I stayed there for another hour, Anshur would be leaving the estate by now, and I have no heart to come and say goodbye to that woman.

The air conditioner kept me from dying from being drowned in my own sweat. The room still smelled faintly of the steak I ate this noon… Because of course, eating food in an enclosed room with air conditioner on was a good idea.

Twenty-one hours.

It had officially been 21 hours since I died.

And I still couldn't get up.

THIS IS FUCKING PATHETIC

I screamed at myself.

Of course I died, but I was at, like, what, level 53? Who the fuck cares? I've died at level 700 before, only sulked for like 3 hours before getting back on like a big boy with huge balls.

But god damn, what is eating at my own mentality, I thought? Pathetic, fucking pathetic, just pathetic, absolutely pathetic, god damn motherfucking pathetic.

…

Am I… Hearing more footsteps?

That familiar, weird pattern again… The one that I haven't grown accustomed to, the footsteps of someone riding between masculinity and feminity, the same pair of footsteps that had been dropping off my food all day.

They knocked at my door, once, twice, three times.

At this point, I expect they to come in and drop some food, yet… None?

They knocked three more times.

Were they… waiting for me to answer?

I sat up, slowly and examined down at myself.

My shirt was halfway off one shoulder, and my shorts were wrinkled enough to qualify as a map… Hell, I didn't even wear anything inside, god, my hair's growing past my shoulders too, gotta get them cut one of these days.

Still, I tried to fix myself before receiving any guest.

I brushed my hair back with my fingers, pulled the blanket over my legs and took a deep breath.

"…Come in." I said.

The door creaked, and I froze when I recognize that figure.

She was wearing some kind of stupid pajamas, yet, it didn't hide her straight, well-adjusted figure and posture of a businesswoman. She had a sharper chin with a very calming expression, but quite opposite from Tanya's irritating calmness, this was more like, professionally calm, as her gaze was sharp even though it could convey fragile emotions.

Her hair were pure white, as snow, the same shade as Hailie. Just that… Hailie's more curly and fluffy and bouncy, while this woman more straightened with little to no wild movements

Eirlys Sonder… When was the last time we got 1-on-1 like this?

"Mind if I turn the light on?" she asked.

She surely must've noticed my hesitation, as her hand lingered on the switch, then dropped as she moved away from the wall and found herself on my gaming chair.

She sat with her legs crossed, showing that beside her ridiculous yellow pajama, she also had fluffy slippers for comfort. I guess there was a feminine and soft side to her after all?

I tried not to shrink into the blanket as I spoke:

"You… you were the one bringing me food?"

"I wanted to make sure that you were eating, Cory." She said with her arms crossed, still being serious. "I realized that I haven't really paid attention to you as I should. Which is… awful, considering recent circumstances."

"Circumstances?" I asked.

"You've been helping me a lot, Cory. Every week you hand in some exploit in the seemingly perfect VR game, and every week I take the credit… I only recently realize that I haven't been repaying you enough for your wits and trouble."

She said it so matter-of-factly that I didn't even know whether to be flattered or insulted.

"I should've thanked you more," she added quietly. "And lately… you haven't seemed well."

"I haven't seemed…" I blinked. "What?"

"Your mental state," she clarified, tone soft but precise. "It's deteriorating, and you should not deny it."

"I'm fine," I lied automatically, chuckling half-assedly, despite the literal blind and deaf would be begging to differ.

"You're fine?" Eirlys tilted her head slightly. "Then you do you explained…"

Oh god.

"One," she began, counting with her fingers, "you said you stayed over at a friend's, but you came back to the mansion crying with wounds on your body. Two, when Hailie died in-game, you screamed on the roof where I was resting, loud enough that the entire floor could hear. And three, yesterday… You died, and now you've locked yourself in your room."

"Um… I- Uh…" I hesitated to say anything at all.

"I can go deeper, I promise." Eirlys leaned back in the chair, still facing me. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to. But if you do, we can help. We have two in-house therapists you could try seeing, and if you don't like either of them, we could appoint you with any good one in the country."

I shook my head. "I don't trust strangers."

"Therapists are equipped to…"

"I just don't, okay?" I said, sharper than I meant to.

Silence stretched between us for a while.

Eirlys sighed, rubbing her temple, as if she was forced to be here and didn't know how to deal with a child throwing a tantrum like me.

Then, after a few seconds, she asked:

"Is life here too hard for you?"

"Huh?"

"If you'd rather live somewhere else, I can arrange that, of course I'll try to support your living condition as best I can… I believe there are good apartments nearby which are safe and quiet. Or I could help you move back to your old place across town… Of course, we'll be more than happy to buy a large unit under your name with monthly paychecks."

That caught me off guard, and I stared at her, really stared, trying to see if she was serious… Yep, she totally was.

"No, uh- not that either." I swallowed. "I'd rather stay here… I don't want to live alone again. I don't want to think about… surviving alone, having to clean my own room every half a year… Getting rid of all the cockroaches corpse, going outside for groceries… I'm grateful to be here, even if I suck at showing it."

Eirlys didn't reply right away, but her eyes softened, just a fraction.

"Then what do you want, Cory?"

The room fell quiet again, save for the hum of the air conditioner and the faint ticking of the old wall clock.

"I think… I have an answer." I said, "It's related to our first encounter in my apartment."

Eirlys Sonder tilted her head in confusion.

"Can you spank me?"

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