The Anti-Social Social Club [Stardew Valley Sebastian x Female Player (OFC)]

Chapter One

I wasn't planning on ever moving there. That is, until my father told me they were going to sell Grandpa's farm since no one in the family wanted to take it over once he died. I was an only child. My mother had passed when I was in high school and I only had one aunt and one uncle left living. All my cousins had moved far away and I was the only one left in a remotely close area. I lived in Zuzu City, about an hour away from Stardew Valley, and I couldn't bear the thought of someone else moving in there; making their own memories with their own family in the place that I made so many memories myself. I felt as though if I let the farm slip through my fingers, I'd let all those memories slip away with it.

Much to my surprise, I found myself packing up my apartment in Zuzu City with the plan to move into Grandpa's old farm in Stardew Valley. I kept asking myself if I was making the right choice. What was someone like me doing moving into an old, rundown farm in the middle of nowhere? I had my whole life in front of me and plenty of great career opportunities here in the city. But for some reason, the valley was calling to me. It was as if Grandpa's own voice was guiding me back here and it felt right. I never pegged myself as the farming type, but I couldn't help feeling that this was meant to be. I was always meant to come back to Stardew Valley.

With my bags in tow, I boarded the train to Stardew. It was the only way to get there. The bus route had been out of service for years and the train was the only way to get into and out of the Valley. I remember sitting by the window, pressing the side of my head against the cold glass and watching all the trees and houses pass me by as we zoomed through several small towns on the way to Stardew. Passing through these small neighborhoods always made me wonder about the people who lived in them. What were their lives like? What did the inside of their homes look like? Were they as cozy as I imagined them to be? Did they all have families or were they as lonely as I was? Someone who didn't have much of a family left.

Grandpa had been the glue that kept my family together. After he passed, my cousins all moved away, and I never had any siblings to keep me company to begin with. It was just me and Dad until I got a job working for this corporate office in the city. After I moved out to Zuzu City, I'd barely heard a word from my father until he called me to tell me he was planning on selling Grandpa's farm. After all those years of silence you'd think he'd start with a "hello" but all I got was "Stella, we're selling grandpa's farm. Your aunt and uncle and I can't afford the property taxes anymore and the farm isn't making us any money with it being abandoned. It's best we just get rid of it for good." My father said.

I remember shaking my head as if he could see me through the phone and then saying, without much thought, "No, I'll buy it off you."

It was as much of a surprise to myself as it was to my father but my gut was telling me this was the right path for me. I was beginning to get overwhelmed with my corporate job anyway—too many demanding deadlines and angry bosses—and what's better than simply running away from your problems? It seemed like I had been doing that my whole life, anyway. I was practically an expert.

My father unexpectedly didn't put up much of a fight. He didn't ask any questions or challenge my idea. He simply agreed to me buying the property off him and my aunt and uncle. Within two weeks, I was packed up and ready to go. I said goodbye to my tiny apartment in the city and hello to a huge space of open land and a medium sized, dilapidated farmhouse to call my own.

Leaving the city wasn't all that hard. I didn't have many friends anyway as I tended to be a little bit of a loner. Okay, a lot a bit of a loner. My only friend was a girl around my age who worked in the cubicle next to me. We had a wine night every Wednesday but that was about as much socializing as I ever got in Zuzu. Growing up as an only child teaches you how to be alone in life—for everything.