And now… I know

Am I not the luckiest man alive for having a best friend the youngest scientist in America? I got a chance to try out new gadgets he was working on at home. He did it purposely. He chose to bring his work home until everything is ready then brings it to the office. It’s because he was afraid that his ideas can be stolen by his so-called fellow competitor researchers.

At that time he was working on two gadgets. The first one was mood detector and the other was feeling enhancer. They were incredibly small. Welcome to the year of 2020 where big technology comes half the size!

I was in his room playing guitar next to him on a Sunday evening when suddenly his phone rang. It was his girlfriend.

“OK, OK, I’ll be right there just in a sec. I know. I forgot again. I am sorry. I’ll be there. Hanging up now.” That’s what he said on the phone.

“Shit! It’s Jenny. I forgot again. We were supposed to meet up for a movie. Rush! Rush!”

He directly went to the bathroom and did whatever he was doing there. I guess when he got out I got to go too. But where? My girlfriend’s place? She has been avoiding me for some projects she was working on with Roger.

Out of many of her friends, why Roger? I was intimidated by his physical features, honestly. Who wouldn’t? Tell me one man who wouldn’t feel intimidated by his perfect body, perfect hair and perfect anything? And he happened to be my girlfriend’s project partner? And she happened to be ignoring me for weeks?

There’s got to be something wrong. And I guess that night was the perfect night to find out about that! In a rush, I took the mind reading gadget then put it inside my pocket. I was so sure that my friend wouldn’t mind at all. Besides, I do that often. He would get angry a little and then forgive me as long as I return the gadgets.

“Gotta run. Lock up, will you?” He burst out of the room to his girlfriend. And I was doing the same to mine. That night was the moment of truth.

I walked few blocks while finding out how to operate that mind reading gadget. So it had a small panel and a small bulb and a small everything. I switched the panel and a blue light went on. So I guess I was at the right track, after all.

That track led me to my girlfriend’s door. I knocked. She opened. We went in.

“Have a sit. I’m still busy with this.” She pointed out at her notebook. “And Roger is coming so…” She went back to her notebook.

I felt not right. I felt that she actually wanted her job to finish soon so that when Roger came they could just hang around together. I had to check if I were right.

“You just want it to finish so you can have fun with him, huh?”

She was just silent and kept staring at her notebook.

“So I was right!”

“I really have a lot to do and besides, we have discussed it over and over again. Roger is just a friend. And I am tired of you being so…like this over us.”

I tried to read her mind. The gadget told me that she was lying. I felt suspicious.

“Then why haven’t you had time for me? I know that I am not that perfect. Not as perfect as Roger, but for God’s sake, I am your boyfriend.”

“Na, please stop it.”

“Don’t Na-please-stop-it-me!” I felt angry. The mind reader told me that she was really lying. It also told me that she was looking forward to meeting up with Roger—not me.

“I could just be around while you two were working. But you never let me do that.”

“That was because you once told me that you did not have any knowledge in Chemistry which happens to be something that Roger and I was doing. You would be bored and all that and I would feel guilty ignoring you while you were here. C’mon we have discussed this before.”

She was tricky! That thought came in to my mind. I felt that I was just a fool in front of my girl. Then it turned to anger.

“I know that I am not smart, but I could still understand simple things if you had explained them to me.”

“I don’t want to discuss this anymore!” She yelled at me. My mind said that she did that because she wanted me to leave before Roger came. I felt suspicious.

“Don’t yell at me. You just wanted to me to leave before he came, right? Huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I was talking about. It’s the whole thing about you and Roger and your work and everything about you two! Never about me!”

“Na, c’mon. I cannot work if you keep going like this.”

“Well, you make me like this!”

I really had to say it to her that time.

“We are through!!!”

I walked back to the door and slammed it to her face while she was calling my name telling me to go back and said “I love you, Na.”

I had enough. This mind reader was surely working very well and it really opened my eyes. I went to a bar and got drunk till morning.

The next morning I went to my best friend’s house to return the gadget. When I opened the door, he uttered very long sentences.

“Please tell me that you took my gadget. And please return it to me. Please tell me that you did. I won’t get angry at you. Not at all. I just don’t want that gadget in my competitors’ hands. Please tell me. I promise I won’t get angry.”

“Yeah, yeah, I just gave it a test. It works. Here.” I handed it to him.

“Thank you. Thank you.” He said that to me and then returned to his gadget. “O, my baby. Glad to have you back.” He kissed it again and again and got to his desk and ignored me as usual.

I sat down by the window looking at outside—thinking about Maya, my girlfriend. I meant my ex-girlfriend.

“That thing worked. It worked so well that I knew what was going on in Maya’s head. I have been feeling suspicious all along and I felt angry last night. We broke up. Thanks for the mind reading gadget.”

My friend kept looking at his desk while saying:

“You took the feeling enhancer, Na.”

-Je-