Games Of Hearts

2. Falling over a voice?

...That I stepped on landmine. How could I not see this Landmine and what the hell just happened right now.

I was completely caught off guard when I got distracted by Joshua's voice just now. My body reacted in a way that was totally abnormal, and before I knew it, I'd made a careless move that triggered a landmine.

It exploded, killing me and knocking Joshua down at his location. We ended up losing the match because of my stupid mistake. And to make matters worse, I can still hear Joshua's frustration from the other side of the screen. His voice has a strange effect on me, one that I can't quite explain.

It's like my brain short-circuits whenever he speaks, and I lose all focus. I guess I was more affected by his voice than I realized!

"Ohhh noooooo!!" Mark exclaimed from the other side, snapping me back to reality.

"That was a close call, don't be sad, Joshua and Eva," Rue added, her voice calm and soothing.

"Yeah," Mark chimed in, his voice sounding lazy and heavier than usual,

"Yeah, we lost probably because your friend got distracted." Joshua's tone was laced with annoyance, and he seemed to be placing all the blame on me.

"Hey, it wasn't entirely my fault!" I protested, feeling the need to defend myself. "I didn't even realize there was a landmine! It was an honest mistake"

"Excuse me?" I said, trying to clarify.

"You're excused," Joshua retorted savagely from the other side.

"What do you mean I got distracted?" I asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

"Well, I clearly warned you about the landmine, and yet you went over there and got lost somewhere in your thoughts," Joshua said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I tried to defend myself, "I didn't get lost anywhere-"

But Joshua cut me off, "Yeah, not anywhere but in your thoughts."

I shot back, "Then if you were so confident about yourself, you should've gone first."

Joshua sneered, "I was about to, but you went ahead. I thought you might have experience, but you don't even know how to kill someone in the game properly."

My anger flared, and I felt like punching him. "Yeah? You're the one who stole my kill in the last game. You're a kill stealer, and you think you're above the law." I argued, eager to trigger him and prove my point.

"Kill stealer?" All three of them said in unison.

"Heh, interesting!" Rue said, watching the exchange between Joshua and me.

"Can you guys stop now? It was just a game," Mark said in a calm voice.

"Well, about that... it was a mistake. I was just checking my gun-" Joshua started to make an excuse.

"By pointing your gun towards my kill and then running away?" I interrupted him.

"I told you it was a mistake," Joshua said, exhaling sharp breaths.

"Not everything is a mistake. You did it on purpose," I said, my words coming out harsher than I intended.

"Don't fire this up... sometimes things happen by mistake-" Joshua tried to calm himself.