Aiden sighed ruefully after leaving his boss's office. Aaron was one lucky man. He had the woman he loved by his side, and two beautiful children.

It seemed Aiden had spent the past few years waiting. His friend, however, had also endured a long wait. Keeley had shunned him for years. Aiden hadn't believed they would ever marry, yet there they were, blissfully in love, making everyone around them feel single, regardless of their actual relationship status.

He was happy for Aaron, especially after witnessing his protracted struggle. But seeing Aaron and Keeley together reminded Aiden how distant Nova was.

Their relationship hadn't started that way. When they met on a Final Fantasy XI server at sixteen, the last thing he expected was to fall in love. Aiden saw Nova's character—a pink-haired Mithra codenamed Supernova—and, impressed by her battle skills, asked her to join his party.

He hadn't played long at the time. Although an avid gamer since childhood, he'd only discovered multiplayer games in high school. World of Warcraft was his first MMORPG, but he soon branched out.

A school friend recommended Final Fantasy XI. Despite playing for a month, he'd never found a stable party. Looking at Supernova's stats, he sensed she faced the same problem.

Aiden messaged her: "Your skills are impressive. Want to team up?"

She immediately countered, "What's in it for me, fire boy?" (Aiden's screen name was QFlame, not Anomaly, to protect his hacker handle.) She was teasing him from the start.

He had items more beneficial to her Warrior class than his Red Mage class. Offering them in exchange for her help was an easy decision.

Initially, he expected their party to fail like the others, but Supernova remained as other players came and went. After a few months, Aiden suggested an in-game wedding to share items and boost XP.

She readily agreed, but afterward, she wanted to know more about his real life. Their online chats usually focused on the game, so he was surprised.

"Tell me ten things about yourself," Supernova requested. "Start with your name."

Unsure which details were most relevant, he started with the basics: "My name is Aiden, I'm sixteen, I live in a famous city, my parents are divorced, and I have a little sister, Sophie."

He ran out of ideas halfway through. He needed to get creative.

"I'm good with computers. I have a part-time remote job for a wealthy man; he's offered me a full-time position after high school, so I can skip college. I like animals but can't have pets because my mom's allergic. Oh, and I'm American. What about you?"

Supernova took several minutes to respond: "I'm Nova. I live in Sweden with my parents, grandparents, and siblings. I'm the middle child of three. I speak Swedish, English, and a little Finnish. I'm fourteen and want to be a graphic designer.

"I want a dog, but my grandparents are allergic. Besides gaming, I love to draw. I have a secret weakness for kötbullar (meatballs). And I'm unusually short for my family."

Aiden was stunned she was from Sweden. Her English was so good he'd assumed she was American. They talked extensively about their lives after that.

After completing the main storyline and countless side quests in Final Fantasy XI, they took a break but remained a team. They friended each other on Facebook and played various MMORPGs together, marrying whenever possible.

He tried to convince himself it was for convenience. Aiden had many online friends—he hadn't even met his boss in person after years of working together—so he didn't initially recognize his feelings for Nova.

However, one event changed his perspective. A girl he'd had a crush on since eighth grade asked for homework help (he wasn't sure why, given his mediocre grades), but he refused because he'd promised to meet Nova in-game.

He felt odd afterward, realizing the implications. Why reject Jessica? She was real; he could see and touch her. He'd only seen pictures of Nova.

This bothered him for days until he realized he might have unknowingly switched his affections. He missed Nova when they didn't talk.

But she lived halfway across the world. They might never meet. It was best to suppress his feelings.

Aiden decided to go offline, taking a break from MMORPGs and focusing on single-player games for a few weeks to get her out of his head. The sentence "seaʀᴄh thё NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality" is unrelated and has been removed.