Everyone was so busy both in-game and in the real world that they didn't notice the passage of time.

Before they knew it, it was already Silvia's twentieth birthday. After that would be the anticipated Guild Wars, which would be followed by the much-awaited Halloween event in COVENANT.

After all that ended and before the holidays would be the students' exams.

The upcoming events were too compacted, leaving almost everyone with no time to breathe. Among those people struggling were, of course, the members of World Conqueror.

Ren, in particular, poured all his attention into World Conqueror to get his mind off his miserable forced relationship and Evie's indirect rejection.

World Conqueror's inner operations were all set after just three days, all thanks to Ragnar's help. A lot of miscellaneous weight had been lifted off from Ren and the others' hands.

There was still the transition phase, and Ren still had to check every quest, but at least he was unburdened by a lot of work.

Keeping himself busy and doing multiple missions had worked to keep his mind off of Evie, but most of the time . . . it didn't.

Every time he was alone or back in the real world, all he thought about was her. It also didn't help that Evie avoided him like the plague ever since that fateful day.

Ren left her alone, and they had not spoken much in school either. In fact, it seemed like they were back to being strangers.

All his hard work in the past to reduce the distance between them was down the drain. It was like the ship had sailed, crash, and sank in the bottom of the ocean.

And the hardest part was that . . . he didn't know how to close that distance again when she herself seemed like she didn't want to anymore.

It was better that way. Ren thought.

The more Evie avoided him, the more Saya would leave her alone.

As much as he liked her, Ren didn't want to ruin her future as he did in the past. This was his atonement to her.

Besides, she was too good for him.

Ren was satisfied as long as Evie could live her life in peace this time.

"You're not trying, Ren," Saya said for the hundredth time over the phone.

Ren had just logged out after a tiring mission, and Saya knew exactly when to call him.

Despite belonging to the same group, Saya didn't help World Conqueror with anything in the least. She wasn't interested in the game, to begin with. The only reason she was there was because of Ren. The same was true with Mike when she was with him before.

The only difference was she could demand Ren's time, while Mike barely saw her after COVENANT was launched.

"And what do you mean by that?" Ren asked with a wry voice. He was feeling exhausted just hearing Saya's voice.

"You're not trying to make this relationship work as we agreed upon," she whined on the other line before threatening, "or would you rather that we end this now, and I'll post that video?"

Ren sighed in exasperation as he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, really?" Saya replied with a snappy tone. "Then why did you suddenly decide to stop calling me? You didn't even call today! And when you finally called back, it was because I threatened you with a message. Did you forget that you promised me that we would always be together? Do you remember what you promised? Or are you just too busy chasing that girl who doesn't even like you?"

Ren felt his heart pound hard at the mention of Evie. It had been so long since they last spoke that any memory of her triggered his emotions.

He jumped up from his bed and went out to the balcony, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

With closed eyes, Ren massaged his temple and took another mouthful of breath. "We go out every day. And I take your calls in the middle of my job. We just ate lunch not long ago. I brought you to your favorite restaurant and got you everything you wanted. I don't understand this 'not trying' bullshit you're talking about."

"You know what I mean. I agreed to the no kiss and no intimacy part, but every time we hold hands, you seem so disgusted. When I'm talking, you're not even paying any attention. You don't even act like a boyfriend."

"What do you expect?" Ren huffed a condescending laugh.

"You did what makes you happy at the expense of my emotions. Being intimate and lovey-dovey with you is at the bottom of the list of things in my mind after what you did. To be honest, it's hard for me to be with you, even for just a minute."

Saya fell silent on the other end. She couldn't believe Ren's words. ". . . Y-you can't mean that . . . ," she choked.

Ren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There she goes again -- denying everything, pretending to be blind, acting like she's deaf, and ignoring the facts right in front of her.

She remained delusional, thinking that he would fall for her if she pushed and pushed.

Whatever she was doing only got her the opposite effect from what she intended. Ren couldn't even be more disgusted.

Was she a masochist who loved to hurt herself? Ren thought. Or was Saya simply far too gone in her delusion?

"I have no time for this. Why did you call?"

". . ." On the other side of the line, Saya didn't know what to do.

She bit her lips hard. At first, she thought that as long as she was always together with Ren, his feelings for her would return.

When Ren said that he didn't like her anymore, Saya assumed that his feelings for her had not disappeared and just got buried in his heart because of her neglect.

She thought that he would fall in love with her again, just as she had planned. She even imagined that Ren would pamper her and shower her with affection, just like in the past.

After processing Ren's words, Saya's face paled. Her eyes were wide-open, shock displayed across her face as she stared at the wall.

Her mouth gaped open and then close, not knowing what to say.

.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)