ALBEDO "the way i loved you"

chapter thirty-five

 ALBEDO'S POINT OF VIEW

"you see that girl? the one with a messy bun?" a friend of mine from middle school asked, fingers-pointing towards a pretty girl who was busy studying. "she's the top of the class."

"she love to study?" i questioned, trying to hide my interest as my eyes found her yet again.

"yeah, she's smart too..." he replied, "but she's somewhat — i won't call it mean but distant to others. a lot want to be her friends but none of them succeed."

i rested my chin on the palm of my hand, looking at the girl with curiosity. from what i've heard, her name is y/n, and she's been at the top of the school for years. some strands of her hair were loosely hanging on her shoulders and the glasses she wore made her more interesting.

"i want to be her friend," i whispered out of nowhere.

my friend laughed out loud, "then you need to be smart and presentable-looking to be her friend!"

his words lingered through my mind for days. i must admit, after days of looking at her, i've noticed that her friends are mostly those who are smart and responsible and somewhat good-looking.

she's pretty but her blank expression didn't suit her that much — it felt like there was something missing in her and i was hoping that i'd find it.

i studied every night, hours to hours, from the moment the sun would set up until it would rise just to prove myself to her. maybe, just maybe if she found me useful, she'd be willing to be my friend.

but i was wrong.

"you cheated, didn't you?" her eyes burned with anger, the irritation on her face was entirely visible i almost stumbled back.

"excuse me?"

her forehead creased, her brows almost met each other and the redness on her cheeks were the evidence of how mad she was. what did i do wrong? her being mad at me was somehow a little hurtful but somewhere between, the anger on her face became the first color in the blank canvas of her well-being.

it was the first time she showed me emotion and i wanted to see more.

"how does society view strong women?"

the question was interesting. after reading literature from the 17th century, our teacher asked a lot of questions — most of them were "what is the name of the main character?" or "when did the story happen?" and most of the class participated enthusiastically.

then, that question dropped like a bomb leaving the entire classroom in a deafening silence.

y/n is someone who would speak her opinion without hesitation and i wasn't surprised with her answer. as she speaked eloquently in front, i saw the admiration in everyone's eyes — like she was the glowing moon from above and everyone watched her in awe including me.