To Be the Perfect Childhood Friend - Chapter 35

“Do we really have to go this far?”

“What?”

Rutger, standing with his hands on the table, let out a sudden sigh. Anita’s eyebrows, which had been leisurely moving up and down as she sipped her cocoa, shot upward.

“It means you don’t have to pretend to be interested in him for no reason.”

The sound of the last strand of restraint snapping was audible. Holding back her bubbling anger, Anita slammed her cup down harshly. The cocoa in the cup splashed and soaked the back of her hand, but it didn’t matter to her.

“Do you think I’m pretending to be interested? Do you really think you know me so well? Wait a moment, when did we first meet?”

“…”

“Oh, right! It was when I was seven. It’s been almost 13 years, hasn’t it?”

“…”

“In all that time, we’ve known each other, or at least I thought we did, and now I have no idea what you’re thinking.”

“Anita…”

“Get out.”

“Listen to what I have to say.”

“I said get out.”

Anita felt embarrassed for exposing her emotions so openly. She always wanted to remain calm, but sometimes words just spilled out. Letting out all the things she wanted to say felt refreshing, but at the same time, there was regret.

She didn’t want to show her vulnerabilities to anyone, especially not to Rutger. The more she exposed herself, the more her weaknesses would be revealed.

Her head was pounding.

“Go.”

“Anita…”

“Sorry, but I’d appreciate it if you left now. Luckily, the rain has stopped.”

“…”

“I’ll do some cleaning before leaving.”

She didn’t feel like looking at his face now. She turned around and said firmly,

“The longer you stay, the more work I have to do. But if you still want to stay, feel free.”

He called Anita’s name about five times. However, Anita never turned around. To avoid showing any signs of consciousness, she busied herself with work. She cleared the untouched cup and set the fallen chair upright.

Perhaps influenced by her resolute attitude, a while later, the doorbell at the entrance rang. Finally, he seemed to have left.

Only now did Anita’s shoulders, which had been tensed, relax. It was a simple departure of one person, but even the air felt lighter.

Anita, looking much more comfortable than before, finished cleaning up.

After shoving all the books that were sticking out of the shelves, she decided to leave. As she took one last look around the store, she glanced sideways for some reason.

A black figure had disappeared from the shop window. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Anita grabbed the kettle with the boiling water still in it and walked out of the store. She cautiously looked around but couldn’t find any sign of anyone.

Did she see it wrong?

Anita put the kettle back on the counter and left the shop.

Arriving at her dorm, completely exhausted, Anita staggered up the stairs. It would have been better if her room were on the first floor, but why did they make her use the stairs?

With a meaningless sigh, Anita, feeling completely drained, reached her room. She fumbled in her pocket when she arrived at her door, found the key, and as she was about to put it in the lock, she hesitated.

The door opened too easily. Anita hadn’t even inserted the key yet.

‘Maybe I didn’t see it wrong earlier.’

Rather than entering the room, Anita stood outside and pushed the door, still holding her pocket.

“Screech,” the familiar sound of her door hinge echoed, but it felt gloomy today. Although bright light spilled into the hallway, but it wasn’t enough to illuminate the entire room.

Standing in front of her room for a moment, Anita took out a spray, opened the lid, and rolled it into the room.

In Anita’s younger days, there was a burglary at her house. Anita was asleep, so she didn’t witness it, but her father was furious. He went on a rampage and grabbed her and gave her a safety lesson, saying it could never happen again.

Thanks to that, Anita was well-versed in dealing with various accidents that could happen in daily life.

When she saw the smoke spray rolling into the room, she closed the door. She grabbed a handkerchief, covered her mouth and nose, and waited. After a long time, when she was sure that she didn’t hear any coughing or the sound of something moving in the room, she opened the door.

Despite covering her mouth and nose, she couldn’t completely block the smoke, and tears streamed down her face. She finally made it to the window to ventilate and wiped every inch of the room with a clean woven cloth. After working diligently for a while, the room was back to the familiarity she knew.

That day, Anita couldn’t sleep until late. There was clearly nothing missing. On the contrary, it made her more uneasy. She couldn’t even grasp why her room was invaded.

Anita, who was tossing uncomfortably under the blanket, finally got up. Even though she knew there was no one, she checked under the bed once more.

Her mind was already complicated due to Rutger, and now it became even more tangled. She sighed deeply and swept her hair nervously.

‘I don’t know.’

She flopped back down on the bed. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. Her head was spinning, but she was exhausted, and she fell asleep.

The next day, early in the morning, Anita went to the shooting range.

Bang!

Bang!

The shots rang out in the early morning hours while the grass was still dewy. With a clang, the shells fell to the ground, one by one.

Even though she pulled the bolt hard to reload the bullet, there was no sound. Whether she didn’t notice this fact or not, Anita continued to torture the stubborn bolt. Liliana, who saw Anita continuously struggling with the stuck bolt without realizing the fact, cautiously spoke.

“Hey, Anita? It seems like you’ve run out of bullets.”

“…Ah. Yeah.”

The response came rather late. Liliana, who had been coming to the shooting range since the early hours of the morning, thought it was strange that Anita was firing off bullets without saying a word, so she tried to talk to her. But Anita didn’t give her a proper answer.

Bang!

Reloading the rifle again, Anita stood in front of the target, aiming at the target.