Chapter 84: [Bonus Chapter] Suffocating
Who is he to ask me that? He’s the one who avoided and ignored me all the time. "I’m tired," I said as I passed him by, deliberately not answering his question. Night didn’t retort and let me pass.
"Sleep in our room today." He said. Is he back to ordering me around again?
There’s no way I’ll sleep in the same room as him after all that happened. "No thanks," I said as I walked back to my room. I’m not even worrying about what Makoto will say anymore. When I first came back to my room and Makoto learned of it, he teased Night and me that we might be arguing already despite being newlyweds. I ignored him every time he teases me because he’ll only continue doing it if I show any reaction. ’And if I stay in that room again with Night, I might finally lose myself this time.’
"Young miss." I heard Rika calling me. She has a weird expression on her face. "Does the miss wants to eat something?" I shook my head and told her that I’ll be going to sleep after washing up and that she didn’t have to scrub my body again since I’ll be taking a quick shower.
I’ve been spending less time in this mansion as the days pass by, it makes me breathe more as I feel suffocated whenever I’m here. I prefer training my butt off than staying in the room where Night is. Even though I passed the special examination, I still have lots of things to do to ensure that I’ll graduate with everyone.
’Ah, right. Andy texted me a happy new year last time but I couldn’t text back.’ I sighed, it makes me feel guilty that I’m ignoring him but this way he won’t call me. He’ll still think that they’re still fixing my phone, and about that mafia group after me, there is still no news.
Kenji’s been out of the mansion because he was tasked to find out more about the mafia group, while Night’s working on grandpa Kenta’s office, I think. "It’s so tiring," I said as I slammed my body on the bed after taking a quick shower.
I’m too lazy to dry my hair so I chose not to. Maybe things will be easier if I didn’t take a bath, but I feel sticky after all the sweat I got from going out. It’s cold because it’s still January, but you get hot when you run and I sweat a lot. "I miss mom and dad. I wonder what they’re doing right now." Why can’t I talk to mom through the phone? I’ll ask grandpa Kenta about that later.
"For now, let’s sleep."
Almost all the time of my days goes to training, and the others go to resting since I can’t overdo everything again like before. "Now I can’t stop wishing to go back to the old times where living was much easier because of my parents," I said aloud. It’s like my mind and body are drained and I don’t want to spend more energy. Maybe I can be cured if Ace hugs me right now, but she hates me. Everyone ends up hating me because I’m a liar.
I woke up the next day feeling groggy, but I didn’t want to skip the training because if I do, Shiho will surely want to talk to me about her older brother. I don’t know if I can fake a smile at her right now because I feel really annoyed about her older brother. "I’ll be attending my training again," I told Shiho as I bid them goodbye. Even though I can go home for lunch, I always decide to rest in the infirmary since it’s more peaceful there and I’m always alone, though sometimes the school nurse’s there.
"Don’t you think going home during the afternoon is better?" Ericka asked while she was sitting beside the bed here in the infirmary. "The food’s better too." She said while yawning.
"You didn’t have to stay with me, you know that." I smiled at her, but Ericka just sighed. "I’m really fine resting here, and the school nurse doesn’t get angry at me either."
Ericka lay on the bed while looking at me. "Doesn’t it feel weird to sleep here all alone? Do you know about the ghost stories going around about the school?" A sneaky smile formed on Ericka’s face.
"Do you think I’ll be scared?" Ericka nodded but I laughed at her. "Too bad I’m quite good with horror stories, maybe because I’m born on Halloween," I said which made Ericka pout. It’ll be scarier for me if I saw men holding guns and chasing after me. That’s what a scary story is like for me, not those ghost stories. Actually, I like ghosts more than humans. Ghosts can’t hurt me, while humans proved lots of times that they can and they will.
"What scares you then?"
I stared at the ceiling. "Losing people that are important to me." Silence followed that. ’I shouldn’t have said that. Now I’m making things harder for Ericka too.’ "HAHA, anyway, don’t you have other things to do?"
Ericka shook her head. "I don’t have anything to do. My mom will make me do household chores if I go home now since she’ll think I’m not tired even after the training." She said as she rolled over to the side. "I want to live alone away from my family." I can’t relate to her so I didn’t respond to what she said.
I did think of living on my own before away from my parents to be free, but now that I am living without them, it’s taking a toll on me and I’m suffering. ’I miss them so much.’ "I’ll sleep, for now, wake me up if it’s already time for the next training."
"What about lunch? Where do you want to eat? I think the cafeteria won’t be opening for today."
"I’ll buy a sandwich in the convenience store later."
I closed my eyes after Ericka didn’t say anything back. ’Here I can relax without a worry in the world. As if I’m back to my parents’ place.’ I thought. It didn’t even take long before I started drifting away in sleep, and when I woke up, Ericka wasn’t around.
’Shoot, I still haven’t taken lunch. Our next training for today will start at 4 pm.’ I thought as I immediately got up but my eyes widened upon seeing someone else sitting beside the bed. "Why are you here?"
"Hey there." El greeted me with a smile as he placed the book he was holding onto the desk. "Your friend, Ericka, told me that you’re here."
My forehead creased. "No, that’s not the point. I’m asking why you’re at our school."
El smiled again. "I wanted to let Marielle see the school before she decides since she’ll be going back to Italy tomorrow." He said. "And that’s when I bumped into your friend." I waited for him to say something more, but he didn’t instead, he looks like he was waiting for me to say something to him.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Why are you here if you’re going around with Marielle?"
He was still smiling as he leaned toward me and ruffled my hair. "Because I want to see you, silly. You didn’t text me the date for the semifinals either." Oh, right. I totally forgot about that because of Night, but I didn’t want to apologize. "May I watch you train later? Ericka said that I can." El said. ’Why bother asking me though?’
"Sure, do whatever you want," I said while yawning and preparing to leave the infirmary. "Where’s your sister, by the way?"
El tilted his head. "I don’t know. She said she’ll go home first, but I don’t know where she really went to." He said as if he doesn’t care even if his younger sister gets lost. "Oh, don’t worry. Lorenzo’s with her, so she’s fine." He said as if he heard what went to my mind.
I stood up from the bed. "Where are you going?" He asked.
"I’m going to eat lunch."
El’s smile grew wider. "Let me go with you. I haven’t eaten lunch yet either." He said. ’Right, he confessed that he has feelings for me. Should I really let him do this? I might be leading him on this way.’ I thought as I took a deep breath.
"Say, about your confession last time." I looked at him and he smiled at me again. "I don’t think I can reciprocate your feelings towards me."
El placed his hand on my shoulder. "That’s fine. Like I said before, being your friend is enough for me." He said. ’But I’m the one who keeps feeling weird about it.’ I sighed.
"Are you really sure about that?"
His baby blue eyes looked directly into mine causing me to be taken aback. "Why? Are you worried about me?" He placed his hand on top of my hand while still staring at me. "If you are, then would you like to try being my girl—"
"Don’t be stupid." I said as I pushed him away.
"That’s mean! Wait up."
