It’s a Disheartening Chance Part 2

I held my up phone and tapped at it…

I guess I’m left with no choice… Yeah, he would probably know more about this type of stuff. Connie Capperman…

I waited as the phone rang…

Geez, I didn’t want to rely on him. Not because there’s bad blood between us or anything, no, we’ve been friends since high school. It’s just… he’s an annoying manchild! He knows I’m smarter than him. And he’ll probably just pick on me for relying on him…

But even so, he’s still helpful. He’s really responsible — well, he is a principal of a school. And we’re friends, so even though he’ll have his fun for a while, he’ll be serious…

“I’m sorry, the person you are calling is-”

I tapped the red button to hang up.

Dammit… Well, I guess it makes sense because it’s almost midnight… But I think I still need help… Should I call Valerie? She’s the wife of Connie, so she might also know about this kind of stuff. But is she still awake? Eh, probably — she might be closing up shop right now…

On my list of contacts, I clicked on Valerie’s name. I waited as the phone rang.

But does she know about Camryn? Well, Camryn does work for her, so she might have told her… But then again, the topic is pretty sensitive to her…

After a few seconds, Valerie picked up.

“Oh? Hey, Bailey! Good evening!”

I’m not sure… I guess I’ll have to work around with my words.

“G-Good evening, Valerie. How are you?”

“Ah, I’m good, thanks!”

Oh, is she on speaker? I can hear things going on in the background.

“Um… Valerie, are you busy right now?”

“Hm? No, not at all. I’m just hanging out at Alente — I actually finished cleaning up a while ago. Why? What’s up?”

I exhaled deeply through my nose and spoke in a low voice.

“Well, I need some advice…”

“Hm? Sure — shoot.”

“Um…”

How can I avoid bringing up the specifics?.. I’ll just say it’s between co-workers.

“See, it’s about a co-worker at work. She’s having a bit of a problem, and I want to help her…”

“Huh? That’s unusual. I thought you didn’t your co-workers.”

Oh. Well, she’s not wrong…

“What? Well, I don’t hate this one…”

“Mmm…”

She was clearly in doubt. Is she catching my bluff?

“Eh, whatever. Anyways, what’s up?”

Okay… I took a deep breath.

“Okay… See, she’s having some personal relationship issues…”

“I see… I’m not sure if I can help much, but I’ll try my best… What is it?”

I hung my chest and my other arm over the balcony.

“See, it’s about her boyfriend…”

“Jealous?”

“Hell nah!”

Damn, I knew Connie would be a bad influence for her…

I heard Valerie sightly chuckling for a few seconds.

“Sorry… That was unrelated and you’re being serious, but I just couldn’t resist… Anyways, please continue.”

I did.

“See, she’s been fighting with her boyfriend… And right now, she’s very unsure about their relationship.”

“I see…”

“Yeah… She told me that she’s not even sure if he feels the same about her anymore… Right now, she’s really sad about this realization.”

“Hm…”

I could imagine that Valerie was sitting at a booth with her phone on speaker on the table in front of her. She’s looking down with her finger on her chin and thinking deeply about this.

“Say, how long have they been dating?”

Oh? Well, I’ll just tell her the length Ren and Camryn have been living together.

“Oh. About one month. A-And they’ve been living with each other…”

“I see, I see…”

After a few more seconds, I heard her slam something on the table.

“Well, the answer’s simple — the boyfriend does feel the same way about her.”

“Oh?”

“Well, that just might be me trying to stay positive. But I believe that the boyfriend still loves her colleague. I mean, they spent a month living together. I’m pretty sure they’d break up after a week or two if they truly fell out of love…”

I heard her shift in her seat.

“But that’s just what I think. Oh, and it’s also based on my experiences with love!”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to flaunt your relationship status with me…”

Valerie giggled.

“Ah, sorry! I just couldn’t help myself again… Anyways, they should talk to each other to confirm their feelings…”

Yeah…

“Oh, and you said the girl was sad, right? Well, tell her that she should take a bit of time away from her boyfriend to recollect her thoughts…”

Yeah, we’re doing that… I hope Camryn was okay after our conversation…

“Hm… I’d say about a week or so apart…”

“Huh?”

Oh wait, I messed up!

“Hm? What do you mean?”

No, I told Camryn that we were meeting up with Ren tomorrow… Hm… It makes sense that she would need longer, but… Okay, I guess I should tell her that there was a change of plans…

“Oh, that was nothing… Okay, I’ll tell her to talk again with her boyfriend, but when she feels ready… Hey, thanks, Valerie.”

I nodded and smiled.

“You know Valerie, you’re a good friend… Actually, you’re a good person in general… Helping someone you barely know… Valerie, you’re so-”

“Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah… Actually, Bailey, I’d recommend something else…”

Wait… That wasn’t Valerie’s voice right now!

Dammit!