"GG EZ Scrubs. That match was too simple. That dude just feed us the game."

"Haha. One of our teammate was noob but we easily carried that game. How about another match?"

"Can't. GF called me midgame and says that she wants me to come to her place. Sorry dude."

"Thats fine. Buy me a burger next time. Alright?"

"Yeah."

I was currently managing the store on a Sunday as usual but i felt like more relaxed than usual due to the events that had occured 3 days ago.

Got abuducted by a girl who professed her feelings to me and we ended up dating from then on as I couldn't believe myself.

While i do look a bit handsome, i can't see any charm in myself due to my experience with girls who had abused me in Highschool. I don't even know any charming points in me other than helping her out in her life and I can't even see myself dating someone.

Plus, my financial situation isn't helping me either that i can't spend much money on dating a girl much less getting a better phone.

I still used the phone my brother had for long and its actually not bad to say the least. I can connect through the internet and play games with it but while i can't play any better games, i'm still fine with it as long as i can watch videos and read novels.

'By the way, I haven't been at the forums lately. Well, it wouldn' t matter there anyway since i'm usually transparent there.'

I head to the forums where i usually lurked and saw that a few people i'm familiar with are still there but there are newbies visiting the forum.

They were discussing about some VTubers and some of them were talking about the novel I was reading currently so while i was slightly interested in that VTuber topic(mainly due to Kathie being a streamer and all. Maybe even having a competition with those Virtual Girls) I was more interested in the latter due to how it was mostly an arguement with the characters.

[GhostSense: Roselle best girl period. That B*tch literally trying her best to try and piss me off.]

[HonorBound: Wow, Roselle? Such a nice statement considering how she did the MC dirt. Look harder man, she was basically a C*unt through and through. Lishta isn't perfect but you don't have that girl be compared to that Sl*t.]

[CryonTest: *Pic of a judge with a wooden hammer* Order at the Court. Let settle this down Ladies. We ain't Savage beast. Clearly Ms. Hellena is best girl in the story.]

[GhostSense: Bruh, you only like Hellena because of her illustration. You bias on her chest.]

[HonorBound: I'm pretty sure that you only like her because of the Voice Actress that play her as. You probably listen to her voiceclip of her repeating 'Ara Ara' for 10 hours like an addict.]

There were an arguement happening on the thread as i kept scrolling through each post as i can't help but laugh at some of them but these two guys who were fighting earlier had been going at it for sometime now.

I've been reading the novel and the MC is more of a jerk due to having to make this girl fight for his attention that he was clearly at fault here.

Roselle is only hated due to her actions with the MC but it is clearly justified due to how her family had been slaughtered by him and even though she was saved, some of those family were innocent and even some had care for her. So clearly, some of the sh*t he recieve from her was just venting it out.

Lishta, the main heroine is also due to the author's bad writing as she wasn't clearly been written well due to how she acts with the MC and even having her interactions with the knight captain could be seen as cheating.

Hellena though..... *Cough*

I don't wanna comment on that as while she was clearly drawn by the illustrator nicely so Cryon is right about it... Still gonna deny her being best girl as she was just some fan service to the novel rather than being a character.

I decided that after reading through the forums, it seems that the novel is on hiatus for sometime now so there weren't any updates as i decided to basically watch videos instead.

While i was gonna play one of some walkthrough, a familiar face showed up from the store as he was about to flirt but once he saw me, he was shocked. 

"Oh Zekie? Your on shift today? Tch. I thought that Trish's shift was today."

"Sorry man. I had her take my shift yesterday as i had something to do the whole day. Plus, she seems to have something planned so i'll be taking the whole shift today."

"Ah dammit! I thought it might be time for me to win her heart today."

"Your joking dude. I might call the ambulance on you if she were to roast you so bad. Didn't you get roasted by her last time you flirted with her? You might ended up being gay if she were going to roast you again."

The guy in front of me is a regular customer in this store and someone i'm familiar with, Keith. He tends to flirt with a co-worker of mine named trish. Well, he isn't wrong since Trish is really a pretty girl.

In beauty scale, its pretty sure that Kathie would easily lose to Trish since she was more mature and pretty but its not like Kathie would lose to her. Just that Kathie seems to give a creepy aura that lets people see her as being weird. Trish on the other hand, has a socializing and more calm nture that she gave off a cold-beauty type that radiates her beauty even more than Kathie.

Both of them are pretty but Trish is prettier than Kathie unless she improves her personality a bit more.

Keith tends to come to the store as he would occasionally talk to me and ask more on trish everytime while sometimes play games whenever she isn't around.

While i find him annoying, other than that and he's a pretty chill dude who would give buy me snacks if i help him score on Trish. So i feel fine with it unless Trish ask me to stop but since she didn't notice i helped him, i'm still cool with it for the bribe.

"Christ man. She seem too cold for me bro. I don't know why but maybe she's playing hard to get? What do you think?"

"Hmn... Have you tried any other tactics than being agressive? She seems more considerate and good guy troupe? Try to give her space and do small talks with her."

"Wait, is it based on experience?"

"Well, yeah. Me and her are kinda close not just because we are co-workers but i tend to be in a good relationship with her. She doesn't like pushy guys and felt like she was fine with me so maybe try to act into my style."

"If you put it that way, maybe i can try that."

Since we are co-workers, i tend to get into a good relationship with people at my workplace and try to build a relationship here. Trish was hard to approach at first but we eventually come around and turned into being good acquaintances. Plus, i usually help take some of her shifts since she said that she been busy with another work but Honestly, i didn't mind that because having a good reputation is better than having none.

As i said that, the door opens and a beautiful girl came inside as Keith who saw her, immediately smiled.

