Chapter 80: The Overlooked Strategy

Dara and I walked down the stairs to the lower floor. We were heading to the cafeteria behind the school. Ever since Dara officially announced her relationship with Ari, she had always dragged me to the cafeteria with excessive enthusiasm.

I actually did not mind, as long as her desire did not interfere with my own goal of getting closer to Kevan.

Thinking about it again, Dara and Ari’s relationship really had developed very quickly. Meanwhile, my relationship with Kevan was still stuck in place. There was no meaningful progress, except for one date that I managed to get through, and even that did not feel enough to be called progress.

I lagged far behind Dara. Before this, Dara had been so crazy about Kenn. Strangely, after she admitted that she had given up on chasing Kenn, without any signs at all, she was already dating Ari.

Maybe I was the one moving too slowly. It could be that the signals I gave Kevan were not clear enough, or my approach simply was not bold enough. Or maybe the cause was the intensity of my meetings with Kevan, which was still too rare. My efforts to get closer to him lately even felt half-hearted.

All of this had to be because I was too busy thinking about how to get back at Kenn. I was too focused on finding out about Gita and the problems Kenn was facing, to the point that I forgot my own main goal. Truly, this was purely my fault.

It seemed that I had to refocus on my original goal.

For several days now, my mind had been consumed by questions that never found answers, especially since Kenn did not leave any trace or message at all. I could only guess that at that time, there was something that touched his sense of humanity, making him a little more rational than usual.

I glanced at Dara walking beside me. Since earlier, she had not stopped talking about how sweet Ari was, about his funny and adorable attitude. I could only shake my head at her behavior.

Suddenly, a sense of curiosity arose regarding the beginning of their relationship. I was sure that Dara must have been the one to confess her feelings first.

“Dara, were you the one who confessed your love to Ari first?” I asked.

“How could you know?” Dara reacted by clutching her chest, her eyes widening dramatically. “Oh, that’s right. You always know everything about me.”

“So, where did you and Ari meet? As far as I remember, I have never introduced you to any of Kevan’s friends,” I said inquisitively.

Dara chuckled softly. “At first, I learned about Ari during the student orientation event. I once got punished and was told to flirt with a flower, but I stubbornly refused. How could I possibly flirt with a flower? What kind of girl do you think I am?”

I held back my laughter. “Then, what did you say?”

“I said this,” Dara began imitating herself with full enthusiasm.

“Why do I have to flirt with a flower? That’s embarrassing. Instead of flirting with a flower, I’d rather flirt with you. You’re handsome and sweet too.”

“And then?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, even though my face is as beautiful as a blooming flower, flirting with plants is still not in my life dictionary, Frel. So I asked for permission to flirt with Ari instead.”

I could not hold myself back anymore. My laughter burst out just like that.

“And you know his reaction? Ari immediately became flustered. He just smiled while lowering his head, his ears even turned red. I found it so adorable.”

I laughed even harder. “So how did you end up dating?”

“Fate really won’t go anywhere, Frel. During the day, when I was still sad because I had to let Kenn go, suddenly my mom asked me to come along to a social gathering. There I met Ari, who was also brought by his mother. Of course, I didn’t waste that opportunity. I went straight up to him,” Dara said enthusiastically before continuing her story. “At first, I asked to exchange phone numbers, then I diligently contacted him every day. It didn’t take long before I confessed my feelings.”

“Crazy. You’ve always been reckless,” I said while laughing.

Dara had indeed never changed. If she liked someone, she would do everything she could until she truly felt she could not do it anymore. Even so, I was always entertained whenever I heard the way she chased after them. Dara was indeed very aggressive and had extraordinarily high self-confidence.

Because more and more students began looking at me with strange stares, I was forced to lower the volume of my laughter. Not because I was afraid, but simply because I was uncomfortable being the center of attention for too long.

A few minutes later, I heard someone calling my name from behind. I turned around and found Gita jogging toward me with a friendly smile.

“Hi, Frel,” Gita greeted me. “I heard you were hospitalized. How are you now? I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to visit you. I haven’t been coming to school these past few days.”

“Hello too, Gita,” I replied with a smile. “I’m already feeling better. Why haven’t you been coming to school? Were you sick?”

“I—”

“Ahem!” Dara cut Gita off. She stared at Gita coldly while folding her arms across her chest. “Who are you?”

I rolled my eyes. Dara was always like this. She often grew suspicious whenever another girl tried to befriend me.

“Dara, let me introduce you. This is Gita from tenth grade four. And Gita, this is Dara, my childhood best friend,” I said as I introduced the two of them.

“Hello, Dara. I … I’m Gita. Nice to meet you,” Gita spoke again in a halting tone.

I frowned. Was she always this nervous when dealing with new people?

Gita extended her hand, but Dara only stayed silent and examined Gita’s appearance from head to toe. Immediately, I stepped on Dara’s foot and shot her a sharp look.

Dara let out a small yelp, then reluctantly accepted Gita’s outstretched hand. “I’m Dara. I don’t like getting acquainted with you.”

“Dara!” I exclaimed in warning. “You can’t talk like that.”

“It’s okay, Frel. Don’t be angry at Dara,” Gita interjected, while Dara turned her face away with an indifferent attitude. “I’m already happy enough to see that you’re doing well.”

I felt bad for Gita. “Sorry about her attitude, Gita. By the way, what were you sick with that you couldn’t come to school?”

“That…,” Gita’s words trailed off as she glanced at Dara. She smiled awkwardly before continuing, “I just had a regular fever.”

Before I could respond, a sudden uproar came from a group of female students forming a circle not far from where we were standing. Their voices were so deafening that I instinctively covered both of my ears.

“What’s going on over there?” I asked to myself in confusion.

Meanwhile, Dara, filled with excitement and intense curiosity, immediately pulled my hand.

“Come on, let’s take a look, Frel!”

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