How To End a Crush - Chapter 9.3

I let out a fake laugh.

“… Kate?” Noah said, tilting his head to the side.

Whoa. He’s so handsome. Wait, did he just call my name?

While I was zoning out, Arhan looked away from Noah and put his arm around my shoulder with a sly smile.

“Ah, Kate. I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s take my carriage,” Arkhan suggested, pointing to his carriage.

I looked up at him with gleaming eyes.

“… Are you an angel?”

It was almost as if I could suddenly see great white wings fluttering behind him.

Oh yeah! Why didn’t I think of that? Arkhan lives in the next estate over from mine.

“Hey thanks. Come here. You’re my savior.”

It looks like I’m not going to die here after all.

I hugged Arkhan and patted him on the back. At this moment, he really was my savior.

“What happened anyway? How come your family didn’t come and get you?” Arkhan asked me with a curious face as he led me over to his family’s carriage.

“I don’t know. I think my father got the date mixed up.”

How could he have possibly gotten the date mixed up?!

I shook my head in resignation.

“Ah, Noah.”

Before getting up into the carriage, I looked behind me and nodded my head goodbye to Noah.

“See you when school starts again.”

“… See you then.”

I could have been mistaken, but I believe Noah looked a little disheartened.

Snap out of it. All the same, how could I go with Noah? He’s going in the complete opposite direction.

I got into the carriage and straightened out the crumpled hem of my skirt. Suddenly, I glanced out the window.

Noah was still standing there.

***

“Kate, you’re really something. You studied all the way here?”

“It’s important to review everything,” I answered absentmindedly as I skimmed through the lined papers of my notebook.

Arkhan, who was sitting on the opposite side from me with a blunt expression, rested his chin on his hands. However, in one quick motion, he swiped away my notebook.

“Hey!”

I glared at him while swinging my hand in the air, trying to get it back. He held it over me, waving it around so I couldn’t grab it. I wanted to smack him across the face.

“Give it back.”

Eventually, I was able to take it back from him. After the brief struggle, I gave him the most unfriendly of looks.

“Why are you so serious about your grades, Kate?”

“So I can be prepared for the future and have a promising life, obviously.”

Arkhan tilted his head a bit in response to my straightforward answer.

“Is it because you’re worried about what your future is going to be like? If you really end up not doing anything, you should get married to me.”

I slammed the notebook shut with an audible smack and tried my best to answer him in a calm voice.

“Why wouldn’t I do anything with my life? You are the one most likely to end up not making anything of himself. And when that happens, you’re welcome to come on over as my servant. I’ll even feed you.”

“Pfft.”

Arkhan let out a dismissive laugh.

“Of course, I didn’t mean that you were going to do nothing in the future. I just meant that the option is on the table is all.”

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“It’s impossible to know what the future holds.”

“What was that?”

Arkhan’s eyes narrowed, seemingly smiling.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that? Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on where we’re going?”

Is he going blind? He really should get new glasses.

With a worried face, I rubbed the corners of my eyes.

“If you keep doing that, your eyes will get smaller.”

“…”

Arkhan’s expression turned cold. I tossed my notebook in the corner behind him.

I rubbed my sore hips, mumbling to myself, How many hours have we been in here for? Is this really going to take a whole other day?

“Ah, my back is sore.”

“Your back is sore?”

Arkhan tapped his knees and gestured to me with a great big smile.

“Would you like to sit here?”

“I’m fine.” I refused. My words were as sharp as a knife’s edge.

A disappointed expression appeared over Arkhan’s face.

“You’re welcome to. It’s fine, really.”

“Enough.”

I picked up my notebook that I had thrown in the corner and started going over it again.

Is he really worried about me? It’s kinda cute I guess.

Arkhan stared at me and suddenly let out a small laugh.

“Does your hair really taste that good, Kate?”

“Oh.”

I took out the strands of my hair that I was absentmindedly chewing on and smiled awkwardly.

An unsettling silence proceeded between us once again.

Gnawing at the end of my pen, I reread a passage about a difficult concept.

Arkhan opened his mouth to speak once again. “Kate.”

“Yes?” I responded, looking up at Arkhan.

Arkhan blinked his eyes and opened his mouth.

“I saw the way that upperclassman looked at you.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” I asked with a bewildered look on my face.

Where is this coming from all of the sudden?

“Are you two close?”

His red eyes gave away the seriousness in his face.

“Uhm…” I murmured uneasily with a frown.

It didn’t take me long to produce an answer.

“… No.”

Though my response was a bit bitter, it was the conclusion that I came to in the end.

Although I have been seeing his face an awful lot lately on account of his recent strange behavior, before that, we didn’t really interact much at all outside of the club meetings. That was fine though.

“Why do you ask?” I asked, tapping my fingers against my lips and tilting my head.

Arkhan rested his chin in his hands and looked out the window.

“I don’t know… Just curious, I guess,” he muttered.