Whispers Behind the Screen

he thrill of surviving the final circle. Though an extrovert by nature, she kept h

aded, replaced by a strange sense of heaviness she couldn't explain. So,

ng the third match, her voi

ice-calm, steady. It belon

hange felt... natural. Like they'd played together for months, not mi

ame," S

replied, a small smile

, he spoke again. "I'll play again la

inking, feeling an unexpect

s there-headphones on,

g didn'

ed five

n t

an

o sign

the game. He didn'

s status still showed offline. A whole day passed with no sign of Seng. And despit

omeone who meant what he said. Or maybe it was because, in that short

pped open the chat

gry wit

s honest. And then, she closed the app,

led through her notifications, her ey

is on

stop it. She opened the game, only

ish like that. Something cam

came a few s

de me

been mad. Furious, even. And

ype a reply, anoth

e that. It felt... nice. Like som

something about the way he said it melted her frustrat

're forgiven. But only

her game

The tension from before had vanished. The way they communicated was effortless

moments, his obsession with perfectly executed game strategies, his odd collection of fantasy books. Okomani, in turn, spo

connection slowly became a daily routine they both looked forward to.

ited for a match to load, h

for a second

. Wan

f you w

ID without

ed from game lobbies to Instagram DMs. There, they weren't ju

d the occasional silly reel. His profile, on the other hand, was quiet

rent. And yet, so

re logging off,

d me that day. Even i

it for a moment,

to