Secrets

After waking up frustrated Alex got out of bed and did some stretching. He proceeded to walk to his kitchen, when he arrived he grabbed a bottle of water to make a protein shake. As we walked to his in-home gym he was shaking the bottle so that the protein shake was ready.

With just over half of the shake remaining he started his morning workout. He started with a warm up of stretching and a low intensity workout. Feeling like he was ready to move on to the real thing he went over to his weight machines and worked through his routine.

After an hour he did his cooldown routine of jogging and more stretching. After which, he grabbed a towel and started to clean the sweat off of himself. He firmly believed that keeping a healthy body led to a better life and better results while virtual reality games as the systems often linked to the player's real body.

As he walked to his bath room he passed his trophy case. He slowed down his pace and looked at the proof of his success in previous games. Various trophies were awarded to him in the past such as VIP in a national tournament for the game Conquest. Another one for 1st place in Arena PvM were he single handedly killed his arena's boss monster while other guilds struggled to kill theirs; he smiled remembering the look of his team after he carried them to victory. He didn't know if he could manage after the boss team wiped his team leaving only himself, the adrenaline and dopamine he experienced was awesome.

He took a deep breath, "Okay, time for a shower and then the final preparations for Into the Mist."

Standing in the shower he let the water run over him. He was enjoying the feeling while thinking about his game plan. He needed to succeed this time, it was getting harder and harder with each attempt he had made.

Dressed and ready for the day Alex grabbed the keys for his convertible and left his gated community. He drove right to his guild's headquarters, his friends and himself had long established a long term guild long ago. Over the years and many games they played they kept the guild alive, so much so they bought their own building so they had a place to play together. The building was remodeled several times over the years, at first it was only a place to hold all of their gaming equipment as well as to be able to play together under one space. But now it was the complete package; there was also housing so that everyone could also live together.

Alex was different, while he did have a room to call his own, he decided to live in the high class area known as the Cloud District. It was a gated community positioned at the top of the tallest hill in the city. It was not that he didn't want to live with his friends but things ended up getting awkward at a certain point so he decided to move out as it was the best method of keeping the group together.

He grew up with Jasmine, one of their guild's members, and eventually romantic feelings grew between them. He asked her out and they dated for a while. They ended up breaking up just about half a year ago.

It wasn't that there was drama, fights, or any other form of conflict between the two. It was a mutual breakup after they noticed a drop in their performance in the games they played. As professional players they had to perform well. By the time they broke up most of their sponsors stopped giving their financial support.

Their friends didn't blame them nor pressure the couple to break up, which they appreciated. But, they knew they had to put the guild's well being above their own happiness. Most of the guild's members had nothing before they started playing together. They made a name for themselves and worked to the top using their own hard work, blood, sweat and tears. To the couple it was the only right thing to do.

After parking Alex looked up and their modern looking guild headquarters and sighed. He has been keeping a major secret from his friends. There are only two sponsors who stuck around during the decline in the guild's performance. One of them was real and the other was fake. Since his father's financial company provided them with a financial advisor he was able to secretly inject his own funds into the guild so they can live a decent life.

He shook off his guilt and his usual smile reappeared on his face. He scanned his ID card in and went up to the second floor where their gaming studio was located.

"Hey! Alex, how are you doing!"

Alex looked behind him and saw the source of the voice. It was his best friend, John. 'He must have been hiding while waiting for me to arrive, Alex thought to himself.

"I'm doing well, how about you?" Alex replied.

"Haha!" John laughed, "I'm great, it is also good that you're doing well after last night. You're lucky that your car has autopilot or I would have made you stay in your old room!"

Alex was confused, "Huh?"

"I don't blame you for not remembering, you did get absolutely smashed last night." John then quickly approached Alex and wrapped his arm around him. John whispered into Alex's ear, "You might not remember but you and Jasmine spent a few hours together last night after you two got drunk. Don't worry I covered for you two."

