The road, the route, the path — call it whatever you want — but that stretch of time from point A to point B makes up most of our lives. They are things we remember later with nostalgia, perhaps not with joy, but rather with sadness over the difficult moments of those times. Yet we will never forget something as natural as the daily paths of our lives… along with remembering the alcoholic drinks we happily drank along the way.

  And our protagonist is going through his commute, like any other day… of these past few days.

  “Damn it!” Jeff shouted angrily, drawing the attention of several passengers on the train.

  “Ahh, what’s wrong with you, idiot?!” — and causing Alejandra to wake up abruptly, as she was sitting beside him.

  “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”

  “Well, don’t think out loud, you idiot. You scared me.”

  "It's fine, I already said sorry… are you still sleepy?"

  "No, it's just tiredness, so let me rest in peace."

  With those words, Alejandra closed her eyes again. And Jeff decided to stay quiet — but Esfer did not.

  "I'm surprised, Master. Even if you're a fake couple, you act as if you really were one."

  *Don't say that even as a joke… and moving on to the bad news, do we seriously still have nothing?*

  "Affirmative, Master. After two days since your reveal as Alejandra's boyfriend, we haven't obtained any clues about the stalker."

  *…this is bad. Why isn't the plan working, Esfer?*

  "Most likely, the stalker was surprised on the first day, but has begun to hide it now. Another possibility would be that the stalker isn't even at the university."

  *How awful… but surely we have a backup plan, right?*

  "…Master, this is the backup plan."

  "Damn it!"

  "AAHH, you again?!"

  .

  .

  .

  At university entrances are the most common places to… wait a second, I already wrote this before. Well, let’s ignore that and continue.

  “There they are. Hi, Ale!” a girl shouted, waving her hand and enthusiastically greeting Alejandra as she arrived at the university.

  “Hi, girls,” Alejandra said as she walked over to her friends, dragging Jeff along by the hand in the process.

  “Wow, it’s nice arriving at university with your boyfriend.” said a girl with her hair tied in a ponytail.

  “Thanks, Rose,” Alejandra replied with a smile.

  While the girls chatted, Jeff stayed there motionless with a smile on his face, but with a look that showed exhaustion, revealing what he had gone through over the past few days.

  Alejandra and he had been arriving at the university together, and the first to greet them were always Alejandra’s friends.

  They would talk among themselves, and sometimes they would bring Jeff into their conversations. It wouldn’t be so hard if it weren’t for the fact that they talked about fashion, makeup, tailoring, and clothing styles — something normal considering they were all fashion majors.

  Which was unfortunate for Jeff, who knew about fashion about as much as he knew about what lived in the depths of the ocean.

  And don’t get me wrong, they also talked about other things, like series, books, and their daily lives, but Jeff didn’t watch many series, the most he read were texts in his online games, and his daily life consisted of helping the people he encountered along the way.

  So yes, he could only give short and vague responses, yet the girls kindly kept including him in the conversation — something very exhausting for him.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Sorry, Jeff, what color do you think guys would like most?” asked Alejandra’s tallest friend.

  *Seriously? Are you making a global statistic based on one person’s answer? That’s just…*

  “Black. I think that would be the color most boys like,” Jeff replied politely.

  “Oh, really? And what’s your favorite color?” asked the friend with the ponytail.

  “Huh? My favorite color?... Black too.”

  “Oh, I see. Maybe we should experiment with black outfits someday,” said a girl with tanned skin.

  With Jeff’s answer, the girls began to come up with clothing ideas they could tailor using black as the base color.

  At that moment, Jeff once again had to stand at attention, wearing a polite smile while an invisible tear streamed down from his left eye.

  Unaware of the gazes directed at him at that very moment…

  .

  .

  .

  “Remember, my pupils, if you want to get closer to a girl, you have to understand how girls think,” Jeff said as he walked toward his classroom. He had already separated from Alejandra and her friends, since class was about to start.

  The words Jeff had spoken sparked a collective “Oooohhh” of admiration behind him, coming from a group of various guys — including the big, muscular boys from the previous chapter (if you haven’t seen it, go back to Chapter 11 and read the whole story while you’re at it). They had stuck close to Jeff whenever he was available, hoping to kindly acquire his knowledge.

  Besides them were other guys who had heard that Alejandra’s famous boyfriend was giving lessons on how to court a girl.

  “Quick question — does watching Barbie movies count as understanding how girls think?” a guy walking beside Jeff asked… it was Miguel.

  Jeff chuckled a little before answering, “What are you talking about? Watching Barbie movies is something every man should do at least once in his life. It’s part of the man code — unrelated to courting.”

  “Ooohh,” they expressed in admiration at Jeff’s wise and true words, some even writing down what that figure had said in their notebooks.

  Jeff felt good receiving that attention. He felt powerful, influential — like the leader of a group that could start a revolution against the university’s dictatorship, proclaiming a state where everyone is equal, though clearly some would be more equal than others.

  *…No, it'd better not follow those thoughts. Remember the poor horse. Jeff restrained himself from continuing those thoughts as a tear slipped down from his right eye.*

  While he was recalling that sad moment, he noticed a girl with very pale skin walking straight toward him, looking at Jeff and quickly looking away, repeating that action over and over.

