101st Confession

t Herwin.
Christine glanced at Bianca, who froze with a confused expression, but eventually followed Arista.

* * *

“Oh, my.
Lucia, you idiot……!”

Lucia sobbed under her breath as she fled to a dirty warehouse off the beaten path.

Her carefully applied makeup was a mess of tears.

Lucia couldn’t stop crying.

At first, she panicked at the suddenness of the situation.
But before she knew what was going on, she realized that it was all planned by the one person who made eye contact with her.

She was smiling to herself.

As if she had been waiting for this to happen.

She was devastated that her best friend, the one she considered her best friend, had planned all of this.

She hated herself for taking her word for it, for never questioning her support for her.

She could somehow live with the fact that Bianca was not her friend and that she had betrayed her.

But knowing that Herwin was in trouble because of her was almost too much to bear.

She shouldn’t be doing this right now, she should be going back and finishing what she’d done with her own hands, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

Lucia bit her lower lip and slapped her unmoving leg.

“Move! I’m telling you to move, why won’t you listen to me!”

A muffled scream rang out that no one could hear.
Lucia buried her face between her knees as her vision blurred again.

“Lucia!”

Just then, she heard a familiar voice.
She looked up and saw two silhouettes through her blurry vision.

“Lucia, are you okay?”

“Why are you here alone?”

“Christine, Arista…….”

They’d never seen Lucia so broken, her smile is always so bright that it made everyone around her feel happy.

They both bit their lower lips hard as they saw the deep despair on her face.

Christine wordlessly wrapped her arms around Lucia’s shoulders, struggling to hold back the emotions that were rising.

Arista knelt on one knee in front of Lucia, brushing her white, tear-stained cheek.

“It’s okay, Lucia, we’re here for you.”

Lucia’s breath caught in her throat.
One look at Arista and she suddenly remembered how she’d fallen for Bianca’s tricks and tried to undermine her, to embarrass her.

“I’m sorry…….”

Another tear fell from Lucia’s eye.

“I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry…….”

Christine and Arista hugged Lucia tightly.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, so don’t apologize.”

“Lucia, don’t cry…….”

“I’m sorry… Hmph…..!”

Repeating her apology, Lucia burst into tears and sobbed, clinging to Arista’s neck.

Before her sobs could echo, a loud firecracker sounded and the sky flashed with beautiful sparks.

What was she crying about?

For having her heart mocked by so many people? For the sense of betrayal, she feels toward Bianca? For the guilt, she feels toward Arista? If not that, for the trouble she’d caused Herwin?

Lucia didn’t know what she was crying about, even to herself.

* * *

Herwin’s birthday party, which everyone had been looking forward to, ended badly.

Herwin’s coldly threatening taunts were well-taken, but there was no stopping the news of what had happened from spreading throughout the school.

Although it turns out that the whole thing was a conspiracy on the part of Bianca and the party organizers, people pay more attention to the fact that Lucia has had a crush on Herwin for a long time.

Whenever they saw Lucia, they murmured amongst themselves, and whenever she was with Herwin, the murmuring became even louder.

But Herwin didn’t seem to mind, and on the Monday after the party, he greeted her as usual and acted no differently than before.

The same was true of their other friends, who, out of respect for Lucia, didn’t mention what had happened.

They just pretended not to know and acted as usual.

While she was grateful for their consideration, Lucia felt uneasy.

She kept wondering if she should continue to pretend that nothing had happened, and she was so anxious that she couldn’t sleep.

One day, Lucia overheard Herwin’s conversation with the other students.

“Is it true that Agnes has been in love with you since she was eight years old?”

“By the sounds of it, she’s confessed to you quite a few times.”

“Honestly, if she’s liked you that long, shouldn’t you have accepted her by now?”

“That’s right, Agnes, she’s fine as a girlfriend.
Herwin, you should think about it.”

They talked about what had happened at the birthday party.
When the mood shifted to the idea that Lucia should be accepted, Herwin, who was frowning, finally spoke up.

“It’s not your heart, it’s mine.”

“No, the period of unrequited love is long.
In addition, I heard she confessed several times.”

“So what you’re saying is that since Lucia has had a crush on me for a long time and has confessed to me several times, I should ‘accept’ it.
Don’t be ridiculous.”

“What… why are you so angry?”

The boys shrank back as the situation took a strange turn.

“If I accept Lucia’s confession because I can’t resist you guys, wouldn’t that be cheating, because I’d be going out with her without my heart in it?”

“No, when you put it that way…….”

“Don’t say anything you can’t take responsibility for.
She’s not yours to talk about, and if you try to make fun of her in front of me again, I’m not going to let you.
I won’t leave you alone.”

Lucia burst into tears when she heard Herwin’s words.

She wasn’t crying because he still hadn’t accepted her.

It was the opposite.

He was seeing her more clearly than anyone else.