4. Reunion

On the promised day, Steve wrapped up his work earlier than expected. His order for dinner also arrived in a flash. He logged into RoVe because he did not have anything to do. No one had arrived yet at the bar, which was unusually empty.

He sat down for few minutes. But it felt uneasy. After hesitating, Steve left again, and went to Alaina's cafe.

She welcomed him with a bright smile.

"Steve! Finally you're back," said her happily. She signaled him to sit while she quickly went behind the counter.

"Have you been busy?" she asked while brewing tea.

"Very. Sorry, I really had no time to come…."

Alaina chuckled. "Why are you apologizing? I just wondered where you have been. And I'm glad to see you again."

If he did not know that Alaina was an NPC, he would have suspected her to be flirting with him!

Few minutes later, Alaina served him a cup of steaming green tea. She even used a yunomi cup, not a mug or western tea cup.

"I can't wait to show you this cup," she pointed proudly. "Isn't it pretty?"

Steve nodded. It was already a surprise for him, that green tea was really added in the menu. To serve it in a Japanese cup was another level of attention. Made him wonder who made such a great effort.

Was it Ron? It was not his style to pay attention to such details, though.

Or was it Erica? But it also did not make sense. They did not know each other that well.

Steve was lost in his self reasoning, until Alaina said, "A penny for your thoughts."

He laughed, embarrassed to discuss what he was thinking about. Instead, he diverted to talk about his appointment.

"I'm wondering when my friends will come." Then, quickly he added, "We have a meet-up. With my college friends."

Alaina's eyes rounded in excitement. "Reunion?"

"Uh... I guess yes… informal one."

"That sounds fun!"

"Hope so…," he replied with hopeless expression.

"You're not enthusiastic about it," Alaina chuckled.

Steve asked sheepishly, "Is it that obvious?"

"Too obvious."

They laughed together. Steve felt his mood lightened up.

At that moment he received a notification. Aurelia had logged in. His already better mood dampened again.

"I have to go," he sighed.

Alaina smiled and waved as he left the cafe.

The cafe was not as empty as it was previous time, though Steve only saw Aurelia and 3 other quite familiar faces there.

"Hey, Steve!" Aurelia saw him immediately.

Steve nodded and walked over to her. The 4 of them sat together around a small table. Steve took seat at the table next to theirs.

He cleared his throat, then asked hesitantly, "Ron's not here yet?"

"He will be late. Sudden meeting."

"Ah…."

Steve stayed quiet after that. He ordered hot tea, then just sat there silently. Aurelia and the others were merrily chatting about college memories.

One by one the remaining of their group appeared. There were 3 women, including Aurelia, and the rest were men. They occupied some tables so there were separated group talks.

The guys sitting with Steve asked him a few questions. His lack of response made them stop trying to involve him in their conversation.

Ron was the last one to come.

Some cheered when they saw Ron entering. He grinned and bowed as if in a theatre play.

"Here comes the male lead," he joked, bumping fist with all of his friends.

As soon as Ron arrived, the atmosphere amped up a lot. First thing he did was getting the waiters to rearrange tables and chairs. The groups merged into one and conversation flowed smoothly around everyone.

Steve sat at the end of tables. No one paid attention to him, and he did not mind. His mind started wandering back to Claire's words when she called on Friday.

"Me? Why are you worried about me?"

Claire did not answer right away. As he knew her pretty well, he knew Claire was organizing her thoughts into the right order before speaking out.

"You never like being in a big group chat. I remember you were very uncomfortable at Ron's surprise birthday party, even though you know everyone. You almost ran away when my mom asked if you like the food," Claire recalled.

Steve grimaced on remembering that memory.

"Ah, that…. Can you tell your mom that I'm very ashamed about what I did? Please tell her I'm sorry."

"Mom understood, don't worry," she brushed it off. "Besides, it's been so long. I'm not sure she still remembers."

Without a pause, she continued, "I'm bringing it up because I'm worried you'll have a hard time at the reunion. I know you agreed to join because of my brother. But it's okay to refuse if you feel uncomfortable."

Steve felt grateful. Claire had always been attentive and caring, and she really surprised him this time. Even Ron, his best friend, did not consider this much.

