Chapter 103：I Beg Your Pardon?

"Yeah, it's my fault," Dannie admitted and Sheloah saw how guilty she felt. Sheloah held her hand, with sadness in her eyes.

"Tell me the truth, Dannie. What happened before Josh died," she asked and Dannie's eyes turned watery.

Dannie told Sheloah that she left camp to commit suicide. Dannie felt depressed because even though she was with her father, her other family members aren't around and this made her heart feel heavy. Even the death and disappearance of her friends made her depressed and because of how grave the zombie apocalypse is, she always felt scared and lonely. Because of this, she grew weary and thought of dying.

Josh noticed how Dannie was acting weird. He noticed how she was isolating herself from the others so he decided to follow Dannie in secret. When Dannie ran away from camp with a knife at hand, Josh panicked and chased her.

He embraced her tightly and that was when Dannie cried her heart out. Josh told her that her decision won't make anyone happy. He convinced her that her heart has to be strong, especially now that she only has her classmates and her father with her. The moment Dannie calmed down, Josh confessed his feelings towards her again, emphasizing how her existence made him happy and that without her, he would feel empty.

But Dannie rejected his feelings.

After telling the story to Sheloah, Dannie cried once more and Sheloah felt grief when she understood how Josh might've felt when he was rejected. She realized that the moment the person was gone, the one who didn't see his or her importance would feel regret in the end.

"Now I promise that I would see my life important. If I don't, it would be putting his death in vain. I promised Josh before that I would find my happiness despite the pain," Dannie said and Sheloah gave her a small smile.

"It's good that you now understand how Josh loved you so," Sheloah said and Dannie nodded, wiping her tears away. They said their regards with each other, and Dannie left, leaving Sheloah behind.

Sheloah sighed and after a few minutes, Shannara now came for their talk.

"Hey." Shannara greeted her and sat beside her and Sheloah nodded as acknowledgement.

"So, what did you want to talk about," Sheloah asked and Shannara bit her lip.

"I know this is a bit weird to ask you but..." She started tapping her lap with the palm of her hands and her face started to redden. "How did you confess to Veon?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Shannara laughed awkwardly.

"Weird, right? We're sort of rivals but I'm asking you how to confess to Veon," she said and Sheloah also laughed awkwardly.

"A-ah…" Sheloah did not know what to say. "If you want to confess, then just directly tell him how you feel. Not much of a big problem, right," she added and Shannara nodded, feeling determined.

"Thank you, Sheloah!"

Shannara stood up and instinctively, Sheloah did, too. She was about to speak when Shannara suddenly hugged her for a short time then released her.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Shannara said as she looked around, looking for Veon. The moment her eyes landed on a familiar figure talking to Tyler, she ran quickly, leaving Sheloah behind.

'Wha—'

Sheloah was dumbfounded.