaming chair while she questioned me.
Given her badass skills, clean strategies, and weapon wielding, I assumed she’d be a serious gamer with a stiff and stoic personality.
But Luna was the opposite; she had humor and light. Her gameplay was like a blazing shadow, but her personality was like sunshine, like those bright glowing spots dancing on your face like glimmering dust.
I’d never compared a person to sunshine in the twenty-seven years of my life, yet here I was, comparing two people to sunshine in a matter of weeks.
Maybe my brain had too much recently, and I was going crazy.
“Other than gaming?”
“Duh, that’s what I asked.”
“Hmm, not much.”
“If vague had to be anyone’s nickname, it would be yours.”
I paused. “Music…I like music.”
“You like a musician or something?”
“Something like that.”
“Hmm, are you done yet?”
“Almost… yeah, done, sending you my ID.”
“Perfect,” she said while mumbling something in low whispers. “Sent you the request.”
The notification lit, and I accepted her.
My feed immediately popped up with her posts, none of which showed her face. It was all random stats of her games, with a few rare pictures that shared her life behind the scenes.
I clicked on one I found interesting. Something about the golden gaming keyboard and the matching mouse on top of daisy flowers and a drum kit background intrigued me for some reason. A fingernail peeking at the edge looked oddly familiar; it was like my brain almost got it but couldn’t place it.
I thumbed her profile and noticed she had an impressive hundred thousand followers.
“I’ll see you then, Luna,” I said.
“See you, Matty.”
I didn’t know what had gotten into me recently, but I seemed to be doing things way out of my comfort zone.
I had no idea where it was all going to end, but right now, I liked it.