5 They're Just News.

In this era where no words can better describe social shape than reality, helping each other is both a science and an art. Often, there are more things involved in the decision to help or not.

"If I help you, you think I pity you and get angry... If I don't, you'll believe I'm too proud and don't love you enough," murmured Dominic as he slowly walked along the roadside.

Dominic eventually chose a random place to eat; there was no need to overthink it, like when he goes with his girlfriend. Yes, he had a girlfriend, and her name was Emma, although they had an argument a few days ago because he mentioned that if he didn't get into a good university, he would join the army.

Well, Dominic couldn't blame her; she had been having problems with her part-time job lately and didn't have much support from her family either. Emma was a beautiful and perfect girl, even though her feelings and emotions were imperfect. They suppose that's how everyone feels about the person they like.

"Good morning..." Dominic opened the door of a small café and decided to sit near the TV to at least watch something entertaining while having lunch.

These past few days, Dominic felt a bit distracted, and the things he had been doing were very routine. Since it was summer vacation, he didn't want to travel alone. Besides, he had never been interested in that kind of travel; his father works, and he tries to study—that's the deal he made with his father.

"Welcome, here's the menu; I'll be right back!" Said a young waitress as she handed Dominic the menu.

"NASA keeps its eyes on massive sunspots in the sun's photosphere! Recently, the spots have been causing small explosions, reaching a critical level.

The recent solar flare was very large, causing a malfunction in communication equipment. Therefore, reports sent to communication departments will be answered with the same response.

Earth's electromagnetic waves can travel into space from various electronic devices and expose particles, causing communication disruptions."

"That's bad," murmured Dominic as he thought more than he perceived.

"Not as bad as global warming, although many people don't care about that," the waitress approached Dominic and smiled, "Have you decided what to order?"

Dominic smiled subtly, tapped the menu with his hands, and said, "A chicken baguette and a cup of coffee, please."

The waitress nodded and said, "I'll bring it to you as soon as possible; be back in a minute."

Dominic nodded in response; after the waitress left, he thought, "Who would have thought you find the brightest people in the most unexpected places? She seems like a very intelligent woman not seen much lately."

In his previous life, a few months before the pandemic ended, young people between 17 and 22 years old were not worried about what the world would be like after a quarantine; they were just under pressure because some of them needed to show their face to the public. What very few know is that some students met in online classes, where most of the time they wore masks as protocol.

Photos, videos, calls, and many other bonding activities were done this way, each from their own homes. What happens after that? Many students, especially those who formed a relationship, felt the distrust of removing those masks that had covered their imperfections according to their own thoughts and criteria.

Even in South Korea, it became a trend to wear masks; did they adopt a tragedy for fashion? Dominic simply saw the world as unreal; it's not like he did anything to change it, but he did think that somehow something would hit them so hard that no one would rise again.

"In recent news, the World Health Organization issued a public apology due to an unofficial statement that was announced on its largest social network, clarifying that there is no new virus, and the one they called Z-ViraX is just an error!

It is said that this virus was finally removed from the risk list because incubation within hosts fails to occur, and eventually, the virus is exterminated by the body's defenses. However, they say they will give a special statement clarifying all this doubt that brought a series of unnecessary attention. "

"Just an error; those are pure lies; they want to brainwash us with all those news stories controlled by the same government. I'm sure of that; maybe we're all infected already." A man with a military cap said these words as he drank his coffee.

"It might be an error; lately, with all this quarantine and virus garbage, people are going crazy. Imagine the doctors? They are ecstatic; any small alert they would announce even if they were not authorized, like that unofficial statement." A man in his fifties replied to the man who had just expressed his comments.

If that's true, Dominic thinks the same as the last person to speak. People, especially doctors, are alert to any kind of information they refuse to announce, but somehow they have lost hope in people.

As Dominic sees it, this news isn't trending beyond jokes because of their insensitivity to death or simply because they haven't experienced the true terror of quarantine. When you look at the news from China, you'll know the real terror people experienced at the outbreak of the virus.

But at least in this life, there is still nothing like that, but the recent news makes it clear that things will change in this life.

A new outbreak of infection, outbreaks, and more quarantines is what China is now, and foreigners would take at least a few more years to be able to leave that country if they were lucky. The correct question would be: does the world deserve something worse?

Maybe sometimes, a few days, and certain people, but not everyone deserves that. Dominic knew many things, but as his girlfriend Emma had told him, what good is knowing so much if you never step up for others?

"Here's your chicken baguette and your cup of coffee; call me if you need more coffee." The waitress brought Dominic out of his thoughts.

"Thank you very much," said Dominic as his cellphone received a message.

"Mr. Dominic, I'm the assigned lawyer your father has for your family; we need to meet as I have very important news. See you as soon as possible!"

"I guess I'll try to contact my father, but seeing that he didn't answer, it's my job now... What a bother! What's been going on with my father lately?" Dominic thought as he wrote a response.

"I'll be back home as soon as possible; you can visit me later in the evening since I need to go buy some things because I ran out at home!"

"[Then I'll see you tonight!]"

The food didn't taste good, even though it was delicious; that message from his father couldn't leave his mind, especially now that a lawyer had contacted him. If there's any kind of complication, the lawyer should know something he doesn't.

Finishing his lunch, Dominic didn't want to stay in this place any longer and prepared to go shopping before returning home. In the past week, he hadn't gone out to buy anything and wanted to fill all the empty inventories since he wouldn't be able to do it once classes resumed.

Returning on the closest path home, he made a stop at a supermarket to buy some things he urgently needed. The art of shopping had to be logical and very balanced, at least if you have a tight budget.

Whether it's food for a week or even several, canned food is a good option since it's easy, quick, and hassle-free for both Dominic and his father to cook. After that, some packs of rice, soup, and many canned items wouldn't go bad even if months passed without being touched on the shelves.

"I should get some cases of beer; my father would kill me if I didn't have his fridge full of these horrible beers." Dominic had already filled a cart with things and went back for another. The second round of shopping was his favorite because he could buy whatever he wanted.

These were the small luxuries that could be done with the credit card his father had prepared for him, so he bought some cases of 90% cocoa chocolate and many boxes of ice cream and dried fruits, and he couldn't miss the snacks.

Dominic was buying a lot of things since his father is just like him in his tastes, caring only about beer and meat and watching games every weekend without fail. It's fun to have him back; although their relationship is more like a great friendship, they had each other.

"Hey, idiot, I told you to stop following me!" shouted a familiar female voice that Dominic knew very well.

"Emma?" Dominic hesitated for a few seconds before moving his cart towards where he had heard the voice.