Civilization

"Greetings to everyone here, Mr. Ian and Ms. Rebecca already know who I am but for Mr. Evan and Ms. Sabrina who do not know who I am. My name is Adam. Right now, I will be giving a brief explanation of the safety procedures. Just don\'t break anything and we should be fine. The private plane will fly extremely smoothly and since our destination is only 2 hours away there isn\'t much to worry about. Eve do you want to talk now?" - Adam

"What? That\'s it? Are you serious? ADAM!" - Eve

"My apologies but there really isn\'t much to talk about? The plane is one hundred percent safe, our pilot is amazing, and you don\'t feel any turbulence. Just don\'t break anything and don\'t go too crazy with the drinks and everyone will be safe." - Adam

"I thought we were going to keep it as professional as possible? You already broke out of character. What am I supposed to do? If I keep it up I\'ll look like an idiot. I can\'t believe it… All my acting went to waste…" - Eve

"Wait, you guys were acting professionally?" - Evan

"Looked pretty legit to me…" - Sabrina

"Yeah, but I got slightly tired of it. Eve was the one that wanted to at least act professionally in front of you guys. That way we look a little more reliable but after seeing everyone and watching you guys for a bit, I concluded we are the same, BABY!!" - Adam

Ripping off his blazer, Adam howls to the ceiling, with Eve holding her forehead in distress.

"What a plot twist…" - Ian

"Adam is a party animal." - Rebecca

"Adam! Want a drink with me? We can pour each other a nice cold beer if you want?" - Evan

"One hundred percent baby! Let me get the drinks!" - Adam

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! At least wait until I finish talking my part. You can\'t always just go running off. Everyone, let me reintroduce ourselves. Adam is my younger party freak brother and I am Eve-" - Eve

"My boring, goody-two-shoes sister. Hurry up, LOSER~" - Adam

"SHUT UP! GOD, you are annoying. ANYWAY! Mr. Sam is our benefactor and we serve him, both in real life and in-game. He asked us to help everyone here gather with the rest of the members of your guild to establish it official but other than that detail he hasn\'t told us anything else. The 2 of us want to join it as well but he told me that Evan was the leader of the guild, so we needed to appeal to you, that\'s why we tried to act professionally. " - Eve

"Well, I don\'t mind at all… How about you guys? Do you mind if they join?" - Evan

Glancing around the cabin, Evan looked for our responses, and with nods from everyone he smiles, turning back to Eve.

"Get a drink, Eve. We party during the flight and once we see Sam and the rest, we party again. What do you think of that?" - Evan

"Are you sure…?" - Eve

"TAKE THIS DRINK SIS!" - Adam

Shouting from the other side of the cabin, Adam throws a beer can at Eve who expertly catches it with her left hand before it hit her face.

"Eve, I think you don\'t need to worry too much. Everyone here is friends and we play the game for fun, helping each other out with information we find online and through our experiences. The more people we know then the more information we will hold which makes it better for everyone." - Ian

"Thank you…" - Eve

"ALRIGHT, WITH THAT LET\'S PARTY! DUMBVAN START BLASTING THE MUSIC! ADAM GET THE BOOZE!!!" - Sabrina

With us accepting Eve and Sabrina\'s shout, we start to have fun on the plane as it flies across the sky. Loud music was blasting through the speakers and the cabin had turned into a dance floor. Being a private plane, there were obviously some new additions that can\'t be found in a normal airliner. One of them was the disco ball that pops out of the ceiling of the cabin. An array of lights fills the room, flashing with the beat of the music.

Rebecca was chatting with Eve and Sabrina, whilst Adam, Evan, and I were drinking and dancing. Thinking back, I haven\'t gone out and drank alcohol in years while partying with friends. I can tell I had a big smile on my face as I have fun with everyone here and a warm fuzzy feeling could be felt inside my chest.

However, the party was cut short as our plane starts to land. With the help of Eve and Adam, we were ushered out of the plane in no time and by going through another side exit we were out of the arrival gates and walking towards a car park. Waiting for us were 2 cars similar to the one that pick Adam picked us up in and after splitting up into a boys-only and girls-only car we start to head to our destination.

Sitting next to me, Evan was sipping on some sparkling water. He was in the process of sobering up after drinking so much alcohol, and he catches me glancing at him.

"Something on my face? Why are you looking at me like that?" - Evan

"No reason. I just had some thoughts on my mind." - Ian

"What thoughts? Tell me, I\'m curious now." - Evan

"Are you thinking about what I was thinking about, Mr. Ian?" - Adam

"Maybe… I didn\'t realize how close you were with Sabrina, yet there always seemed to be a barrier between the two of you. Want to tell me what that is about?" - Ian

Almost spitting out his drink, Evan chokes and coughs a couple of times while Adam laughs hysterically in the front.

