Chapter 2

She returned to her apartment after school.

"I am home," She greeted no one. Her parents died in a car accident. From there, she was adopted by her relatives but when she reached the second year of middle school, she emancipated herself and had lived alone since then. It was hard since she was a child back then, but she was lucky. Her parents left quite a sum when they died, and she managed to take a hold of them. After getting them, she invested most of the inheritances in stocks. She was lucky enough that most of her investments were successful, and she made quite a sum. Enough to live comfortably for years. She bought this cosy apartment with the money and has been living alone since then. Even after the events of seven years ago, she still decided to come back here, and she was glad she did. After all, if not for that, she wouldn't have met with Esmeralda.

As for her relatives, well, they will just be relatives. She placed her bag and immediately went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. After that, she placed the dinner on the table and ate silently. After dinner, she did laundry, cleaned the apartment, took out the trash, ironed her clothes, and did homework. As usual, she opened the PC and started her game. As for what she was playing, it was a farming game with the initials H.M. She has been a fan of this game since young and playing it somewhat makes her calm and puts her in a good mood. Suddenly, she heard a knock from the closed window. Frowning, she stood up. She had an inkling as to who it was. She opened the window and as expected, the smiling face of her friend greeted her.

"What are you doing Dara?" she asked as she glared at Esmeralda who was smiling at her brightly.

"Don't be a grumpy old woman. I am just here to say hello," Esmeralda said in a cheerful tone.

At her bemused stare, Esmeralda laughed nervously and began to explain herself, "I was just worried. There was a fight just below the street, and I was afraid you would be implicated in this if you are in another episode of your late-night walking again".

'Oh, that was what the noises were,' the girl thought. She was touched that Esmeralda was worried about her, but she really didn't need her protection. Sighing, she gestured for her friend to come inside. Esmeralda nimbly floated in through the window.

Both laying on the bed, she asked her friend, "so, who were fighting?"

"Oh, it's just a minor skirmish between Lustre and Children of Night," Esmeralda answered.

"I see," the girl replied. Lustre was an official hero with the ability to shoot out localized solar flares. While Children of Night are a new cult that has been established just the previous month. Still, Lustre could be said to be a strong one, so to be able to come out from that fight intact speaks of the cult's capability. After long hours of talking about random topics, Esmeralda left, to continue whatever she was doing before coming here. The girl also closed her eyes and let herself be claimed by the sleep.

She woke up at 5 in the morning with a yawn. She first cleaned and freshened up herself. She then made breakfast and a lunch box for her ration. After that, she took out her neatly ironed clothes and changed. She checked her homework again, and she was ready to go to school.

When she got to the school, she was greeted by a strange atmosphere. Everyone was looking at her oddly. There were all sorts of gazes directed at her, envy, confusion, etc. Her questions were answered when she got to her locker in front of all these gazes. There, Joe Smith, one of the popular guys in school, was waiting for her with a bouquet of crimson roses in his hand. As soon as he saw her, he immediately kneeled and confessed to her. I had loved you since middle school when I saw your hair dancing gracefully in the air, yadda yadda. You know, the usual stuff.

"Sorry, I am gay," she replied as the gasps and whispers spread through the spectating crowd. The boy fell over with tears welling in his eyes. Well, it couldn't be helped, rather than giving false hope, it was better to be blunt and told off from the start.

"Listen here you bitch," one of the boy's friends moved forward toward her. His posture shifted to look threatening.

"Just to confess to you, he has to prepare himself for the whole week, and you returned his feelings like this?" he aggressively said that while pointing a finger at her face.

"So, what else do you expect me to say? I am sorry, but that is the truth, I don't or couldn't like him. Not now, probably not ever, and I have no interest in toying with someone's heart or giving false hope," she replied while glaring back at him. The poor guy sobbed, even more, when he heard my words. His friend growled, but I remained steadfast.

"She said no, so fuck off dude," a voice appeared from behind her. She turned to look at the newcomer, knowing full well who it was. Behind her, Esmeralda was standing crossed handed and glaring at the boy who was growling at her, with her followers following her and glaring at the said boy.

"Esmeralda!" She exclaimed happily, knowing full well that her friend would have her back if push came to shove.

She looked at the guy who was still crying with a gaze full of pity and said, "poor guy, his first love has to be her".

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?" She asked, feeling indignant.

She sighed. "What a fucking mess," She mumbled under her breath and dragged me away. She looked at me in exasperation and asked, "do you really need to break that guy's heart in front of the whole school?"

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked, feeling puzzled.

"Haaaa," Esmeralda let out a long, deep, suffering sigh. She forgot about her friend's deep antisocial personality.

"Look, could you not do something like that next time?" Esmeralda said with a heavy heart.

"Fine," she replied, huffing slightly, not understanding what was the big deal.

"Sigh, that was why I am saying you need to socialize more," Esmeralda said tiredly.

"Why?" she tilted her head slightly, "I have you after all," she said with a confused tone as if the idea of making acquaintance with others baffled her.

"I know, and I am happy that you rely on me that much, but you still need somebody else in your life," Esmeralda replied with a thin smile.

"Nah, I have you," she replied. That was the ongoing battle between Esmeralda and her, no matter what she did and how much she pleaded, she never took Esmeralda's advice and still remained the same with no one to talk to other than Esmeralda.

Honestly, Esmeralda was worried. Her friend only chatted with her and didn't care about others at all. She just wanted her to open up a little to others. Esmeralda decided that she would have to fix this soon. She knew her friend would get angry at her for this, but she had to understand that it was all for her sake.