Jade never called herself a "gamer." Not in the hardcore, elite kind of way. She didn't grind ranked modes for hours or chase top-tier loot. But when she slipped on her headset and entered MythRealms Online, the chaos of real life melted into pixels and spells, and suddenly, everything made sense.
She wasn't Jade Whitlock, awkward sixteen-year-old with average reflexes and a tendency to miss headshots she was NyxBlade, a rogue-class duelist with silver daggers and a kill streak to prove it.
And Rui? Rui was legendary.
Not just in the game where he held a top-50 leaderboard rank and soloed bosses others couldn't even scratch but in the way he moved. Every motion, every play, felt intentional. Like he saw the world half a second before everyone else.
She first met him in a chaotic raid party, where half the players didn't know how to stay out of AoE zones. Rui, playing under the name Varyn, had led the final push with calm precision, barking commands and reviving teammates like he was built for it.
After the match, Jade had whispered a timid, "Thanks for the carry."
His reply had been dry but not unkind: "You held your own. Keep practicing."
That was the start.
One game turned into another. Then another. Jade wasn't sure when it happened, but somehow, she and Rui became a team. He'd invite her to squad up, share strategies, even walk her through dungeons she'd never dared to solo before.
"You're getting faster," he said once, after she'd managed a clean backstab kill without needing his backup.
It wasn't much but from Rui, it felt like gold. He didn't hand out praise often.
Their chats spilled outside the game first over Discord, then into quick messages and midnight voice calls. Rui wasn't chatty, but he had this quiet intensity Jade couldn't stop thinking about. He was 19, studying comp sci in another city, always with something dry and witty to say.
She looked forward to his voice more than the gameplay.
But lately… something had changed.
He started pulling back. Messages took longer. Invitations stopped. Even in the game, his voice was more clipped, distracted.
The last thing he said before going quiet:
"You've still got a lot to learn, kid."
Kid.
The word hit like a misfired arrow. It echoed in her head long after he logged off.
Days passed. Then weeks.
She told herself she didn't care. That she had better things to worry about. That it was just a game. But her fingers still hovered over his name in her contacts, rereading old messages.
It wasn't just about the game anymore. Not for her.
Finally, one rainy night, on pure impulse, she typed:
"Hey. How've you been?"
The reply came quicker than she expected:
"Hey. Been busy. You?"
It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm, either. But it was something.
Over the next few days, they began talking again. Slower, softer. Rui even cracked a joke about their early disasters in the Arena. It felt like the walls were coming down not just his, but hers too.
That's when Jade realized the feeling she'd been ignoring, the flutter in her chest every time his name lit up.
She was falling for him.
Confused and breathless, she turned to the one person who always got her: Naylo.
Naylo was her best friend and fellow MythRealms fanatic. She mained a mage named Willowthorn and was everything Jade wasn't confident, flirty, unapologetic.
"I think I like him," Jade confessed during a late-night call. Her voice trembled. "Not just game-like. Like… really like him."
Naylo paused. "Does he know?"
"No. I'm terrified. What if it ruins everything?"
Naylo sighed. "Okay. Then let's both do it."
"Wait—what?"
"I've been crushing on Cesar for months."
Cesar was Naylo's raid leader a flirt with a deep voice and a charming laugh.
"Let's send the messages. Tonight. You send yours, I send mine. Deal?"
Jade's heart raced. But she nodded. "Deal."
She wrote it in one sitting: "I don't know if this is weird, but I've caught feelings. I like you, Rui. More than just game nights and co-op runs. I don't expect anything. I just… needed to say it."
Her thumb hovered over send for a full minute. Then tap.
And panic set in.
"I blocked him!" she gasped into the mic. "I couldn't wait I just my brain freaked out."
Naylo groaned. "Jade. Seriously?"
"I'm scared! What if he laughs? What if he thinks I'm stupid?"
"Unblock him. Now. Be brave."
Reluctantly, Jade did. Her heart nearly exploded when Rui's message popped up seconds later.
"Hey. I didn't expect that. But… I like you too."
She stared at the screen, her breath caught somewhere between joy and disbelief.
"Oh my god," she whispered.
But then Naylo sniffled on the other end.
"He said no," she whispered. "Cesar said he doesn't want anything serious."
Jade's heart cracked for her friend. She wanted to scream and cheer and cry all at once.
"I'm so sorry," she said softly.
Naylo sniffled again, then forced a small laugh. "At least one of us got a win tonight."
Jade smiled, her heart full of both warmth and ache.
"I'm not leaving you behind," she said. "We're still a duo. Always."
And in that moment, with game screens glowing and emotions raw, Jade realized this wasn't just about winning or leveling up.
It was about connection.
And sometimes, the riskiest moves led to the sweetest victories.