Chapter 33：Feedback (1/2)

[Music Recommendation: ”The Name of Life” by Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

Oh my goodness! Was he pranking me? Argh! I felt a mixture of relief and anger inside me. How could he prank me? I was so worried for real!

”Did you just—” I was taken aback that I sighed and scoffed right after the other. ”Seriously, Kai? I was so worried about you! I thought something happened!” My voice was so loud that I'm practically shouting at him.

But despite my complaints, I heard him laugh so hard in the other line. I shook my head in disbelief. I never expected him to pull a prank on me. Though he did mention to me before that he liked bullying his father. So was this him, bullying me? I see. It seems we're close enough to bully each other. I'll make sure to pay him back someday! Hmf!

”So when are you planning to stop?” I asked, hinting my annoyance in my voice.

”Sorry about that,” he said, still snickering. ”It's your punishment for making me worry this last couple of days.”

I couldn't refute that. ”Fine, I'll take it this time. I said I'm sorry, though. It seems you do hold grudges. Hmf!” I puffed my cheeks like a blowfish. But my annoyance was quickly washed away by the fact that he worried for me just because I didn't reply to him. I had to bite my lips so I don't giggle over the phone.

”Good. And let's promise each other to respond as soon as possible next time we send a message. It's fine if it's late by a couple of hours, if we're somehow so busy. But not an entire day. Deal?”

He'd make a really good negotiator. ”Deal,” I agreed without a second thought. I wondered if this was how he treated his other friends, too, especially female friends. By how kind and caring he was, any girl would fall for him. Hora was right. I think I do have lots of competition. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so kind to everyone except me… but that's just my selfishness kicking in. And besides, I'm just a friend. What right do I have to have him all for myself?

”So… regarding your feedback. How was it?” Finally, I asked about my story. I felt so nervous and shy asking about it.

”Hmm… I'll give you honest feedback since I'm blunt and don't like beating around the bush. You ready?”

”Just how I like it. Yes, go ahead. I'm taking notes.”

”Which do you want to hear first? The good or the bad?”

I gulped. ”Ahm… the bad?”

”Alright. Bad points,” he started. ”First, you have a few misses on punctuations and some sentences were wordy. But they're minimal so they're easy to miss. A normal reader won't notice them except for me since I'm not like most readers.”

'Oh, I see. This is really great. I never thought he's a wide reader, too.'