The Writer
The reader's comment had motivated Shalom in a way she hadn't expected.
She stared at her laptop screen, fingers hovering over the keys.
What could she possibly write for her next chapter?
It had to be something insane, something absolutely mind-blowing that would hold his attention.
Her gaze flicked back to his comment: "Your work is beautiful."
It was such a simple thing, yet it weighed heavily on her.
Not in a bad way, but in a way that made her feel like she owed him something spectacular. She couldn't let him down. Not him.
Without thinking too hard, she typed a reply.
"What do you like?"
She stared at the question in the Wubnovel comments section, her heart thudding.
Maybe she shouldn't have asked.
What if he didn't like questions? What if he thought she was being too overwhelming? Or worse, what if he didn't reply at all?
Her anxiety spiraled. She sighed, slouching in her chair and staring at the ceiling.
Why was she so desperate to impress her only reader?
Why did his opinion suddenly matter more than anything?
She was still lost in thought when she noticed it, the single blue "1" glowing on her screen.
Her heart stopped.
He'd replied.
With trembling hands, she clicked the notification. His response was short but packed with possibility:
"Action… system… smut."
She blinked at the screen.
Action? She sucked at writing action.
System? Even worse.
She didn't even understand how systems worked in novels.
Smut? She swallowed hard. Maybe she could read some for research…
The cursor blinked in the comment box, daring her to respond. She hesitated for a long moment before typing a single word:
"Erotica?"
And then she waited.
The silence felt deafening. The sound of the clock ticking was so loud in her ears it might as well have been an atomic bomb.
Her nerves were raw, her thoughts racing with every possibility.
What if he thought she was weird for suggesting erotica? What if he didn't reply this time?
But then, the notification appeared.
She clicked on it, her breath caught in her throat.
"What kind?"
Her pulse spiked.
She hesitated. She had no idea what she was doing.
She had never even been in a relationship, let alone written about anything remotely sexual.
But there was something about the way he asked that question, simple, direct, and laced with a curiosity that mirrored her own.
Before she could second-guess herself, she typed her reply.
"One about us… fucking."
Her finger hovered over the "send" button. She knew this was insane.
She knew she was crossing a line she couldn't uncross.
But she hit send anyway.
And then the panic set in.
What had she done?
What if he blocked her? What if he reported her?
What if Wubnovel blacklisted her for this? She could already see the headline: "Small-Time Writer Booted for Inappropriate Comments."
She shut the app in a panic, spinning her chair away from the screen as she tried to calm down.
Her breathing was shallow, her heart racing. She felt like she was on the verge of a meltdown.
For thirty long minutes, she sat there, trying to summon the courage to open the app again.
When she finally did, her hands were shaking so badly she could barely tap the screen.
The notification was waiting for her. The single blue "1" that felt like it was mocking her.
She clicked it.
His response was waiting for her, simple and unassuming, yet it hit her like a freight train.
"Yes please."