Chapter 33 Chapter 33 Warm Days vs Cold Days (Part 2)

"Sshh! Don't talk to that gloomy kid. She doesn't interact with anyone really, she's just always so gloomy."

"She's been like that since sixth grade. It's best to ignore her."

"She looks so lonely though..."

"Let's just leave her alone. If she wants to have friends, she should change herself first."

Stefani never loses her earphones. Wherever she goes, she would wear them so other people wouldn't dare talk to her.

Until one day, two of her girl classmates went straight to her and cornered her. With some sort of drink on their hands, they purposely spilled them on Stefani's clothes, laughing at the expressionless girl.

"Hey!! What the fuck are you doing?!" A girl shouted, stopping the two mean girls from cutting Stefani's soaked clothes with a pair of scissors.

"Why? Do you have anything against us? Don't you know us, huh?" One of the mean girls said.

"Who... are you?" The girl smirked and gave a cold stare at the two mean girls as she slowly approached them, "Hey, let me tell you this," she glared at the two girls, "I don't care who you are and I don't plan to know you either. But you've spilled your milkshake on my cousin's book and she's crying nonstop because of that."

"So? Why would I care about your cous- ahh!!! Ow ow! Yah!!!" The two mean girls went screaming as this newly arrived girl started pulling on their hair.

"You ugly bitches, how dare you make my cousin cry?! Don't you know how hard it is for me to listen to her fucking crying voice all the time?!" The girl said as she made the two mean girls cry harder under her mercy.

As soon as the catfight was over, the girl flipped her hair back and stared down at Stefani who sat in a corner.

"You there, who are you?" The girl asked Stefani.

Stefani didn't answer and continued staring at thin air.

The girl sat next to Stefani, still panting after the fight. "Are those bitches bullying you? Psh. Look at yourself, you look fine and wealthy but here you are being bullied and beaten up by some ugly women. Tsk tsk..." she stared at Stefani then looked forward, "You're so weak. I hate people like you."

It was only then Stefani turned to look at the girl, "I'm not weak. And I hate you too."

"What's this, you know how to talk? Amazing. That's right, talk back, fight back," The girl challenged.

"Of course I know how to talk, I have a mouth," Stefani argued back.

"Pftt... Hahahahaha!" The girl started laughing so hard while looking at Stefani. "Ahahhaha, you're interesting. I actually like that. What's your name again?"

Stefani, for the first time in so many years, felt annoyed and had her eyebrows met. "I'm not going to tell you." She stood up, leaving the girl who acted like a gangster behind.

"Oh come on, I really think you're awesome. Say, wanna join my group?" The girl said, following after her. "Looking closely, you look a lot like the character in my cousin's book. Hmm, she'll like you for sure!"

"Stop following me!" Stefani shouted, the first time in her dead, silent years.

"Come on~" the girl called again, pestering Stefani. "Come on, come on, come on~"

For the entire week, to Stefani's annoyance, the crazy girl went on following her everywhere on campus, and the girl would only stop whenever someone called her.

"Christina! Stop pestering Stefani and do your seatwork already!!!"

"I understand~" Christina sighed then looked at Stefani and said with a smile, "I'll pester you again later, okay? See you, Stefani!"

A month later, Christina was pestering Stefani, and this time, she had three more girls with her to do it.

Slowly, little by little, Stefani began to open her world once more, though her heart was still cold as it had been, like the air that caused the fog on the window of the first day of snow.

"Say, you always receive a letter but you never read it. What's the reason, Stefani?" Christina asked one time in Stefani's room.

Stefani was silent for a minute before she casually replied, "Those are rubbish things from a completely rubbish person."

"Ehhhh~ What do you mean?" Ivy asked with a pout.

"Nothing! I don't want to talk about that person!" Stefani believes if Jonathan could leave her, she, Stefani, could do it too. Whether Jonathan cares about her or not, Jonathan still left Stefani. So whatever memory and feelings Stefani once had for Jonathan, Stefani decided to erase them.

The day Stefani learned Jane and Jonathan were flying back to the country and staying for good, a stir in her heart was made despite her pushing it away.

Stefani was aware she couldn't avoid Jonathan forever, that was why in Jonathan's third month in the main city, Stefani went to see him at her father's office. She wasn't expecting anything from Jonathan but deep inside, she felt her heart beating at an undefined pace as soon as she laid eyes on the man she once considered her home. Sadly, he was also the man who had left her alone. So the moment Jonathan called her name, Stefani instantly pulled out whatever emotions she could gather that timeーhatred.

From then on, Stefani had been showing how she just hated Jonathan with all her heart. For she had already agreed to herself to never let herself know what abandonment feels like, ever again.