It was 3 a.m. the next morning.
Nicolle invited Nox to go and pick mushrooms in the forest to eat with his friends.
Inside the forest, the morning breeze rustled the leaves above and the grass beneath their feet.
Nox looked up at the leaves, enjoying the passing wind.
"How is it? Refreshing, isn't it?" Nicolle looked at Nox.
Nox nodded.
Seeing Nox's expression made Nicolle chuckle, and feeling shy, Nox looked towards Nicolle.
"What's so funny?!"
Nicolle suppressed her laughter after seeing Nox's face.
"Nothing, it's just your personality makes me want to tease you."
Nox looked away, feeling embarrassed.
"That's enough! We should continue looking for mushrooms." Nox changed the subject.
They continued their search for mushrooms, with Nicolle walking behind Nox, watching him with a slight smile.
Not long after, Nox saw a mushroom with a brown cap and a gray stem, and with a confused look, Nox turned to Nicolle.
"Nicolle, is this poisonous?" Nox asked, pointing at the mushroom.
Nicolle could no longer contain the tickle in her stomach and finally burst into loud laughter at Nox.
"What's wrong?! I was just asking." Nox put on an annoyed face.
"It's just that you were acting so mature a moment ago, and then suddenly you look so pleading..."
Nicolle laughed again.
After a few moments, Nicolle's laughter finally subsided, and with a furious look, Nox teased her.
"Done with your 'yapping'?"
Nicolle slowly pointed at the mushroom.
"It's safe to eat. It's a pine branch mushroom because its shape resembles a pine tree branch. It tastes like savory fish meat." Nicolle explained while suppressing her laughter.
"Oh... Okay."
Nox took the pine branch mushroom item.
"What is this game notification all about?" Balance realized the description about his current behavior.
"HEY BLACK BOARD, WHAT ARE YOU?!" Balance questioned the function of the description board.
"UGH, I'M TIRED." Balance frowned at the description board, then turned his face away, maintaining his composure not to hit the board. After calming down, he continued his farming.
Nicole looked confused.
"Nox?"
Balance turned his face towards Nicolle.
Nicolle leaned in and checked Balance's forehead, bringing their faces close together.
Nicolle sighed.
"Thank goodness you don't have a fever, because you've been acting a little strange, but you're not sick or dizzy, are you?"
Nicolle asked with a soft, worried look.
Slowly, Balance's face began to flush red.
"Ah... I'm fine."
Balance turned his gaze away from Nicolle.
"Really? But your face is red."
With a stuttering voice, Balance dodged the question.
"Didn't... didn't you just check?"
Nicolle laughed slightly.
"Oh yeah, I thought you had forgotten about it."
Nicolle smiled.
After picking all the mushrooms around them, Balance and Nicolle walked back to the headquarters. Midway back, Balance called Nicolle again, and Nicolle responded.
"Nicolle, what happened to your first party's DPS?"
Nicolle stopped walking, looking up at the bright sky with a somber face.
"Nox, why are you asking that?"
With a serious look, Nox explained.
"In my room, I saw a damaged photo."
Nicolle walked towards a lush tree and sat down on a large root.
"Come here, Nox. This might be a cliché love story, but it will answer your curiosity."
Balance followed Nicolle's invitation and sat next to her, and then Nicolle began to tell her story.
"It happened 17 years ago, when I was 15 years old."
"Delima High School was where I first met him. During the student orientation (MPLS), the shouts of each group's leader calling out the team names echoed everywhere."
"At that time, I was assigned to the apricot group with him, our team's first DPS, 'TRODAIRE LUCE,' and you must know him as THE HERO, a man with blonde hair, bright yellow eyes, and bangs dangling over his face."
Balance was shocked to hear this and spoke in his heart.
"Luce... Willi Luce... Wait a minute?"
Nicolle looked towards Balance.
"Yes, he is the person you would call the Hero."
"So what he said about being the Hero's little brother was true?!"
