[Music Recommendation: "Sunny Mornings" by Peter B. Helland (instrumental only)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

I thought my whole world just stopped.

“Waiting for me?” Unknowingly, I repeated what he just said.

He nodded. “Why are you still standing there? Come in.”

I blinked a couple of times to my surprise. But I followed what he said. I walked closer to him—I mean, my seat. Yeah, just my seat. That was my seat he was on, and I just wanted to put my things there. In these kinds of situations, I really needed Hora to tell me if I’m being weird or walking like a robot. At least I could put my confidence on my poker face. Whenever I was in an unknown situation, I always managed to keep my face straight.

When I was only a meter away from him, I gestured my hands to the chair, signalling him that I wanted my seat back. Well, he wasn’t really sitting on the chair but he was leaning towards the window which was a few inches away from my seat. So if I sit down, we would be too close to each other. Like “his-knees-touching-my-thighs-while-I-sit” kind of near.

He probably noticed my hesitation because he quickly went over the seat in front of my desk and sat there backwards, facing me. I smiled at his kindness. He had always been the gentleman type of guy, though a bit slow sometimes. I made sure not to smile too wide though, or I’d look like a fool.

I sat down after, and placed my bag on the side of my desk.

“W-why are you waiting for me?” I asked as I faced him, staring into his eyes. I missed those kind and gentle amber eyes. We weren’t childhood friends for nothing. And I didn’t fall in love for nothing. Too bad I was too scared to tell him that’s why he ended up with... another woman. I wonder what could have happened if I became a little braver. But still, I didn’t have time for love before. I couldn’t. I needed to look after our family. It really wouldn’t have worked out no matter what happened. I guess I just wasn’t the one for him.

He looked back at me straight in the eye, as if trying to read my mind.

“I heard about your mom and dad,” he said. I should have known. If Sir Greg knew it, there was no way that he wouldn’t. My mom probably went to his mom and talked all about it.

“Oh, yeah. About that…”

“Are you feeling okay?”

No. Of course I’m not. I hate being asked how I’m feeling because I was never a good liar. It may not show on my poker face, but my voice and manner of speaking would often give it away.

“If I said I’m okay, would you believe it?”

“Hmm… If you want me to.”

I sighed deeply.

“If you want to talk about it, I’m here you know. Or if you’re no longer comfortable telling me, then at least share it with Hora. Telling someone how you feel should help a bit in lessening the burden. At least that’s what I read somewhere.”

He read “somewhere”—that meant that he researched it. Yes, that’s how kind he was. He would go to great lengths just to help a friend. He couldn’t fool me. I knew him like the back of my hand.

I tried to give him a genuine smile. It was really amazing—his kindness. In fact, I was so touched that tears started to swell up in the corners of my eyes. Tears that I didn’t want to show him because he would be more worried. And I didn’t want him to worry. Same with Hora. I didn’t want to burden any of them. They’re just young teenagers right now. They shouldn’t be dealing with this sort of stuff. They should just be happily living their teenage lives, doing what they want, pursuing their dreams, or forming meaningful relationships.

“Ken… thank you,” I whispered to him. Holding back my tears, I was finally able to give him a nice smile. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”

He lowered his eyes. He was still worried.

“Mom said, if anything bad happens, you’re free to stay with us. Dad doesn’t mind, too.”

“You’re really a family of angels, you know?” I chuckled while saying that.

“I’m serious though. We all are. We already told your mom.”

“Yes, I believe you,” I smiled again. “The only problem is…”

“What?”

“Your fans might kill me,” I said mischievously. I’m not 100% wrong. It was a possibility given how popular he was at school, or rather, in the whole city. We weren’t in a relationship, I wasn’t a relative, and I had the most privileged title of “childhood friend”—most of them would think that I had the upper hand if I wanted to pursue him. And Ken was just the type to be too kind to say no.

“Pft! Seriously? That’s the best excuse you have?” he laughed.

‘Please stop smiling. Can’t you see I’m dying here?’

I put my hands together, pleading, “Please, let my excuse pass.”

“Hmmm,” he hummed, trying to think.

‘Please don’t ask me anything anymore.’

“Alright. I’ll accept it. On one condition.”

“Hm? Oookay. What condition?”

“Play a game with me.”

I didn’t expect that.

“What game?”

“A role-playing game. It’s a new release. I just got it yesterday.”

“Pft! Ha-ha-ha!” I couldn’t help myself but laugh. “I never played video games. You know that.”

“I know. I’m just saying, you should loosen up yourself a little and have some fun. You’re always so critical to yourself, Ms. Perfect. Always studying, reading, and doing boring stuff.”

“Hey! Reading is not boring! Studying, maybe, sometimes. But definitely not reading!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he shrugged, obviously not believing me. “If you love reading so much, you’re gonna like the game, too. It has a storyline you need to follow. So it’s basically like reading a book, except you’re the main character and you get to control how it goes.”

“Really?” I asked, a bit doubtful but intrigued. I never looked at it that way.

“Really. Period.”

And probably because I was allured by his smile, I said, “Okay. I’ll give it a try.”