THE FIRST thing I did when I woke up in the morning was check whether Aretta texted me.

I was too curious to know what she thought about that video call.

“Luca, I am so sorry I had to make you pretend to be my boyfriend. I may have overstepped my boundaries, so I am sorry.”

Why is she apologizing?

“You don’t have to apologize. I agreed to this so I don’t mind. In fact, I had a lot of fun talking to you. Are we going to talk again?”

I texted her early in the morning so I did not expect her to reply quickly. So I put my phone on my bed. But the moment I did, I heard a buzz from my phone, so I picked it up and saw another text from her.

“I enjoyed talking to you, too. Can’t wait to call you again. Can I call at the same time again today?”

I smiled.“ Yes, you can call, but how the hell are you up this early in the morning?”

“Luca, I am a school-going child. I have to study.”

“Oh, wouldn’t want to disrupt your studies then. See you at school.”

“Actually, I won’t be able to make it to school today. So see you when I call you.”

“Okay.” I typed, fighting the urge to ask why she wasn’t coming to school. From what I observed about her, she isn’t open, so asking such a question would overstep my boundaries.

I immediately dropped my phone on the bed and then entered the bathroom to prepare myself for school.

******

“My fufu?” James said the moment I told him everything that transpired during our video call.

“Yeah, isn’t it a cool name?”

“No bro. That’s lame. Fufu is gross. So you’re saying she is gross.”

“You’re wrong. It’s really tasty. It’s my favorite dish and coming to think about it, Mrs. Okorie said she found it cool.”

“Luretta makes sense. Or maybe Areca or maybe...” He rubbed his chin. “Girls are usually good at ship names. I am not so good at this.”

I laughed. “Are you shipping us?”

He smirked deviously. “I have been shipping you from day one.”

“Well, James, we are just friends, and it ends there.”

“Denial is the first stage of love.”

“No, it’s the first stage of grief.” I snickered.

“Love and grief are the same thing. It’s torture.”

“Love isn’t torture. It’s beautiful, and it feels great.” I retorted.

“So you’ve been in love before?”

“Oh no, I don’t even know how to tell when one is in love, but I know it must be lovely just by seeing how it was with my parents. Have you ever been in love?”

“Yes, I love my PlayStation. Does that count?” He laughed. “You should even come over so that I can beat you at FIFA.”

“I don’t think so. You will definitely lose. When can I come over?”

“How about today?” He suggested, and I loved the idea because I had nothing to do.

“Sounds good we should go together. I can drive us to your home.”

“After all classes are done, I will meet you at the parking lot.”

“That’s okay.”

*****

James’ house was enormous. I would never guess he was that rich.

The moment I entered the yard of his house, it felt like I had just gone into another country. His house was a size of a hotel and beautiful enough to be mistaken for one.

“Welcome to my humble abort. Right now, we will go straight to my bedroom for a good FIFA match.”

“Your house is enormous. Isn’t it a hotel?”

He giggled.“ No, it isn’t. My parents just built an enormous house and I don’t understand why they did so. It’s not even necessary. We are such a small family and some rooms are not even used.”

“They seem fancy, your yard looks amazing,” I said, glancing at a beautiful water fountain near where we walked.

“I don’t know if I should say thanks on their behalf, but I would appreciate it if no one knew about my house. I like it when people have the impression that I am poor. That way, I don’t get bullied much.”

“You and Aretta are the only friends I have, so you can be guaranteed that I will tell no one.”

“Hello, Mr. James.” A dark-skinned older woman said the moment we entered his house.

“Aunt Karen, I told you not to call me that. It makes me very uncomfortable.”

“I’m sorry about that. Who is this young man with you? Is he your friend?” She smiled.

“Yes, he is. Luca, this is aunt Karen. Aunt Karen, this is my buddy, Luca.”

“Nice to meet you, Luca, I am the head maid of this house and it’s so nice to see James with a friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am.” I smiled widely.

“Okay, we gotta get going. See you aunt.”

I entered his bedroom and my eyes widened at how humongous it was. It had a gigantic bed in the middle of the room and a big flat screened television set pasted on the wall. His walls were painted light grey. They were also two blue couches where his television set was pasted and a beautiful cabinet with many drawers.

