Celestial Love (Tsutey x OC)

Chapter 10

Jake woke up to the loud whirl of Karina's link switching on. 

"Rise and shine". Norm sang in a good mood as he stepped out from the other link shack.

Pulling his chair closer, Jake aligned it parallel to his bed to make it easier for him to transfer.

"Morning. Where's Grace and Trudy?". He looked around to see no signs of them.

Norm smiled as he sashayed towards the fridge. "They went back to Hell's Gate to get more supplies and left me in charge". 

He was feeling giddy as their research leaped forward. 

"So I was watching Tom's video logs last night. I noticed he mentioned a girl named Katy a lot". Jake pulled up at the table after Norm passed him his breakfast.

It was the first time Jake mentioned his name in a while. 

Norm paused from chewing his cereal as he made eye contact with Jake. "Right?".

He had avoided this conversation for far too long but still knew this day would come.

"I've asked around the bio lab and checked out everybody's badges. I haven't seen or met anybody named Katy. Do you know her?". The marine shrugged his shoulders.

Jake was curious to meet this mystery lady. 

Whenever Tom mentioned her name, he would look away from the camera and smile. A certain twinkle in his eye hinted that she was somebody special.

Swallowing his food slowly, Norm pondered on the words to say. His gaze fell into the Avatar-sized backpack on the table behind Jake.

Jake followed his line of sight and looked at the bag curiously. "Tyrell, Karina. What's that g-".

There was a moment of silence while he worked it out. 

Katy wasn't a first name; They were initials, KT. 

The girl Tom was head over heels for was Karina. 

Norm looked at him apologetically while sipping on his coffee. "I'm sorry, Jake. I wanted to tell you so badly, but I thought it shouldn't come from me".

"Why do you think she hasn't said anything?". Jake was still trying to figure out what he should do. 

He looked down at his bowl with a glum expression. It took him a month to find out the person he was looking for was beside him all along.

"I don't know, Jake. Last time we spoke about Tom, she blamed herself". Norm pouted in the direction of her Link next door.

Norm motioned for him to come closer. He covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "I heard. He went out to buy her an engagement ring that night".

"Oh, shit-". Jake was dumbfounded. His brother was about to get married, and he didn't know. 

Ever since he joined the army, they drifted apart. 

Tom moved out to pursue his degree and rarely came home for the holidays. They would speak over the phone now and again but usually kept the conversation short. 

"-Wait. Why were you whispering, though?". He looked at Norm with a questioning look.

The Xenobotanist shook his head from side to side. "I don't know. It felt weird to say it out loud".

Jake grimaced slightly at his quirkiness but nodded anyway. He looked back at Karina's backpack, thinking thoughtfully.

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