The Life Exchange - Part Four

 "Well...what's the harm in checking in with one of them?" I mumble, a smirk spreading across my lips as I pick up my phone. "I mean, they were recommended to me."

Pulling up the profiles I decide to look at how far I can get without really making any permanent decisions. Starting with Moll_Doll, I scroll through the profile, again lingering on the images of the stacked cheerful redhead in each of the pictures. I can feel my heart skip a beat with each one, something between her smile and her assets driving me wild each time.

As I move down beyond the wall of text she had written I find a simple button at the bottom

[BOOK SWAP]

My heart leaps into my throat at the button itself, the implication that it may lead to one more step urging me to press it. After a brief load time a new page opens up, a list of time availabilities for conducting the swap filling a large grid. They don't appear to be all together, though they are in order from soonest to latest. Gaps appear in the lists, namely those in the morning or evening as work hours appear to be a time when fewer swaps are taking place.

Below the long list of booking times sit the all-important payment area. Knowing that the cost would be divided between 'Moll_Doll' and The Life Exchange does help a little, the thought of getting a bit of that money myself once I swap over easing the pain, the actual value causes me to grit my teeth.

"That's...practically all I have..." I hiss under my breath, realizing that I'd be leaving whoever picked up my body in a rather rough situation once all was said and done.

Looking at the several thousand dollar price tag I decide to move on for now, hoping against hope that Moll_Doll would be sticking around while I continued my window shopping.

Moving on I decide to have another look at Cho-senpai again, the thought of becoming someone a little bit on the nerdy side making me feel a little better about this sort of change. I know that once I make a swap I can reshape the life however I wish but the idea of hopping into a life that was even somewhat familiar to my own, even if it were only the interests, helped ease the anxiety of making such a big change.

Looking at the picture again, the sight of the curvy dark-skinned young woman blushing intensely next to the tall shirtless muscular man sends a chill down my spine. While I wasn't attracted to the man in the picture now I knew that making this swap would change things. From everything I had read certain aspects of the person would be left behind, and as one forum poster had said 'The body wants what the body wants.'

With a deep breath I scroll down the page, the thought of Cho-senpai's smiling heavily flushed face sticking in my mind despite my best efforts. As I reach the bottom I cock and eyebrow, finding the booking button having been replaced with;

[MESSAGE]

"Message?" I mutter under my breath, tilting my head to the side. Without much thought I tap the button, the app quickly taking me to the messages section as text begins to fill the screen.

Connecting...

Connected to Chat

Alexander Cho added to chat

Hughes_1305 added to chat

Alexander Cho is typing...

As the series of texts pop up on screen I feel my blood run cold, my eyes going wide as I quickly quit put and return to the recommendation message from before. I don't know what I had expected, but being thrown into a chat with someone else entirely was certainly not what I had expected.

As I go to move onto the next profile a message suddenly pops up on my screen, a loud beep alerting me to what I was already looking at

Alexander Cho: Hello

Alexander Cho: How are you?

I wince as I see the messages come in, knowing full well I had to respond. Hissing through clenched teeth I quickly return the message.

Hughes_1305: Hey there Hughes_1305: I'm doing well, how about yourself?

Before I can move on the person on the other end quickly replies.

Alexander Cho: Okay

Alexander Cho: Considering the circumstances

Alexander Cho: You're quite well spoken

Alexander Cho: Compared to the other people on this webpage

Hughes_1305: Well thank you, I'll take that as a compliment

Hughes_1305: I take it by 'the circumstances you mean Cho-senpani?

Alexander Cho is typing...

There is a momentary pause after my last message, the person on the other end trying their best to formulate a response. I wonder if I pressed on a raw nerve, the similarity between the last name and the username leaving me thing they were likely related.

As I await a response I move onto the next profile, deciding to check out 420_Van-pire if only to ogling her extremely well-endowed albeit chubby body. I can't help but grin at the sight of the grungy young goth woman, the mixture of the wine in the background and her massive milky chest resting in the sink giving me overwhelming 'young big tiddy goth gf just trying to adult' vibes.

As I reach the bottom of the page I'm met with the sight of an all too familiar button

[Message]

Swallowing hard, and still waiting for Alexander's response I tap the button, a similar flurry of text spraying over my phone

Connecting...

Connected to Chat

Shawn Hawthorn added to chat

Hughes_1305 added to chat

Before I can even move out of the chat window I'm hit with an alert from Shawn, the eager man either having already had his phone out or had been waiting for this sort of message.

Shawn Hawthorn: yo Shawn Hawthorn: u wanna be Van?

I'm taken aback for a moment by the forwardness of the response, though I suppose it made sense to get to the point in these things.

Hughes_1305: Hey there

Hughes_1305: I mean, I'm interested

Hughes_1305: Well I mean there's a lot of people so I'm just testing the waters

Shawn Hawthorn: thats cool

Shawn Hawthorn: i get it, Van is definitely something ;)

Shawn Hawthorn: so a/s/l? Hughes_1305: Huh?

