Chapter 13: Sophia
Sofia’s face lit up with sadness the instant she saw Adam enter his room. His door closed with a heavy thud that felt like a rejection. The signal was obvious. He was unwilling to speak with her.
In the dark hallway, she stood by herself. From the floor below, she could hear her friends laughing. She believed she might catch him. On some minor pretext, she had intended to carry on their conversation.
She wanted to know how he was doing. However, that did not occur. After standing there for a while, she turned and walked slowly back to her own door.
Adam, meanwhile, went into his room. He threw his keys on the little table near the door. He approached his bed and cautiously set his phone on the mattress. He then sank on his back and gazed up at the ceiling.
He relived what had happened over the past few minutes. Sophia laughing alongside those men. His own pathetic retreat up the stairs. The finality of his door closing.
He told the empty room, "I was overthinking it." He felt stupid. He felt like a kid. "I don’t know why I assumed Sophia wouldn’t have a boyfriend." Though painful, the thought made sense.
"She works really hard and is very beautiful." She would have someone, of course. She was the kind of woman who would never be left alone. Adam slapped his open palm across his own face.
Self-disgust filled the light tap. He glanced at his cell phone after sitting up. All of his new power came from it. However, it was unable to resolve this issue. He sighed deeply. "I must move past this."
Adam picked up the phone after saying this. He launched the app One-Click Billionaire. The straightforward black-and-white screen was cozy. He had control over it. He began earning money. He began to tap. He vented all of his annoyance and rage on the phone’s screen.
Every tap was a release. Every four dollars that materialized served as a little distraction from the pain in his chest. Without thinking, he tapped and tapped. He was just attempting to dull the disappointment.