He lowered his sight to avoid catching a glimpse of Lucy walking away.
Then, a book caught his eyes. It was right next to where Lucy sat earlier, and she had completely forgotten about it.
“Oh.”
Lucy was gradually moving away from him and toward the main building of the Academy. Felix snatched up the book and dashed after her.
“Lu–”
Felix tried to shout her name but immediately shut his mouth. Students in groups of two or three were walking around the campus. Calling out one of the girls’ names out loud was like throwing chunks of meat at a flock of hungry wolf-like students who liked to inflate even the smallest of rumors. So, he picked up his pace and took long strides to go after Lucy.
She was now climbing the stairs of the Academy’s main building. Felix, who was about to run and catch up with her, suddenly stopped. His eyes narrowed.
What.
His gaze was drawn to a male student who was walking a bit behind Lucy and was behaving suspiciously.
Hunched shoulders. Eyes glancing around. Muffled steps.
At the same time, the boy kept a certain distance from Lucy and was sneaking up behind her. As soon as Lucy entered the building, the boy disappeared inside as well.
Felix raised his eyebrows.
What is that guy doing?
These days, whenever he was alone with Lucy, a first-year book club member always appeared and interrupted them, which irritated him greatly. He wrinkled his brow even more when he saw the boy was discreetly following Lucy.
Soon, he resumed walking, following the direction where Lucy and the boy disappeared and entered the academy’s main building.
Felix stepped inside, looked around, and saw Lucy walking up the stairs. Then he saw the suspicious boy hesitating at the foot of the stairs and then tried to climb the stairs as if he had made up his mind about something.
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The boy soon took a step to go up the flight of stairs, but Felix was faster and caught up behind him before he could move any further.
“Wait a minute,” Felix called for him, and he looked back at the sound.
When he saw Felix through the long bangs covering his eyes, the boy was frightened. He stepped back in an instant, his face pale. He was definitely suspicious.
“Why on earth–”
Before he could complete his sentence with, “Are you following Lucy?” the boy turned and sprinted toward the hallway on the first floor, not the stairs.
“Don’t run away!” Felix ran after him.
Like a loach, the boy slithered his way through the crowd of students. Keeping a sharp lookout for him, Felix dashed through the confused crowd.
Why in the world are you running away?
Amid the frantic pursuit, Felix was busy racking his brain. There were only two reasons why a boy would skulk behind and follow a girl.
Is he someone who has a grudge against Lucy or a stalker?
However, no matter how much he thought about it, Lucy was not someone anyone would hate. Then there was only one answer. With that thought in mind, Felix began to chase the boy with even more intense momentum.
Before long, the boy reached the end of the hallway. Their distance had narrowed considerably. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t be faster than Felix.
The boy stuck at the dead end hurriedly opened a door at the side and ran outside. At the same time, the students’ attention was drawn to the small commotion in the hallway.
Crash!
Felix felt a sudden, powerful shock on his forehead. He staggered after colliding with someone and held his forehead. He stumbled and leaned against the door. However, the person who collided was knocked back completely.
“Ugh…”
Noel Roman was on the floor, clutching his forehead, just like Felix.
“Sunbae! Why did you suddenly come out?” He looked up at Felix and whined. They bumped into each other so hard that tears welled up in his eyes. “Oh, my skull is about to burst open!”
“Who are you to say that?” Felix exclaimed with a heavy expression, although he did not fall. “Is your head made of stone?”
At those words, Noel shouted a protest. “Huh? You don’t have the right to say things like that!”
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“What? Was I wrong?”
“Back then, in the classroom! I heard what Lucy-sunbae said!” Suddenly, Noel raised his fist, imitating Lucy’s gesture. “G– get out of the last place! You can do it!”
“You punk.”
Felix seemed like he would rush at him at any moment, so Noel got up and prepared to take a step backwards. But Felix took his eyes off Noel and looked around.
