Chapter 7: Aria’s First Cell Phone

If there was one thing regular workers loved, it was payday.

Those sacred days when we received financial compensation from our employers—the sweet chalice of capitalism.

Aria had been saving up for several pay periods to get her most treasured objective, the indispensable tool in every young adult’s life:

A cell phone.

She wanted one as soon as possible, so she saved up until she finally had enough.

“Can we go buy my phone now?”

Aria looked impatient. She kept playing with her hair and glancing at the restaurant clock. There were still ten minutes left before we got off work.

“Relax. The store doesn’t close until nine, so we’ve got plenty of time. Besides, do you even know what model you want?”

“Not at all. I’m just going to look at the ones I like most and try to follow the guide I was reading last night.”

“That’s about what I expected.”

Ever since her first days here, she had been fascinated by all the things phones could do. The ability to take pictures, listen to music, and connect to the internet had seduced her innocent mind almost immediately.

Since it was a relatively expensive device, she couldn’t buy one right away. Because of that, Aria decided to get it with her own money, mostly as proof of her own effort and as a reward for all her hard work.

When the boss finally gave us the go-ahead to leave, we headed straight for the mall.

It was a huge building, packed with shops and even its own movie theater. You could say this was where the upper class of consumers and people with serious spending power gathered.

In other words, rich people.

“There are a lot of people here. This is our first time coming, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t usually come to the mall, to be honest. I prefer walking around the downtown district. But this is where we’ll find the best brands and the best quality. Sometimes cheap ends up being expensive. Come on, let’s go to the phone section.”

The building had three floors, all crammed with stores. There was everything from kitchenware, beauty products, and pet supplies to electronics. Even so, most people came to the mall just to look around. They rarely bought anything or picked merchandise to take home.

Still, having a store inside a mall meant prestige and strong future sales, because the brand would remain in the consumer’s mind simply for being there.

A very good marketing trick I learned in school.

The phone section was filled with cell phones displayed behind glass cases. Next to each model was a little card listing system specs and other useful information for customers.

Aria couldn’t take her eyes off the display.

The girl carefully read every label in full detail, which seemed to surprise the employee working there.

“Can I help you with anything, miss?” the saleswoman asked politely.

“Yes. I want to buy a phone that’s good and useful for a lot of things.”

A vague request, but still within the range of a normal sales pitch. Thankfully, Aria didn’t blurt out something ridiculous like, I want to watch TV on my phone!

Although, honestly, hearing her say that would’ve been pretty funny.

“Oh, look, this model has an eight-megapixel camera and a front camera too. It also connects to the internet quickly. This other one is bigger and works better for gaming because it has more RAM than the other model.”

The explanations went on for quite a while.

Aria asked a lot of questions and kept asking to see the phones more closely. The saleswoman kept up with her without complaint. She didn’t get annoyed or show the slightest frustration when my friend asked to switch to another model so she could inspect it too.

Now that was good customer service.

Their conversation even caught the attention of the other employees and a few curious shoppers passing by to look at the new models.

“I’ve decided. I’ll take the black one. Thank you very much.”

Aria handed the money to the salesperson and received her phone, already tested and fully functional.

“Have a nice day,” the woman replied.

In the end, she got another sale, and my friend walked out completely satisfied with her purchase.

I wished every business worked like that.

After the glorious purchase, we headed home to try out the phone. Aria carried it like it was a golden jewel. She bought a sturdy phone case from a street stall near the house, then started exploring all the apps.

One of them caught my attention.

It looked like one of those typical apps that warped photos into ridiculous shapes, stretching heads or making people look like giant balloons.

“Look! If I take a picture, everyone’s face comes out all weird!”

Aria would not stop taking photos of me and altering them with the app. I had to admit, I looked pretty hilarious with a forehead the size of Houston, but come on—no animal filters, please.

“Very nice phone, Aria, but you do know the basic functions too, right? Making calls, sending text messages, that sort of thing.”

“Of course I do. It’s a phone, after all.”

“Let’s see if that’s true. Add my number. Here.”

I handed her my own phone, with my number and email already saved in the contact info. Aria looked at my device, then compared it to hers.

They were different brands.

Naturally, she lowered her gaze to her phone and started rummaging through every menu looking for the option to add a contact.

“It’s not that hard. Just add me. You know how, right?”

“Obviously. Don’t underestimate me.”

Two minutes passed in a fierce battle:

Aria vs. the New Phone.

Only one could come out victorious.

“Well?” I asked, purely to annoy her. It was obvious Aria didn’t have the faintest idea how to add contacts. “I need to check something on my phone, so hurry up, please.”

“I-I’m working on it...”

The poor thing was already stammering from nerves.

Just as I thought, Aria had spent so much time looking up games and apps that she’d completely neglected the most important functions of a cell phone.

What an impatient goddess.

