Chapter 33: Dara Takes Refuge

I arrived at school at 6:20 a.m. I had deliberately left earlier so I could meet Dara, but what I found instead was an utterly empty classroom, without a single soul inside.

I sat down at my desk and let out a long breath.

Once again, my gaze swept across the entire room, yet there were still no signs of life. Only rows of empty desks in silence.

My thoughts drifted back to what had happened earlier that morning. At first, I thought everything that happened last night was nothing more than a bad dream, especially when Kenn was at my house. But the moment I woke up, I was immediately greeted by Grandma’s words, which still echoed clearly in my head.

“Oh right, Frel. The handsome one didn’t end up staying over. After you went to your room, he also said goodbye and went home,” Grandma said in a weary tone while letting out an exaggerated sigh.

The handsome one?

My brow furrowed in confusion. I had absolutely no idea what Grandma meant.

Seeing my expression, Grandma continued, “I mean Kenn. Still young, but already senile, losing to your grandpa.”

Oh God.

So everything that happened last night was not a dream? Dara kissing the wrong person and Kenn’s confession that he had known about our plan from the very beginning, all of it was real?

Instinctively, I slapped my forehead. A memory struck my head. “Oh my God, I’m stupid,” I muttered.

I immediately ran back to my room and grabbed my toiletries. I completely ignored Grandma’s confused stare. There was only one thing on my mind, to shower as quickly as possible and head straight to school.

And look at this now. What did I get after escaping Grandma’s shouts telling me to have breakfast first before leaving?

Empty. Completely empty.

I let out a long sigh. It was better to open my textbook than to just sit there daydreaming.

I reached for my math book. The first period was Mrs. Sari’s class, our notoriously fierce math teacher. After just one session, even though we were still on the first chapter, she had already managed to make the entire class tense. Her teaching style was extraordinary, in a terrifying sense. Once, a student was caught yawning, and the board eraser immediately flew toward his head.

Luckily, exact subjects like mathematics, chemistry, and physics were actually my favorites. The reason was simple. All three relied on formulas and calculations. In my opinion, as long as you understood the flow from the initial concept to the final formula, everything felt much easier. The problem was, I was very weak when it came to memorization. The moment I had to deal with geography, sociology, civics, or history, my head felt like it was about to split open. One small slip, and the neatly arranged memorization could fall apart instantly.

If it were not for my fairly high scores in exact subjects, I might not have been accepted into this elite school. That was why, if I wanted my scholarship to remain secure, I had to study harder and practice more problems.

While the class was still quiet, I took out several sample math problems, studied them, and then started working through them one by one. I was so focused that I did not realize the room was already almost full.

When I finally lifted my head and swept my gaze across the classroom, my eyes nearly popped out when I saw that Dara had taken refuge at Udin’s desk.

Even more shocking, I had no idea since when, but Udin was already sitting in the seat beside me, smiling widely with a goofy expression.

I glared. “What are you doing here, Udin?”

“Patience, Frel.” Udin raised his index finger in a pretentiously wise manner. “I have a good hadith for you.” I rolled my eyes lazily. “A hadith about the prohibition of anger. It goes like this, ‘Do not be angry, and Paradise will be yours.’”

“Udin, I’m serious.”

“I’m not serious, I’m two-rious. No, five-rious instead,” he said with an innocent face while raising all five fingers.

My teeth clenched tightly. My hands were already itching to strangle his neck.

“Are you okay, Frel? Are you sick? Want me to give you a massage?” He grinned. “Oh, I know. You must be nervous sitting next to me.”

“Whatever.” I was already too lazy to respond to Udin’s jokes.

“Wow, so it’s true you’re nervous around me, Frel?”

Aaaargh.

I knew this class was rarely full of truly sane people, but at least look at my situation right now.

Have you ever felt angry but didn’t know who to vent it on?

Well, that was exactly what I was feeling at the moment. It felt like I wanted to swallow both the chair and the desk at the same time, if only I weren’t human.

The bell was about to ring. Hopefully there was still a little time to talk to Dara.

I was afraid something had happened to her. Dara was not usually like this. If she was angry, at most she would ignore me until school was over, then pour everything out at home in a long, uninterrupted lecture. But now the situation was different.

What was going on with Dara? Why was she distancing herself from me? Did this have something to do with what happened at the restaurant? But what did it have to do with me?

Shouldn’t I have been the one who was angry? Last night she went home just like that, leaving me in a miserable state. Like a duckling that had lost its mother, not knowing the way home, standing there alone in confusion.

Luckily, Kenn was willing to help me, even though I had to swallow all his sharp remarks and endure his yelling after yelling. At least I made it home safely.

Or could it be that Dara knew I went home with Kenn last night?

Impossible. No, impossible.

Dara went home first. How could she possibly know?

Besides, I had known Dara since we were kids. She would not get this angry over a guy. We were indeed fans of handsome boys, but we had promised not to fight with each other just because of a guy.

Damn it.

It seemed I had to ask Dara directly. I couldn’t keep guessing like this. I couldn’t stand being left curious.

Dara had to explain everything to me, in full detail. And God help her if she lied. I would tear her room apart and burn all her collections of handsome guys’ photos that she had secretly snapped on the street, at restaurants, or in cafés without permission.

I stood up and was about to step toward her, but at that very moment, Mrs. Sari appeared at the doorway, along with the loud ringing of the bell.

In the very back row, a boy entered the classroom with a relaxed stride and an indifferent expression.

I didn’t need to say who he was. You already knew.

The boy who was the root of all these problems.

I let out a resigned breath. My plan to approach Dara had failed.

...............................................................