To Be the Perfect Childhood Friend - Chapter 10

“Maybe she’s just not interested in you.”

“…Do you think so?”

“Perhaps. Lately, she’s been avoiding you, right? She probably avoided you because she didn’t like you. She might not want to talk.”

Despite Liliana’s attitude, which changed her opinion like the flip of a palm, Rutger grew serious. He was still confused. Impulsively following Anita to Aberdeen University, as she kept avoiding him, he became desperate. When someone unremarkable makes a confession, it feels repulsive.

“Do she really hate me?”

Rutger muttered in despair.

“That’s why! I’ll help you get back in her good graces!”

Liliana intervened, not allowing any room for his despair.

Ironically, Rutger was convinced that Anita liked him. She always did. Whenever he turned around, she was there, comforting him even when he made foolish mistakes.

So Rutger knew that whenever he felt like it, there would be no problem between them. Selfishly, he hoped Anita still liked him. He never considered the possibility that Anita, who had been by his side for over 10 years, might change. But what if…What if her feelings had changed completely? What if Anita met someone else and distanced herself from him entirely…?

Could Anita ever come to dislike him permanently?

Something he hadn’t considered for more than a decade finally struck his mind.

Anita Rodel’s life had always been simple. Even in this new place, Aberdeen University, not much had changed. It was still boringly monotonous and peaceful as before.

Grabbing a piece of stationery from her desk, Anita began to write a letter to her parents. It was uneventful—she was doing well, everyone was kind, the city was amazing, and her studies were manageable.

After hastily scrawling the lifeless report, she picked up another sheet of paper. This time, it was to write a letter to letter to Mr. and Mrs. Baylan.

She didn’t know why she was taking on this responsibility herself.

Rutger is doing well. Seems like he’s already made many friends. Blah, blah, and so on.

Anita wrote the letter meticulously, like a veterinarian documenting a dog’s condition, and shoved it roughly into a drawer.

Today was a weekend without classes, so Anita had plenty of time. After finishing writing letters, wondering what to do next, she picked up her biology book out of habit. Flipping the pages where she had left off last time, she remembered what Rutger had said to her once.

‘Why do you live such a dull life? That’s why you don’t have any friends.’

Anita never thought she needed friends. She believed that human relationships were neither essential nor important. She had never really cared, but these thoughts surfacing hinted that she might have stored them deep down inside.

The gaze filled with pity and the condescending tone that lingered in her memory, sharp even after time had passed, didn’t dull in the least.

Am I really that pathetic?

Most people would advise Anita in such a situation. After all, half the world consists of men. They would say that meeting other men might make things better.

Of course not.

Anita wasn’t much of a people person. She wasn’t desperate for friends, much less men.

Unable to turn the pages further, she fidgeted with the cover of the book, then stood up and walked over to the mirror.

Untidily brushed black hair. A blank expression on her face. A pallid complexion, perhaps from not getting enough sunlight during her upbringing.

Staring at her uninterested reflection, Anita eventually turned away from the mirror. She knew Rutger well enough to know that he would not be interested in her, even if she were the most beautiful woman he would ever see again.

Standing there motionless for a while, Anita let out a long sigh. Once again. Once again, she wasted time without accomplishing anything. She had hoped to become a better person in college, to break free from his shadow and make something of herself. However, no matter how things started, her thoughts always concluded in the same way.

***

“You want to work here?”

“Yes.”

The place Anita visited was a small bookstore, or rather a café where people could read books and enjoy drinks.

This café situated across from the university was a safe space away from Rutger. He hates books, after all. The only nuisance was the nearby art supply shop.

“Are you a student?”

“Yes. I’m currently enrolled at Aberdeen University.”

“Aberdeen University?”

Anita could somewhat understand the shopkeeper’s reaction. The University of Aberdeen was on the expensive end of the spectrum, Hence, most students were either middle-class or from noble backgrounds. While Anita’s family wasn’t noble, they hadn’t struggled financially.

Excluding a few scholarship recipients, those attending the university were mostly well-off. People who went to school to get by and then went out into the world and used their education as a trophy.

The store owner nodded, as if understanding that Anita merely wanted to experience working as a shop assistant, assuming she had grown up in a privileged household.

Of course, that assumption wasn’t entirely wrong. Anita hadn’t applied for the job for the sake of earning wages.

“Alright. You’ll be paid monthly as written here. You can start working in two days, and I’ll teach you the job then.”

Anita, who surprisingly secured the job quite easily, left the store looking slightly dazed.

“Anita!”

As she walked down the street, Anita’s eyes widened upon recognizing a familiar voice. She turned her head around like it was a scene from a horror novel, and there he was.

“Long time no see.”

The senior, whose face had now become somewhat blurred, the person who had confessed to her after asking for directions and been chased away by Rutger.

The man, whose name she couldn’t remember, blocked Anita’s path with a twinkle in his eye.

Though he had a stocky build, he didn’t entirely obstruct the wide street. Anita tried to walk around him.

“We need to talk.”

His tone was sincere and serious, a far cry from the last time she’d heard him. Of course, she had nothing to talk about with him, so she didn’t consider his words significant.