Chapter 2

"Darling, I bet you must be busy this morning. Your boss is such a capitalist. You don't even have a moment to reply. Remember to get back to me when you can," he added, ending the message with a kiss emoji.

As I stared at these messages that felt sweeter than any happiness, fear came even faster. The more I thought about it, the colder I felt.

If Yoel really was my online crush, all I wanted to tell him was that I was stuck revising a plan late into the night. He couldn't expect me home early, and his boring meetings were the ones I had spent three all-nighters preparing for. He really was a ruthless capitalist, using me like a workhorse every single day.

"Are you really my boss?"

I typed the words over and over, erasing them each time. If it really was him, all our conversations could threaten my job. If it wasn't him, it would be painfully awkward.

I felt a pang of frustration. Mr. Y and I had been going back and forth for three months. We were supposed to meet before the national holiday.

My chat background was a selfie Mr. Y had sent, focusing on his hand, which I had begged him to share for ages. His fingers were slender and beautifully shaped, with nails that glowed a soft, pale pink.

I had finally come across a soulmate whose chat topics matched mine perfectly, and the hand was so beautiful. Even just the part shown in the photo hit all the points I loved.

Being a game nerd with a thing for voices and hands, I couldn't help but be intrigued by someone like Mr. Y online.

We had first met in a game.

At the time, we were both solo queuing when we ran into a pre-made team of three. They saw the jungler had gained an early advantage and then went roaming and taunting the enemy across all channels, only to be countered and feed the enemy marksman.

The match completely fell apart. The three of them took turns yelling and blaming the jungler, who stayed silent and kept playing.

I couldn't take it anymore, so I unmuted and started lashing out at the team. The three of them were silenced instantly.

After the match, I discovered I had been muted by the system and saw a friend request from the jungler. He invited me to queue again, and I explained that my mic had been banned.

He replied, "Should we continue on WhatsApp voice chat instead?"

Over time, we went from being game teammates to constant chat partners.

Once, I stayed up all night revising a plan, and he stayed on voice chat with me the entire time, saying he was overseas on business and just happened to be adjusting to the time difference. The next morning, he asked for my address, and half an hour later, a warm breakfast arrived.

At that moment, my lonely heart felt a little less heavy.

After that, we started voice chatting every night. He sang to me, told stories, made jokes, and coaxed me to sleep. Our flirting lasted three months, and when I realized we were both in Alderstone, I suggested we meet in person.

"Darling, really? Are you serious? Don't lie to me. "

"Only fools lie. I work at Riverview Tower. Do you want to grab a bite nearby?"

Mr. Y didn't reply.

Looking back, everything had seemed perfect, and then Mr. Y abruptly said something had come up and promised to meet next time.

He probably realized I had been one of his staff, which was why he had canceled at the last moment.

If Mr. Y really was Yoel, he was the sole heir of the wealthiest family in the country. How could he seriously be involved with someone as insignificant as me?

After all, he had said so many things that made my face flush and my heart race during our voice chats. Even a single screenshot of our conversations could spark a scandal that might affect a high-profile family's stock prices.

Suddenly, a hollow ache settled in my chest. The reason we never met was my identity.

People often said online romances ended when the truth came out. I kept hoping it had been only his insecurity about how he looked that had kept him distant, not deliberate cold reasoning.

Yoel likely hadn't realized that the employee he had criticized in front of everyone for wasting memory and ruining plans was the very person he had been calling his darling.