"Hey there my cold-hearted beauty, want to be my ice queen?"

"How about you start melting that expression of yours by joining back to your family at the zoo? Those monkeys probably miss your face. I personally don't mind guiding you there if i can earn extra bucks."

'Oof....i better start prepping the strecher....'

It seems that Trish's insults had gone a bit of a upgrade lately as Keith's expression crack and i could even feel that his mind probably started coughing up blood.

'I-i better get away from the blast radius....'

I slowly steer clear of the coversation as i gone back to my seat and pull out my headphones to cover my ears. But right as i was about to put them on, a cold voice whispered into my ears.

"The monkey had been tranquilized so next is the poor man who sold himself for a simple snack."

'Oh........ F*ck.'

I froze on the spot as i turned like a rusted robot to the direction of a voice as i spotted a woman looking down on me with grin on her face. Trish was smiling at me who had seem to be discovered by her like a child who was caught in the act by his mother as I feel like someone had betrayed me.

'Damn you Keith.'

"S-so...Would you like to defend yourself?"

"Tch. I knew that i'll be caught someday. I should have extorted more from that bastard who sold me out."

I basically gave up resistance as i knew that there's no way i can defend myself being caught red-handed.

Seeing my surrendered look, she felt like she had succeeded something as she was about to talk when behind her was someone i personally know.

"Z-zekie.....?"

"?! K-kathie?!" 

From behind Trish, Kathie stood there with a shocked expression as she didn't expect me to run into her here.

Our date had ended yesterday so i felt like i could relax myself, knowing that i did a good job and feel like i can chill for today. Now? My calm nature who even though got caught in the act by Trish, started racing into high gear as i felt a bit nervous as to what events would lead to something like this.

'D-does Trish and Kathie know each other?!' 

Countless simulations suddenly occured to me as i didn't know what to do but i suddenly feel calm. Its not like i'm hiding anything to Kathie and she even knew of my relationship with a co-worker here but.... 

"......................." 

Wait, why is she mad? Like, she's not just mad at Trish but... A-also me?! 

'Wait, Calm down Zekie. You aren't cheating on Kathie and you already told her that you are only on a good terms with Trish..........'

.............. 

Wait...... 

...... 

Me not telling Kathie where i work = Panik

Me just forgot to tell her where i work = Kalm

Me not telling her i have a female co-worker = Panik

Me just told her she and I are only on good terms = Kalm

Me just told her she and I are only on good terms = Panik

Me just basically forget she's a yandere = More Panik

"Z.E.K.I.E............."

"Trish, can you take the shift for now? I seem to have some buisiness with this woman......... I'll talk to you later about this."

"H-hey Neil....." 

I completely ignored what Trish was about to say as i grabbed Kathie's hand as we both rush outside. I decided to take her to a place where we can talk privately as i headed to a nearby fastfood joint near the internet cafe.

After ordering food, i brought her to a table as she stared me with a cold and dead gaze.

"So, are you cheating on-"

"Kathie, i'm sorry that i didn't clearly told you about Trish. I will clear up the misunderstanding so please listen properly to me and trust me that i'm not hiding it from you."

I then began to tell her about my relationship with Trish as i kept emphasizing the 'Good Aquaintance' on her. I made myself clear that me and Trish are basically good co-workers and i'm not planning on cheating with Trish. I also began to tell her about my female friends so she can understand why as i began explaining why i'm also having female friends as well.

"Curing your Gynophobia huh...."

"Yeah. I don't want to live in fear of girls everyday and kept reminded of my trauma in the past. Having to get contact with females, i'll slowly build up my confidence back and maybe even live like a normal human being again, without having to fear women for my entire life."

She already knows of my trauma in the past as i didn't hide everything from her as she stayed silent and wanted to disagree with my decision but...

"Please.... I promise to treat you right and i won't cheat on you. Trust me."

If i live a life, always fearing women, i might stop being a proper man and even ruin my partner due to this trauma. I don't want to be like my dad, especially what happened to my mom. I wanted to treat my partner like how i wanted my father treat my mom.

"Haah... Fine."

".......Kathie thank you-"

"I'm not gonna buy you a watermelon smoothie just for that."

"Well, i can live a life without resolving my fear anyways. Ahahaha........ Please don't joke around Kathie."

I quickly shift my gears backways after just one simple declaration even with all the emotional i poured into it.

I can't help with my own addiction winning over my personal feelings.

But in the end, we had resolved the talk right as we were about to argue over it(at a cost of my watermelon smoothie). We ended returning back to the internet cafe as Trish was waiting for me but with an angry look on her face.

"It seems the poor boy places his girlfriend over his own co-worker. Seems like someone wants to be a hopeless romantic."

"I'm sorry about that Trish. I just wanted to make it clear for her that i'm not planning on cheating her with someone else. I hope that you can forgive me."

"W-wait, you aren't denying the joke?"

"What joke?"

"A-are you actually dating? You?"

"I know that i'm hopeless when it comes to relationships but i still can date someone you know."

I firmly grab Kathie's hand as i never plan on hiding it as she seem to be okay with my actions and even shown to be blushing just about me placing man dominant on Trish.

This cause her to be shocked and felt a bit oppressed but she suddenly calm down but had this depressive look on her face.

"Y-you don't have to be cool-i mean mean about it you know. Just get back here while i'm planning to play with my friend alright!"

"Y-yeah."

She quickly stood up and took Kathie away from me as she already reserve a seat with her while looking at me with a glare before heading to her seat. I decided to watch some chill music to calm my nerves after the ordeal while taking a nap since other than her who took the last station with Kathie, the cafe was already full so i can just relax and take a quick snooze.

After today, no events had occured other than Trish having some kind of grudge against me but it can be fixed in time....