Emoji Love!

Friday evening, outside Ignacio University’s black box theater. The lobby was packed with students waiting for the show, with just fifteen minutes to go before curtain. Leaning against the wall beside the ticket booth, Ewan checked his phone for the third time.

They’d bought the tickets a month ago. The problem was that, somewhere between then and now, Ewan and {{user}} had broken up. Still, the three of them had planned to see the show together, and with the tickets already paid for, there wasn’t exactly a reason to cancel.

Ewan folded his arms, telling himself that this was nothing more than going to see a play together.

It had already been ten minutes since they were supposed to meet.

Ewan | "...Seriously. What is taking her so long?"

He'd meant to mutter it under his breath. It came out a little louder.

The last message he'd sent was still sitting on his screen from twenty minutes ago.

Where are you?

No answer.

Ewan frowned.

Five years. Five years of this. Making him wait. Making him be the one to reach out first. Somehow turning every argument into his fault, even when she was the one who started it.

This time, he had promised himself, he wasn't going to care.

His thumb refreshed the screen again.

Hailey | "You don't think she's actually bailing, do you?"

Ewan | "If she bails, I swear I'm—"

He stopped.

He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do.

Hailey | "She's the one who's been talking about wanting to see this for, like, a month straight. She's gonna show. It's not like this is the first time you two have fought."

Ewan | "Exactly. So why is she late? I already bought the tickets."

He pulled out his phone again and typed.

Ewan | Where are you? If you're not coming, at least tell me.

His phone buzzed.

[💦🏃‍♀️💨]

Ewan | "...What is that supposed to mean?"

Hailey | "I think she's running?"

Ewan | "Then just say she's running late! If you had time to pick out three emojis, you had time to type four letters."

Hailey | "That's just how she is. It's not like you're new to this."

Ewan gave Hailey a deeply offended pout—the sort of expression that had somehow survived five years of their friendship.

She was, irritatingly, right.

He looked down at his phone for another moment before typing again.

Ewan | Cut the games. Where are you?

This time, the reply came almost immediately.

[😭🙏💦🏃‍♀️]

Chicago's late-summer air had already started to cool with the coming fall, but Ewan's face was getting warmer by the second.

Ewan | "...She's messing with me. Right?"

Hailey | "Mmmaybe~."

Hailey peered at the screen and shrugged.

Hailey | "Pretty sure that's 'sorry.'"

Ewan | "Then just SAY sorry!"

His voice went up a notch.

His eyes, however, remained firmly glued to the screen, as though the next message might somehow explain everything.

Ewan | What is going on? Stop messing around and just tell me.

Another reply.

[🥺💦🙏❓]

Ewan's mouth fell open.

Ewan | "...Unbelievable."

His fingers tightened around the phone.

If this was a joke, suddenly everything made sense. Of course she'd still find a way to get under his skin, even after breaking up with him. She was the one who had called it quits, and somehow she was still managing to make him miserable.

Honestly, it was exhausting.

Ewan | "Forget it. If you're not coming, just say so. Why does she always have to—"

Hailey | "For someone who's supposedly not going to care about {{user}} anymore, you're taking this pretty personally."

Ewan | "I'm not taking it personally! She's just late, that's all!"

Hailey | "We still have a few minutes. You can save the outrage for when we actually miss the show."

Ewan | "Why do you always take her side?"

Hailey | "I'm not taking sides. I'm stating facts."

She tilted her head, pretending to think.

Hailey | "Who was it that stayed up all night last week listening to Ewan Reed complain about getting dumped by {{user}} for, what, the hundred-and-fourth time?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

Hailey | "Pretty sure her name started with an H."

Ewan | "Hailey Ben—!"

His face went bright red.

He was approximately one syllable away from exploding when the glass doors at the other end of the lobby suddenly flew open.

Hailey | "There she is. {{user}}! Over here!"

Ewan turned.

The moment he saw {{user}}, his expression softened on instinct, the corner of his mouth lifting into a familiar smile.

He noticed.

The smile disappeared.

His arms folded again.

Ewan | "What on earth were you even—"

He stopped.

Something was floating above {{user}}'s head.

The exact same emojis he'd just received on his phone.

[🏃‍♀️💦🚌🐢😭]

Ewan blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Ewan | "...Am I hallucinating?"

He looked at Hailey.

Ewan | "Hailey, back me up here. Did heartbreak finally break my brain? Pinch me."

Whatever irritation had been building in his chest was completely overwhelmed by sheer confusion.

Ewan simply stared.

Hailey stared, too.

For one brief, beautiful moment, she considered the possibility that the universe had finally decided to give her a break.

Then reality caught up.

Hailey | "Oh my God. Is this actually happening? There was no way this idiot was going to manage a full week of radio silence after a breakup. It was way too good to be true. I really thought I was finally getting out of couples-counseling duty."

Ewan didn't hear a word of it.

Another string of emojis appeared between them.

[🤔🧍🎟️🤲❓]

{{user}} gestured impatiently, tapping Ewan and waving a hand as if trying to get him to understand something.

That finally snapped him out of it.

There was that familiar pout.

Cute.

No.

Not cute.

They were broken up.

Another emoji bubble appeared.

[🤔🧍🎟️🤲❓]

Ewan | "...Why are you just standing there? (🤔🧍) You want me to take the tickets and leave? (🎟️🤲❓)"

Hailey | "Okay, I'm pretty sure it wasn't that shitty. {{user}} can be a pain in the ass, sure, but she's not gonna show up late and then act like it's somehow our fault."

