Chapter 18

After getting everything sorted out, I was given an instruction on what to do next. Wait for a few days until I heal and then take the money from the school to buy the necessary equipment. They provided a stipend for those who were at a sports course.

As I was a complete amateur and the situation being dangerous, I would be accompanied by Jessie while doing all of this. I could as well fill up my attendance record while I heal, but it carried a danger that I could be assaulted once again.

"We can give you a ride today." As Paul proposed such a thing, I didn't find any reason why I should decline.

We boarded a grey car which I didn't know how much it cost. As the road to my home wasn't long even by foot, we reached our destination in a second.

And while Paul was parking his car, I saw something that was out of my expectation. Black SUV, with a tall girl leaning on, chewing bubble gum.

She had her long hair gathered in a high ponytail, and there were distinct piercings in her lip as well as two in her ear. She wore sporty shoes with stockings and hot pants. On top, she wore a fancy-looking blouse with open shoulders. I think I saw something similar on gyarus in the animes I watched.

There was only one girl who could fit this look.

"Took you long enough to get here."

It was Mara. How the hell did she find out where I was living?

"Who is she? Is she the one who ordered to attack you?" Jessie came beside me, probably to help me if anything would happen.

"And that's probably Jessie Arndt and her father, Paul." Mara finally decided to close the distance between us.

"Uh, hi Mara, what are you doing here?"

"Obviously I've come here to check if you are alright," she rolled her eyes, "After I sent you a few messages, I got no reply. And when I asked what happened, I got the news that someone dared to attack you. So I decided to check on you with my own eyes."

As I tried to close the distance between us even more, I was stopped by Jessie.

"And who said that it can't be you who ordered this? Who are you to Erlig?"

Mara looked at Jessie like she was looking at an idiot. "Look girly, I appreciate that you are taking care of Erlig, but he isn't your property."

"He isn't your property as well. While I will help him train, have you heard the phrase that a teacher is like a third parent?"

"Oh-ho-ho, I think you got something wrong, Erlig is my friend, and he has the right to hang out with anyone he wants."

As they continued bickering, I very soon was left out of their quarrel.

"I've never seen my girl fighting for a boy so much." Paul whistled and winked at me. I could only give him a bitter smile.

"Still, this girl is good. Who is she?"

"Mara Sobol."

"Mara, Mara, Mara, I think I heard it somewhere." As Paul was thinking, I looked at the two girls standing like two felines, who bared their fangs with their hair standing up. I think the tension between them was electrifying the air around them.

"Oh, I remembered her. Mara Sobol, she is learning Taekwondo."

"Really?" I've never thought that she was an athlete. Sure she had some bruises the last time I saw her, but it still came as a shock to me.

"Yeah, she's good. She won some prestigious tournaments. So you are a friend of hers?"

I didn't even know how to answer this. "I guess she is."

"Then I can leave you in her good hands." Paul smiled. "Jessie, let's go. We still have stuff to do." But she didn't even budge.

As I looked at Paul, he, in turn, looked at me with a red face. So he can't really control her, huh.

"Ahem, JESSIE, IF YOU WON'T LISTEN, I WOULD BAN YOU FROM TRAINING."

"WHAT?!"

This threat proved to be effective. While Jessie stopped arguing with Mara and turned to quarrel with Paul instead, he looked at me with a triumphant smile.

"Alright, alright, let's go." Jessie entered the car after arguing with her father. "Erlig, if you have any troubles, call us, okay?"

"I will."

A second later, they were gone, and I was left alone with Mara. I could only clench my teeth and go through it.

"So, umm, what are you doing here, Mara? And how do you know where I live? I don't think I ever told you." It was creepy how she almost stalked me.

"Sigh, I asked the staff back at school. You know you don't need to be so stressed. I won't bite you."

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous." and she probably felt how I thought, or it could be shown on my face.

"I came here to check if you are alright. And congratulate you on passing the trial, nothing else." Her raspy voice sounded less cheerful and more tired than usual. "After all, I thought we were friends."

Every time I met her, she was more than confident in her own strength. Always trying to play mind games, trying to be the one who leads our conversation. A few minutes ago, she started arguing back and forth with Jessie. But as we were left alone, she acted strangely sad and weak. The last time she acted close to this was when we talked on the weekend. It was a rather large gap between the two personalities.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm not the one who got attacked."

I don't know if she acted or felt genuinely worried.

"You clearly don't want to be my friend, don't you? You think that it's creepy that I know where you live or what happened to you." She sat on a stairway that leads to the front door of my condominium.

"How else can I get any information about you? You are ignoring me, your friends hate me. I can only use such methods." In the end, her voice started trembling.

Fuck. Even if Mara acted, she managed to get her trophy. I couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Mara, listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it like this. I was just preoccupied with the trial. As for the whole assault thing, I was too tired to answer any messages."

"You don't need to find excuses. You can just leave me alone after all, I was already rejected by you a couple times. Why should it matter if I got rejected one more time?"

My head started hurting. That's why I didn't want to start any relationship in my previous life. Was she playing around trying to make me do what she wants, or was she truly hurt by my actions? Both situations were dead ends. Either I would feel guilty, or she would lead me by the nose.

