A Stalking Exercise: The Video Game Arcade Girl

By Daryl Del Rosario

It was nearly 3:00 in the afternoon, a cold artificial gust blew my hair. It was from the ventilation shaft above us, though it wasn’t as cold as I would prefer, I enjoyed it well, especially with my hair. We had just watched “Hero”, you know, Jet Li’s movie. There are a lot of people here in TimeZone, in Glorietta 4. Too many, for my comfort, but just enough to be a selection of potential “stalkees”. I checked my playcard balance, damn, only 6.00 Pesos left, not enough for a game. I saw my friends had nearly the same amount as mine. We walked to the counter to get all of our cards reloaded, my friend, Mike paying the largest amount, 200 Pesos. As we walked around, looking for an unoccupied game (and also a suitable “victim”), other than the kiddie games, I saw her. Actually, me and my other friend Alex saw her, and I had finally found my “victim”.

She wore a white, long-sleeved, cotton sweater, which seemed a bit large for her slim form. She was wearing a white shirt beneath it. A short black skirt reaching only to her knees, and no, I’m not wishing it was shorter than it was. Her legs were still covered even with the short skirt because of her long, white, knee-high socks that were thick enough to betray her skin, but thin enough to give comfort. It made her seem like a Japanese high-school girl who had just gone from school and I smiled at the thought (no not that kind of thought). Her feet wore a pair of black sneakers, with white laces, which made me smile again, because of her fondness for the two shades of colors, black and white. It was a wonderful combination that accentuated her further from the rest of the crowd, to my eyes at the least. I took a long look at her face, long enough to distinguish and mark her appearance, but not long enough for her to realize my gaze. She’s a Korean, it made me well up inside with happiness. Her eyes, like almond slits, with the color of brown. Her lashes, would seem that she shaves them. Her nose, the usual of Koreans, not flat, but not sharp. Her lips, little and thin, a pale pink. Her skin was white, but also a very bit yellow, reminding me that she was Asian, like me. Her ears were small, she wore earrings, small and simple, which matched her fragile ears. Lastly her hair, like nearly all Koreans, it was dyed blonde-ish, it was ponytailed neatly, reaching down to shoulder-blade length. She had it tied with a velvet band with glitters, nearly like mine, only that hers, was again, black.

Behind her were three younger children, siblings I think and hope. I ignored them, for it was her, only her that was important to me at that time. My eyes followed her as she walked over at the counter, she was reloading her card with 500 Pesos. She sent her sibling off to find their games and after that, she went to the nearest Silent Scope machine. I was playing Vampire Night at that time, and I had to look to my left every now and then. I snickered when I saw Alex doing the same. Our game didn’t last long because of that, we only got past the 2nd mission. She was very good, with near perfect accuracy and quick reflexes, and it made me wonder if she was a relative of the game’s designer. A little arm suddenly tugged at her sweater, like her, I was caught by surprise. It was her little brother(?) wanting a try on the game. I was so concentrated on her I didn’t even notice. She just laughed and let him try, but her little brother was still small for the game, and he just ended up failing the mission. As they walked past us, her brother looked at me curiously (did he notice me watching his sister?) and suddenly smiled, with a twinkle in his eye (maybe he did). Again I was surprised and all I did was smile back as I watched the two walk over to the other two children.

It was then I noticed her way of walking. It was something between traipsing and skipping. It reminded me of my childhood, when me and all my cousins did that in a mall. She was waving her other arm as they were talking about something. Did the boy tell his sister? I both hoped he didn’t but inside, I also hoped he did. When they reached their other siblings, she went to the EZ-2-Dancer machine and played a round with each of her siblings. It was there I saw how graceful and lithe she was. With every sway of her limbs and her swishing hair, it was all too captivating. I just stood there, leaning against a pillar, watching her every move. She reminded me of so many J-POP idols like BoA, Amuro Namie, SPEED, Morning Musume and many others with their swift and enchanting dance moves only few would be skilled enough to do. She was no exception to that few.

After the round with her last sibling, they started to walk to the exit, outside. They were leaving. Instinctively, I darted from the post with a soft kick and hurriedly walked outside, to at least have one last glimpse of her. As I turned around, I saw her, with her three siblings, she was walking towards Starbucks. I smiled at here furthering form, and hoped that I would see her again one of these days. I turned again, back to the entrance/exit and saw my friends walking toward me, snickering. They asked where the “chick” went and I turned my head back to the Starbucks, and as I did, I saw the little boy, smile at me again and went to his sister.

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