Shawn Hawthorn: age sex location

Shawn Hawthorn: guess location wont matter haha ;P

I freeze up a little at the question, unsure how anyone on here would react to hearing some man in his late twenties wanted to become their girlfriend or whatever Cho-senpai was to Alexander. I grit my teeth for a moment but am thankfully saved by a message from Alexander Cho.

Alexander Cho: The circumstances around Maddison, yes

Alexander Cho: I hate using that username for my daughter

Alexander Cho: It's just so

Alexander Cho: I just don't get it

Hughes_1305: I'm sorry about the situation you're in

Hughes_1305: It must be tough to be these interviews

Alexander Cho: Thank you, but it's not your fault

Alexander Cho: The interviews are rough, a lot of perverts and losers around

Alexander Cho: Not fit to be my daughter

Alexander Cho: But it's also my wife, she hasn't been the same since Maddison left

Hughes_1305: It must not have been easy to have her daughter leave like this

Again, there is a pause in the messages from Alexander as I worry I struck another nerve. Thankfully, before I can feel too bad another message quickly comes in from Shawn.

Shawn Hawthorn: ???

Hughes_1305: Sorry, I'm 27

Shawn Hawthorn: oh a bit older

Shawn Hawthorn: i can get behind someone with more experience ;)

Hughes_1305: So did you and Van live together?

Shawn Hawthorn: yeah

Shawn Hawthorn: my grandparents left me there old house and we live there

Shawn Hawthorn: so sex?

Hughes_1305: That's kind of forward

Shawn Hawthorn: no like your sex

Shawn Hawthorn: tho we do fuck alot

Shawn Hawthorn: im kinda ball ballsed since Van left like a month ago

Shawn Hawthorn: sorry 'blue' ballsed

Shawn Hawthorn: autocorrect

Swallowing hard I look at the last string of messages, unsure how to respond. He was just so...frank? Crude would be another way to describe it, though I suppose this was an attempt to check if the person on either end of this chat was right for the swap.

In the brief reprieve from the messages, I move on to the last profile that catches my interest.

While Em_Green_2021 was pretty and seemed to be a blank slate, the complete lack of information worried me somewhat. The fear of why she left her life so hastily plagued my mind every time I glanced at her professionally done profile picture.

Astral_Maiden on the other seemed fantastic. Being slightly younger and fit would be wonderful, and working in the fun parts of gaming would be a great change from being unemployed. However, I personally lacked any of the knowledge or talents to maintain that job in the longer run. Those costumes, entertaining an established stream audience, I knew nothing about that. Lastly, the thought of surviving in a foreign country that was supposedly my home sent chills down my spine. The idea of learning my new native language was enough to turn me away.

Opening up FiFi_Fox's profile, the blonde with a body like a rollar coaster. I nibble at my bottom lip as I look at the bombshell in her bedroom, losing for the camera with a certain degree of innocence blending with 'come hither' eyes.

"I'm an academic, or I was at least" I say with a chuckle, looking at the warning plastered across her profile. "I've been on these sort of meetings, they just want to know you're serious about school. I can be serious, even looking like that...I hope" I mutter, wincing as I stare at FiFi's plump bowed lips and bright blue eyes.

As I look at her I can't help but muse quietly to myself. "Maybe a bit of hair dye, a new wardrobe, I'd be a knockout nerd girl" I say with a nervous chuckle, my heart skipping a beat at the thought of making these extensive changes.

Scrolling down I see an all-new button, a bright little box reading;

[CLEARANCE OFFER]

My thumb hovers over the button as another message comes in from Alexander, snapping my attention away from what could lay beyond the button.

Alexander Cho: She thinks she's a bad mother

Alexander Cho: Her daughter left in an extreme manner

Alexander Cho: She's been a shadow of her former self

Hughes_1305: I'm really sorry to hear that

Hughes_1305: Do you think having someone else as Maddison would even help?

Alexander Cho: I don't know

Alexander Cho: We don't even know why she left

Alexander Cho: But it's better than nothing

Alexander Cho: And having an articulate lady like yourself would be a start

I wheeze at his assumption, my heart skipping a beat as I realize he thinks he's talking to a woman wanting to make the trade and not some dude in his late twenties. Unfortunately, the message from Shawn that soon follows fails to act as much of a distraction

Shawn Hawthorn: so u a chick?

Sighing to myself I decide to answer both of them as quickly as possible, ripping off the bandaids for both.

Alexander Cho: And having an articulate lady like yourself would be a start

Hughes_1305: Well my three degrees probably help with being articulate

Hughes_1305: However, I should let you know that I am a man

Moving on quickly I shift over to Shawn's messages to let him know as well

Shawn Hawthorn: so u a chick?

Hughes_1305: I'm actually a guy, a now unemployed college professor

As I wait for replies with bated breath I shift back to FiFi_Fox, my curiosity peaked but the claim of a 'Clearance Offer' and just what that might entail...