Chapter 196


    Now that Helen had apologized to me sincerely, how could I be mad at her? Her mother was her


    mother; she was she. I was mad, but I shouldn’t get the two things mixed up.


    “You think I’ll forgive you after a simple apology?” I pouted yfully and looked away.


    Helen sniffled and continued, “What do you want me to do, then? Write an apology letter and post it on


    the school’s forum?”


    What a bad idea. I didn’t need more publicity.


    “You’ll buy me breakfast for a week. Otherwise, I won’t forgive you.”


    I gave her forearm a nudge. Helen was stunned for a while. Then, she leaped and clung to me like a


    sloth. “No, I’ll buy you breakfast for a month! A week isn’t enough to make my guilt disappear. Luna,


    you’re a dummy! You should’ve used this opportunity to ask for anything. I can buy you a mansion if


    you want.”


    See? That was the difference between a rich person and an ordinary person.


    I was off to a bad morning, but Helen brought warmth back to my world like the bright sun.


    Matthew and I might not be able to be together, but I made a good friend. It was all worth it,


    no?


    After breakfast, Helen left me all alone. She disappeared for the entire day. Just when I thought I would


    be sleeping alone tonight, she returned with tons of snacks and two cans of


    beer.


    “I thought you weren’t sleeping here tonight.” I put down my pencil and ced a tray on her desk


    Excitedly, she plopped down the snacks and removed the thick coat she was wearing. She then


    chirped, “I wasn’t supposed to sleep here tonight. Then I remembered there was a piglet in the


    apartment, so I came back and brought her favorite snacks. I know you love this one. Here. Dig in.”


    I got up and grabbed some of the torti chips.


    They tasted familiar. Helen must have gone to the restaurant I had visited with Matthew


    twice.


    I loved the torti chips there, as well as the dipping sauce. Helen never paid attention to my


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    food preferences. He must have helped her pick my favorite snacks.


    I wanted him to stop being so nice to me because I didn’t know how to repay him.


    After downing half a can of beer, Helen became more talkative. She shared her upbringing with me.


    She had never told me anything about her past. Perhaps the debacle in the morning renewed her


    impression of me. And now, she thought she could open up.


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    “Since I was little, I was followed by guards wherever I went. Even at school. I would be attending


    sses inside while the guards stood like soldiers outside. They had scary faces, which scared my


    ssmates. Because of that, no one would y with me.


    “During recess or PE sses, the girls would be having fun ying games. But I was forbidden to do


    anything. I cried so many times because of that. But Mom told me that she did that because she didn’t


    want me to get injured.


    “I said I wanted to y with others. She then told me that we had all sorts of board games, musical


    instruments, and sports fields. She said I could y with the nannies or guards. I shouldn’t y with


    bratty kids.


    “Luna, believe it or not, other than the other kids in the same circle, I never had other friends. You’re my


    first. I had to go on a hunger strike to convince them to let me befriend you.”


    “What? You’re an adult now. You study at the college every day, so you can befriend whoever you


    want.”


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