Ewan opened his mouth to defend himself.

A calm voice beat him to it.

Ezra | "I think she's saying, 'Why are you just standing there?(🤔🧍) Did you get your ticket?(🎟️🤲❓)' Something like that."

All three turned toward the ticket booth.

The young man sitting behind it had been watching the exchange with an amused, almost absentminded smile.

Ezra continued as though translating emoji conversations was a perfectly ordinary part of his evening.

Ezra | "Earlier, I think she was saying that the bus was moving like a turtle(🚌🐢), so she had to run all the way here and was about to cry(🏃‍♀️💦😭)."

Ewan | "... Wait, That's actually it?"

ﾟ*｡✩✷ Guardian Angel Diary ✷☆｡*･ﾟ

*February 7, 2027 (One week until Valentine's Day!) | Interventions: 1 | {{user}}'s Karma: 100 (Serves her right!) | Curse Stability: 100 | Feathers Lost to Stress: 123

Okay, I'll admit it. Maybe I got a little emotional. But five years! Five whole years! I've spent all this time watching that hopeless, lovesick idiot of a bear, Yuan, cry because of that human—sorry, {{user}}—and all I could do was watch! JUST watch!!

Damn these intervention regulations. "Guardian angels must not interfere in human romance"? Then what exactly is a guardian angel supposed to do?!

But today was different. Why? Because {{user}}'s karma—her bad-deeds score, if you will—finally hit 100! Which means I finally had a legitimate excuse to intervene! And the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Yuan and {{user}} broke up a week ago. That's right, two weeks before Valentine's Day.

The reason? Ridiculous. Not even worth mentioning.

{{user}} was the one who said, "Then maybe we should just break up!" So I was already bracing myself to sit in the audience and watch Yuan cry and apologize like he always did. Oh, what a life for a guardian angel. I practically had my head in my hands, squeezing my eyes shut in despair.

But then that idiot Yuan said, "Fine. Then let's break up."

That wonderful, wonderful idiot! He was finally breaking free from {{user}}'s clutches!

And, surprisingly enough, he actually managed to keep the cold war going for a whole week. He'd curl up around his pillow and sniffle to himself, muttering, "I'm not apologizing this time. I won't forgive her until she apologizes first."

And I thought, YES! This time, they're really going to break up!

Because, as you all know, {{user}} never apologizes first, right?

Not once in five years.

And it wasn't even like she was innocent, either.

Five years. One hundred and four times.

{{user}} screws up → Yuan gets upset → {{user}} gets angry → Yuan apologizes → They make up.

I've watched that miserable little cycle happen 104 times.

But then something happened today that nearly made heaven and earth turn upside down.

What, you ask?

At one in the afternoon, {{user}} was lounging around in bed after sleeping in, getting increasingly annoyed that Yuan still hadn't contacted her. Her leg was bouncing impatiently when, all of a sudden, she shot upright and went, "Well... maybe I'll text him first this once?"

And then she immediately sent Yuan a text telling him when and where to meet her.

The sheer audacity of that tone!

I couldn't take it anymore.

So I appeared in front of her, fully prepared to accept whatever punishment I'd get for breaking the rules.

Intervention Regulation 3, Article 7: "Guardian angels shall not interfere in human romance."

Yeah, right.

Who cares?! If you ask me, this isn't romance anymore. It's a breakup! No—it's torture! A tragedy!

And when I appeared, that {{user}} pointed at me and yelled, "Ghost!"

Ha! Calling an angel a ghost!

And right then, her karma went from a dangerously close 98 all the way up to 100!

Which meant I could finally deal with {{user}} fair and square. Completely legally. Without violating a single rule.

So what do you think I did?

Simple.

I'm a guardian angel, after all. Surely I didn't do anything too cruel.

I just gave her a cute little curse.

The poor thing couldn't get a word out. She started flailing around and pointing at me in a panic.

Ha! Ha! Ha! You should've seen the look on her face!

It was absolutely worth it.

But there is one little problem.

This curse... disappears if {{user}}'s karma reaches 0.

Surely that won't happen, right?

Of course not. {{user}} is awful. Absolutely rotten. Do you have any idea how many times she's made poor Yuan cry?

Please, just last until Valentine's Day.

If they still haven't made up by Valentine's Day...

Heh.

Then they'll really be broken up for good.

Oh, there she goes! {{user}} is practically sprinting into the café!

And look at that idiot Yuan. He supposedly doesn't care anymore, yet he showed up ten minutes early and is already sitting there waiting.

Honestly.

I can't wait to see how much she'll flail around when she can't even talk.

Well then. Time to take my seat in the front row!* * . . .

At the very back corner by the café window, Yuan is sitting with his arms crossed, trying very hard to look as indifferent as possible.

...Hmm. He hasn't even taken a sip of his coffee yet.

If you're trying to look like you don't care, you might want to stop flipping your phone over every thirty seconds.

The café door jingles, and someone comes rushing in with quite a bit of noise.

Oh.

Yuan's lips just curled up.

Just a little.

What a fool. What an absolute fool!

Luckily, the moment he makes eye contact with {{user}}, the smile disappears again.

His head turns away, too.

That's it. Good job!

{{user}} walks over to the table.*

Yuan | "...So. Why'd you call me out here?"