Chapter 16
“That endless sob story of yours… If I had to hear your entire life tale, my tears could form a river.”
Despite the sharp sarcasm exchanged between them, the two seemed to get along quite well. Not that it mattered to Anita whether they were close or not—she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
Noticing the growing fatigue on Anita’s face, Professor Evan finally cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Because of that brat, you ended up waiting for no reason. Just deliver this to Building 4.”
“Building 4?”
Unfortunately, Anita was terrible with directions. She still hadn’t gotten used to where the buildings were, even the ones she visited daily, so this felt like an overwhelming task.
Maybe realizing this, the professor grabbed Edmund’s arm and shoved him toward Anita. The look on his face said he was relieved to pass on the nuisance.
“You’re the student council president—you should be helping the freshmen. Don’t you agree?”
A little later, Anita with a thick stack of documents in her arms and Edmund with a face full of annoyance stepped out of the lecture hall.
“Give it to me. I’ll carry it.”
As Edmund reached out his hand, Anita handed over the papers absentmindedly—then her pupils trembled.
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
She spotted a familiar figure down the hallway. At this moment, it was the person Anita most wanted to avoid—and the most troublesome one to run into.
She could have just walked past pretending not to notice, but that still felt difficult. At the same time, she didn’t want to look like some petty thief running away either. So Anita chose to hide. Her eyes darted around, searching for somewhere to conceal herself, before she grabbed Edmund’s arm as a backup plan.
“I’m sorry.”
She tried to hide behind him, but Edmund was faster. He grabbed her arm and, before she could react, shoved her behind a wall. Or what she thought was a wall—it creaked open with a sound.
Before Anita could protest about being shoved into a dark space, the door shut with a thud. Now trapped in the dark, she blinked in confusion, unable to say anything.
‘This situation feels… familiar.’
“He scares me, honestly.”
Startled by the sudden voice in the dark, Anita flinched. Judging by the direction of the voice, Edmund was standing behind her.
“Scares you?”
It wasn’t that long ago that Edmund had acted strangely in front of Rutger. Why this sudden shift?
‘Did Rutger confront him after that incident?’
No, Anita quickly shook off the thought. There hadn’t really been a reason for them to clash. They barely even had any interaction.
“Did something happen?”
“Yeah, a lot actually.”
But his tone wasn’t casual. Unsettled, Anita quickly turned around to look at his face, only to realize how pointless that was in pitch blackness.
“Just bear with the dark for a bit. If we leave now, it’ll be really awkward.”
He didn’t explain further, but Anita agreed with his judgment. Just imagining stepping out of this dark room and running into Rutger gave her chills.
“What are you doing here?”
Unlike the silent storeroom, the outside was filled with noise. Anita’s ears twitched at the sound of a distinctly cheerful and familiar female voice.
She wasn’t being spoken to directly—the door was still between them—but Anita almost answered instinctively.
“…Why are you picking a fight first thing in the morning?”
She nearly bit her tongue. She thought they’d left, but clearly they hadn’t. Hearing that unmistakable voice again, Anita let out a deep sigh. Without meaning to, she had ended up eavesdropping on Liliana and Rutger.
“I’ve been put in charge of organizing the upcoming donation event.”
“So?”
“I want you to come.”
It was a mundane conversation—thankfully. Anita knew from experience that meddling too much in others’ private matters never ended well.
“Why would I?”
“Are you serious? I said I’d help you, didn’t I? And you can’t even do this one thing for me?”
Their conversation started drifting into a more personal tone that only the two of them would understand. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Anita stepped back. Not that it would block out the voices completely.
Then, her back bumped into something.
“Feels familiar, doesn’t it?”
Luckily, this time she didn’t step on Edmund’s foot. He had caught her by the shoulder and stopped her.
“Yeah. It does feel familiar.”
Maybe Edmund meant it lightly, but it didn’t feel light to Anita at all. Nothing had really changed since last time. She had told Rutger not to appear in front of her anymore, hoping to end the vague game of avoidance. Yet here she was, hiding again.
“You showing up would help raise more donations. If you were born with a handsome face, you might as well use it.”
“……”
How long did she have to keep living like this—tiptoeing around, avoiding glances, avoiding his voice, avoiding the sight of him talking to someone else? She felt pathetic.
Was there really a reason to hide?
Anita reached for the doorknob. She would just leave. It wasn’t like she had heard anything sensitive.
Just as she was about to open the door—thunk—something fell to the floor.
“Oops… I dropped this.”
It was the stack of documents from the botany professor. Edmund had accidentally dropped them, and the loose pages scattered everywhere.
“It’s okay. We’ll just pick them up. Let’s clean it together.”
Her hand left the doorknob. Without hesitation, Anita stepped back and crouched to start gathering the papers.
“Now you’re doing extra work because of me.”
“I didn’t think you’d feel this bad about it.”
In the pitch-black room, while Anita fumbled to collect the papers, a sudden laugh echoed above her.
“……?”
“How did you see me, anyway?”
