To Be the Perfect Childhood Friend - Chapter 57

Anita’s soft voice seemed not to reach him. She could do nothing but sit there, watching in a daze. After a while, as she heard Charles’s agonizing cries and saw his desperate hand reaching out as if trying to escape the beating, she belatedly snapped out of her trance.

She needed to stop Rutger. If Charles were to actually die, it would be troublesome. While it was true that he had threatened with the broken glass, he hadn’t caused actual harm to anyone. Later, Rutger might end up being blamed instead.

“Stop! That’s enough!”

As Anita shouted loudly, Rutger finally released his grip on Charles’s collar.

“He seems unconscious, stop it.”

“…….”

Although he let go of Charles’s collar, Rutger’s other hand still clenched a fist, seemingly ready to strike Charles’s face again. When Anita spoke once more, his hand dropped.

Anita breathed a sigh of relief. It was the moment when she, who had fallen earlier and was still sitting on the floor, tried to get up. Charles’s fingers, sprawled on the ground as if unconscious, twitched.

His fingers, groping the floor as if searching, grasped a piece of glass he had missed before. Anita’s eyes widened as she noticed this scene too late.

“Be careful!”

However, Anita shouted after the incident had already occurred. Charles, thinking Rutger was still unconscious, rushed to strike him with the glass. Rutger, who was caught off guard, quickly blocked the glass with his hand.

“Ugh!”

Charles, having stabbed the glass into Rutger’s hand, chuckled and whispered.

“Today is your last day.”

“You crazy bastard.”

Rutger seemed bewildered by the situation or found it absurd, bursting into laughter. However, as the pain from the glass digging into his hand hit, he frowned.

“Now, are you finally coming to your senses? Huh? You ignored me when I was being ignored, and now you wake up?”

Charles seemed completely unhinged, muttering incomprehensible words and chuckling incessantly. Anita, faced with this surreal scene and unable to scream, could only stare in shock. Stiff as if frozen in ice, she slowly moved her arms with effort, trying to stand. Her legs refused to cooperate, seemingly paralyzed.

The crimson blood dripping from his hand onto the marble floor, Charles appeared entirely out of his senses. Anita, moving like someone unable to use their legs, grabbed a discarded tray, dropped during the waiter’s escape.

“How long can you hold on?”

Despite holding the tray, Anita hesitated to swing it and watched Charles provocatively taunt Rutger with his maniacal laughter. Only when Charles laughed, not noticing her presence, did Anita forcefully bring down the tray on his head.

With a resounding crash, he stiffened. The glass shard that was in his hand fell to the ground. Anita, unsatisfied, repeatedly struck his head with the tray. Like a broken machine, Charles staggered and trembled. His hand, which held the glass, finally released as he collapsed backward.

As if in a trance, Charles continued muttering incomprehensible words and chuckling. Anita, unable to bear witness any longer, felt her voice catch in her throat. She managed to break free of her stiffness and slowly moved toward Charles. The blood, which had been in his hands, dripped onto the floor.

Anita moved cautiously, like someone unable to use their legs. As if in slow motion, she picked up the glass shard, thinking of the impending danger. Her eyes widened as she belatedly noticed the blood-soaked shard.

“Watch out!”

However, Anita’s warning came too late. Charles swung the glass shard at Rutger, who hastily blocked it, thinking Charles was still unconscious.

“Ugh!”

Charles, thrusting the glass into Rutger’s hand, chuckled and whispered, “Today is your last day.”

“You crazy bastard.”

Whether finding the situation absurd or bewildering, Rutger burst into laughter. However, as the pain from the glass in his hand struck, he grimaced.

“Now, are you finally coming to your senses? Huh? You ignored me when I was being ignored, and now you wake up?”

Charles seemed completely out of his mind. He kept muttering words that were hard to understand and laughing to himself incessantly.