Even so, I couldn’t deny that seeing her like this put a big mocking smile on my face.

“You know, I don’t think my issue is that important after all. I’m going to my room to clean it up a little. You know, it’s a complete mess. Once you’ve added me, bring me the phone.”

I left the living room and hid in the hallway.

I wanted to see how this ended.

The moment she was “alone,” she ran to the computer and searched: How to add contacts on X phone brand?

After clicking the result, a huge window popped up showing several models. She selected hers, and immediately a simple tutorial appeared with the most basic functions explained step by step.

Aria followed the instructions exactly, and in less than a minute, she managed to add me as a contact.

“I did it!”

Aria and I ran into each other in the hallway. She had no idea I’d seen the entire process from beginning to end.

“Here’s your phone back. Thanks for giving me your number.”

“No problem. We live in the same house, so it’s normal for us to have each other’s contact information. Alright, you can keep playing with your phone later. We need to start fencing class. And I probably don’t even need to say this, but don’t go taking pictures of my sabers or sharing any of our secret training.”

“I already know that. Sorcery is a secret matter that should only be shared with fellow practitioners. You told me that a while ago. But what I can do is this.”

Aria stepped beside me, and in one quick movement, she took a picture of both of us with the front camera.

Her very first selfie.

“This is the first photo we’ve taken together. I hope we can keep sharing moments like this.”

“Of course. That’s what friends are for.”

After smiling at each other, we returned to fencing practice with great enthusiasm.

That day’s training focused on review. She repeated the same guard stance for an hour and a half without changing technique or trying any other maneuver. She needed to fully master defense, to the point where she could react on instinct alone.

Of course, that would still take years of practice.

Right after we finished, my cell phone rang.

That struck me as strange, since nobody ever called me at that hour. Not even the boss would bother me for a favor when the restaurant was so close to closing time.

Had something happened?

I looked at the number on the screen and understood immediately.

The phone kept ringing, drawing Aria’s attention.

“Why aren’t you answering?” she asked.

“It’s my brother. Honestly, I don’t want to answer him yet. I’m fine the way things are.”

“You don’t want to answer him? But weren’t phones made so people could talk to each other?”

“A god can’t reject a call, can they? Am I right? You have to stay alert at all times to answer human prayers. That’s your duty, isn’t it?”

“Yes... but what does that have to do with this?” she asked again.

“I’m not a god, Aria. Phones give us the option to answer or ignore a call because humans aren’t obligated to respond to every message or word that reaches us. We can ignore things. We can look away so reality doesn’t hurt so much. We’re not omnipotent. On the contrary, we have so little strength that we allow ourselves the luxury of refusing dialogue with the people around us.”

My little speech dimmed the goddess’s smile.

She lowered her head and sighed, looking faintly sad.

“I see... humans aren’t obligated to answer, are they? They can ignore things if it makes them happy. How envious. A god does not turn away into ignorance. To do so would be to lose all the divinity within them. Then, Lucio... what should I do? I’m not a goddess anymore. Even if my essence is still the same, now I have the right to reject what others ask of me. How am I supposed to behave?”

“I don’t know. That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.”

We stayed silent while the phone kept ringing.

Two minutes later, the ringing stopped, and my phone returned to standby mode as if nothing had happened.

My brother hadn’t spoken to me since I abandoned the clan. The fact that he had only called once told me he’d done it of his own initiative, not because our parents had ordered him to.

I liked the life I had now.

Going back to the past wasn’t an appealing option for me.

Besides, who would make the effort to contact a failure like me?

The great Atenas family only had room for members who excelled in society.

Not common trash, incapable of being the best in their respective fields.

This made me happy.

There was no point in discussing it any further.

“Go take a shower while I wash the dishes. Once you’re done, it’s my turn.”

We didn’t bring up my brother again for the rest of the night. I could tell Aria was dying of curiosity, but she had to hold herself back.

Today, I learned something new about gods.

Apparently, they refused nothing.

They always listened, and they did everything they could to avoid ignoring people’s requests.

Aria had said it without hesitation:

“A god who ignores humanity loses all the divinity that accompanies them.”

And once I thought about it, I realized something else.

Since the day we met, Aria had never refused a single request.

If some guy asked for a photo because of her hair, she agreed.

If a customer demanded an exchange or refund at work, Aria was always the first to help.

How had I not noticed before?

Even with me, Aria always tried her best to listen and help with my problems. It had been her idea to start working at that restaurant. Teaching her fencing had made me forget my insecurities and gave real value to all those years of training.

Was Aria doing all that to help me as a goddess?

Or as a human?

This was more complicated than I thought.

I didn’t know whether her ambitions were real, or just a desperate attempt to preserve her divinity.

At that moment, the young girl was torn between two paths, because little by little, a human way of thinking was eroding the goddess Aria.