Chapter 15: The day of the final round.

Ana's grip softens and she goes back to the chair with a confused look.

"I still don't get it, is it possible to sign for a sadistic relation in a contract?" Ana asks me while sitting.

Leeloo bursts in laughter.

I raise my head slowly glaring at Ana, "Ana, what the hell are you talking about?"

"About you being a Slave and she being a Master?" Ana says as if it is an obvious question.

"I never said that I was a Slave! Those are the words she used to mislead you!" I rebuke Ana, "Is just that..." I sigh and inhale deeply, "The contract states that I have to be a steward, chef, bodyguard, secretary, accountant, computer technician, plumber, pizza delivery boy, masseuse, diviner, I have to clean the house, buy the food, wash her clothes, if I ever learn to drive I have to be her driver..." I continue reciting a list of 30 different tasks with just one breath. "And obviously I have to be respectful and obey my employer, there's nothing illegal with the contract but just there are too much tasks! That's why the payment is so high..."

Ana widens her little mouth and Leeloo continued laughing.

"Hmp, still her plan wasn't flawless, 10 months ago I was underage to sign legal contracts, in reality the contracts are a joke." I say with a tone full of arrogance but then I subside, "We just have a little bet about who is the one who breaks the rules first, what surprises me is that she is teasing you so badly." I look towards Leeloo and she just sticks out her tongue.

Ana smiles faintly, her aggressive demeanor pales in comparison to Leeloo’s.

I relax again in the rocking chair and the continue, "The contract is just a formality between us she used as a façade to convince me to stay here, after all, I'm staying here for free." I say while moving back and forth casually.

"But even if I was not underage when I signed that crazy contract I'm not really being forced, if I want to return home I don't think that she would mind to end the contracts willingly." I say while looking at Leeloo.

Leeloo smiles gently and nods with her hands folded bellow the purple bed sheet.

"Since I met a friend like her and since I'm staying with her, life is being a lot easier for me. You can say I upgraded from surviving here in Glassglow to living." I am now relaxed and speaking with a gentle tone.

Ana hugs her legs in the couch and seems a bit sad and immersed in thoughts, ‘Impressive, to think that he has a friend as her that has helped him so much, to think that the most I could do was to put an act to call the attention of my fathers… If Marcus falls in love with her I have no chance! I have to plan something…’ Ana thinks and then raises her head and looks to me with a face full of resolution.

When I meet her eyes suddenly I remember something and say while looking directly to Ana's eyes, "But Ana, I'm curious now, what kind of slave did you depicted me as? Did you say sadistic relation earlier?"

Ana blushes and covers her face with both hands.

"You know Marcus, maybe she is into that." Leeloo teases immediately.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Ana lets out an alarmed cry.

Leeloo and I burst into laughter and Ana could not be more embarrassed, her previous resolute eyes are full of shame now.

It is already midnight but the living room of the apartment 303 is lively. I’m really tired but I couldn’t just go to sleep and leave them alone. We start to talk about a lot of things, Ana befriended Leeloo quickly but she can’t keep up with Leeloo’s sarcasms.

Leeloo is 22 years old and she already finished Virtual Reality Studies, she is doing a multidisciplinary thesis so she often has to travel in order to gather information.

"Those prospects of medics from South Sidelo University are a bunch losers, no one was interested in researching the medical advantages of VR Gear on patients who have lost an arm and are using a robotic prosthesis. If you fuse the robotic prosthesis technology with virtual reality sensors making the patient think that the robotic arm is real, it could improve the mobility by at least 30%!" Leeloo says with an arrogant tone.

"So that's why you came early." I say while seeping a cup of tea I just prepared.

Leeloo nodded sipping some tea too and then says, “I came early for you too,” She winks at me.

“*Pffft.*” Ana was sipping slowly her tea but after hearing Leeloo she just spills it and starts to breath agitatedly.

Leeloo just smiles while I am a bit speechless, her word play is just too much! Then I see her still under the blankets and something comes to my mind, "Now that I think about it, why you were waiting for me in underwear?" I smirk.