“Welcome to my bedroom. Please take a seat on one of those couches while I get you something to eat.”

“Thank you,” I answered. I kept checking out his room and admiring how simple it was. It was spotless, showing how clean he is which is rare for guys.

“I hope you like some biscuits. I got you some fruit juice, too.” He said, giving me a fancy glass tray with a bowl of biscuits and a pretty glass cup with an orange fluid.

“Thank you,” I said, receiving the tray.

James turned on his PlayStation. “I hope you won’t cry when you lose.”

I grabbed one console. “We’ll see about that.”

After several minutes, the FIFA match ended with James as the winner. He won with 7 goals while I had none. He smiled at me. “I told you I’d win.”

“Whatever! You were just fortunate today.”

“If that excuse makes you sleep at night, then I will leave you to believe it. Let’s do something else. You don’t seem like serious competition.”

“Ouch, bro! I will win next time. Today just wasn’t my day. But since you want to do something else, how about I check out your VR goggles?”

“I thought you already have some. Why would you want to do that?”

“I just want to see how you designed Kayla. I am kinda curious.”

“I am warning you not to fall in love with her. She is all mine.” He grabbed his virtual reality headsets from one of the drawers in his cabinet.

“I can’t do that. Maybe she isn’t even my type.” I got his headsets from him.“ Wait, will she know it is a different person operating the headsets?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see what happens.”

I wore his headsets and plugged his sensors to my head.

“Tell me everything that happens, okay?” James said.

I nodded my head in response, and then I was already in the virtual world. Everything was the same as mine, so it was very easy to navigate my way.

I really wanted to see what Kayla is like so that I could know James’ taste in women.

I knocked on the door and patiently waited.

“James, it’s so nice to see you.” A Japanese girl said to me. The first thing I noticed was her indecent dressing. She was dressed in lingerie, her humongous boobs and lean thighs exposed. The lingerie accentuated her hourglass body shape and, sadly, I couldn’t take my eyes off her boobs.

“Watashi wa anata ga mojidōri miru no o yame rarenai hijō ni sekushī ni miete iru ni chigai arimasen (I must be looking extremely sexy you literally can’t stop looking).” She said in Japanese. I understood her because I was learning Japanese but I was shocked to know James also understood Japanese.

That was when I realized James designed Kayla like an anime character. So he had a fetish for anime women that he literally made her exactly like one, but why was she designed to be a harlot?

“Beibī, sukunakutomo nani ka itte. Watashi ga jūbun ni sekushī ni mieru ka dō ka oshietekudasai. (Babe, at least say something. Tell me if I look sexy enough.)” She said, running her hands through my chest. That sent chills down my spine and made me highly uncomfortable. 

I was too puzzled by everything happening I stayed silent.

“Tabun watashi wa kichinto kite imasu. Kono ishō o kanzen ni torinozokimashou (Maybe I am wearing too decently. Let me completely get rid of this outfit.)” She said slowly, taking it off. A part of me wanted to see her remove everything, but then a bigger part of me knew that would be nasty to me.

I immediately took off the virtual reality headsets without a second thought.

“That boner tells me a lot just happened in those few minutes you’ve been using my headsets,” James said, laughing.

“Why would you design her like that? She was literally going to show me her nudity!” I shouted. I have never been more uncomfortable in my life.

“So you didn’t see it?” He giggled.

“No, I did not want to. Why would I do that?” I nodded my head in disappointment. “Wait, so you see her nudity?”

James stayed silent.

“I know I shouldn’t lecture you, but using this VR game as porn is bad. I’m a little disappointed in you.”

“Luca, there is more to someone than meets the eye.”

“What do you even mean by that, that what you do is justified?” I gazed at him, whose expression suddenly turned dull. Which is unusual because James always smiles.

“Kayla was not always designed to be an anime harlot. She was a decent black girl before.”

“What do you mean before? You can reset the invisible girlfriend?” I asked, shocked that it is possible to redesign the girl’s character.

