Chapter 9 (1/2)

‘Luca was so tiny that even I thought that he was 9 years old…’

Then again, if he was starved like that, it would’ve been even perplexing if he was any taller.

‘I should’ve known. It was a weird coincidence that Luca got sick only on May Day. This time around, even the year after…’

A completely unexpected turn of even this was, I just wanted to rip out my hair.

What am I going to do?

I still have a lot to do for Luca, not to mention that I didn’t even have a chance to be emotionally prepared…

Lea, oblivious of my internal struggles and concerns, was only curious about how I captured his attention.

She subtly pressed on for an answer.

“So, how did you charm him? Truthfully if you only look at his face, it looks like he’s hard to get. He looked rather difficult.”

But I wasn’t in the mood to reply to Lea.

The thought of ‘him,’ Rüdiger Winterwald, standing in front of my house made my blood boil over.

“Uhh… Sorry, Lea. Let’s chat later. I gotta go for now.”

“What? Hey, J-Judith!”

As I abruptly ended my conversation with Lea, I rushed home with these goods in my hands.

She screeched at the top of her lungs towards my direction.

“Hey, is that guy more important than your friend? You’re the absolute worst, Judith!”

***

Regardless of Lea’s screaming, I ran back home, panting relentlessly.

The house seemed so far away, it felt as if the trek would never end.

While I was running, I was hoping that all of this was just Lea’s misunderstanding.

Maybe he’s looking for someone other than me…

Despite my wishful thinking, when I arrived closer to my house, a man with a large build presumed to be Rüdiger was surely standing in front of my house.

I guess Luca was so sick that he couldn’t afford to drag himself down and open the door.

I tried to stop gulping for air as I slowed myself to a steady walk.

After knocking several times on the door, he must’ve thought that no one was home, and turned away with a small sigh.

At that moment, our eyes met.