Ficorpio
Chapter 1
After Adrian Sterling and I broke up, his Pana Tarot reader sent me screenshots of their chat.
Adrian: “Morgan, I miss her so much. Can you tell me when we’ll get back together?”
“Can you check whether there are any other guys around her?”
“She’s ignoring me. What am I supposed to do?”
…
“If the cards say we won’t get back together, is there some kind of ritual you can perform?”
“Why aren’t you answering me? Morgan, are you giving up on me too?”
The Pana Tarot reader had finally reached their limit.
“Ms. Bennett, I’m begging you. If only for my sake, could you please get back together with him?”
Adrian and I had broken up a week ago.
His messages to Morgan had begun six days earlier.
Adrian: “A friend told me your readings are incredibly accurate.”
“My girlfriend and I had a fight. Could you tell me whether we’ll make up?”
Morgan: “All right.”
They drew the cards and interpreted them.
Morgan: “Are you sure you only had a fight? You didn’t break up?”
Adrian was stunned.
“How did you know?”
Morgan: “…”
“Don’t hide things from me. You need to tell me the truth if you want an accurate reading.”
Adrian was thoroughly impressed.
“I’m sorry. You really are amazing.”
“But ‘breaking up’ sounds so awful.”
“I don’t want us to be over. I can’t stop crying.”
Morgan drew the cards again and gave him a new reading.
“You won’t be getting back together anytime soon. She isn’t considering it.”
Adrian refused to believe them.
“…Really?”
“Please don’t joke about this.”
“How could she not want me back? She told me I was the only person she’d ever love!”
Morgan replied, “That was then. This is now. People change.”
Adrian rejected that immediately.
“Don’t scare me!”
“No. She wouldn’t change!”
Morgan had run out of patience.
“If she still loves you, then why did she break up with you?”
Adrian went silent for five full minutes.
Then he finally cracked.
“…Could you draw again and tell me whether she still loves me?”
That night, Morgan Vale talked him through his heartbreak until well past midnight and charged him a hefty fee for the late-night consultation.
Adrian Sterling messaged:
“You’re incredibly accurate. I can’t thank you enough.”
“I finally understand.”
Morgan replied, “Mm-hmm. Don’t mention it.”
The very next day, Adrian appeared in Morgan’s messages again.
“I saw Riley walking with Daniel Brooks today.”
“There’s nothing going on between them, right?”
“I don’t think my heart can take this.”
“Please check the cards. Is there any chance they’ll end up together?”
Bombarded by message after message, Morgan stared at the screen in disbelief before reluctantly drawing the cards.
“I don’t think there’s anything romantic going on. They’re probably just seeing each other normally.”
“Seeing each other?” Adrian was horrified. “What do you mean, seeing each other?”
“No, wait, don’t panic,” Morgan hurriedly explained. “I meant they’re interacting like normal classmates.”
Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 2
“Oh. That’s great.”
“You really are amazingly accurate.”
On the third day, Adrian Sterling appeared again.
This time, he was having a full-blown panic attack.
“Morgan, I ran into Riley again today.”
“She looked so beautiful. She was wearing my favorite dress, too. Heh.”
“I love her so much.”
“But she clearly saw me, and she still avoided me!”
“That senior guy was with her again.”
“What am I supposed to do, Morgan? What if she really doesn’t want me anymore?”
“Why doesn’t she want me?”
“Have I gotten uglier? Or is my body not as good as it used to be?”
“I knew it. I’ve been so lazy lately. I skipped the gym for several days.”
“Fate is playing tricks on this hopelessly lazy old man. She really has started to dislike me.”
…
Somehow, while talking himself in circles, he worked himself into a rage. Then he abruptly began comparing himself to Daniel.
“Riley told me herself that my face was what she liked best.”
“What does that senior guy even have? Is he taller than me? Is he better-looking than me?”
“Would he work this hard to stay in shape for her?”
“Would he?”
Morgan seized the opening and hurried to calm him down.
“Take a breath. Don’t panic.”
Adrian ignored the advice.