  *What’s wrong with her? Why is she looking at me like that?*

  Thinking that, the girl got closer until she reached him. “E-e-excuse me, c-could I talk with you alone?” the girl said, stumbling over her words and avoiding Jeff’s gaze.

  “You want to talk to me? About what?” Jeff asked, tilting his head in confusion. He didn’t know the girl, so he had no idea what she might want from him.

  “Eto… i-it’s something p-personal and necessary,” the girl replied, still shy.

  Jeff grew even more confused by what she said, so he brought out his inner Holmes to connect the dots. *A girl approached me shyly, avoiding my gaze, and she needs to talk about something pers— ooohhh.*

  A wide smile appeared on Jeff’s face, making the girl tremble slightly. Jeff brushed his hair like a magazine model.

  “Oh, you need to tell me something, young lady? Of course you can tell me.”

  He turned toward the group of boys behind him.

  “Excuse me, my students, but I must attend to some matters. For homework, I want you to bring me a list of ten objects that come to mind when you think of a girl, in APA format. Understood?”

  At Jeff’s question, they all responded with a “Yes, Master Green,” and with that, everyone began walking toward their respective classrooms.

  Jeff turned back to the girl, who still avoided his gaze.

  “Alright then, where are we going?”

  .

  .

  .

  In a nearly empty hallway, and I say nearly because our protagonist was there with the girl from before, also accompanied by his solar sphere, enigmatic and hermetic.

  “Alright, young lady, what is it that you need from my being?” Jeff asked with an air of elegance, thinking *how hard it is to be popular.*

  The girl looked at Jeff for a moment before saying, “I-it’s something I’ve been thinking about, but I can’t endure keeping it any longer.”

  *Here it comes, this will be my first time receiving a confession.*

  “It’s about Alejandra.”

  *And there my first confession fell, Jeff thought disappointed at the situation, before reflecting again wait, she wants to talk about Alejandra?*

  The girl continued speaking, “you know I’m a friend of Alejandra, I was with the girls at the entrance of the university, and sorry for looking at you so much, but I really had to talk with you.”

  *She was there? Jeff thought tilting his head.*

  "And since I’m Alejandra’s friend, I know very well that she’s a good girl. She’s radiant, very cute, like a beautiful spring flower," the girl commented, looking at the floor with a smile.

  Are we talking about the same person?

  "But recently I’ve seen her tired, and sometimes with a noticeable frown."

  That does sound like Alejandra.

  The girl lifted her gaze, her trembling gone now, holding an intense stare at Jeff.

  "And all of this started when you appeared."

  The girl spoke as she stepped closer to Jeff, and he, with a tremble, backed away until he was pinned against the wall.

  "What did you do to Alejandra to make her like that?"

  "Uh, nothing. I didn’t do anything to her." He said hurriedly

  The girl held his gaze, searching for any sign that he might be lying.

  "Excuse me, Master," Esfer said from his beside, continuing, "you really are to blame for Alejandra's current state."

  Jeff looked at Esfer incredulously. *What on earth are you talking about?*

  "Well, Master, if you haven’t noticed, Alejandra gets herself ready first before fixing you up. And if she normally does that early, what time do you think she actually starts getting ready?"

  Jeff opened his eyes wide and slightly parted his mouth, showing surprise as he realized it, even more so when he remembered seeing her sleepy in the mornings. He hadn’t considered that Alejandra did that, much less that his new routine had negatively affected her.

  With the corners of his mouth slightly downturned and his gaze lowered, he looked at the girl again to accept his mistake and find a way to fix it.

  But what he found was a puzzled expression on the girl’s face, and Jeff didn’t know why.

  “Why were you looking to your side for so long?” Now he knew why.

  “Uh, that… I was just… reflecting, yes, I like to think like that.” Jeff said hurriedly, sweating on his forehead.

  “Is that so?” the girl asked distrustfully. “And what were you reflecting on?”

  “Well, I… just realized why Alejandra is more tired… and yes, it’s my fault.” Jeff said, lowering his gaze.

  “Aha, I knew it, you worthless boyfriend. If you were a good boyfriend, you’d be the first to know what was happening to her and be able to fix it,” she said angrily.

  Jeff could only lower his gaze further in shame, staring at the floor.

  “You’re right,” Jeff raised his eyes to the girl. “Sorry for not noticing, and thank you very much for telling me.”

  The girl was surprised; she hadn’t expected Jeff would admit she was right, after verbally attacking him, much less to accept his own mistake.

  “O-okay, I f-forgive you, but you have to fix t-that issue with Alejandra,” said the girl, looking away, and then she walked off, leaving Jeff alone in the hallway.

  Seeing her leave, Jeff leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling. “…I’m an idiot for not noticing. She helps me, and I repay her like this.”

  “In fact, Master, you are helping her with her stalker,” said Esfer.

  “And you think that gives me the right to add more burden to her day?”

  Esfer remained silent in the hallway for a moment before Jeff spoke again: “I’ll have to find a way to make my presence less of a burden for her, or almost none at all. Do you have any ideas, Esfer?”

  Esfer thought for a moment before replying, “Yes, Master, I have a few ideas you could use.”

  “Very well, Esfer. Let’s put them into action.”

  With that, Jeff started walking, leaving the hallway, unaware of a pair of eyes watching him from the other end.