A Piece of Your Heart

I felt my heart skip a beat at his sentence.

I never knew that it might be the case. But to hear him confirm it himself made me feel a little embarrassed.

I didn’t have much of an opinion about him ever since he started coming to the bar. I simply considered him as one of the customers; I had no reason to think of him otherwise. Even if he was only there for someone, it wasn’t any of my business.

Now that I knew his reason for coming, I couldn’t help but feel a little flattered. If he only visited the bar for me, then it meant he liked my singing, which was what I considered the greatest compliment ever.

I didn’t think that he was the type to come to places like that since he never mingled with the other customers or eyed any women. Or at least, from what I observed so far.

‘His accessories look expensive, so he must be rich. Or perhaps an average worker who likes to spend his money extravagantly,’ I surmised in my head.

He was still looking at me hesitantly, like he was afraid of my response. But I didn’t know how to react, so I could only fall silent.

Yes, I was flattered, but I also felt strange. Not in a negative way. More like… pleasantly surprised, but still caught off-guard.

“I’ve never been good at socializing. As you can probably tell, I’m pretty awkward most of the time,” Nathaniel admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “I had your sketchbook with me, so I thought of many ways to approach you. However, no matter how long I waited at the park, you never appeared again. I didn’t know who you are, what your name is, where you work…”

I listened to him, slightly fascinated.

I couldn’t believe he really waited for me like that. For me, a stranger? This was really kind of him to do.

He could’ve just left the sketchbook there or even decide not to give it to me.

But he didn’t. Instead, he made an effort to find me.

“Then, I saw you again. It was pure coincidence,” Nathaniel said. “You dropped your bag on the way, so I helped you. You didn’t recognize me, and you thanked me before going on your way. I wanted to go after you and tell you about the sketchbook, but you were in a hurry, so I had no choice but to follow you.”

I tried to remember if that really happened, but I couldn’t. It was such a mundane occurrence, so it wasn’t really a surprise that I forgot.

“I entered the bar, ordered a drink, and that was when I first witnessed your singing.” Nathaniel absently stirred his noodles, letting them cool slowly. “You have a really nice voice.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

Nathaniel smiled back, but his smile held a hint of embarrassment. “I didn’t bring the sketchbook with me today, so… is it okay if I give it back to you tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Sure. No problem.”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Thank goodness it wasn’t lost forever!

We talked for a bit before finishing our instant noodles. He was surprisingly nice to talk to. We didn’t talk about anything personal, but I did give him my name. Though I doubted that he didn’t know since I mentioned my name a few times before I started singing onstage.

After eating, he accompanied me to hail a cab. I thanked him again and told him that I’d see him tomorrow before getting inside the vehicle.

As the car rode off, I thought about him one more time. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and the earlier terror I experienced wore off due to our casual conversation.

I admitted that the moment he mentioned my sketchbook, the bad memory instantly faded into the background. I felt a little grateful that I got distracted by the topic that he brought up.

Tomorrow, I would get my sketchbook back from him, and that would be the end of it. I had been working a lot of jobs for the past few years. I met many people. Different kinds of people, with different faces and different personalities. Some of them were genuinely kind, but some were also downright nasty. Safe to say, my trust in people slowly dwindled, until I swore to myself that I would only trust my family and nobody else.

My boyfriends in the past contributed to my lack of trust in men as well. Love them, and they would eventually betray you.

I didn’t want to have my feelings trampled on again. I already had enough of love.

That beautiful kind of love that they portrayed in movies and books? That kind of love was a mere fantasy.

In reality, there were no happily-ever-afters. In reality, love was messy, love was fragile, and soulmates were very much rare.

After getting my sketchbook back, I would prefer it if I didn’t see Nathaniel again. I knew that he was a good person, but I didn’t want to risk it again. After seeing what men were capable of, I didn’t want to get hurt. He might seem nice at first, and I admitted that he was attractive, but what if he showed his true colors later on?

Life was truly a mess.

Taking out my phone, I scrolled through the latest news, trying to find something to distract myself.

A headline caught my eye.

‘CEO of NA Games Inc., Reported To Have Fully Recovered From Illness. Vital Sword II To Be Released This Summer.’

The Vital Sword series was my brother’s most favorite video game. When he was in college, he would play it during his free time. I bought the game for him as a birthday gift, a reward for his hard work. It took a chunk out of my salary, but it was worth seeing his enjoyment. After all, my brother never slacked off on his studies, and it hurt my heart to see him stressing so much over his academics.

I figured that he needed some leisure time as well, so I bought him video games so that he could unwind. All work and no play would only lead to burnout.

He loved them. He loved almost all the games from this company.

NA Games Inc.

They specialized in open-world, role-playing games that had diverse genres. Their fantasy genre was the most popular, with thriller and horror being the second. The company was said to be the most popular and high-rated company in the video game industry.

It was also the same company that people liked to gossip about because the CEO was so mysterious. Apparently, the CEO didn’t like to show his face in public, and his real identity was a well-kept secret within the company. All the workers probably signed an NDA contract or something.

But the employees were known to be very satisfied with their work, and they admired their CEO a lot. Not only that, but they were also well-paid and received many good benefits.

It was why whenever there was an opening at NA Games, Inc., the competition was always fierce. Almost everyone wanted to work there. I heard that it was hard to get hired there, though.

It was because of this mysterious persona that several pieces of gossip rose over the years.

For one, the CEO was rumored to be antisocial or had hideous scars on his face that he didn’t want people to see. Things like that.

There were many other reasonable and also outrageous rumors about him, but the fact remained that he was supposedly very good to his employees. He had quite a sharp memory, so he remembered every worker’s name, even the cleaning staff’s. He remembered their family backgrounds and would give high incentives every now and then.

Basically, everyone in that company loved working for him, and most of the reviews expressed their satisfaction.

The only bad reviews spoke of the CEO’s constant nitpicks and perfectionist attitude, that he would often have his employees revise and rework those details that he deemed unsatisfactory. He did pay them extra for the additional work.

But hey, at least their games were a huge success most of the time.

Talks about NA Games Inc. often circulated through the internet, so I was naturally curious about the company. My brother liked to browse through articles about it as well. It was one of our ways to bond.

I personally never played one of their video games, but from what I saw when my brother played them, the story, graphics, and gameplay were indeed impressive.

And like every other person out there, I was also quite curious about their CEO.

For a moment, I wondered what he really looked like.