It was 4:10pm in the afternoon and she figured she would take a nice walk in the mountains, she thought that if she was lucky enough, she might just catch that handsome love interest of hers smoking by the lake again. Sebastian. Oh that man, a young man aged 23 with ebony hair and a common interest of anime, tv and just everything. She'd met him on her second day moving into Stardew Valley, the son of the carpenter Robin, he'd come into the kitchen that day to make a sandwich whilst Ayane was having a cup of tea with his mother, discussing farm renovations and other business. Just a young lady herself, only aged 21, he had caught her eye immediately, he just seemed to notice her freshly dyed red hair and with a simple "hey," went about his food making before retreating to what she guessed, was his room.
She thought about the first time she went into his bedroom a month ago, it was just simply to deliver him the freshly grown corn he had requested on the notice board. He had called her in and in she went. She handed over the vegetable and seemed to notice everything in his bedroom, his shared fondness of anime, tv shows and a mixture of table top and video games. His mother intruded and after what seemed like a tense conversation, she had left, leaving him complaining that nobody was taking his job seriously. She had then found out that he was a skilled programmer, dealing with all sorts of technology. He was smart, handsome and shared the same interests as her.
When she moved to Stardew Valley she never would have guessed that she'd find someone who had common interests or ideals as herself, believing that they would all be either out of her age range or wouldn't have heard of any of the stuff she liked. So when she found herself crushing on him, she wasn't at all surprised. It was especially nice to realise he was becoming less and less cold towards her, every time they spoke.
Ayane climbed the small incline to reach the mountain area, Sebastian's house slowly coming into view. She noticed that the garage door was open and a motorcycle in plain sight. She wandered over to find Sebastian laying on the ground, tinkering underneath with a wrench in hand. Her heart jumped and she swallowed it back down as she stopped just outside the garage door. "Hey Ayane," He said as he noticed her and continued working. She studied him for a moment, trying to push her fantasies back down after they had forced themselves in the forefront of her mind. "What are you doing Sebastian; I didn't know you had a motorcycle?" She asked after taking her moment to reorganise her thoughts. He stopped for a moment and came out from under the bike ever so slightly to talk to her. He frowned slightly and she noticed the small oil marks on his face. "What, you haven't seen my motorcycle before? Hmmm… I guess I haven't shown it to you," He said pondering on it for a moment before continuing his tinkering. "Sometimes, after sundown, I make the long ride out of Stardew Valley, there's nothing else like it, blazing along the empty stretch of road toward the faint city glow. Once I've saved up enough money, I'm going to head out on my own to the city and beyond. Just me and my bike," He spoke softly, for a moment it was like Ayane wasn't even there. Ayane looked at him and felt a pang of sadness; she didn't want him to leave.
"There we go, oil's changed," Sebastian said, snapping her out of her thoughts and coming out from under the bike. Ayane noticed he wasn't wearing his hoody today and his lack of long sleeves revealed small, toned muscle on his upper arms. I'd love to feel those muscles, she thought to herself. Sebastian stopped and then spoke softly. "Hey… maybe I'll take you for a ride someday," he said with a small smile that made her heart jump again. "That sounds fun," she replied with a smile. Sebastian chuckled and closed the garage door and wiped his hands on the yellow cloth he was holding. "Hey do you have the time?" He asked her. "Yeah its 5pm," She told him, after checking her phone that was in her back pocket. "Time to go to the saloon to meet Sam for pool, wanna come?" Sebastian asked. Ayane thought about it and decided it would be fine. "Sure, I'll come and give Abigail some company," She replied with a smile. He smiled back at her. "Cool, give me five minutes to wash up and we can leave," He said as he backed onto his front door. She simply nodded and he went inside, leaving her once again alone with her thoughts. Damn he's hot.
As he had said, Sebastian only took around five minutes to get ready, stepping out his front door, closing it softly behind him. She realised he was wearing his hoody again and felt a little upset she could no longer ogle his arm muscles. They walked together to the saloon, talking about Sebastian's continuous victory over Sam when playing pool. "Maybe I'll let him win today, nah, it's too much fun," he joked to her quietly when they were inside and Sam was racking up the balls. She giggled softly and smiled back at him, then went and joined Abigail on the sofa. The girls watched the boys play pool, poking and laughing at each other. "I've never really seen Sebastian so relaxed," Ayane said under her breath to Abigail. "Yeah, he's usually tense, but around friends is where we can all be ourselves," Abigail replied and smiled at her. Ayane softened and smiled back. We're friends. Ayane happily started chatting to Abigail about the boys and about her old city life and the night just slipped away, before she realised it, she was back inside her house and climbing into bed, reflecting on the day she had.
Tomorrow would be another summer day, dry heat and plenty of farming to get done. Maybe, if she got it all done, she would afford herself another visit to Sebastian. The more she saw the man, the more she fell in love with him. It was nice to find out that Abigail was crushing on a young man called Shane in Stardew Valley, Ayane offered her advice and they shared girly chats all evening. Ayane flicked off her bedroom lamp light and lay down in her bed ready for the new day to greet her as she woke.
A few weeks later.
Sebastian continued tapping away on his keyboard, programming data on his computer. He was discussing the just finished data streams with the other like-minded people on the shared chat forum he used. They all liked his work and Sebastian sent the folder to the client, before logging off. He yawned and stood up from his desk, knocking the fresh Quartz gemstone from the edge. Catching it swiftly, he turned it over in his fingers. He looked at it and thought of her, replaying the events from when she had given it to him earlier that day.
"Hey Ayane," he'd said to her as she passed him in the street and greeted him with her smile as she always did. "I found this in the mines, I thought you might like it," She said nervously as she pushed her closed fist towards him, he looked at her hand as her fingers peeled away from the small gemstone and she thrust it gently into his hands. "It's Quartz," she said simply, confirming his theories as he looked at it curiously. He smiled back at her, one of his rare full smiles too. "I do like this, thankyou Ayane, I appreciate it," He said with a smile. She returned the full happy smile and nodded before continuing on with her business, leaving him alone with it. He watched her leave and smiled again as he studied it.
He snapped himself from his flashback and returned the quartz to its rightful place next to his monitor. He was becoming good friends with Ayane, over the summer he felt they both learned more of each other and he no longer felt like she was a stranger; she also respected his boundaries and never once spoke out of turn. She'd come and speak to him whilst he was working, always careful not to overstay her welcome. She'd also often pass him in the street or come and say hi whilst he and Sam played pool. She fit right into their little group of friends and she was growing on him for sure. He mused on her for some more moments and then pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. 1:02am. Time for bed, he thought. Now the morning would bring the last day of summer and he was looking forward to the fall and winter months, where it would be cooler and much less draining and he could enjoy the rain again.