"tsk-" Fiona heard a click of the tongue for the fifth time and turned to look towards her left. In a not so busy Arcade zone, A man dressed in an all-black outfit along with a long trench coat seemed very frustrated as he kept, hitting hammer on the heads of all the yellow ducks that peeked out of a dozen holes at random.
The man had been here for more than an hour, playing the exact same game over and over again. He was hitting the ducks with such speed and force that she was sure that by now, the machine should have a few things broken inside it.
Fiona stared at the man with a fascinated expression as the man proceeded to smash the hammer on top of every single duck that appeared out of the holes.
After half an hour, the man was seen walking towards the other side of the arcade towards a shooting game but now, a figure dressed in black sweats was looming behind him like a dark shadow.
The man paused and turned to look at the young girl who came to his chest with an almost helpless expression.
"Why are you following me kiddo?" As he spoke, his expressionless eyes twinkled with a bit of humor. A little black mole on the corner of his eyes stood out to the girl in black.
"You look like your fish died," the girl was young and soft like a cotton candy yet her dressing style and the cold look on her face were so in contrast that it made Roman pause.
After all, Roman always found strange things intriguing.
"..." Roman stood there, looking at Fiona with one of his eyebrows raised. Just as he was about to turn around and proceed with what he was doing, he was stopped by another sentence that came out of Fiona's mouth.
"Or you just got rejected," Fiona spoke her thoughts out loud without realizing it. She looked up abruptly, waiting for the man to tell her off but his reaction surprised her instead.
"You seem very observant for your young age," a smirk made onto Roman's face as his messy black hair fell on top of his forehead. They were long enough to come to his eyes, almost blocking him.
Fiona stared at him, her eyes sparkled as she stared at the beautiful man in front of her. Her eyes lightly roamed across his features, taking in how devilishly handsome he looked. There was something different about him.
There were men who were handsome but she had never seen a man as beautiful as him.
"So you got rejected," she mumbled.
How can a man like him be rejected?
Without answering the questions, Roman walked towards the shooting game and picked up a gun, knowing that the girl was still on his toes.
When Fiona came up beside him, she saw how he had put the game on multiplayer. So without a word, she picked up the other set of gun console and started playing beside him.
They played for another half an hour and both of them gave a tough competition to each other.
It got them equally excited, thrilled and they both let some steam off. Then they decided to rest a bit on a couch that was in the right corner of the arcade.
"I confessed and she turned me down," Roman broke the silence.
Fiona who was staring in a distance, turned to look at him with confusion.
"Why do you think she did so?" she asked him. Her voice was calm yet not cold. In fact, it was a bit gentle.
"Hmm...there was no way she could not have known that I held feelings for her. In fact, at times, I felt that she had feelings for me too but as soon as I confessed, she panicked and then left."
They talked on and on for half an hour and Roman spilled out his emotions in front of a total stranger. Even though the conversation was long, it did not feel forced from any side.
Fiona listened to him as he let out his frustration while Roman was happy to have someone there to listen to him, even if it was just play pretend.
After the conversation was over, Fiona stood up from her seat and kneeled to tighten her shoelace. Then she turned around to leave while Roman was staring at a wall in some distance. There was no awkwardness, just peace.
But before Fiona left, she looked back and asked something.
"Why did you do so much for her?"
"Because I owe her for saving my life," Roman looked up at her and paused before speaking.
"You are not supposed to walk a hundred miles for someone when they can meet you at fifty. If your love will remain one-sided then what is the point of wasting away your efforts, confiding yourself on the other side? You are just a human so it's okay if you selfishly protect the broken pieces of your heart.
You have given her enough. Now the only person you owe something to is yourself."
Fiona spoke. Her voice contained a hint of kindness. Then her mind wandered towards her sister who was just broken up with and how well she handled herself. Her older sister was her idol, the way she gracefully handled everything, how she was so strong and assertive with her boundaries.
"My sister is very strong and sometimes strength can be misunderstood as selfishness but at the end of the day these selfish people are the happiest." those were the last words Fiona spoke before leaving Roman starting at her back with his head buzzing with what she said.
He stayed there for as long as he can remember, until his phone buzzed and there was a message from someone.
'Roman! Please pick up the call, I need your help.
- Sweet Gina'