At midday, we can find people carrying out repetitive actions on a specific schedule, without being able to question the reasons for it, causing their youth to fly by. And at some point, you realize that your life has been left in that place, and that the goals or dreams you once had went down the drain a long time ago, and that you can do nothing to fix it. And you realize that you are at the end of a race that only happens once, never to be run again, and that you will leave with regret consuming your conscience until the end of your days…

  In other words, we find people working or studying; at those hours, we also find people taking a break… or not.

  In a deserted hallway, we can find two young people: a beautiful girl with distinctive orange-colored hair; and in front of her, a young man whose appearance I have not described, and will not, but who distinctly has near him an elemental, cosmic, ancient living sphere.

  Jeff is sweating and trembling; an uneasiness invades him. What he is about to do does not please him, not at all. But an inner voice was encouraging him.

  “Come on, Jeff, you can do it. It’s the best plan you have. With this, you have a better chance of catching the stalker and saving yourself from jail. Besides, it’s not bad to pretend to be Alejandra’s boyfriend; she’s very pretty, and by getting to know her better, maybe you can discover a great personality.”

  Jeff thought it was his inner voice, until he heard the last sentences.

  *Esfer! Stop getting into my head!* Jeff thought while he turned to his right to glare at Esfer, who was flying near his ear.

  “Why are you looking at your shoulder?” Alejandra asked, confused by Jeff’s attitude.

  “Oh, it’s nothing, just an annoying… irritating… ugly fly.”

  “Stop it, master,” Esfer commented, somewhat irritated.

  “And so, why did you ask me to meet you here?”

  “Ah, right… how should I put it?” Jeff said while looking at the floor in embarrassment.

  “If you’re not going to say anything, I’d better leave already,” Alejandra said as she turned to her left.

  “Wait!” Jeff shouted, making Alejandra stop in her tracks and turn fully to look at him, already a bit irritated.

  “Well… it’s becoming difficult for me to find the stalker. It’s as if he’s hiding.”

  Jeff looked Alejandra in the face, trying to see some kind of reaction, but there was nothing—no surprise, no anger.

  “Well… I came up with a plan to provoke the stalker into coming out of hiding, but I need your help to make it work.”

  “My help? How?” Alejandra asked with a sharp look, showing distrust.

  “Um… well, the plan itself is that you would… go out with someone so the stalker feels jealous and is forced to show himself, and then we can set a trap.”

  Jeff looked at her again and saw that she still had the same distrustful expression, but even so, he continued.

  “Well, since it would be best not to involve more people in the situation… I, ugh, wait a moment.” Jeff started taking deep breaths, then continued. “And I… I sacrifice my— I mean, I offer myself… for that role… so.”

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  Jeff standing at attention.

  “Alejandra, go out wi—”

  “No, I don’t want to.”

  “Wait! In the previous episode, you didn’t interrupt me during my request,” Jeff said worriedly.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I don’t want to go out with you, not even as a joke.”

  “Didn’t you hear me? It’s to find your stalker.”

  “Ha, even if that were the case—or if you were the stalker—nothing will force me to go out with you.”

  Faced with such strong statements, Jeff started touching his face.

  “Am I that ugly? Forget it then. So tell me, is there a guy you could go out with so we can follow the plan?”

  “Ha, there is no man who deserves the privilege of being my partner,” Alejandra said with an air of superiority.

  “Oh, I didn’t know about your preference. If it’s a girl, that works too—”

  Alejandra interrupted him by shouting, “No! You’re misunderstanding it! I don’t like girls that way! Seriously!”

  Jeff covered his ears because of Alejandra’s shouting. “I get it, I get it, but you don’t have to act so negatively about it.”

  “It’s not that. I just don’t want weird rumors to spread.”

  “So… there’s no way to change your mind, right?”

  “No, there isn’t,” Alejandra said, crossing her arms.

  Jeff looked at the floor for a moment, his face dejected. “I see… that’s fine. I can’t force you, so I’ll look for another way to catch him. Yeah...”

  Jeff started walking toward the exit, passing by Alejandra’s side. She looked at his face, but he only kept a firm gaze straight ahead.

  After he passed her, a voice called out from behind him.

