19 Petty, Selfish, Unreasonable

Before Lancera could continue the sentence, I immediately opened my mouth and yelled out, "People might misunderstand!"

Then, I shut my mouth.

Damn. Why is my voice so loud?!

My eyes flitted around the surrounding greenery, trying to see if anyone were spying on us or heard my yelling.

Nothing. Only the faint rustling of leaves due to the wind.

Whew.

Only then did I have the heart to look at Lancera's reaction.

The girl's eyes were—

I froze.

Her eyes were lined with redness as if tears could drop down at any second.

"Asu…" Her lower lip trembled. "I… I like you so much… and I don't care if other people misunderstand. You are such a magnanimous person… why do you care so much about what others think? You can ignore me and dislike me… but… but you can't ask me to stop showing you affection, right?"

She repeated in a frail voice, "I like you so much… Asu…"

If I was in a normal state, perhaps I would've relented and forgave her… but a pity, I wasn't.

Today was a terrible day, and the more I heard her speak, the angrier I was.

She didn't even understand what she did wrong!

"Hey." I stopped her from speaking further.

"You say you like me?" My tone was cold. "Why? Why do you like me? Actually, you know what, don't answer that."

"I don't want to know."

I paused. "If you like me, then why were you so distant today? If you like me, why did you stop following me around? If you like me, why didn't you escort me for the entire day? If you like me, why didn't you come eat with me during lunch?! IF YOU LIKE ME, THEN WHY DID YOU BREAK YOUR PROMISE?!" The more I spoke, the more agitated I was, and my pitch and volume continuously increased.

Looking back, I must've gone entirely mad to say those things. I had forgotten my elegant demeanor and the possibility that there might be someone watching.

"IF YOU LIKE ME, THEN WHY DID YOU DISAPPEAR WITHOUT TELLING ME ANYTHING?!"

"IF YOU HAVE A CRUSH, AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO TREASURE HER?"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I DIDN'T SEE YOU?! DO YOU KNOW HOW I FELT WHEN I THOUGHT I SAW YOU WITH A MAN?"

"YOU'RE TERRIBLE! YOU KNOW THAT? HOW COULD YOU FOOL ME LIKE THAT?"

"YOU ALWAYS SAY SUCH FLOWERY WORDS… But, do you really mean what you say? I can normally tell if someone is sincere or not when they speak to me, but… but with you, I don't know anymore."

"I-I… " I stared hard at the girl's stupefied face. "Do… you really like me? Or are you just saying that?"

"No. Actually, will you still like me after this? After knowing how petty, how selfish, how unreasonable I am?"

I laughed bitterly.

Gritting my teeth, I shook off the Hall brat's arm—this time, there was no resistance—and turned around to walk away.