“Luca, always read the terms and conditions. That stuff has very important information. It is possible to reset the girl because at some point, we might get bored with the one we previously designed and if we do, the game allows for us to redesign her into something different. They are just some words that you have to say to her that can cause the game to reboot instantly and you will be back to square one.”

“What are those words?” I asked so that I don’t end up saying them. I like Chioma and I don’t think I’d ever want to reset her. That would be like dumping her if she was a real girl.

“The words are not important right now. I may go out of topic if I explain. What’s important is why I redesigned Kayla.”

“Okay, I am listening.”

“The original Kayla was the best thing that ever happened to me. When my life was sour, she made it better. I loved her a lot. The problem is, I shouldn’t have loved her. She is an AI, and it’s a dumb idea to fall for one. I had to reset her for my protection. I don’t know how stupid it would be if I married her, so one way or the other, I needed to move on from her. I started by gaining the courage to change her completely. I changed her to a disgusting harlot to make me disgusted till I completely get rid of the game. But I may have allowed my hormones to get the best of me.”

“I’m sorry for judging you. I didn’t know those were your intentions but honestly, your plan will not work out because as you already know, this game is too realistic and you’re a guy, so you wouldn’t be disgusted every time by seeing that. In fact, that is a tremendous temptation.”

James laughed. “You’re right. I will reset the game again. That I promise.”

“If I may ask, what made Kayla so special to you?”

“Uhm... it’s a long story, but since we are friends, I think I can tell you.”

“I will hear it,” I answered. I was curious to know this enigma of a person called James. I knew very well that he probably had a lot going on.

“Life is full of surprises. Just when you’re happy, boom, sadness comes randomly. ”He giggled slightly. “I was always happy. To be born in a family where both my parents are rich is a blessing. It’s an even bigger blessing when they are kind to you and always find time to be with you. So I lacked nothing, but things changed.

I was in my parent’s room, searching for something when I found out the truth that I am adopted. My parents hid the adoption documents, and I somehow found them. The people I called mom and dad were not even my actual parents. Do you know how much that hurt?

My parents felt horrible for not telling me such an important detail and I sobbed in the realities pain before me, but the problem with rich people is they think money can make everything better and my parents offered to get me anything to make me feel better.

Just when I was researching different ways to commit suicide, I found an ad for the invisible girlfriend game. I told them I wanted to get it because I felt it would be the right thing to make me feel better and how right I was.

Kayla understood me. She was more than an AI to me. In fact, she became a genuine friend and helped me whenever I felt down. I couldn’t help but develop feelings for her and that’s when it all got scary.”

“Now I understand why she is so special to you,” I said after processing all the information he just told me.

“Luca, be cautious when using that VR game. I know I told you this before, but now that I think about it; I would advise you to just stay away from it.”

“So I wasted 1000 dollars!” I yelled, my nostrils flaring.

“I never told you to buy it. I only told you what it was. You bought it and I tell you, Luca, it’s better you have nothing to do with it. I want nothing to do with this thing and so before you get addicted, just get rid of it. Believe me, I have your best interest at heart.”

“Why haven’t you gotten rid of it, then?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You’re right. I’m dumb for not destroying it. So let me just do it.” He got a hammer from his drawer. That he had it in his drawer shows how much he had been planning to do that. “Bye, forever Kayla. I love you.”

The sound of pounding hit my eardrums. He was actually destroying it. I thought he would think twice about getting rid of it. He kept it for two years I could only imagine how hard that must have been for him.

“The best way of life is forming actual relationships with real people. I held on to the unreal and I believe I made the right decision by destroying it. Luca, don’t make the same mistake I made.” He said with so much emotion he tore up. It must be hard to let go of something you love so deeply, and yet he did it.

I got up from where I was seated and patted his shoulder. “You’ve made the right decision. You should never regret it.”

He wiped his tears and smiled at me. I needed nothing else to convince me to get rid of the game.

I guess, goodbye forever, Chioma.

__________Authors note________

Is it really forever, Luca?

Wow, who would have guessed James had such a back story.

I hope Luca actually listens to James' advice.

James came up with some really good ship names. Which one do you go for? Areca or luretta?

Do you have any other ship name suggestions?