Chapter 379 Volume VI - 12: The Second Date

Chapter 379 Volume VI - 12: The Second Date

My classes were ending early for Tuesday. So... I had the afternoon free.

But I wasn't exactly free.

"Another date, huh..."

The one before I went to Holar was my first one. And... I actually enjoyed it.

And now the second one, today. And... I was walking right up to it right now.

"You should have refused."

I paused momentarily when Sith appeared with a slightly serious expression on his face.

'Didn't you say yourself that things with her brother had to be fixed first?'

Well, it wasn't wrong. I did say it.

But...

'She asked me herself, and she looked a bit bad... And wouldn't it have been misunderstood if I refused? Like I didn't want to be around her or something like that...'

Sith sighed deeply.

'You're a hypocrite, what you wanted was some time away from her. Both for her and yourself. You could have made excuses.'

I started to move again, but this time... the expression on my face dropped a little.

'I know.'

But... I didn't. I didn't want to. And seeing that she was in a bit of a bad mood... I didn't want to be rude or anything.

Did I make a mistake?

Maybe...

But...

'Anyway... if you're going, do everything properly. I will sleep.'

Then, he landed on my shoulder, and his body slowly faded away.

I sighed slightly, trying to clear my mind of unnecessary things, and after a short while, I realized that I had finally arrived in front of the café.

In the past, I would have struggled a bit to find her. My eyes would have wandered from table to table, looking for her.

But now... I didn't even have to look at the tables.

Because she was literally shining. No, not literally shining... but extremely conspicuous.

Most of the eyes in the cafe were on her. She gave off such an aura that it was impossible not to notice her. Her wavy black hair, her jewel-like dark blue eyes, even the simple clothes she was wearing... everything.

That was the difference of the charm statistic.

But it didn't affect me. And as much as it didn't, she could suppress it to a certain extent with her skill.

I curled my lips up slightly and approached her table with slow steps. When she noticed me approaching, her eyes left the table and shifted toward me.

As a slow smile slowly appeared on her face, I moved to the chair opposite her and gently leaned my cane against the edge of the table.

"Did I make you wait?"

Sue shook her head slightly from side to side.

"No, you didn't."

"Good, then..."

I glanced at the menu on the table.

"Let's have a light snack first, shall we?"

Sue nodded her head in agreement, then her eyes drifted away from me and back to the table. Thoughtful, as if... something was occupying her mind.

*******

The silence...

"I... I didn't deserve this. Not this beauty, not the power I've gained, not my skills... not even my life. I should have died there. As any ordinary person would have done. Sometimes, I couldn't help but think... If it had been Lucia who had fallen instead of me... wouldn't she have been able to do justice to these skills much better? Or Adrian, or anyone else."

Her dark blue eyes turned towards me, her lips flat as she continued.

"I... I feel like I'm an extra again, like I've gotten things I shouldn't have gotten. I don't know what to do..."

All I could do was... sigh deeply when she stopped talking.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, looked directly into hers, and spoke a little harshly.

"So what?"

Sue looked at me blankly for a moment, her eyebrows raised, and her lips twitching slightly.

"If you have things you don't think you deserve, Sue, deserve them. So what if others could do much better with the power you have? Just strive to do even better. If you can't... or don't want to... then let it go."

"But-"

"You don't have to do anything, everything is your choice, Sue. There are plenty of people around you who will accept you for who you are, people in our work group and me... for example. You're scared of messing up, I get it, you're scared of not using what you have properly. But never mind, I really mean it."

I took her hand slowly, gently. And I smiled.

"The Sue I know is... strong. She is someone who endured Justin's bullying for months, someone who won friends like Lucia with her old 'ordinary' self, someone who went into a B grade dungeon and survived... and so much more. Why do you think so little of yourself?"

I raised my left hand, pointing at myself with my thumb.

"I used to be ordinary, too. I was weak... but look now. I tried, I strived for more. Maybe I was going to fail, and I actually failed a few times, yes... but I did not stop. Even though I earned things I didn't deserve, even though I made countless mistakes, I didn't stop and... I continued to try. You can do the same."

I paused for a moment to catch my breath, readjusted my tone, and continued.

"But if you can't... none of your friends will leave you. We welcomed you as you were. Don't think you'll lose everything around you because you've changed and can't keep up."

She looked at her palms once again, but I didn't stop.

"Or... just don't force yourself to try to deserve what you've gained.

There are so many people in the world who have power but don't use it. Why would you, when there are others too? Just... do what you want to do. Okay? Like I said, nobody is forcing you to do anything. It's just... you doing that."

Sue remained silent, her expression thoughtful as her eyes fell back to the floor.

I took a deep breath, leaned back first... and unlike her, looked up at the sky.

Seconds passed in silence, seconds in which we both thought and thought.

Finally, I lowered my eyes, fixed them on the trees in front of us. I thought for a while, I squinted... but then I let myself go.

And my thoughts at the same time.

"I love you, Sue."

A strange silence enveloped my body once again, but this time... much more obvious and, strangely, scary.

"But... not because you are beautiful now, not because you might be talented or strong.

Since the very beginning, since we talked in my room after the Justin thing. You've always been beautiful, you've always been different from other people for me. So... even if you're afraid of others, don't be afraid of me. I'll... I'll always be there for you. Whether you're beautiful, whether you're ordinary, whether you're talented, whether you're weak."

I turned slowly towards her. I saw the shock in her eyes, how rigid her expression had become. I don't know why, a smile appeared on my face.

"Whatever!"

I grabbed my cane, slowly stood up, and turned my back.

"I think it's better to clear your head now, think about what I said. Figure out what you want to do. For now... I will g-"

I paused when I felt my clothes being pulled behind my back. My lips curled even higher as I slowly turned around.

Sue was standing now. She must have gotten up pretty quickly because there was grass on her clothes... but I didn't care about these little details.

I just looked at her face, at her slightly flushed cheeks... at her eyes, brightly fixed on mine.

She said nothing. Twice she tried to open her mouth, but no words left her lips.

When she tried a third time, this time, I interrupted her instead. First, I grabbed her shoulders, then I slowly pulled her to me.

She didn't even resist, she didn't run away. She just... stared at me. Then, though, her eyelids slowly closed.

I pulled her closer to me. And then... I kissed her gently.