The 28-year-old got up from his chair at the kitchen table and went to pour himself a cup of coffee.
Perhaps when he was younger, Yori might have taken her morning coffee online in the digital world (it tasted just as good and had zero calories), but in some senses you could say Yori had grown out of the habit of diving 24/7 in virtual reality. These days, Yori didn't really log on unless it was to spend time with Joshua — which to be fair was every single night — but eight hours of continuous VR time was already pushing it at Yori's age, even if the bulk of it was sleeping.
She didn't have the stamina to play MMO's for days and days anymore.
Besides, the cat would get angry at her.
Yori removed the coffee filter from the machine and emptied the spent the coffee grounds into the compost bin.
He picked up his laptop computer and navigated to the Nihon Ki-in website to download the sgfs of the professional matches that had been played overnight. There was a highly anticipated matchup between Seung Jung-hwa and Cho Jae at the 96th Arabian Invitational in Dubai, and Yori couldn't call himself a professional go player if he didn't stay up-to-date with the most recent matches.
Even if he wasn't competing on the international circuit at the moment, Yori still followed the games closely.
He took several sips of coffee while scrolling through the game record.
Yori then looked down at his cellphone, which was silent.
It really felt like he had gotten old, hadn't he?
In a sense, all of Yori's friends from high school had changed.
Yori had changed more than most (...considering Yori's gender transformation saga), but all of the guys he used to hang out with had gradually moved on from virtual reality. Joshua, for instance, was hardly online either. Yori's best friend had gone to medical school and then became an anesthesiology resident. The healthcare profession didn't really offer much free time for stress-ridden doctors, and Joshua quickly disappeared from all of their online social circles.
Some of Yori's friends would often remark that spotting Joshua was like spotting a unicorn.
Only Yori had stayed in touch with him over the years, which felt like something extraordinarily special.
The nature of their relationship had evolved extensively.
To be honest, it was almost as if they had changed into entirely different people ever since Yori's high school days.
It was very mysterious. How did they manage to stay together despite all the transformation? If Yori was a pineapple five years ago, now she was an orange. Joshua, on the other hand, had become red-spotted turkey. The current versions of themselves would be completely unrecognizable in the eyes of their younger selves, yet somehow the distance between the two had remained an immutable constant.
Joshua still texted Yori.
Yori still texted him back.
One summer day, they agreed to get married online.
It's an incredibly dull story, but marriage is unexpectedly simple in some regards. People often made it complicated, or they blow it up with hundred-thousand dollar weddings or carefully scripted engagement proposals with hired videographers, but some people don't need the elaborate rites or ceremonies. Some people simply sat down with their loved ones and simply agreed that they were married.
The US state of Colorado recognizes common law marriages, and Yori believed in a similar philosophy when it came to virtual reality. It wasn't necessary to have a priest or civil servant proclaim a pre-existing union into reality. Rather, many couples were already married by the time they officially announced it or walked down the wedding aisle. Some couples were married for years without even knowing it. Conversely, there were also many people who got married on paper but weren't truly married in their hearts.
Marriage was something that existed only if two people believed in it.
A marriage is a man-made creation, no different from a sand castle or a delicious fruit salad prepared by a chef.
It was only ever as good as the effort put into making it.
∎
It’s good, you can take your time to take the next step. You don’t have to stress over it. If you give in to that pressure, you won’t end up with a work you are satisfied with
The synopsis looked really good and I can see the foundation being laid. Can't wait for some more chapters!