PART I - SUMMER

It was a beautiful sunny day today. The rows of daffodils decorating your favourite café and the slight hints of jasmine on the breeze indicated that spring had fully arrived. This winter was particularly harsh; on the weather and on your personal life. The friends that you had surrounded yourself with last year had suddenly disappeared, preoccupied with their own lives. In winter you had no one to get a hot drink with or snowball fights with. This, coupled with the stress of your exams, had made you constantly tired. You worked very hard to get into medical school and you loved soaking up the knowledge, but it was harder than you thought it would be and with the constant clouds that hung over you in the cold months, you were simply tired.

This is why you headed to your favourite café near your university campus for a cool refreshing drink, as soon as the sun broke free of the clouds. You were busy tapping away at a game on your phone and didn't see the person who bumped into your shoulder as you walked past them on the busy street. You muttered an apology out of instinct, even if it hadn't been your fault and carried on walking.

As soon as you were getting really, really into the book you were reading, your phone felt your elbows, which had been propped up on a table in the café, vibrate. You glanced down to see you had a new text message.

That in itself was a surprise, but you concluded it was probably your mother checking up on you, like she did regularly. Your phone vibrated again so you reluctantly put your book down. It had gotten to a really good part where the heroine had just come to the soul-shaking realisation that she was completely and utterly in love. These bits were what you lived for. Sure, you loved a happy ending as much as the next girl, but what really drew you in was the relationship before the confessions and kisses.

You sighed to yourself and unlocked you phone. You had 2 new messages from someone called 'Unknown'. What the hell? It was probably one of those automated advertisements, right?

Unknown: Hi!

Unknown: Finally someone to talk to, thank god…

You scrunched up your eyebrows in confusion. You figured that there was no harm in replying to them so you typed replied with a simple 'Hello'.

Unknown replied straight away. They were an app developer? What did they want with you?

Unknown: Don't be nervous! I'm just an *ordinary* person

That freaked you out a little bit, but you were emboldened by the fact that you were chatting via text, which always helped you to speak your mind more freely.

MC: Why are you emphasising the word 'ordinary'? It's making me even more nervous

The more you chatted to Unknown, the more you relaxed. A beta, unreleased messenger game app? And they wanted you to test it for free? Once you agreed to try it out, Unknown said they would call you.

You put down your phone and took a long sip of your drink. The fact that they wanted to speak over the phone made you a little nervous. It was much easier to talk over texts.

Your phone began to ring and you quickly reached for it, trying to ignore the glances of other customers. You answered the call.

'Hey, it's me. I was just chatting with you.'

The voice was sweet, but masculine at the same time.

'Unknown?' you asked after a moment of hesitation. He sounded pleased that you remembered him and briefly went over the mechanics of the game again. He stressed that gathering guests was vital to get the good ending. You agreed when he said you needed to meet up in order to install the game; after all, he could just come by the café. What you were not prepared for, however, was him telling you that you needed to come there. You thought it over as he spoke and you supposed that it would be alright. A game this new would be very confidential and his headquarters were probably in some chic office building in the city centre.

He was so kind, you thought after you hung up. He had even sent a driver to pick you up! A large part of your brain sent stranger danger warning signals but you ignored it and climbed into the black car that had arrived for you outside the café.

The doors immediately locked as soon as you sat down and you froze. The driver was a man in a black suit complete with dark shades and an earpiece.

'Hello Miss. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to put this blindfold on,' he said, holding out a black piece of cloth out to me. 'The headquarters are confidential, as it has been explained.'

'What? Is it ok if I don't?'

The driver leaned forwards and opened the glove compartment and took out a small bottle of pills.

'You can take sleeping pills if you prefer,' he said, shrugging. You swallowed audibly and reluctantly took the blindfold from his other hand.

It felt like we were driving for hours until the car finally lurched to a halt and you heard the 'click' of the doors unlocking. 'Mr Ray has arrived,' the driver said and the car door opened. You instinctively turned your head to the sound.

'Welcome,' the silky voice of Unknown said, 'I've been waiting. Welcome to this wonderful place.'

Your heart sped up and you would be lying if you said you hadn't imagined and reimagined meeting Unknown over and over during the car ride here.

'It couldn't have been an easy choice deciding to come here,' he said and paused. 'Thank you for trusting me,' he said in a much softer tone.

'Who are you?' you asked just to be certain. You could almost feel his smile.

'Someone who has been anxiously waiting for you to arrive. Don't you recognise my voice? Maybe it'd be better if I say Unknown?'

You relaxed a little in relief as he continued to speak.

'Don't you think Unknown was a funny choice? It has no special meaning whatsoever. My name is actually Ray.'

You smiled, despite the blindfold and the strange situation. You couldn't help yourself.

'Thank you for coming all this way. Here, hold my hand, I'll help you down from the car,' he said warmly. You placed your right hand in his without hesitation and let him guide me down.

'Thank you,' you replied instinctively.

A few seconds passed and he still hadn't replied. Then, suddenly, 'You're thanking me? No, thank you for doing what I have told you to do.'

You only widened you grin in response. His hand was warm in yours as he led you forward.