I rubbed my nose bridge and felt the scar that was left by Reid.

FUCK!

"Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry! Okay? Are you happy now? I will do what you want, so stop acting like this."

"Ah." she opened her mouth like she was hurt. "So now you think it's all an act?!" she said while standing up. "Then it's true that I better leave right now. It doesn't matter if I wanted to start off our friendship. You clearly don't want it." she started walking towards her car.

I think my head started hurting even more. Before she could open the door, I caught her hand, but she yanked it back and looked at me with an angry expression.

"Mara, please listen to me. I'm truly sorry. How can I get your forgiveness?"

"What for? You probably think I'm manipulative. It doesn't even matter what I'm saying. You already have your own opinion about me."

Well, I did think like that, but there was some truth in her words. I didn't even try to understand her. So I could only stand there while holding the folder with the documents. Looking like a guy who was getting dumped by his girlfriend.

"What!? I'm right!? Or you need me to leech off me? You have another girl right now. You can go to her."

The more she talked, the more I thought she didn't act. I'm certain that all the rumors I heard from Jet and Joanne affected how I saw Mara. And now she waited for me. If we would continue being "friends" or not would probably be decided by my next words.

"Let's go for a walk?" and that was the only thing I could think of. "While we walk, we can cool our heads off. And talk about ourselves. If you know me better, you would probably leave your idea of wanting to date me or being friends."

I sighed as her eyes that looked serious were fixed on me.

"I don't want to hurt you. And it wasn't my intention from before. I'm truly sorry. Everything that has happened to me these days, I think I can't catch up with it. Problems just keep piling up while I try to understand what to do." I rubbed my nose bridge, touching the scar again. "And who am I? I doubt I'm suited for love."

All I could do right now was to wait for her answer.

"And what if…" she bit her lip. "What if I'm too deep in love with you to turn back?" her voice was much lower, "What should I do when you hurt me even without doing anything?"

I don't know if what she said was true, and it didn't matter. It was the first time a girl said she loved me. But I couldn't answer her feelings. "Sigh, as I said before, you should learn more about me. I know that if you see something aside from my outer husk, you would be disappointed."

I now noticed her pupils were of beautiful grey color. Right now, the light in them faded, and she looked down.

"You think that you help everyone." she started whispering, so I strained my ears to hear what she was saying. "The way you hold yourself back. You think it would ward anyone off, and you won't hurt anybody. You think you are worthless?"

I couldn't answer her question. I often used this as a joke with Andrew, how we were a lost generation and useless humans. I used these jokes as a shield. However, somewhere deep down, I knew it was the truth. My whole personality was built around this thought. To ward off anyone and protect me. Was the previous me the same?

"But you probably don't understand that this hurts so much more." She lifted her head and looked me into the eyes. They were glistening, probably from tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I guess I can't change you." she turned around to wipe the tears.

"How about a walk?"

She faced me. Her height wasn't much lower than mine. "Alright, but you should change your clothes first." She gave me a weak smile.

As I nodded, I quickly went to my apartment. To put all the documents in my room as well as change the clothes. While the things she said were persistently swarming my head.

After telling Annie that I would go out with a friend, I walked down to the street. Mara was leaning on the car again. But this time, she held both her hands down, entwined.

"You're ready?"

"Yes, where should we go?"

She slapped the door of the car. "We would ride to the shopping mall."

"Ugh, I thought we wanted to talk?"

"And who said we can't talk while we shop?" she flashed me a cunning smile.

"No, it's just I thought you didn't really like to shop." We both boarded the backseat. There was a driver in the driver's seat. Was he waiting the whole time?

"And why shouldn't I like it?"

"I… don't know?" Yeah, it was strange. Why did I think like this?

But the whole shopping was much more different from what I thought in the beginning. Instead of going for a walk with her, Mara dragged me to a store that sold sport's equipment. Telling me that we needed to buy me everything I needed. I kept refusing this until she said that I would pay her back with my stipend.

Shopping with her was different from what I expected. She acted like a normal girl, going here and there. I guess the only difference was that instead of choosing the new dress, she was choosing a mouthguard and MMA gloves.

"I heard from Paul that you were learning Taekwondo."

"Yeah, it all started as a hobby, but it grew on me," she pointed at her face, "Last time you saw me with bruises were from the competition."

"I never thought a girl would have a hobby like that."

"Hey, I've won against many men." she furrowed her eyebrows before showing me a crafty smile. "I guess I can train you as well."

"No, thanks."

"Boo, you buzzkill."

I felt strange walking with her, talking about nothing. One second she would act like a shy girl, and the second later, she would show her serious side. I guess the phrase that girls had a thousand faces fitted her perfectly.

As I was walking to the car while carrying the bags, Mara was explaining to me how I should use this or that. Along the way, she told me what I should do in school. This was when I heard a man shouting.

"Hey, you, are you, Erlig Grimes?"

"Hmm?" I turned to look at who It was and saw two big guys. One of them was looking at a small photo. It was a photo of me.

Not again.