"*Pfffft*" Leeloo was sipping some tea and then she spills it and blushes but doesn't answer my question. The truth of the matter is that the guard of the apartment complex called her when I was in the elevator. She was surprised knowing that I tried to sneak a woman with the descriptions the guard gave her and quickly tried to set up a prank on me.

We continued talking until midnight. Ana revealed to Leeloo some embarrassing secrets about my childhood and Leeloo spoke about places she visited recently. I spoke about my university.

"So honey, who are you going to sleep with tonight?" Leeloo says faking a charming tone and fidgeting, "Or could it be... that you want us both?"

"Stop joking Leeloo!” I bark immediately, “I'll take the sofa, Ana can sleep in my room." I stand up and start walking towards the bathroom, "I have to go to Tidem tomorrow and then there's the finals at night, I need a few hours of sleep at least."

“So you are basically saying that you will not be able to sleep with any of us at your side?” Leeloo says in a teasing tone and then starts to laugh. Strangely, Ana laughs too.

I shiver slightly but pay her no mind. I take a bath and by the time I finish Ana is in Marcus's room and Leeloo in hers. I open the door and go to my closet to search for some blankets. Ana is laying on the bed with all her body wrapped in blankets.

“Good night Ana.” I say as I’m about to close the door.

“Good night Marcus.” Ana says looking at me. For some unknown she seems to be disappointed.

Night went by. The alarm of my cellphone wakes me at 5:30 a.m. I prepare some quick breakfast and some snacks to eat later. I am careful to not make any noise in order to not wake up Leeloo or Ana. I take another bath and change to my uniform from Tidem University but this time I have a light blue tie that matched with my jacket.

From the apartment complex to Tidem University it is a trip of roughly 45 minutes. I walk as always to a bus stop and then I just need to change routes once in order to arrive to the campus. It is around 6:45 a.m. when I am in front of the doors of the University.

On Saturdays it is rare to see people so early in the morning, the first class on Saturday starts at 8 a.m. and the students are not fond of waking up early on today, especially with a hangover of a Friday night. Even so, there are some places where activities initiate earlier than classes, the VR Workshop is one of them.

Since Tidem University is a university for rich kids it is rare to see too much people interested in workshops of this kind, usually the only kind of people you see are those that have to fulfill some practical hours requirements or those who are in a practice class with their respective teachers. Of course, there are exceptions.

For me this is my main source of income. Although there are a lot of workshops to fix damaged VR gear in the city, the Tidem Virtual Reality Gear Workshop, TVRW for short, has a good fame. The students of Tidem are very acknowledgeable making extremely good jobs and the prices in the TVRW are fair if you are in no rush to get your piece of gear repaired.

Under the tutelage of Leeloo, by learning how to repair high end gear from her, I am capable of doing an average of 2 works each three hours easily. The worst paid repairs fetch me 200 dollars while there are repairs that could easily cost 1.000 dollars. The best of all is that the tools and materials are provided by Tidem University, I only need the will to work which I have, and the knowledge which I have too.

By working around 20 hours a week in the TVRW I could earn an average of 4 to 6 thousand dollars. The best part is that thanks to the fame of the workshop there is always work to do, it is very rare that the work is scarce. But even in those rare cases when there are more students than available works I have a trump car: Teacher Durian.

It is because teacher Durian that my income is larger than usual, only a handful of students are allowed to do more than 5 works during a week, I am one of them. The restriction is not because the university wants to restrict how much income a student could earn, it is to ensure that a student doesn't overload himself with work and doesn't finish a repair on time, dropping the fame of the TVRW.

In order to have a free pass to work on whatever you want to do daily, you need to have the recognition from a teacher who will assume the responsibilities in case you fail with the works, for obvious reasons it is a hard earned trust with great responsibilities on both parts.

I walk and cross the gates of the campus. Tidem University is quite large, around 50 hectares. Because Virtual Reality Studies was one of the last deanships and the TVRW was one of the last buildings built, they are very far from the entrance. In order to go to the workshop, I have to wait a minibus which is at the entrance exactly at 7:00 and will be there each half, otherwise, it will take a lot of time walking.