  “What? Aren’t you going to force me to help you by blackmailing me with my real appearance? Like last time?” Alejandra asked, with a tone of sarcasm, but also doubt.

  Jeff turned his face to look at her. “Well, that time it was because I had no other choice, and I’m sorry if I was too harsh with you back then and if you’re still upset about it… so yes, I won’t blackmail you into helping me. Don’t worry about that.”

  Jeff turned his face away again to keep walking, but once more Alejandra stopped him.

  “Are you serious? You have a possible chance to catch the stalker, and you’re just letting it go? Are you giving up—”

  Alejandra was interrupted by Jeff, who turned around completely and confronted her with a strong voice.

  “Giving up?! I’m not doing that. I didn’t give up when I was following the stalker, I didn’t give up when I had only one clue to find him, and I didn’t give up when that clue went to hell and I had nothing left to go on. I’m here, asking you for help, you reject me, and now that I’m trying to find another way to solve this problem, you tell me I’m giving up? You’re the one who seems to be giving up. In fact, it seems like you don’t care—like your popularity matters more to you than your own safety. You need several people to tell you that you’re pretty instead of seeking your own self-approval. What you really need is to care about yourself a little and about your well-being.”

  Jeff began to breathe heavily after finishing all of that.

  Silence settled over the hallway. Alejandra was stunned. She knew he had tried hard to catch the stalker, but she hadn’t realized how much he had been carrying. Besides, the words directed at her had struck her deeply.

  While she was still shaken by that, Jeff was shaken as well.

  *Shit! Why did I say that?! Most likely no one has ever told her those things. She’ll probably hate me now for calling her superficial and shallow. I’d better apologize and get out of here.*

  “Alejandra, I’m sor-”

  “It’s okay.”

  Before Jeff could apologize, Alejandra interrupted him, confusing him with her words.

  “Huh?”

  “I said it’s fine… we’ll pretend to be a couple to catch the stalker,” Alejandra said, somewhat embarrassed.

  “Huh? Really?”

  Alejandra looked to the side before turning back to him. “Yes, I’m serious, but I have conditions.” She raised a finger. “First, there will be a limit to the contact we have. Holding hands is the maximum.”

  “Huh? Oh, that sounds fine to me.”

  She raised a second finger. “Second, you have to act as if you’re very grateful for being given the privilege of going out with me, both around other people and when we’re alone.”

  “…I don’t really like that.”

  “Do you want my help or not?”

  “Yes, sorry, I do want your help… but only when there are people around.”

  “Tch, fine.” Alejandra raised a third finger. “And lastly, we need to give you a complete makeover.”

  “What? Why?” Jeff asked, confused by that last part.

  “Didn’t you hear me before? My boyfriend—even if he’s a fake one—has to be handsome,” Alejandra said proudly. “And even though your situation is difficult, I’m going to improve you so you’re worthy of being my boyfriend.”

  “And instead of that, couldn’t you say you fell in love with my beautiful personality and good qualities?” Jeff asked, somewhat worried.

  “Ha, that would be difficult too. You don’t have a good personality, nor good qualities. I think we also need to work on that,” Alejandra said, placing a finger on her chin thoughtfully.

  “…I feel offended.”

  “Alright, enough talking. Give me your contact information.”

  “What for?”

  “So we can coordinate inside the school. I don’t want people to see me with you looking like that right now.”

  They exchanged contact information on their phones, and then an alarm rang on Jeff’s phone, signaling that the break was over.

  “It’s time for us to go,” Jeff said as he started walking toward the exit, then looked back at Alejandra, who hadn’t moved.

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “And have people see us together? No, thanks. I’ll wait a bit before leaving.”

  “Okay, then I’ll go ahead.” With those words, Jeff left the hallway behind, along with Alejandra.

  .

  .

  .

  “Ha… this is so exhausting.”

  “What’s wrong, Jeff? The class just started,” Miguel commented, sitting to his right, while Mike was seated on his left.

  “I’ll explain later,” Jeff said as he rested his head on his desk. At that moment, he felt a slight vibration in his pocket. He took it out and saw a message that read:

  We’ll meet at the mall after classes.

  Don’t keep me waiting.

  They were direct and blunt words, with a hint of a threat added to them. But what was even more surprising was that the message was from Alejandra.