Noel, in his defensive posture, gently lowered his arm and asked, “What are you looking for?”
Felix strode toward Noel. “Do you know who the kid that just ran out of here is?”
“Just now? I don’t know. I didn’t see…”
“Are you kidding me? I followed right after him.”
“Oh, I really didn’t see him!”
Felix creased his brow and turned his gaze to the side where the boy had fled. He didn’t even see the boy’s face since it was covered by his bangs.
“Why? Who is it?” Noel asked.
Felix waved his hand in disappointment. “There’s nothing you need to know. Go on your way.”
“I was going well on my way, but my sunbae ran into me… Oh! I’m going! I’m going!”
When Felix looked at him harshly, Noel crept around him and went straight into the academy building. Felix stared at the cheeky boy and annoyedly swept his hair back.
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I almost got him!
It wasn’t that he had witnessed the male student doing anything inappropriate to Lucy, but Felix felt uncomfortable with how things ended. He couldn’t let go of his regrets for a long time, and he stared outside the door where the male student had disappeared.
“I won’t miss him next time,” he shouted firmly in his heart and took a reluctant step back.
* * *
Lucy was nowhere to be found when he returned to the stairs to return the book. Perhaps she didn’t notice the fuss Felix made behind her.
After finishing all of his afternoon classes, Felix decided to bring the book Lucy had left behind. In fact, the book was an excuse.
As time went by, Felix regretted not being able to ask about the necklace. As much as he wanted to face the truth, he also wanted to avoid it. He had it rough as he imagined the worst situation.
In his anxious head, he imagined what was on Lucy’s mind over and over again. At the same time, Adrian’s vague and enigmatic answer, “The person asked me to keep it a secret,” echoed in his mind. He thought he would stay up all night again and not be able to sleep a wink at this rate.
He was also worried about the male student who was secretly following Lucy, so Felix naturally went to the library.
Unlike usual, the library was completely full. Perhaps everyone felt a sense of emergency as the exams were only a few days away. Meanwhile, Lucy was the only one busy organizing the returned books at the return desk.
Felix slowly walked over to her. She was writing the return date on the book loan card when she noticed his presence, and her eyes opened wide in surprise. “Sunbae? What are you doing here?”
“This.” Felix held out the book Lucy left behind.
She accepted the book, looking like she had completely forgotten about it. “Oh! I didn’t even know it disappeared.”
Lucy looked busy, proving the truth in her words. Felix’s gaze turned to the return desk, where the returned books were piled high. It looked like she had more books to organize than usual.
Some teachers gave homework without notice during the exam period. In order to finish their assignments in a hurry, the students constantly took out books that could be used as materials from the bookshelf. Then, after checking only the necessary parts, they immediately piled them up on the return table. There were mountains of books on carts and return tables due to this.
Lucy’s neatly braided hair was messy from how frantic she had been to organize the books.
Even though you’re a book club member, isn’t it too much to have to work until the exam period?
Felix was worried that Lucy’s solid retention of the top spot would be disrupted, and the books continued to pile up.
He knew how to organize books according to their classification codes. Without hesitation, he picked up the books on the return table.
Lucy stopped cleaning the book cart and looked up at Felix. “Sunbae?”
“This is too much work. I’ll help you.”
“But…”
Felix took the book and proceeded to the bookshelves despite Lucy’s protest. He didn’t pay attention to the students’ gaze. After all, no one would think he, Felix Berg, would organize books in the library. As expected, the students didn’t care a bit; they probably thought he was Adrian.
As time passed, the books piled up on the return table went back to their place one by one.
“Sunbae, thank you for your help.”
Felix turned around, and Lucy was standing behind him. He was pleased and proud of himself. He had entirely forgotten why he had come to Lucy since he was so focused on returning the books.
It was not long after that someone spoke and broke the peaceful atmosphere.
“What are you doing here?”
Felix turned his head toward the sound. At the end of the aisle, Adrian stood still, confused.
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