I always like to admire the green fields and the beautiful scenery inside the University. It is an achievement for me to be here. It was hard, but I did it. It is hard to describe that feeling of accomplishment when you do something by yourself instead of relying on others, it is blissful knowing that all the hardships of the road are not in vain.

Sometimes I miss my family. In truth they were always good to me, I don't understand the change of heart of them, especially of my father who always doted me and Ana, but I never asked why. I never asked what happened that day. I only remember the extreme fury of my father and then I closed the door of my room, only opening it to grab something to eat in order to not starve.

In those weeks of self-isolation I made my mind and abandoned everything in order to get where I am today. I really miss my family, but I fear that if I look back I will not have strength again to look forward.

While I am still thinking about some stuff the minibus got where I need and I politely tell the driver to stop. I walk around 30 steps and reach the front door of a three story building.

"Good morning George." I take my student ID and slide it into a counter, in the other side there is a man fixing some shelves with his back towards me.

"Oh it's you Marcus." George turns towards me and remove the dust from his hands by clapping repeatedly. He picks up my ID and type the ID number on a computer that is nearby. "Ready to go, there's some work on the second floor, Robert is on duty today."

"Got it, thanks." I retrieve my ID and go to the right of the building, where the ladders that leads to the second floor are.

I find Robert who instructs me on the works needed for the day. There are 3 more persons that are working already. I go to a locker and pick a mask, an apron, some dielectric gloves, and security glasses. Next I go to a box with a code Robert gave me previously and retrieve the gear which needs the repairs. Finally I pick an empty work table and start to work on the repairs.

The second floor is dedicated to physical repairs while the third floor is dedicated to software updates and fixes. Today I am working on the second floor only. Little by little people move from here to there, some of them greet me, some of them just mind their own business. I am fairly popular because I am the only 2nd year student who works on pair with the ones of 4th and 5th years.

I work for 6 straight hours as I almost always do on Saturdays. Robert takes notes each time I finish a piece and inspects the quality of the work nodding constantly in approval.

I return everything to the lockers and then leave the workshop 1:20 p.m. This time, instead of waiting for the minibus I decide to walk towards the entrance.

The sun was high but there is a refreshing breeze. Although I am wearing shirt, jacket, and tie, I feel comfortable. It is a 30 minutes walk on open field which in this days only few people can enjoy.

I return to the apartment complex and untie my tie and put my jacket in a rack of my room, then I start preparing the lunch. 'These lazy girls, 2:30 pm and neither of them moved a finger to have lunch.' I am grumbling.

What I have no idea is that Leeloo brainwashed Ana, convincing her to wait me in order to have a lunch prepared by me.

I cook a simple but delicious meal: stewed chicken, white rice, cucumber salad, and blackberry juice. For dessert I chop some strawberries and serve them with condensed milk.

'Leeloo was right, eating Marcus food was worth the wait.' Ana praises mentally.

After eating I take a bath and change to a casual outfit. I am wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black sweater with a pirate skull on my back.

Ana changed her clothes too and she is wearing a pair of black pants and a yellow blouse. Leeloo helps her with her hair and does a little braid.

"You are not coming Leeloo?" I ask seeing that she was still in home clothes.

"Nah, too lazy, hope you win." Leeloo says with no emotions at all, she doesn't care about games. She likes the medical applications of the virtual reality and isn't very enthusiastic when it comes to games.

‘Yes!’ After hearing that Leeloo is not going Ana chants a little victory.

Ana and I bid farewell to Leeloo and proceed to go to the Royal Cross Shopping Center carrying the optic link and motion gloves in a school bag. The final round is going to start at 6:00 pm and we arrive 1 hour earlier to have time to relax. The shopping center is even more crowded than yesterday, and Gamer's Corner is not an exception.

We wait patiently after receiving a new token from one assistants and go to the player's waiting area. Once again there are a lot of snacks but my lunch was bountiful so we don't ate any, Ana just picks up a bottle of soda.

"Ladies and gentleman, let's proceed to explain the rules and prizes for the final round in each category!" The main host spoke and catches the attention of everybody in Gamer's Corner.

END OF CHAPTER 15