Yibo was a morning soul. He usually woke up around 5.00 am and took off for jogging. But today, he was not in a mood. So he got up around 6.00 am, made coffee, and scanned through his phone. He had to admit that he was oddly interested in the App. Out of curiosity, he downloaded it and filled up his name as Bob, sex, rest of the details, and finally came to the bio. He scanned around and saw the book Untamed by Glennon Doyle lying on the table. He filled up blank with a quote from the same.

"The truest, most beautiful life never promises to be an easy one. We need to let go of the lie that it's supposed to be." - Glennon Doyle, Untamed.

Ticked off the details he needed to make public and browsed through the list of nearby people using the App. There were quite a few people. One snapped his attention. This guy used a quote from the same book as him. He thought for a while and dropped in a line. He then set his phone back on the charger and got ready for the daily routine.

Since it was just 7.00 am, he had a lot of time left. He had to turn in some presentation sheets, so he started to work on them. In an hour and a half, He completed it, made breakfast, and got ready for the office.

On his way to the office edifice, he checked his phone. There were a couple of notifications from the same App, but he wanted to see if he received a reply to his message. He got a response. He smiled and gave an answer.

On the other hand, Zhan was not a morning person at all. If he got a chance, he would sleep until noon. But he had self-awareness. He got up around 7.30 am, freshened up, made breakfast, and jumped to get ready. He scanned through his phone and saw many notifications as he was doing that.

Foremost, he turned off the notification sound. He didn't want others to tease him. Then went through all the messages. As he was going through the texts on the new App, most of them were just some cliché and clingy pickup lines, but one note braced his attention because the message was from the same book he quoted. So he checked out the other personal profile. The bitmoji of this person was kinda funny, the name was Bob, and the bio was a quote from the same book. So he gave a reply to the text.

(Chat would be as given below)

Bo: "Be careful about the stories you tell about yourself."

Sean: Naah, let's leave that work to people like Glennon Doyle.

Then he left for work.

On the way, he checked his phone got a reply.

Bob: Why is it that boring?

Sean: Was it that obvious?

Bob: Naah, Just a guess.

Sean: Is there anything interesting in yours?

Bob: If there had been anything interesting, I don't think I would be using this App.

Sean: Point duly noted.

Bob: Well 🤪, gotta go. Catch up with you later.

Sean: Well, see ya. Have a nice day!

Zhan placed his phone back in his pocket and entered the office edifice. He had a foreboding feeling that his chat mate would be pretty engaging. His office cabin was on the 3rd floor. He took the stairs. He had an unusual smile plastered on his face. Just then, he saw Yibo and thought of the meeting, which was called off, coming up. They had to continue with the meeting, and the Boss would be joining them through a webcam. The smile went away in a wink.

By the time the meeting ended or broke off, it was lunch break. As they ended up arguing, Boss broke off the debate asking them to develop a strategy together. Both teams were too uncomfortable. They never tried working together.

They headed directly to the cafe to grab their lunch as the meeting ended. They only had 2 days, and they needed to prepare a whole business plan for the product line. Moreover, for this, they had to discuss it with each other. The rest of the group members were with an "it's for 2 days, let's deal with it" attitude, but for Zhan and Yibo, it was chaos.

Zhan took a corner seat in the cafeteria, fished out his phone, and texted his secret chatmate. He doesn't know why he preferred him over others at that time it just felt he would be the right person.

Yibo didn't go to the cafe. Instead, he went to the patio on the 10th floor to get some air. He was irritated. He knew that it was just his ego speaking. Still, he just couldn't agree with Zhan.

He heard a buzz, so he checked his phone.

Sean: Why can't people just agree with each other?

Yibo was startled. He was thinking of the same aspect. He felt weird. Could the chat mate be one of his colleagues? He wrote a reply.

Bob: Maybe because of a different opinion.

Sean: I didn't think you would give me a reply.

Bob: You didn't want me to reply.

Sean: No, just I thought you would reply only after getting off work or late at night, maybe.

Bob: You a night owl, 😜. This was my lunch break, so I was free.

Sean: so, had your lunch?

