[The day Alex and Olivia broke up.]

"Why did you two break up?" Olivia's mother, Emma, held her daughter's collar, hailing her to glare into her eyes.

Emma's black eyes turned red, her body sparked with lightning bolts, and her strength was out of the world!

Her former delinquent tendencies came out of her. She didn't care about her daughter's emotional state; even Olivia's tears didn't stop her.

It was not just that, though. Emma saw her younger self within Olivia.

"Because he couldn't choose between me and other girls," Olivia spoke with tears flooding her eyes more, tumbling down her cheeks. She sounded like she would soon break down and choke on her own words.

Emma clicked her tongue, "You've inherited the worst out of me." She threw her daughter onto her bed.

After bringing the chair close to Olivia's bed, Emma sat down like a juvenile delinquent, her arms on the chair's back.

She gazed at her daughter, who was in such pain that she didn't even care about lightning sparks or red eyes, "I didn't expect him to find out about the Avander World's reality so fast.

It took us much longer," Emma added before fishing out a cigarette from her pocket. She lit it up, waiting for her daughter to calm down.

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Olivia stared absentmindedly ahead, whispering to her mother, "Why are you not shocked that he had other girls?"

"Isn't it legal in the Avander World?" Emma asked after blowing out a cloud of toxic and unbearable smoke.

Olivia's heart ached, feeling painful as even her mother didn't seem to support her. She started questioning herself and whether Alex was right. Perhaps, she should've agreed with him and kept living with the thoughts of other girls spending time with him in romantic ways.

But it felt so wrong. She couldn't accept it, even if those girls were all nice people who needed a good man.

Emma scrutinized her daughter's reactions, sighing, "It's better if I tell you my story then. I was never good at explaining things through words.

This fist explained stuff the best, but I can't use it on you, can I?" Emma balled her hand, showcasing her immense strength while grinning.

And then, she started a talk, "Unlike a certain daughter, I didn't have the luxury of having a boyfriend who would tame my delinquent side. I was the same rough and sharp girl until my twenty birthday.

At that time, a virtual reality game appeared. I was jobless without any ambition, so I used the game to avoid reality and responsibilities." Emma said without any hint of shame, for her former experiences formed the person she was today.

She talked about a new world different from the Avander World. It was not a world with continents and realms. Instead, there was one vast continent with an ocean surrounding it.

Emma was one of the players who conquered the dungeon alone, "I didn't have friends, for they changed, becoming hard-working people. I alone climbed up rankings, wielding the epic class from the dungeon.

But even I grew lonely at some point. You could say I was jealous of others, having families, friends, lovers, and so on. My parents were scared of me.

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Yet, on one of those mundane and lonely days, I met a guy I fell in love with.

His name was Harvey Mao," Emma's words echoed in Olivia's eyes, for she knew this name well.

Harvey Mao was Alex's father, and she had the pleasure of meeting him more than enough. He was a good father, and Alex always could rely on him.

Yet, her mother was in love with him? And they met in a game world?

"That doesn't make sense," Olivia lifted her eyes, her expression a little better, "There was no virtual reality game when you were twenty years old."

"I told you it was a different world I also come from another world, which used to be similar to Earth," Emma shook her head, complaining to her daughter as she didn't listen to her words.

She sucked on her cigarette before continuing, "He was alone at that time. We teamed up, going for a quest that lasted around two weeks. I only logged out when necessary during that time, and he was the same.

He liked another world more than our modern world. I was the same," Emma reminisced that peculiar time with a faint smile.

Her feelings toward Harvey were long gone, but that time with him helped her with her family problems. She talked with her parents, contacted a few old friends, and started developing into a better woman.

"After that quest, I confessed to him. I was an honest girl, so I knew that I couldn't let this guy go. But then, as if trying to laugh at me, a group of girls fell from the sky, flocking his side like fucking doves!" Emma cursed, recalling her feelings back then.

Those girls weren't players like Emma; at that time, no player knew that the game world was real. Yet, even if those girls were NPCs, Emma felt as if the sky fell on her, crushing her dreams.

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"I still confessed! But that Harvey prick told me that he values and loves everyone equally. Even if the world might be 'far away' from his home world, he will treasure his time with his girls and make them the happiest in the world!

They developed feelings through hell and heaven. They were just stupid NPCs he received as quest partners, yet they all developed feelings for each other. And he would treasure those feelings until the end

Look at him and his nice words! 'Far away', my ass. He couldn't even say 'fake world' before them," Emma threw her first cigarette into her inventory before taking another one, her feelings quite mixed.

Her eye flashed with anger and sadness. Some happiness flashed in her eyes, too, but just for a few seconds.

It was because she was close to the end of her story.

"I couldn't care whether they were fake or not. I wouldn't share a man with anyone! So I told him to forget about my confession. I told him he would regret his choice. And that's how we became rivals," Emma said, then added after clicking her tongue, "I wanted to become stronger than him, so we often fought against each other as rivals, no enemies or friends.

We were closer to friends, though. Every time I saw him, I couldn't help but become the old Emma, the delinquent who would use her fists for everything, even seizing her love.

And he just laughed, accepting me as his friend," Emma sighed, closing her eyes.

And as Olivia listened to the story, she recalled her meeting with Alex. He accepted her wholeheartedly, slowly changing her by introducing her to his world. She became friends with everyone through him, cuddled with her beloved, and saw a different, more colorful world where she could enjoy cute things.

But then, Emma dropped a bomb, "We were friends, but he never noticed that I liked cute stuff, like plushies. He kept giving me presents like weapons. In real life, he would even bring me to the dojo a day after my birthday as a present. It's so weird, though. Alex saw through me relatively easily.

Well, he had better circumstances, for he could casually come over to our house. He's so much better than his father," Emma hummed.

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Olivia narrowed her eyes, glaring at her mother, "Continue the story."

"Or what? You will punch my prettier face, girl?" Emma taunted, which ended up with both girls standing on the bed, preparing for a clash.