Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family

071

The room turned silent as the surrounding atmosphere slowly became filled with awkwardness.

She pursed her lips together. "Isn't that why you started this business? I know there's also the assumption of you having a fondness for toys, but when I see you lay eyes on a child happily stepping out of your business with an action figure or a doll in their hand, it's-it's like you lived to see that—that small glimpse of a smile."

Hearing her speak on the subject with the combination of kids and his business, his stomach churned and his eyes lowered. This mixed subject always made him moody because of what had happened five and a half years ago.

"Logan?"

She used to call me tenderly like that too back then.

"Logan?"

And then, she'd say, "What's wrong with you?" After that, she'd—

"Logan, what's wrong with you?"

When he heard the familiar question, he perked up with a fright. "Y-yeah?"

"You went quiet. Thinking of something?"

"A bit." He tried to smile but couldn't force himself to.

"Look, just go with me to this party. Get your mind off your business. Like my dad always said, 'work when you could, party when you should'."

Yeah. I'm in no mood to work anymore anyway. He got up and stretched. "You've got it." He pointed behind him. "Let me get dressed, and I'll be back."

"Sure," she smiled, pleased. "Take your time."

*

"So, how long have you two known each other?" Logan asked Alisha as she drove them to her friend's place. "She must be older than you if she has a kid."

She let out a laugh. "Actually, she's your age."

"My age and already with a kid? But isn't her son turning seven?" He looked out the window while shaking his head. Doing quick mental math, he said, "I've turned twenty-four this year, and if she's my age, that means she's been a mom since seventeen." Having processed this, it rang a memory he had agonized countless times repeatedly. I too was a father at seventeen.

"I was shocked myself too. She didn't look like the type who'd end up with the baby."

"End up?"

"Yeah. I think she divorced her husband with full custody for her child and has been raising him as a single mother since then." She added a proud smile. "But no matter how exhausting her day was throughout our college years together, she was like you—she had this huge grin from cheek to cheek as if her exhaustion disappeared when she was with him. And for once, she made me want to have kids of my own." She scrunched her nose. "But, of course, kids aren't for me."

"You never know," he said, monotonously. "Kids. They really are miracles. They're the joy of a parent's life. They're hard work, expensive, and prone to danger, but when you look deep into those beautiful innocent eyes," he scoffed happily, "a feeling of wonder washes over you and-and—" At first, while he was explaining, he thought of all the happy and delightful memories he had from five and a half years ago with his two most special people. But all of it disappeared when he was hit with the aching memory of seeing his special someone walking into a champagne-colored car and getting driven off, never turning back to look or stop for him no matter how hard he called out to her.

"You went quiet again," she commented. "You're doing that awfully a lot today."

"Sorry."

"I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have forced you to come with me."