Chapter 21 - Childhood Friend
YAWN~!
Rudy covered his mouth as he yawned loudly.
After spending his weekend at Eric's house alone with him, he was on his way to school.
Eric's mother was busy with her work because she was opening a franchise of her store in the neighboring city. So she stayed at the hotel at night.
Eric's twin sister was overseas for a semester for the project.
Rudy and Eric spent the nights watching horror movies and playing games. However, Rudy wasn't scared because he had already watched those movies in his previous life.
Talking about the horror story, his pet ghost— Angelica, was sleeping inside his body because she was keeping a watch on Rudy when he was sleeping at night.
Rudy was still having nightmares whenever he slept. That's why he asked Angelica to watch over him and wake him up if he started emitting aura.
As Rudy was walking, someone covered his eyes from behind and stopped him from stepping forward.
"Come on, Eric!" Rudy groaned. "We are not kids anymore. What's with this silly—"
Rudy grabbed the hands on his eyes and noticed it was soft and slim, almost as though it belonged to a girl.
When Rudy turned around, he saw a black-haired girl, blushing and fidgeting.
"...Alice…" Rudy uttered her name.
"I am sorry. I thought I would surprise you, but… you got angry…" she said with a sad look on her face.
"No, I am not angry. I thought it was Eric, and that's how I talk with Eric, and you know it, right?" Rudy asserted in a calm voice.
"I guess…"
Rudy and Alice started walking to school together.
Alice was walking beside him, and she was glancing at Rudy from the corners of her eyes once in a while.
YAWM~!
Rudy yawned again.
"Were you studying till late at night?" Alice asked with a gentle smile on her face.
"Umm… I was at Eric's house, playing games…" Rudy replied with an awkward smile.
"Oh…" Alice was surprised to hear that.
Of course, it was unusual for Rudy to spend his nights playing games instead of studying. That's what he did in his previous life.
"Hey, Rudy…" Alice jumped in front of Rudy and started walking backward without looking back.
"Hmm?"
"If you need help with studying, I can help you anytime, okay?" she said in a calm voice.
"I know."
"And if you need notes or want me to write notes for you, I can do that too…" she said with a little flushed face.
Rudy smiled at her and said, "I know."
"Also, if you ever feel like—"
Alice's shoelaces became undone, and she tripped forward at Rudy. She fell into Rudy's arms embrace, and they ended up hugging even though neither of them was hugging each other.
They stayed like that for a while, as though neither of them wanted to move away from each other.
"I am so sorry!" Alice apologized as she made some distance between them.
"Are you okay?! I am so sorry!" Alice apologized again with an anxious and concerned look on her face.
"Yes, I am okay. What about you? Are you okay?"
"Yes," she nodded.
"You should be careful, you know? What if I wasn't there? You would have fallen down and might have gotten injured," Rudy asserted.
Alice puckered her lips and said, "I will be careful."
She turned around with a bit of a sad look on her face and said, "I will be going first."
After saying that, she hurried over to the school without tieing her shoelace.
SIGH!
'I was having mixed emotions after meeting her so suddenly. But I hope I managed to hold them in.'
"I wasn't expecting to meet her so soon," he sighed.
'Who was that? Your future girlfriend?' a voice said in Rudy's mind.
"So you are awake?"
'Yeah. I woke up after receiving a sudden change in your emotions,' Angelica replied.
"Heh," Rudy scoffed after imagining Angelica suddenly waking up from sleep.
'So, who was that girl?" Angelica asked again.
"Her name is Alice," Rudy replied.
'And…?'
"And she is my childhood friend. Well, not really a childhood friend, but we have always been in the same school ever since kindergarten. Our house is also the same way, so we were mostly together."
Rudy looked up at the sky and continued with a distant smile on his face: "Me, Alice, Aric, and Erika. It was a group of four. But it fell apart after we got into high school."
'Now, who is this Erika?' Angelica asked.
"Come on. It's not that hard to guess," Rudy remarked.
'Umm... Eric's twin sister?' Angelica guessed.
"Yeah."
'So…' After a brief pause, Angelica asked, 'Why did you get emotional after seeing Alice?'
"Why are you so curious about all this?" Rudy asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
However, he wasn't annoyed because Angelica kept asking him questions. He was upset because he didn't want to talk about it. It reminded him of his previous life, which he was trying his best to leave behind.
SIGH!
"I am sorry," Rudy sighed. "Alice was… well, after I graduated from the high school, I moved out to the next city because the university fee was less there. Then soon after, I met a girl who later became my girlfriend. I started living together at her apartment because I couldn't afford my own."
'Where did you live before that then?'
"Government help centers. WHere they provided food and shelters for poor and homeless people," Rudy replied with a wry smile on his face.
'What happened to Alice? You met her again at your university or something?'
"No… I met her five years later at a get-together in our high school. Everyone had grown up and had girlfriends and all. I also brought my girlfriend there to… well, I wanted to flex too," Rudy laughed.
"And there I met Alice again," he added.
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Author's Note- Rudy's past life regrets will make him reconsider the choices he had in his past life. Of course, that includes the choice of harem too!
Thanks, @Mr_Clay79, @Degenerate_Panda, @Oseni_Precious_1089, @Absolutevirgin, @WillAMVz, @Gfdsa, for the gifts!