That Small Disheartening Chance

Place? My condominium, on my dining table. Time? Past midnight. I didn’t retrieve the luggage from my car when I arrived. I didn’t change from my suit… The first thing I did when I got home was sit at my dining table — sit and think…

Dammit… I don’t know… I’m just so confused right now. I just don’t understand it, and that’s really scary to me…

My head hurts… I pressed hard against my forehead… I put my other hand firmly on the table. I forced my teeth together… I shut my eyes tight… I leaned forward…

The pain… Dammit, why does my head hurt so badly? Dammit, dammit, dammit!

I slammed both of my hands on the table and promptly stood up.

“Dammit! This is the answer, right!? So why does it feel so wrong!?”

My eyes were wide open and I was breathing heavily.

My head hurts…

But… my right shoulder feels so pleasant…

Connie’s POV:

I’m standing right outside Ren’s place on the carpeted floors of the hallway… No one was around, and it was extremely silent.

Ah, it’s so late — a few minutes past midnight! I’m so tired… I want to sleep… But I can’t — the adrenaline is rushing through my body… I’m determined… So determined that I managed to sneak my way into this private building…

After my riveting conversation with Bailey over the phone, I decided to act. I went straight to Ren’s place… Why? Well, based on the information I got from Bailey, Ren is acting very uncharacteristic. She said she saw something… She truly believes that Ren cares for Camryn. Did Ren finally crack and is starting to show care? Eh, maybe…

And there’s the thing that she said about Camryn… She’s an orphan… She’s been passed around foster homes… She was abused when she stayed with them… It makes sense that she’d be in desperate need of a loving adult… And really, I’m concerned about her — however, she’s not my top priority…

I slowly turned the handle leading to Ren’s condo. The door was unlocked — how unusual, but at the same time, oh so intriguing.

I remember the first time I met Ren… On the first day of school, sitting alone at a cafeteria table… He looked so serious and intimidating with his deadpan face… But at the same time, he looked so lonely and pitiful. I decided to sit with him…

I slowly walked into his dark condo.

“Please excuse me…”

At the time, I thought he was an unwilling lone wolf that relies on no one. And since that looked like the case, I decided to sit with him. Befriending a loner is a totally noble thing to do, but… my feelings of interest outweighed my feelings of pity.

I slowly closed the door behind me and walked deeper through the hallway…

And there he was… Ren Morales — my little science experiment, turned best friend…

“C-Connie?”

…

He looked up at me… He looked dirty — though I suppose that’s a little harsh. Instead, he looked restless. He looked like a man who couldn’t get any sleep for days. Red eyes… Dark spots under his eyes… Greasy hair… Messier than usual hair… Wrinkled business suit… A sweat-smelling business suit… Unwashed face… Such a sad face…

I smiled widely.

“Hey, Ren Ren… What’s up!?”

“O-Oh… I’m good.”

Even his speech was different. He sounded hesitant… He sounded meek… He sounded weak… But even so, his voice was still slightly monotone…

“So I heard you went on a business trip to the capital… How was it?”

“I-It was good…”

Was he on the verge of crying?

“The capital is really beautiful, don’t you think?”

“Oh… Y-Yeah…”

He put his hand on his neck and turned his eyes away from me.

“Hey, did you have a good time there?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Lies… I sighed… I guess it’s been a while since you’ve had fun…

“How was Bailey? She didn’t bother you too much, did she?”

“N-No…”

He was responding with one word… Like a digital assistant responding to its user’s requests with cookie-cutter answers.

Hm…

“Oh yeah…”

It was time… I smirked at Ren.

“How was Camryn?..”

And that was the trigger. His face quickly and chaotically turned to face me. His eyes widened and he leaned forward as he became more attentive.

I see… I suppose you wouldn’t care about your appearance towards a stranger that’s actually a friend…