Interlude 2: Love

Interlude 2: Love

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I don’t know why, but the moment I laid my eyes on her, it was over for me.

I was in love.

It started as a typical day; I visited my lectures. Ate in the cafeteria and made my daily walk before returning to the dormitory.

And suddenly, that girl jogged past me. Her coral-colored hair, with blue strands that reminded me of the beautiful sea in summer, was bound into a ponytail and rocked from left to right in a consistent rhythm as she ran.

The simple outfit of a black tank top and shorts looked great, and I could not take my eyes off her.

I hoped no one saw me staring because I didn’t want anybody to think I was a creep, despite knowing that I acted like one.

Anyways, the only thing I could think of for the rest of the day was her. Of course, I did not tell my roommates … She was mine and mine alone.

The next day I simply repeated my routine, hoping she would cross my way again. And luckily, she did.

In reflection, I guess it was a little questionable that I followed her, but I wanted to know where she was going. In the end, it was the dorm. She slept under the same roof as me, but I never saw her around, even though I studied and lived here for two years.

Apparently, she was a school guest. How did I find out? I ended up asking my roommates about her... I was told she was staying at our school for two weeks, which sadly were almost over already, and that she came with an infamous witch who badly beat up our only male student council member some days ago.

By the way, I hate Elliot for being surrounded by all these beautiful girls from the council. … It should’ve been me, not him!

By the way, my crush's name was Kayla... I heard it when I accidentally eavesdropped on her and her friend while talking in the cafeteria. Her companion Miko also looked gorgeous, but she had an ominous aura, the exact opposite of the beautiful girl I had fallen in love with.

The last few days have been eating me up inside. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I couldn’t get her and her smile out of my head. I had to do something; she would be gone soon.... and if I wanted to have a chance with her, I had to approach her.

It was Saturday. I had no lectures, so I decided to wait outside the dorm, hoping she would leave at any time.

Did I feel stupid? Yes. But was it worth it? Yes, of course, because I actually caught her leaving through the main entrance. Today she was wearing casual clothes. Maybe she also decided to take a day off from all the training.

Since she was not jogging, it was way easier to follow her this time.

MIKO

Should I tell her? Was the question that plagued me for the last few days.

Apparently, Kayla got stalked. The first time I noted that student was when we discussed dungeons in the cafeteria.

I could easily tell her we could report him to the teachers, and the problem should have been solved. But… it was kind of exciting to observe and look where everything would lead to.

It’s Saturday, and I decided to set a trap. I told Kayla to leave the dorm through the main entrance. I begged her to get me some chocolate and that the walk to the campus store would be much shorter if she took the route, I suggested. She was visibly confused but did not question my request any further.

And so, I became the stalker of her stalker. Since I can enhance my eyes with magic, I could maintain a large distance from him without worrying about losing him out of sight.

“What are you doing?” a voice behind my back asked. I twitched a little bit and turned my head to detect Hannah. Was it Hannah? She was wearing an oversized hoodie, a baseball cap, and sunglasses.

“What are you doing?” I countered with a puzzled face.

“I try to save Kayla.” She whispered with a hand covering her mouth.

“From that stalker?”

She hissed at me with a finger on her lips. “Not so loud! I don’t want anybody to find out!”

“Why?” I asked as I turned around to keep following my target.

“I don’t need any scandals at our school… How does it look when we got guests, and they ended up getting harassed.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I think the attitude of most of the students against me was bad enough from the beginning.”

“And I told you sorry a hundred times! Rumors are strong, and you must admit that your past life sounds pretty wild.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, you might be right. By the way, why the disguise?”

“You know how famous I am. It’s hard to do anything in private around here.”

"Okay, I think you stand out even more that way, but maybe that's because I generally don't freak out when I see you or talk to you."

“And that’s why I’d really like to spend more time with you and Kayla. You’re pretty much the only people who treat me like a normal person.”

Being treated like a normal person was something I never experienced. My foster families had far too much pity for me. My first guild wanted to make me a magical child soldier. Lilith praised me all the time and tried to protect me from everything bad. And Kayla acts like I'm the most interesting person in her universe.

“Touching story, maybe you should just invite us to anything before we depart next week,” I suggested to her.

“I definitely will, but let’s save Kayla for now!”

“Halt!” I said as I noticed that he had stopped walking. “Why is he hiding behind a tree?”

“What?” asked Hannah with a hint of disgust. Why exactly was hiding the point that was too much for her?

“Let’s catch him now,” I said, leaving the path and walking among the trees and bushes.

Don’t ask me why, but despite the rustling of the branches and leaves we stepped on, he didn’t notice us coming.

“Don’t move.” I simply said in a slightly threatening tone, and he perfectly obeyed.

“You can turn around now,” Hannah added, against my instruction.

The moment he recognized us, he fell to his knees. “I am so sorry; I beg you, don’t tell the teachers.”

Oh, it was hard not to play on his fear, but at least I could listen to what he had to say before deciding to bully him a little anyway.

“Explain,” said Hannah in a cold tone, staring at him from above, holding her sunglasses in her right hand and resting her chin on her left.

He started telling us everything he loved about Kayla, of course, primarily external qualities. After all, he didn’t know her at all.

I heaved a big sigh. “Wait for her on that bench over there, talk to her, tell her how you feel, and listen to her answer. Whatever she will tell you, you stop stalking her, or you won’t be happy in your life anymore.”

With tears in his eyes, he nodded repeatedly, stood up, cleaned his knees from the dirt, and walked over to the bench.

“Should we watch them?” asked Hannah with an uncertain look.

“No? This is a private thing between them.”

Internally, I wanted to stay, of course, but this voyeuristic behavior was a no-go. So, we returned to the dorm, and I took Hannah to our room, where we would wait for Kayla.

KAYLA

“You won’t believe what just happened!” I said as I entered our room, only to be shocked by the fact that Hannah was sitting on our bed, awkwardly smiling at me.

“Tell us,” Miko said with a visibly glum expression. "What happened?"

“There was a student who confessed his love for me! He told me how beautiful I am, that my whole appearance is so cute, and that seeing me was such a blessing that it got him through his tough days.”

“What did you answer?” Hannah asked with wide-open eyes.

The two seemed even more excited than I was.

“Of course, I was flattered and thanked him for his kind words. But I told him that there was no place in my heart for him.”

“Aww, poor guy,” said Miko, looking somewhat relieved. I don't know if she really thought that I would start dating a random dude out of the blue.

Just for her reaction alone, it was worth rejecting him. Although I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if I had agreed to be his girlfriend.