Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 87

The room was packed with big shots, and there I was, a no–name coder, smart enough to blend into the background.

Before long, my long–awaited Tack and the boss showed up, taking their seats right next to Frank, super close to Hogan and Cecilia.

Cecilia seemed to recognize Tack and seized the moment to slip him her business card.

Pretty standard move, considering that Tack, a world–class software engineer, wasn’t someone we bumped into every day. But Cecilia came on so strong that she ended up looking a little too

eager.

Luckily, Tack had enough EQ to handle it. He took the card, gave it a polite glance, and handed it off to his assistant.

He didn’t leave Cecilia hanging.

Cecilia, all smiles, struck up a convo with Tack in her less–than–perfect tone about the game we were developing.

Tack showed a flicker of interest, but then he switched gears and asked, “I’ve heard about this game from Mr. Bishop. Isn’t the engineer named Xaviera?”

Cecilia’s face froze for a second.

I didn’t expect Tack to bring me up.

introduced me, “The Xaviera you want to meet is right

a probing look.

so I stepped up

mused, “So it is you, Xaviera. I

a bit surprised, “Tack, you remember

a bunch of emails about getting

pretty bummed when you turned down Elysium University. Xaviera, you’ve got a real knack for software.”

was flattered, and his words drew everyone’s attention

about my

changed the way everyone looked at me, especially

had plans to go to Elysium

Chapter 87

played it cool and steered the conversation toward our new project, hitting it off

in edgewise several times but got brushed off by Tack, ending up sitting

of the party. Tack handed me

the other went to a big name in

left the party feeling like I hit the jackpot.

the Youth Hostel, Darren, bleary–eyed, said, “Xaviera, you

play a