When the clock turns 8 PM, Xing leaves his office. He descends the stairs without chatting with his workmates. He checks his phone for a Facebook app. His eyes glittered when seeing that he reached 12 notifications. Likes, Loves and some comments show up on the screen. He checks and invites each of the users. For a while his expression changes. Some sights arrive and the steps wander him to the nearest train station. The sky was dark and stormy while Xing seemed to not pay attention to it. The remnant of the day passes slowly as the old trains depart from the tiny station. Nobody tells him anything, he drinks coffee from his metal bottle, some cheap bottle he took from a gas station.
"Xing-Xing, sorry I am late!" a man around Xing's age greets him from a distance. He looks like a punk rocker. Messy blonde hair, dressed like a punk record from the 90s. Well, he looks a little odd, trying to catch up on Smile.
"So, thing, thing, what happens? How is your work lately?"
"Nah, it's not something like always, you know."
"Yes, no. Where are we going to drink?"
"I thought about, let's go to Sinshuan Cafe. It's cozy and pretty near."
"Okay, just take my luggage and let's go."
They descended to the bars nearby, on a shopping street, looking for a cozy place near a school. It was a café, or basically a normal Chinese café. Like always, with fans and lanterns, everything rounded into a luxury style.
Xing felt warm, took off his coat, and stayed at the table.
"Our usual table, haha, you haven't changed, haven't changed a bit, how are you? How is life in the capital?"
"Not much to say, just dumped another girl and, you know, she wasn't perfect."
"Are you still thinking of marriage?"
"Yes, like always. I've always pictured myself as a family man, with kids and everything. How about you, Xing?"
"Actually, not much. I mean, a call center, and it's pretty lame. Like the boss found me with some calls that were not okay, so I need to improve."
"Will they pay you for that?"
"Not really. But, well, how is your business going?"
"Pretty much the same. I'm tutoring kids from 12 to 19. Some of them are pretty lame, but, you know, parents pay me so I do my best to teach them guitar."
Well, Xing looks so depressed lately.
"Oh yes, I am, but you know, my usual blues."
"Yeah, nothing to cause concern."
"Actually, nothing."
So they enjoyed some coffee. The coffee was always cozy and warm. They had cats painted in milk foam on every cup. They love story-telling.
Xing's eyes changed a bit, becoming a little brighter.
Later, after an hour, his friend declared, "Xing, it's time for me to go to my accommodation."
"Nice to see you."
"Yeah, sure, let's pay."
The waiters brought the bills, and they shared the price. Later, they went outside the café and got on the bus. Xing was like going somewhere. He descended at a station before his friend.
He went to a neighborhood. It was a neighborhood far from the Oscars. Everything was bright and clean, but not so. There were holes in the alleys, and a lot of lights were fading on the street lamps.
Xing looked around. It was the same neighborhood, the same as before. So he thought to himself: Well, I was born here. I live here, never left. I'll lose the question, whatever. If I should have run away, how different would my life be? Of course, my life is like this because of me, not because of anybody's actions. What if? What a pity. I'm too insane to be considered normal and hired in a normal workplace, and also to receive any help. And the life tragedy is that everybody except myself waits for me to do things, to be an adult, to find someone, but I rather feel about myself that I'm lost. I don't want to go on, I think, about, what a mess. I think about ending it. I think about how my life would have been if I'd, you know, ended it.
But later, Xing arrived at the entry of the apartment block. There were the gray blocks that surrounded the country, old, but later warm. In winter, he hadn't paid anything, almost. The bills were so low because of the neighborhood. That apartment was at 23 degrees or 25 degrees. Actually, he ascended to the second level of the apartment block and entered.
"I'm home, Mama!"
An old lady, chubby, came to greet him. "Welcome home! How was life with Adrian?"
"It was pretty cool. How was work lately?"
"Nah, not much to say. I'm gonna work here next month as well."
"Xing, you always look for other jobs. Why aren't you just, you know, wait and see?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna wait and see. I'm gonna cook dinner, Mama."
"Okay, son, do you want anything?"
"No, no, I've eaten."
Xing went to his room, changed into other clothes, later washing hands and proceeding to the kitchen. The kitchen was tiny, so tiny that when he cooked, he liked to be alone. So nobody actually came because he couldn't just walk from one end to another. So lately, that was his life. He was cooking quite well for himself. He was cooking Chinese food, European food, and everything he saw online. Lately, he just cooked something light: roasted some eggplant, fetched some tiny cut onion, some oil and salt, and he made a salad out of it. He took some crisps and went to his Mama's room, staying on the couch, watching TV with her.
"So how was the day, Mom?"
"Oh, not so bad. You know, there was," and then she started telling him a lot of things that he didn't care about. But that was the ritual, ever since he was little.
Later, Xing finished eating and washed the plates.
"Mama, going to play."
"Sure, go and roam your Facebook thing."
And Xing goes to his room. He stays at his desk and opens the game. A new game tonight. This one is called "The Call of the Arcans." Then he immersed himself into the universe of the game. His character, Suna, walked around the empty streets. All the graphics showed a deserted land, some sort of African landscape that he had never seen. Suna was descending on the alley, looking for another opponent to beat. Lately, Xing enjoyed being Suna, and enjoyed driving himself into that imaginary game. He recorded everything. He recorded on his screen, only to post on Facebook, gaming, action, and other things. He likes gaming. He plays everything: Mario, League of Legends, Counter-Strike. Everything that keeps him alive for a while.
Later, he added to himself, "Sorry guys, this is all for tonight. See you tomorrow." Then he closed the record.
Now, comes the editing part. He meticulously cut the segments he didn't want to show to anyone. Later, he uploaded everything to his Facebook page. He had 600 people follow him. He worked so hard to get them subscribed to his channel. But something seemed weird to him. He then went to bed, closed his eyes.
In another world, just appearing in front of him.