Bob: Nope, Not in a mood. You?

Sean: Yeah, this is our lunch break too. What's wrong with your mood?

Bob: Kind of dealing with a situation like you.

Sean: what situation?

Bob: Not agreeing with each other. It's just that I know that it's ego speaking, but still, I can't agree with him.

Sean: Exactly. It's just weird.

Bob: what's weirder? Are we facing the same problem, or do we have the same ego issue?

Sean: Both. I think we may be colleagues.

Yibo didn't want to reveal his identity, so it would be like usual social media accounts. So he wrote.

Bob: Let's not reveal it. I mean, let's see where it goes? You can share your opinion, thought, story, anything, but let's not reveal your identity. You can try to find out who I am? But let's keep it to ourselves for now.

Sean: Wooah!! Seriously. How are you so sure that I am your colleague? I am pretty much sure you are damn bored with your life.

Bob: Sean, even if we are not colleagues, we are from the same neighborhood for sure because the first message I texted you from home. The App comprises a list of people from a certain radius, so you are convinced from the same locality as me. And I do agree with my life being boring, but that's not the purpose.

Sean: Is it because you need a rational opinion. And if I know you, I may become judgemental.

Bob: Hmmm...

Sean: I must agree we do have some things in common 😁.

Bob: so you okay with it?

Sean: Yeah... By the by, do you have any idea how to resolve the above problem?

Bob: let's go for elderly advice, Listen to both sides, compare the pros and cons, and choose the right one.

Sean: Can it be resolved without discussing it with other parties?

Bob: I don't think that may work.

Sean: Hmm😅... Fine, let's try that out. By the by, you didn't have your lunch right, go and have it... See ya...

Bob: See ya...

After that, Yibo directly went to the cafe. He checked around, grabbed something like a small bite, and headed straight to the meeting hall.

Zhan's team and the other team were already in the meeting space. Only one was missing, and that was Yibo. Zhan was busy with his phone. The rest of the group members were babbling among themselves.

As Yibo entered, the room had pin-drop silence. It actually would give people chill.

Being his usual self, Ji li was first to talk, "Yibo, you do have a cold aura encircling you." Yibo, being Yibo, didn't give a damn.

Among them, the most approachable ones were Liu Haikuan and Luo Yunxi.

Luo Yunxi started, "Hey guys, Let's come to an arrangement and just get over with it."

Liu Haikuan responded, "Yeah, let's get over with it. Zoey and Song Jiang can take down the minutes. Rest can present their views."

"Why don't you guys start? Then we will just pitch in". Yibo said coldly.

Zhan retorted, "Sure, cool. Zhuocheng and Jessi carry on with your presentation".

They presented their viewpoint as the other group's Yang and Libowen, pitched in.

The presentation went relatively smoothly but now came the actual task. So, Liu Haikuan asked each group to analyze the pros and cons, take a full day, and meet here by tomorrow same time. By then, Zhan and Yibo can prepare the basics for the business plan, and they can finalize the strategy and scope by tomorrow.

Zhan looked over Liu Haikuan, thinking, could his chatmate be Haikuan?

Haikuan lived nearby and pitched in the same idea as his chatmate. Then Zhan didn't t give it much thought.

Then Zoey said, "Minutes for today's meeting will be mailed to you guys." Song Jiang agreed and added, " Cool, I will mail you guys the same. Then, let's get going then."

When they were planning to leave, Ji li, out of nowhere, raised a question, "Are we going to the cafeteria?".

Everyone stared at Ji Li. There were 12 people inside the room, and 11 pairs of eyes were on him.

Ji li asked, "why are you guys looking at me. Isn't that our routine?"

Wang Haoxuan gave him a confused look, "what routine?"

Ji li answered, "going for a coffee after every meeting."

(Yibo facepalm)

Jessi retorted, "That sounds like a cool routine."

Ji li, with full enthusiasm, replied, "yeah, it is. Yibo pays for it".

Luo Yunxi curbed his chuckle and said, "That sounds even cooler. Hey, Zhan, what say?"

Zhan checked out Yibo, and with a smirk on his face, he replied, "Yeah, why not? After all, Yibo is paying."