"Thank you. Really, I thank you so much for worrying about me," he expressed his gratitude profusely.

"But you'll still go?" accurately she guessed.

Steve chuckled. Another trait that Claire had not lost. She was always so sharp in reading other's reaction, sometimes made him convinced that she could read minds.

"One or two hours won't kill me, I hope. I've had hundreds of meetings for work. Although it's always a torture, I have to grit my teeth and just go through it. I think supporting a friend is as important as my job."

Claire sighed. She could only wished Steve good luck.

They then talked about RoVe. Claire was curious about Steve's experiences in that virtual reality world.

"Ron and his team did a great job, really. Have you never tried it? He didn't ask you to be a beta tester?"

"He asked, but I refused. I never like virtual reality," she confessed.

"I never tried it before, but now I think it's not bad. To some degree I feel more comfortable talking to a stranger in virtual reality, compared to in the real life. I feel less anxious. I still feel uncomfortable, but not as much as meeting in person."

Claire sincerely said, "Good to hear that."

The concern moved his heart. He remembered how Claire always being attentive about him in the past. Even though they had not met for years, she still cared a lot.

"Thank you for worrying about me."

Claire chuckled. "If you're really thankful, visit us when you have time. Mom misses you. And don't forget to bring her favorite brownies!"

When she mentioned the brownies, Steve laughed heartily. He knew clearly how Claire also loved that brownies.

"Sure, I will!" he gave his promise.

A slight tap on his right hand brought Steve back to present. Lily, former classmate who sat by his side, smiled apologetically.

"Ron called you," she whispered.

From the other end of tables, Ron grinned and waved at him. "Sorry, Josh wants to know who have stayed the longest at current job, so I mentioned you."

Steve nodded awkwardly.

"Where do you work?" Josh asked. Ron told him, and Josh was flabbergasted.

Not just Josh, almost everyone present was astounded. People started asking questions. Steve hated being in the spotlight, so he stammered because of anxiety.

Ron answered the questions for him. He swiftly stole the attention back to save Steve.

Steve breathed out a sigh of relief. But he became tense again when he accidentally caught Lily stealing a glance at him.

For the rest of their gathering, Lily tried to converse time to time, but never too demanding. She stopped whenever Steve sounded uncomfortable. Mostly she inquired about his job situation – how he got hired, his office facilities, et cetera – so he thought Lily was probably interested about working for a conglomerate.

Before the gathering dispersed, everyone exchanged RoVe contact with each other. Lily was the first to ask his.

After they finished, she said, "Let's meet up when you're online next time."

Steve clumsily agreed.

"But… I'm really busy lately. Maybe I won't be around a lot, or at all," he added.

"Oh, too bad… can't be helped, I guess," looked genuinely disappointed, Lily sighed. "Can I text you then? I mean, in real life, not here. Maybe we can arrange to meet when you have the time."

"Sure," Steve replied, unsure.

"I don't have your number though," Lily chuckled. "I'll ask Ron."

"Is something going on between you and Lily?" Ron interrogated via call later. Probably Lily had asked him for Steve's number, so he got curious.

"She seemed to be interested in my job. That's all."

"Yeah, sure," Ron scoffed. "She was clearly interested in you, not your job."

Steve shrugged. He was not sure why Lily, who once was popular girl of their class would be interested on a nerd like him.

Back then, Lily attracted many boys because of her beauty, and her gentle demeanor. Steve remembered that she got into a relationship with another popular student….

"Didn't she date the rich heir boy from Business Management?"

Ron confirmed. "Rudolf, yes, they dated. They even got engaged."

Steve just nodded silently. Ron, unlike his usual self, was also quiet for a minute, before blurting out.

"You don't ask why they broke up?"

"Uh?" Steve got confused.

"Lily and Rudolf. You're wondering, aren't you?"

Honestly, Steve was not wondering at all. He never wanted to pry into people's life. But Ron was different. He loved to socialize, so he naturally had everyone's news in his pocket.

Not waiting for Steve's answer, Ron just assumed he was interested. He told him the story on how Lily broke her engagement on the night before her supposed to be wedding day….