Backstage [discontinued version]

Chapter 15

Now that Monty was back at university, I had the apartment to myself. That meant less scheduling conflicts—I was a light sleeper and could feel everything that Monty did when he was moving about—but that meant I was back to regulating my own time, too. I asked Tienne to be my accountability partner so it ensured I hadn't forgotten important appointment dates or events that existed outside my regular schedule.

Returning from a frustrating gig, I lost myself in the rhythm of preparing gỏi cuốn for dinner—boiling rice noodles, then wrapping it in rice paper with leftover romaine lettuce, mock meat and cucumber sticks. With a sweet Hoisin sauce dip, the resulting taste was fresh and hearty.

My parents had suggested using a grocery delivery service. At first I opposed it. The whole point with getting them on board was to prove I could do things on my own. I was young and able-bodied and didn't really need it, right? But after observing my workflow, where my long blocks of concentrated focus on certain tasks neglected other necessary housekeeping chores, I reluctantly agreed. With their support and my wider opportunities for gigs, I could afford skipping the sensory overload of shopping. The grocery service even had visual recipe cards to get me organized.

If only I had considered this option earlier, how much stress and headaches could I have avoided? I didn't have to do things the way other people did.

With a clean finger, I scrolled through my Instagram feed until a post from Monty appeared. It was one of those effortless panoramic poses that I didn't have the patience to pose for unless you had a photographer like Joachim. According to the description, Monty had been in the Skygarden this morning, which was a vegetable garden run by the university's engineering department—I remembered from researching for university programs because the irrigation system sounded cool. I couldn't imagine Monty having the gentleness required for gardening. Then again I hadn't seen him do many hobbies besides sports and video games, so maybe Joachim had dragged him into it—

Our video game night! I hadn't written it down. Or maybe I had, but I had stashed the note out of sight, rendering it useless. Sure enough, Monty was online on Instagram. We switched to video chat.

"You look like you would rather be sleeping," I said.

He covered his yawn with a hand. He might have lipread the last word I said, or just guessed from context. "I would if I could. But since we're here, I have something to show you."

Sharing his computer screen, Monty loaded Chain Reaction and navigated to "Settings." After switching modes, he loaded the main screen again and started a New Game. Immediately I noticed how he adjusted the traveling mechanics so you could teleport from one place to another instead of grinding through the same locations again and again. But it wasn't until I stared at the background pixel art for a good minute that everything clicked. The tall clustered spires of the glass buildings, the steamboats cutting across the harbourfront, the stylistic borders of bauhinia flowers and the red-and-white colour scheme....

I widened my eyes. "That's Hong Kong! But the current assets are less polished. And you worked so hard on previous game assets. Why did you change it now?"

With a mix of sign language and speaking, he explained, "I realized this game's been taking me forever to finish because working on it was like perfecting someone else's masterpiece. It didn't feel like it was for me anymore. You're right, you know—I shouldn't be making it to impress others. I want to enjoy my own game. And researching about my background's been interesting, so yeah."

I was quiet, then said, "I never heard you talk about your background."

"It's not important to me. But I want to learn more about it before deciding to keep it or let it go," he said, pushing his palms out and up in surrender.