LOVE & LUCKY 🌹 Layla's Daughter ✓「1st Place in FFFA」

7: Remain

a/n : skipping to Lucy as an 18 year old college student now.

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a lot has changed Lucy for the past three years; a.) she's at the peak of overcoming her androphobia, b.) the police acknowledged her growth without them knowing about the incident, c.) ...they compensated for Lucy's education to show their acknowledgement and.. d.) Cana couldn't afford the college and had persuaded the police to also give her her allowance every month.

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she grabbed a random shirt from her wardrobe, running her hand through her now short blonde (highlighted with black in some parts and at the ends) hair, then wore a black shirt with its sleeves colored grey, slinging her shoulder bag on one shoulder.

"cana, i'm going now." she says as she opened the door and went out of the bar.

"my Lucy is all grown up now." Cana sniffled, then softly smiled as she opened the bar door.

lucy made her way to her college. it's her second month going to school without having any problems (so far); no sign of androphobic jitters whatsoever. typically a normal day. she's gonna take a bus/train to her school and listen to every lesson to graduate in about four years and voíla! her dream of becoming a writer comes true.

"shut up, you fckng cunt."

lucy was taken aback after hearing someone aggressively yelling, overlapping with a woman's muffled scream by his hand. her eyes slowly followed the sound and saw the woman's back against the wall, the stranger's hand already underneath her shirt, fumbling her--

she was cut off, taking away her gaze from the incident, shaking her head off the idea. her hands ran up to her head, rubbing her fingers violently against it. "d-don't think about it... don't think about it."

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"ah, she arrived at last." her professor grumbled sarcastically, opening his arms with a folder in his hand. he frowned upon the late teen. "feel free to sleep, i wouldn't mind. you must've been so tired from oversleeping, perhaps you'd like a pillow, as well?"

the class laughed in chorus; and with that said, he turned back to the white board and went back to jotting down his lesson.

meanwhile, lucy, the image and sound of the woman screaming earlier is still stuck inside her head; remembering her tragic memory. she began fidgeting, her shoulder started squirming uncomfortably. her hands found her shoulders and she began hugging herself tightly.

outside, she looked so calm, but on the inside -- not so much. she has been practicing what she learned online; chanting comforting words to herself to prevent from remembering -- possibly, to forget about that.

"lucy, promise me," her aunt's voice whispered inside, "promise me you'll go back to the asylum to get cured -- completely, without any cheating methods. okay?"

there. she stopped.

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after class, lucy sat inside the library. her eyes landing on the bookshelf as her fingers awkwardly caressed each cover. she sighs, "soon, i hope."

"ohh, you read too?" lucy jumped away out of fright when someone approached her all of a sudden. her eyes widened at two girls smaller than her, both wearing glasses; one had blue hair, the other with violet.

the blue haired chuckled a bit, "oh my, i'm sorry! did i scare you?"

lucy fixed the hem of her shirt to cover her belly button and shook her head calmly. "no. i was just surprised."

"so, are you a bookworm?" she asked straightforwardly as she fixed her glasses to let it ride on the bridge of her nose.

the blonde nodded awkwardly as her only response, not adding any additional information.

"hmm...are you a -"

"smut reader?" the violet one managed to finish her sentence after quickly whispering into lucy's ear, only then did she back away from her.

"n-no.." lucy whispered, remembering the scene she witnessed earlier. it made her hold on to her head, almost collapsing to the floor.

the blue one approached with concern, holding on to her arm for support, "hey, a-are you okay? you look pale."

"i'm fine. i'm.." lucy gently removed the blue haired girl's arm from hers and staggered as she exited the library.