Yibo seriously didn't think Zhan would agree to it. In the meeting, he knew if he initiated to take the lead, Zhan would differ, so he texted the attributes to Liu Haikuan. So Haikuan can take the initiative. And now, he didn't know what was playing around Zhan's psyche. Either way, Yibo played along. He responded with an "OK."

So this is the first time both groups together going to the cafeteria. Those people who saw this were confused. They ordered some coffee joined two tables, and sat near the window.

For a while, everyone was silent, like they were in a class or something. As always, Ji li initiated to talk.

Ji li asked, "Is talking prohibited?"

"I didn't know you had someone like this in your squad." Zoey retorted.

Ji li gave a questioning look. "What's wrong with me? And why do you guys treat us like aliens?"

Zhuocheng replied, "Maybe because you act like one."

Luo Yunxi hit Zhuocheng on the back of his neck and said, "please don't start it. It's just you guys give off a different vibe".

Li Bowen asked, "what kind of vibe?"

" 'Don't dare to mess with us' vibe." Jessi gave a reply.

Liu Haikuan, in his usual soft tone, asked, "Do we look that dangerous?"

In a slightly flirtatious tone, Jessi, "Haikuan Ge, you are not included in that vibe. Do you know you have a strong fan base for yourself in this office?"

Hearing this, Zhan, Yibo choked on their drink.

Zoey said, "What? She is severe; you have a separate fan page on every social media.

Liu Haikuan replied, "wow, I didn't know I was this famous."

Song Jiang found this quite funny and asked, "Zoey, share the link. Let me check out".

Zoey said, "Sure." Liu Haikuan gave them a "don't you dare" look.

"Is it just him? Or do others also have their fan page?" Yang pitched in.

"Most of you guys do have a great fanbase among employees, but Zhan, Yibo, and Liu Haikuan top the list," Jessi replied.

Zhan and Yibo, in unison, "Me????????"

Zoey replied, "Yup, you are like rank holders."

Zhan and Yibo looked at each other again asked in unison, "who is first?"

Jessi retorted, "seriously, you have to fight over this."

Zoey joined in, "and we don't know. We don't have as much free time as others.

Zhan asked, "Then last time, who was it?

Jessi said, "Seriously, Zhan."

"who was it?" Zhan asked in a bit serious tone. She finally gave in, "It was Yibo before that. It was you".

This bought a smirk on Yibo's face. And Zhan started to pout, which was kind of cute. After that, Yibo settled the bill, and they left the cafeteria to their respective cubicle.

By six, Zhan and Yibo mailed the basics for the business plan to Liu Haikuan and Luo Yunxi, asking them to coordinate and combine it, and left the office.

Even though both got off simultaneously, they preferred to ignore each other. They went back to their condo, freshened up, had food, fished out their phone scanned through some unwanted stuff, then opened the Anonym app and stared at the last messages for a while.

After some time, Zhan got a notification

Bob: Was the issue solved?

Sean: For now, yeah.

Bob: Same.

Zhan waited for some time, thinking about what should he send?

Sean: The person you have an ego issue with, why is it so?

Sean: You don't have to answer If you don't want to.

Bob: No, it's okay. It just feels like his way of dealing is way better than mine, which maybe makes me envious. What about you?

Sean: He is just perfect. And I hate that.

Bob: That's rude😆.

Sean: Seriously, you don't know. I admire that guy to the limit that agreeing with him would hurt my ego. I know he is correct, but then I would be like, there should be a better way, and I would be wracking my brain behind that.

Bob: You don't have to pressure yourself. He may be perfect in his way, and you are perfect in your way. Every imperfection has its perfection.

Sean: Ha Ha Ha...

Bob: I am serious.

Sean: Whatever.

Bob: Sean, Thank you. Had a great day😄.

Sean: Do we have to go on with formality?

Bob: Nope.

Sean: You work with XXX Co. Ltd., Right...

Bob: Hmmm...

Sean: Bo, let's find out. Who is our secret chatmate?

Bob: Cool, let's do that.

Sean: Good night, Sleep tight😜.

Bob: Good Night.