Chapter 55: Stopping Him

The school dismissal bell had rung ten minutes ago. Dara had already hurried off earlier because she had an appointment with her parents. Tomi had also left after I turned down his offer to go home together.

That was the consequence of him refusing to be honest. He had deliberately hidden the fact that Kenn was the son of the owner of this school.

I walked past several classrooms that were already empty and deserted. When I reached class X4, I saw a female student sitting at the very back. She was holding a handkerchief.

Wait a second. I felt like that figure was familiar. Instantly, my steps moved backward and stopped right in front of the door of class X4. I peeked inside. Turns out my guess was right.

“Hi, haven’t gone home yet, Gita?” I asked as I walked closer to where she was sitting.

Gita flinched. It seemed she had just snapped out of her daydream.

“Hi too, Frel. I was just about to go home.”

“Let’s walk together to the front gate,” I suggested, which Gita answered with a slight nod.

We left the classroom and walked side by side. We went down the stairs to the lower floor. Apparently, we had something in common, we both didn’t like using the elevator. In my opinion, using an elevator was too complicated for such a short distance.

As we walked, we talked about many things. Starting from her love for reading horror novels, her hobby of cooking, her ability to sew, and even her fondness for flower arranging.

Why were all her hobbies the complete opposite of mine?

Out of everything Gita mentioned, the only thing we had in common was the hobby of reading novels, and even then, in different genres.

I chuckled to myself imagining what it would be like if I could cook. Actually, I did master one dish that remained my specialty to this day. I could cook fried rice. Even though it wasn’t as delicious as Grandma’s, it was still fit for human consumption.

The last time I tried cooking was when I helped Grandma fry fish. You could guess what happened. Within minutes, I turned Grandma’s kitchen into a battlefield. Besides wearing long sleeves and a hat, I also wore a mask to protect my face from oil splatters. At that time, Grandma was so angry that she chased me out of the kitchen. She even threatened to throw a pan at me if I didn’t leave immediately.

“Why are you smiling to yourself, Frel? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine. Oh, wait a second.” I squatted down to fix my shoelace that had come undone while continuing to talk to Gita. “You like cooking, your food must be really delicious, right?”

Silence. No reply.

I looked up and saw Gita frozen, staring toward the back. I frowned, then turned to follow her gaze.

It was Kenn. Apparently, he hadn’t gone home yet.

About ten meters away from where we stood, Kenn was walking while looking in our direction uneasily. I knew he was trying to act calm, but sorry, I wouldn’t be easily fooled by his act.

“Do you know Kenn, Gita?”

“What? Who? Kenn?” Gita looked confused.

“Yes, Kenn. The guy you’ve been looking at this whole time. Do you know him?”

“Oh, his name is Kenn. No, it’s just that … he’s the guy who once helped me when I was almost slapped by Farah,” Gita said. “I didn’t even get the chance to thank him.”

I remembered something. This must have been the incident on the first day of student orientation that Dara had once told me about.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I immediately put on the brightest expression I could. Kenn started walking closer. I stepped in and stopped him right as he was about to pass us.

“Hi, Kenn. There’s someone who wants to talk to you.”

Kenn flinched, but I only responded with my signature grin.

“Gita, didn’t you say you wanted to talk earlier?” I asked while watching the expressions on both of their faces.

Kenn had returned to his calm and relaxed demeanor, while Gita looked extremely nervous and surprised.

“Uh, yes.” Gita adjusted her glasses that had slipped down, then looked at Kenn cautiously. “I … I want to say thank you to you, Kenn.”

Kenn shot me a sharp look before turning his gaze to Gita. He asked in a tone I rarely heard from him before, much gentler.

“For what?”

I scoffed inwardly. Why was he only harsh toward me?

Gita moistened her lips several times and clenched her hands. She must have been very nervous. “About your help when Farah almost slapped me during student orientation.”

“You’re welcome,” Kenn replied briefly. He then walked past me, deliberately bumping into my left shoulder.

Before he could get any farther, I turned around and grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. He stared at me with clear annoyance.

“There’s something I want to talk about,” I said firmly.

A moment later, I approached Gita first. “Gita, please wait here for a bit. I need to talk to Kenn.”

After getting Gita’s consent, I went over to Kenn and led him a few steps away, far enough so Gita wouldn’t hear our conversation.

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