Ten was sitting in a coffee shop, impatiently waiting for his friend Joy to join him. He was so nervous he even started to beat his nails against the upper surface of the table, making a loud noise and everyone in the room look at him. To be honest he didn’t care about people looking at him, he wasn’t so shy after dancing on a stage a lot of time, so he didn’t fear being the center of attention, but because of that nervous tapping he seemed almost hysteric, and he hated it. Maybe if Joy could have arrived soon…
In that moment, he suddenly received a text from the girl, asking him to choose someone from the menu for the both of them because she was arriving. He picked vanilla ice cream for her, her favorite until now, and chocolate ice cream for him.
The girl arrived after two minutes, and she immediately asked him to tell her EVERYTHING.
Ten told her friend everything about his ex-boyfriend while eating his ice cream, but at that point he was wondering if that guy had ever been his boyfriend… One night, after work, Ten was on his way home, and he accidentally saw that guy in a restaurant… with a girl and an older couple, maybe his parents-in-law. He knew that guy wasn’t “out of the closet” but he didn’t think he had a girlfriend…
Maybe he stayed still for too long, so the other guy noticed him through the window. In a few seconds, Ten decided to run away, he didn’t want to listen any excuses. Also, in a nearby alley, he decided to delete and block him on every social network. He was crying really hard but he decided to have respect for himself not allowing the other to use him as a ual toy.
“I honestly don’t know what hurts me more: being used or being stupid…”
“Don’t ever think to blame yourself for what that disgusting thing did to you, not even for a moment. Maybe you were naïve, but you didn’t deserve that” his friend said, interrupting him.
Ten didn’t say anything but those words comforted him…
“I might have a solution” the girl added later with a smirk on his face, and then asked him to give her his phone.
“What are you going to do?” he asked back, lending her his phone. After all, he knew her, so he wasn’t expecting troubles.
The girl ignored him, and after a few minutes she gave him the phone back, saying “Use this app if you’ll ever feel lonely”.
Ten looked at that new app on his phone. Its name was “(s)Mystic Messenger”.
“Wait… Is this something to know strangers?”
“It’s not what you think, Ten. Okay, you’ll definitely know someone if you’ll use that app, but not in the way you think. Also, you really need to change your life. If your life was better and not so boring, with that boring work at that boring coffee shop surrounded by boring students… I think you would’ve never consider that rat, not even for a night”
Ten smiled but didn’t reply. He wasn’t ready to on him, even if he deserved it. He also decided to delete that app later. He was very sad, and also he missed having almost everyday, but he wasn’t that desperate.
After a few minutes they decided to leave the coffee shop. She had to rush to their dance school – they studied arts in the same place – while he had to go to work. Hours of “doing and not thinking” were waiting for him, and he couldn’t wait.