To Be the Perfect Childhood Friend - Chapter 63

“They aren’t pressing charges? Just listening makes it seem like Charles Bennett is the victim.”

Though Anita tried to speak in a polite tone, her words sounded harsh even to me.

– Anita.

“He’s the one who’s really in the wrong.”

– Then how should I have dealt with it? Should I have taken you to court?

“…No. I didn’t mean it that way, I just…”

Before Anita could continue, Nathan interrupted her.

– Remember what I told you before. That guy is trouble.

Veins stood out on Anita’s hand holding the receiver.

“Why are you so obsessed with not liking Rutger? Did he do something wrong to you?”

– Of course, I don’t dislike that guy. But him as your friend, you should reconsider…

Suddenly, fatigue washed over her. Anita pressed her forehead against the glass wall of the phone booth. It felt like the cool sensation was soothing her complex thoughts.

“Yes. Of course, you think so.”

She had always been obedient in front of her parents. Even if what they did didn’t make sense, Anita didn’t care. She knew it was easier to comply to a certain extent. However, this time, she couldn’t just let it pass. She knew Nathan had a strong dislike for Rutger and his stepfather, but today that fact felt particularly irritating.

– If that guy hadn’t thrown the first punch…

“If that didn’t happen, I would’ve been the one injured with glass shards, not Rutger. I don’t understand why you’ve always been so harsh on Rutger.”

“Anita.”

He used Anita’s name in a firm tone, but the frustration that had been building up inside her continued.

“Rutger always helped me promptly when I needed it. He’s not someone to be blamed Dad, and I hope you won’t interfere with Rutger from now on.”

The other end of the line fell silent. When Nathan didn’t speak for a long time, Anita, in her anger, hung up the phone.

As Anita was about to leave the public phone booth, the phone rang again, but she didn’t turn back and left the booth.

Feeling suffocated, Anita leaned her head against the glass wall of the phone booth and let out a long sigh.

Until now, she had avoided unnecessary conflicts, but she couldn’t understand why Rutger was being targeted even in such a situation.

No. She didn’t want to understand now.

Looking back, her dad had disliked Rutger from the moment they first met. But what had Rutger done wrong?

It was 13 years ago, early summer. The day the Baylan couple visited our house with their son. Being unusually shy, I peeked behind my mom’s skirt, catching a glimpse of an intruder the size of a crescent moon.

The first time I met Rutger’s green eyes, I couldn’t look away. People say he has green eyes, but that’s just talk.

Staring deeply into his eyes, I felt like I was standing in the middle of a refreshing sea. It was a delicate mixture of colors where the emerald transparent sea met the sky. His eyes.

The initial wariness disappeared somewhere, and I spent the whole day chasing after Rutger. Just to see his eyes again.

“Hey, your son is really cute. He looks like an angel with those curly hair.”

Soft black curls, beautiful eyes, delicate features, and fair skin were indeed essential conditions for an adorable child…

But he was not cute at all. That was the beginning of the problem.

“Hello?”

“…….”

“What’s your name?”

“…….”

“Are you going to stay here from now on?”

“…….”

“Well, I’d really like that. I’ll give you my amethyst brooch.”

When someone wants to befriend children, they don’t hesitate to offer anything. The brooch, delicately cut into droplet shapes and surrounded by platinum, was commissioned by my parents when I was born.

By giving me a brooch made of my birthstone, amethyst, they wished for happiness and health for their newborn daughter.

Not knowing the value of my possession, I happily extended it, but the response I received was cold.

“Get lost.”

“What?”

“Don’t bother talking to me, and keep that tacky brooch for yourself.”

Being a quite delicate person, the words shook me to the core, and tears streamed down uncontrollably. Raised by parents and a nurse who constantly doted on me, that remark became the harshest and most shocking memory in my life.

When I returned from the garden in tears, my alarmed parents asked what had happened, but instead of answering, I rushed into my room, ignoring the worried nurse, and buried myself under the blanket.

I don’t know why being rejected for a gift hurt so much. I clutched the brooch tightly, wrinkling it, and cried until dawn. I had only offered it because I thought the elegant eyes, a blend of green and blue, would match well with the amethyst brooch. Did the child really have to act so coldly?

The next day, with swollen eyes, poking at a salad bowl gloomily, I heard shocking news. The Baylan family was moving in next door.

***

“Anita, you must write in your diary.”

“Why?”

“So you can remember what you liked and what you did when you were younger.”

“I don’t want to bother….”