Alex looked at his best friend with a stunned look. Thinking about it, he didn't really remember anything from last night. As they continued towards the stairs heading up stairs Alex caught a glimpse of Jasmine, who also noticed him. She was less drunk than Alex last night and had a faint recollection about what happened between the two of them. A deep red blush appeared on her face and she quickly walked in a different direction.

"John, what happened?"

John had a sly smile, "You two are more naughty then I remember, I caught you two going at it in the garden on the roof." he paused to look at Alex's surprised look and gave a quiet laugh. "Don't worry I didn't see much, after noticing what was happening I quickly turned around and went back down stairs. I kept others from going to the roof last night."

Alex pulled away from his friend's grasp and looked in shock at his friend, "Please tell me your kidding."

"Nope! Sorry buddy but you and her can never escape your feelings for each other. I don't blame you either. From everything I've seen over the years you two have perfect compatibility." John then gave Alex a laugh and a big thumbs up.

Alex was taken back, what did John mean? "What do you mean from everything you've seen?"

John once again got closer Alex and started counting on his fingers, "Well there was the time I secretly found you two having 'fun' in the pool, the hot tub, the sauna, that one beach, the roof of your dad's yacht, a mall changing room, a men's bathroom stall, by the river, that time you two snuck off right before the finals of last year's tournament, aah and a few other times."

Alex's jaw dropped. "It is a joke right?" he was really hoping John's story wasn't real.

John bursted Alex's bubble, "Sorry bud, but I'm telling you the truth. I've caught you two so many times and without you two noticing that I could have made a fortune if I had recorded you two and sold the tapes."

By the look on his friend's face Alex could tell that it was the truth and thought for a while. "Do you know if anyone else caught us?"

John shook his head, "At least I am positive that one one else noticed the times I caught you two. Anytime that happened I kept people away, did you really believe that you two had that beach all to yourselves?"

Alex frowned, not because his friend caught him but because he assumed that Jasmine and himself kept a good eye out and made sure no one was around. He sighed, "John you are a bigger friend than I could have ever expected, I don't deserve such a great friend as yourself."

John liked the praise, "It isn't a problem at all! If I ever get around to finding someone for myself I am sure you would do the same!"

Alex nodded his head and only had one more question on his mind, "Just how much did you see?"

John got a little nervous and his eyes darted around. He also stuttered a little bit as he explained. "Well, over the several events I have basically seen everything…" He wanted to joke to lighten the mood some, "I am jealous of you, you're quite hung after all."

Alex only frowned some, while he didn't care if he was seen. He was worried about Jasmine. "And her?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Everything.. I didn't stare but with enough angles and how many times I have caught you two it was only a matter of time." John said in an apologetic tone.

Alex took a deep breath, "It isn't your fault, it is mine. I should have either kept our 'fun' times in a private area or kept a better eye out. Don't worry about it, I'll need to tell Jasmine about it though."

John looked really nervous.

"Don't worry, I'll be taking all the blame. You've actually helped us out in a big way. Tonight I'll be treating you to dinner!" Alex assured John.

John once again wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulders and laughed, "Good deal! Lets get upstairs! The others are probably waiting to play Heavenly Kingdom!"

Alex disagreed, "I need to find Jasmine."

His friend understood and went upstairs without Alex. Who had turned around to find Jasmine.

He arrived in front of a door labeled 'Jasmine' and knocked on the door.

After hearing the voice behind the door Alex felt some electricity run through his body, he was attracted to everything about Jasmine, especially her voice. "Who is it?" she called out.

"Alex."

There was no response from behind the door for a few seconds, "Give me a minute."

Alex waited patiently for her to open the door and let him in. The door let out a quiet squeak as she slowly opened it.

He looked her in the eyes, "May I come in, I have something important to tell you about."

Seeing that Alex had a serious face she poked her head out the door and peeked around to see if anyone was watching. She then grabbed his arm and yanked him and while quickly closing the door behind her.