"That was EXACTLY what was on my mind. After all, it was my job to research everyone here as well as act according to your personality. I had a slight suspicion on that thought as well. Mr. Evan tell us, what is your relationship with Sabrina?" - Adam

"My relationship…? We are just friends. Well… Maybe more than just friends. It is a long story and I bet the both of you don\'t want to hear it. Honestly, it is also a boring story." - Evan

"Noooooo, tell us. I mean there is nothing wrong with your relationship right now. I\'m with Rebecca after letting her stay with me for months." - Ian

"Righhhhttttt, I want to hear about that story. How did that happen? It was so out of the blue. I swear the both of you just one day said, yep we are dating." - Evan

"How about you tell us first, Mr. Evan, and then Mr. Ian will tell us?" - Adam

"Uhh…" - Evan

"I don\'t mind. There isn\'t much in my story but if you are curious I don\'t mind sharing." - Ian

"Goddammit, you are meant to refuse in this situation, Ian." - Evan

"Sorry, man. I\'m very curious. Especially after getting to know you both in the past 6 months." - Ian

"Fine. Fine. It starts back in high school, in our last year. I was the good-looking nerd that played games all the time but was able to socialize with everyone else. I had friend groups everywhere and one day, Sabrina transferred into our class. She had moved from Ameri recently and being the friendly person I was, I started to talk to her.

Originally, my thought process was that if I talk to her, she would start to open up and have fun in school, after all, she had the coldest depressed expression anyone could have. So, I struck up a conversation with her during our break and tried to talk to her. However, you know how Sabrina is, she didn\'t open up, and instead I was glared at and shouted at whenever I tried to talk to her.

Her whole first day at school, consisted of me trying my best to talk to her over and over again and her shouting at me to leave her alone. Frankly, I don\'t even know why I kept trying, maybe it was because she was the first person to ever refuse to talk to me. Eventually, the first term of school finished, and she still had no friends while I was still trying to talk to her just a little less than the start. Instead, I would glance in her direction a lot and try to wait for her after school, because I found out she lived close to me.

Then my parents dropped a bomb, they told me I was to be engaged to a girl in the holidays after the first term. Confused and disorientated from their chat with me, I was forced to go to a meet-up with my soon-to-be fiancée. We arrived at a fancy Japanese restaurant where we had to sit on some soft cushions in a tatami mat room, and at this point, I was completely losing it. I had no idea what I was doing, I was 17 and didn\'t know anything. Until she walks in…

Walking in wearing a kimono was Sabrina. She was wearing a bright red kimono with Sakura petals. She had her hair tied up and light pink lips. Her eyes bat so quickly as she realizes who I was, but I was so speechless I didn\'t do anything. I honestly fell in love, with seeing her like this. Comparing her persona at school and at that moment was like comparing two different people.

The meeting went reasonably well with the parents but neither of us talked much. It was only after school started again that I confronted her. It was on the rooftop after school with the sunset behind me. I had it all planned. I was going to confess my feelings, but instead, she told me she didn\'t want the engagement.

My heart broke into a million pieces. I asked her why, but she said she just wasn\'t ready. I thought that was the end of it. I fell in love over the holidays only to experience my heartbreaking on the first day back at school. No amount of tears could save me, but when I went to school the next day. She talked to me first, asking if I was okay.

From then to now, we started to talk more. We played games together and went out together, but there was always a thin wall between us. I feel it to this day, after all, I\'m still in love with her. I\'m just waiting. Waiting for when she is ready…" - Evan

Taking a deep breath, Evan drinks from his cup mulling over the story. I could hear Adam sniff a few times afterward, and I could feel a tear coming to my eyes.

"Does she know…?" - Ian

"Who knows. Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn\'t. I don\'t worry about that anymore. I just live and do my best to see her the next day. Nothing more and nothing less." - Evan

"You-You-Are a true man. Mr. Ian how about you tell us your story now?" - Adam

"Mine? Well… At the start me and Rebecca didn\'t talk as much, with her teasing me most of the time but as we hung out more, we started to do more things together. Exercising, working, shopping and chilling. It was slow and steady with us just interacting with each other as the days went on.

However, in the back of my mind, I felt like I didn\'t want these days to end. I wanted to keep waking up to her sleeping face. I wanted to keep seeing her next to me. That was probably when I realized that I had feelings for her, but what would you do if you were me? I had low self-esteem already. I didn\'t really believe in myself that was outside the game.

In the game, it was easy. I had people I could trust, and they didn\'t judge me for anything but outside… I was always worrying if what I was doing was too much. I didn\'t want Rebecca to dislike me, so I kept it to myself, however, I tried to be with her more and more. Doing whatever she wanted and being with her most of the day.

I didn\'t even know if she liked me or not until I confessed and was I surprised…" - Ian

"Sounds like some character from a novel or movie. BORING!" - Adam

"I know right, BORING." - Evan

"HEY! I told you there wasn\'t much to it. We just were together for a long time and we just happened to like each other." - Ian

"Right, right. Only main characters in novels and movies get this route. ALWAYS GETS THE GIRL! Am I right, Adam? I\'m here still waiting after 5 plus years, but this guy meets a chick after a couple of days and straight away lives with her. Unbelievable…" - Evan

"Unbelievable indeed, but we will have to continue this conversation another time. We have arrived." - Adam

​ Looking out the car window, I see us slowly drive towards a large mansion with cream bricks and a red roof. White pillars extend from the roof to the ground, surrounding the whole mansion, and accompanying it is a lush green hedge taller than me, which wraps around the whole building. Standing in front of a large brown door with golden hinges with his arms wide open like he was hugging the air was Sam and yelling at the top of his lungs….

"WELCOME! TO THE HALE ALI\'I OF THE KALANI!" - Sam