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.

“The Xaviera you want to

gave me a probing look.

by, so I stepped up and greeted him,

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

bit surprised, “Tack, you remember

emails about getting into school.

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

his words drew everyone’s attention to

about my Elysium

mention changed the way everyone

to go to

Chapter 87

and steered the conversation toward our

got brushed off

Tack handed me

that night; the other

the party feeling like I hit

bleary–eyed, said, “Xaviera, you

play a