Episode 13
Ah, I can’t just stand here like this.
Still holding the broom the man had handed me tightly in my hand, I headed toward the spot where I had sensed someone’s presence.
“Come out.”
“……”
“Not coming out?”
I raised the broom and poked it over the wall. I felt a faint sensation as if it touched something, followed by a scream, “Ack!”
A moment later, Kevin stood up, rubbing his shoulder with tears hanging at the corners of his eyes.
“W-what are you doing?! That hurt…!”
“Good. I was aiming to hurt.”
“Whaaat? How could you—”
“How could you do this to me? Don’t you think that’s what I should be saying to you?”
Kevin flinched slightly and avoided my gaze, perhaps feeling a pang of guilt.
But it didn’t last long. He quickly squared his shoulders and looked straight at me.
“Well, nothing happened in the end.”
“What?”
“You heard the emergency bell, right? I was the one who rang it. How else do you think the patrol came?”
“So? You told the thieves outright that this house has a lot of money and to go steal from it, but since you reported them, you think you did nothing wrong?”
“I-I never told them to steal. They already heard from somewhere that you won the lottery, and then…”
As Kevin stammered and rambled incoherently, he suddenly bit his lip and glared at me.
“You’re the one in the wrong!”
“What?”
“You’re still not thinking straight? That guy just now, he called you ‘honey’ in front of everyone on purpose! You’re being completely scammed by a marriage fraudster!”
“What are you saying? A marriage fraudster? That man’s not like that.”
He was the one who stepped in and helped catch the thieves, despite having a fever.
At the very least, he didn’t deserve to hear this from Kevin… or so I thought, until—
“My god… you’re seriously under his spell. Please, wake up. What would your parents in heaven say if they saw you like this?”
“What?”
Hearing Kevin mention my deceased parents sent a chill through my body.
But he seemed unaware of my frozen expression and continued looking at me with a pitiful face.
“Well, I guess it makes sense. You’ve never even dated a guy before, so how could you avoid falling into the trap of a scammer who approached you with the sole purpose of deceiving you?”
“……”
“But it’s okay. I’m here. I’ll help you reveal to everyone that he’s a scammer—”
“I thought you were going to apologize to me.”
No, more accurately—
“I was hoping you’d apologize. If you had just said you were sorry, then I…”
Would I have forgiven Kevin?
Could I have brushed it all off, saying it was okay because no one got hurt, and because he at least reported them to the patrol?
“Why should I apologize? You should be the one apologizing to me, Luna.”
“……What did I do wrong to you?”
“You ignored me because you were under that fraudster’s spell. And you rejected my request, too.”
“You think refusing your request is something I should apologize for?”
“Of course. I was really hurt.”
His eyes looked so pitiful as he stared at me with a sorrowful face. So pitiful that I nearly reached out to him.
It had always been like this since we were kids.
Whenever Kevin looked at me like that, with a sad face, I couldn’t stand it and always gave in.
Because his bright, smiling face afterward made me happy. That’s how it was back then.
Foolish decisions repeated again and again easily became a habit.
And I finally realized—it was me who let Kevin blame me even in a situation like this.
“I see. I went too far.”
“Right? But it’s okay. I forgive—”
“Let’s not see each other for a while.”
“What?”
Kevin looked at me in utter confusion, as if he couldn’t understand what he had just heard.
He didn’t believe someone like me could say something akin to a breakup. That expression made me feel hollow.
“We’ve known each other since birth and stuck together like family. But I think that’s been toxic for us.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Even if we’ve lived like family, we’re not family. I think we both need to realize that.”
Even between family, there are boundaries that should be respected.
But Kevin had crossed that line too easily, simply because we were “like family.”
I didn’t know what would become of our relationship in the future, but regardless, distance was needed between us.
Kevin, however, clearly didn’t feel the same.
“So, you’re saying… we won’t see each other anymore? We won’t even greet each other if we meet? We won’t talk?”
“Yes.”
“How… how could you do this to me…”
The expression on his face, which had looked like he was sulking, gradually turned wet with tears.
Kevin’s tear-streaked face wasn’t one of sorrow, but of frustration and rage.
“You’ve only ever had me as a friend, and you think you can do this? No! You can’t! You’ll come back to me! You’ll apologize!”
I stared quietly at Kevin’s bloodshot eyes as he shouted curses or laments—I wasn’t sure which—and then turned around.
As if trying to stop me from walking away, Kevin yelled even louder.
“Don’t go! Stop right there! If you leave like this, I really won’t see you again! Ever!”
But I didn’t turn back. Even if someday I did want to turn around in a situation like this—right now, I had to keep walking.
‘I’m sorry, Miss Sophia.’
Maybe… I won’t be able to keep your dying wish.
As I thought that and opened the front door, I was startled by the large shadow leaning against the inside wall of the entrance. I nearly screamed.
“Jeez…! What are you doing here?”
“Mm… I was ready to rush out the moment you screamed.”
As he said that, the man’s eyes scanned me carefully from head to toe. It felt like he was checking if I was hurt.
“Did it help?”
His eyes landed on the broom I was still holding tightly.
Thinking of Kevin’s tearful “it hurts!” face, I gave a bitter smile.
“Yes. Thanks to you.”
“Then I guess I can go sleep now. Right?”
“Of course. It’s late, so go—w-wait! Hey!”
As I nodded, the man’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Startled, I quickly caught him, and through his thin clothes, I felt an intense heat radiating from his body.
“Oh no, your whole body’s burning up.”
He had pushed himself to catch the thieves despite his fever, so of course he ended up collapsing.
I barely managed to get the unconscious man to bed and placed a cold wet towel on his burning forehead with a bitter smile.
“If you were this sick, you should’ve just gone to bed…”
It was the day I declared a breakup with Kevin, someone I had lived with like family for my whole life. It wasn’t something I did lightly.
Even so, I didn’t think about Kevin again until the sun began to rise.
Thanks to that, I remembered.
Where I had seen this man’s eyes before—eyes that sparkled blue like the sky clearing after a storm the moment sunlight hit them.
* * *
Early morning.
Estelle rushed down to the dining hall, scarfed down a piece of bread for breakfast, slung on her bunny backpack—practically an extension of herself—and tried to leave the orphanage.
‘Oh no, the teacher’s guarding the gate!’
It wasn’t just once or twice—Estelle had been sneaking out for almost a month now. Of course she’d eventually get caught.
The head teacher, upon realizing this, had sat Estelle down and told her not to go outside. When Estelle didn’t listen, the teacher apparently decided to guard the gate herself.
‘She looks really tired…’
Feeling guilty, Estelle bowed deeply from a distance toward the teacher.
But guilty or not, she had to protect her own future.
‘Now’s my chance while that mister is sick and bedridden! If I stay by his side and take care of him, I’ll earn tons of points!’
‘To think she cared for her sick dad so devotedly! Estelle, you really must be my real daughter! From now on, Daddy will take good care of you!’
Surely he’d promise something like that… right?