“I can’t calm down, Morgan. Can we do an in-person reading? I’ll come find you.”
“No!” Morgan nearly fainted. “Don’t come looking for me!”
“All right.”
On the fourth day, Adrian seemed to calm down for an entire day.
He didn’t contact Morgan.
But on the fifth day, he showed up again like a ghost that refused to stay gone.
“Morgan, I hate this.”
“I hate seeing her with someone else.”
“I hate that she avoids me.”
“I hate that she ignores me.”
“I hate her.”
“I hate her.”
“I hate her!”
By the last message, he was practically crying.
“But I still miss her so much. Sob…”
“Morgan, what am I supposed to do?”
Morgan replied:
“Please, life, show some mercy to this twenty-something-year-old man.”
“Buddy, I’m going to recommend another Pana Tarot reader. Go get a reading from her.”
“I can’t help you anymore.”
Adrian Sterling refused to give up.
“Morgan, are you abandoning me too?”
“Why are you trying to dump me on someone else?”
The Pana Tarot reader felt deeply wronged.
“Man, if you put half the energy you spend pestering me into making things up to Riley, you two might already be back together.”
“But if I go to her, she’ll get mad.”
“What if she gets so angry that she never wants to see me again? What am I supposed to do then?”
“I don’t want her to be mad at me. I really don’t…”
Morgan was officially out of ideas.
“What exactly do you expect me to do?”
“Perform some kind of ritual to bring you two back together?”
After that message, Adrian finally stopped replying.
Morgan enjoyed thirty blissful minutes of peace and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Adrian returned—with a flood of photos showing candles, crystals, and sheets covered in occult symbols.
Chapter 3
“Morgan, I looked it up.”
“You were right. A ritual could work.”
“Are these the things I need to buy? Walk me through the exact process.”
Morgan stared at the messages in horror.
“?”
“Dude, all that stuff is a scam! Are you trying to ruin me?”
“I don’t do rituals!”
Adrian remained stubborn.
“I don’t care. You’re amazing at this, Morgan. I know you can do it.”
“I believe in you. No—I’m begging you.”
“Please help me. I’ll be satisfied if you can just get her to talk to me!”
Morgan finally broke.
“…Honestly, I’m starting to think I need to hire someone to perform a ritual too.”
“I must have attracted some kind of evil spirit. Pana Tarot readers are people too, you know!”
Morgan had finally reached the end of her rope.
After asking around among Adrian’s and my mutual friends, she somehow managed to get my contact information.
“Ms. Bennett, I’m begging you.”
“Could the two of you please get back together? For my sake?”
She was practically beating her chest with regret.
“If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve done that reading for him.”
“Every time I get a message now, I break out in a cold sweat and my heart starts pounding.”
“I’m serious. If this keeps up, he’s going to make me sick!”
I scrolled through her messages with Adrian and thought back over everything that had happened this past week.
It was true that Daniel Brooks and I had often been seen together, but there was nothing romantic going on between us. We were working on a group project for one of our major classes.
As for supposedly avoiding Adrian on the street, I had no memory of doing any such thing.
Most likely, I simply hadn’t seen him.
That man really could invent an entire drama inside his own head.
I opened my chat with him. Our conversation had stopped a week ago.
He had asked:
“What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“I’ll come pick you up.”
Later that evening, at the restaurant, I’d broken up with him.
He had refused to accept it, staring at me in shock.
“Why? Riley, I don’t want to break up.”
“Did I do something wrong? Tell me what it was, and I’ll change. I promise.”
“Please don’t do this to me.”
But I’d been firm. I kept repeating that we were over until he finally accepted the truth.
“If you don’t want me to hate you, don’t contact me again.”
I hadn’t gone out of my way to block him, and he had obeyed. He hadn’t sent me a single message since.
I never expected that I would be the one to reach out first.
I typed into the chat box:
“Stop getting Pana Tarot readings.”
After hesitating for a moment, I hit send.
His replies came flooding in almost instantly.
“Riley, you’re talking to me again?”
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I won’t bother the Pana Tarot reader anymore.”
“Please don’t ignore me again, okay?”