Faced with the sight she couldn’t escape, Anita was left speechless, unable to scream, her mouth agape. Frozen like a person trapped in ice, she gradually exerted strength in her arms, attempting to move slowly. Her legs seemed to remain immobilized.

A stream of red blood from his hand dripped onto the marble floor.

Anita moved as if she couldn’t use her legs, crouching to the floor. Stiffly turning her neck, she noticed a tray dropped by a fleeing waiter and quickly grabbed it.

“Shall we see how long you can endure?”

Anita, initially unsure about using the tray, suddenly decided to take action when she heard Charles’s unsettling laughter. Although she couldn’t see him, Charles’s provocations towards Rutger angered her, leading her to forcefully strike Charles on the head with the tray.

With a loud thud, he stiffened. The glass shard he held fell to the ground. Anita continued to strike his head repeatedly, more than three times, trying to unleash her pent-up frustration.

Charles, shaking his hands like a malfunctioning machine, tumbled backward. As he fell to the ground, Anita threw away the tray she was holding and rushed towards Rutger.

“Are you okay? Well, you can’t be okay.”

She quickly took off her thin coat and wrapped his two hands. Though the coat was quite thin, she was horrified seeing his blood quickly staining the fabric.

“Don’t cry. Why are you crying?”

He said in a bewildered tone, and only then did Anita realize that she was indeed crying. Anita wanted to wipe away the tears obscuring her vision, but her hands were busy stemming his wounds, leaving her unable to move. So, she let the tears fall freely.

“Charles Bennett, you bastard. I’m going to kill you.”

“…What did you say?”

Anita, who had been raised with the notion that swearing was something unbecoming of educated people, found it unbearable this time.

“Sorry. I’m really sorry. Because of me, you…”

The tearful words didn’t come to a proper conclusion. Anita repeated apologies as if she had lost her mind.

“I’m not dead.”

Rutger wanted to lift his hand to wipe away Anita’s tears, but it seemed useless with his clothes soaked in blood. So, he gently withdrew his arm from Anita’s grip and embraced her. Anita nestled into his arms.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…….”

Anita mumbled something, but Rutger couldn’t understand.

“Are you okay?”

At that moment, a loud voice, sounding like a scream, and noisy footsteps were heard. Rutger, looking down at Anita, who had her arms around his neck and her face buried, raised his head.

The owner of the loud voice was none other than Liliana.

“Oh, darn it. Anita, it’s my fault. I didn’t know Charles Bennett caused trouble, and when I wrote the list of participating students, it was a long time ago, so I couldn’t remember. So…”

Liliana spoke confused, trying to talk to Anita, but Anita, clinging to Rutger and sobbing, had no chance to respond. Seeing Anita like that, Liliana bit her lip, then took off her coat. She covered Anita’s shoulders carefully with the coat.

“Anita?”

“…….”

“Rutger, are you okay?”

“You asked me twice.”

His response didn’t sound very convincing. He might have tried to answer calmly, but the cold sweat on his forehead and his much paler face than before clearly indicated the severity of his injuries.

“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere like this? Did someone die?”

Unaware of the tense situation, the cheerful voice echoed. The attention of the people in the hall turned to one place. Edmund, walking slowly from the distance of the corridor, approached Charles, who was lying on the floor, and Rutger, holding a cloth around his hand.

“Accident?”

“Yeah…”

Edmund didn’t bother to look at Liliana and Liliana didn’t act too familiar with Edmund. There was no time for such leisurely behavior.

After hearing her explanation, Edmund rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache and then pointed his finger at a student standing there like a spectator.

“You there. Go and call someone who can help. Either the security at the entrance or the patrolling guard. And you two, come and supervise that guy to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Anita wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Even though she wasn’t the one injured, she couldn’t just stand there and cry. She removed Liliana’s coat covering her shoulders, stumbled to her feet, and said

“Sit here. I’ll take care of this.”

Despite wiping away her tears a while ago as Rutger suggested, tears welled up in her eyes again.

“Come here.”