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.

his feet, introduced me, “The Xaviera you want to meet

me a probing

by, so I stepped

mused, “So it is you, Xaviera. I didn’t expect to

was a bit surprised, “Tack, you remember me?”

bunch of emails about getting

when you turned down Elysium University. Xaviera, you’ve got a

was flattered, and his words

knew about my Elysium University decision.

everyone

to go to

Chapter 87

cool and steered the conversation toward

a word in edgewise several times but got brushed off by Tack, ending

Tack handed

out two cards that night; the other went

the party feeling like

at the Youth Hostel, Darren, bleary–eyed, said, “Xaviera, you know, I’m really happy tonight.”

a big part tonight.”