For real

Round 16: February 2026

Kaitlyn Brennan and Stephen Marlowe are 25.

(Zach is 22.)

Narrated by Kaitlyn.

Stephen and I have been living together for a few months now and it's going really well - partly because we don't spend enough time together to fight a lot. I'm on my second year in my doctorate studies and the work load is pretty much insane. I was prepared for it and made a working schedule for myself so it's going alright. There are days when I wonder why I decided to put myself through this but I try to keep my focus on the big prize at the end.

I have a full-time job at the lab but I also got a part-time job at this new café to help pay the tuitions. I only work there 2 or 3 days a week for about 5 hours but it helps. This way I can manage with a small student loan instead of having to loan a huge chunk of money that I could never pay back. Stephen suggested that we could use some of his savings on my tuitions but I'd feel really uncomfortable taking his money.

I barely have time to take the load off my feet after I come home from the café before I have to get to the lab. It helps that everything's on a walking distance from our apartment so I don't have to rely on buses to get to work.

One thing I've learned about Stephen after I moved in is that he's pretty much addicted to video games. We both work evenings but he gets off earlier than me and every time I come home from work he's sitting in front of the computer playing something. I don't mind it that much except when he plays all night and I can't sleep because of the noise. I guess it's his way of relaxing after work so I try to keep my complaints to minimum. He more than makes it up by cleaning up the apartment and making sure there's always something for me to eat before he dives into whatever game he's playing.

He usually eats before I get home but he always sits down with me at our tiny dining table. He also listens to me rave about how great it is to be working with Dr Fielding. She's a tough but fair boss and I've learned so much from her already.

Our friends call us the most boring couple in the world because we don't go out clubbing and drinking that often. We mostly go out on Friday nights because we both have Saturdays off work.

We're trying to save money for a bigger apartment so most of the times we go on a date in the diner across the street from our apartment. It would be nice to eat somewhere else sometimes but we have a great time anyway.

We also invite our friends over on Saturdays although there's really no room for many people at the same time. Eve's boyfriend Gabriel moved into the building a couple of weeks ago and we've been getting to know him. Eve's become a bit of a hermit since she became pregnant and I think she's still a bit shocked because it wasn't a planned pregnancy at all. Gabriel seems nice though and it's obvious that he cares about Eve a lot. I hope everything goes well between the two of them but I have a feeling that someone's heart is going to be broken in the long run.

Stephen's best friend Zach lives next door to us. He's also doing his postgraduate studies and working full-time so they don't get to hang out very often. Saturdays seem to be Zach's days off as well so Stephen often pops by his apartment or he comes over to ours.

He's very popular with the ladies. I distinctly remember Stephen mentioning some girl from college that Zach was seeing but I've never seen him with the same woman twice. Except when it's Lydia who also lives in this building. Stephen says that Zach's not ready to settle down and that's fine by me. Not everyone wants to settle down at a young age and he should really do what's best for him.

I'm just glad that Stephen seems more than happy to settle down with just one woman. I don't really care what we do on our free time as long as we spend at least some of it together. Lounging around in our bed all day and talking about the future is much more exciting that going out to a club or movies.

We haven't talked about getting engaged or anything like that yet but whenever we talk about the future it's pretty obvious that we assume the other is going to be a big part of it. That's enough for a commitment for me right now.

Notes:

• Title reference: For real by Amel Larrieux.
• Kaitlyn and Stephen's friends might call them boring but I had a lot of fun playing them. I think they really enjoy the quiet life and just spending time together. They're also both fortune/knowledge sims so I think saving money for a bigger apartment and getting ahead in their careers is a high priority for both of them.
• I was thinking of ways to help Kaitlyn make some more money so I decided to make her work as a barista. The coffee shop is brand new and it's called barista (yes, I have a vivid imagination LOL). The coffee shop is the first of series of small community lots that I've decided to build. I'll turn them into fake rowhouses. I already have a shell for a post office done and I also plan to build other lots as well. Lot tours will come once the lots are finished.
• Zach is being Zach again. No serious girlfriends for him yet.