Nicolle then continued her story.
"Trodaire and I were like the new campus sweethearts, and many supported our relationship, and that's how we got to know each other. I, Nicolle Kozela, was the only daughter in the famous Kozela family at the time, and Trodaire was just the son of a new entrepreneur who possessed many brilliant talents. Because there was so much news about us at school, it would have been more surprising if we hadn't known each other."
"In 11th grade, we passed each other in the hallway after extracurricular activities one afternoon. Under the sunset light that brought a nostalgic atmosphere, the magenta-colored tiles and the school's white wall paint turning blurry orange, I was daydreaming because of his handsomeness. At that very moment, I unconsciously dropped my pen and ran away in embarrassment."
"At home, I couldn't relax because I kept thinking about my embarrassing behavior at school. I rolled back and forth in my bed with a look of shame like someone who had lost her sanity, unaware that my second older brother and younger brother walked in and saw me going crazy."
"Of course, I threw a pillow at them."
"'What are you doing in a girl's room, big brother?!'"
"My brother and sister always found fault in me. My father didn't consider me useful, and my mother acted like I didn't exist. This was normal for me, and I knew that eventually, I would be sold off when this family was about to crumble to maintain their lifestyle."
"The next day, I saw my classroom surrounded by many people."
"'Um... excuse me, I need to pass.'"
"And I saw the Hero sitting at my desk, then looking towards me and waving his hand, which captivated the crowd of girls, including myself."
I bravely walked towards him.
"'What are you doing here?'"
The Hero smiled at me.
"'I came to return the pen you dropped yesterday afternoon.'"
I took my pen back, feeling embarrassed.
"'Th-thank you.'"
The school bell rang, the Hero got up from my seat and made a promise of friendship.
"'See you again.' That's what he said as he walked back to his class."
"This is where it truly began. We became close for 3 long years. Trodaire and I finally decided to date, and Rock, my childhood friend, was against our relationship."
"At the café where the three of us talked."
"'THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, NICOLLE! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!'" Rock spoke in a loud tone.
"'What do you mean, Rocky? He's nice to me.'" Nicolle held the Hero's hand.
"'Nicolle, let's talk this afternoon.'" Rock persuaded Nicolle with a frown.
Rock got up from his chair and looked towards the Hero.
"'You don't need to come, Trodaire!'"
Trodaire smiled in agreement, and Nicolle, feeling guilty, bowed her head towards the Hero.
"'I'm sorry about my childhood friend, Tro, maybe he's just a little jealous.'"
This is when Tro began his attack.
"'Nicolle, you know about my father's company that's about to go bankrupt, right?'"
Nicolle nodded.
"'Please give us some of your assets to become company property.'"
Nicolle was shocked. Of course, that wasn't allowed, but because Nicolle loved him, she gave it to him. Nicolle gave him everything, even the thin red curtain that blocked the sanctity of her body.
"This continued until we contracted with our gods. The SUNFLOWER party was named after the flower the Hero liked."
"The fissures we fought were continuously S-level, but the one who got the spotlight was only the Hero, not us."
"After 1 year of forming the party, Areta and Riel joined when they were 19, and when my family was about to collapse, my father forcibly betrothed me to the heir of a wealthy family whom I didn't like, just to be more useful. No one defended me then, and that night, when the storm came, I ran away to the Hero's house."
"At the gate of the Hero's house, I was stopped by the guards there."
"'TRODAIRE! IT'S ME, NICOLLE! PLEASE LET ME IN, beca... because it's cold out here.'"
"The guards who stopped me couldn't stand it and finally pushed me away."
"In the middle of the rain, I saw him smiling slyly while flirting with a woman beside him."
"'Why, Tro...'"
"Were my last words to him amidst the storm that kept raging."
"With a feeling of despair, my eyes darkened without a single ray of hope visible, wearing my pajamas, barefoot with a thin blanket to cover my body, I kept walking unconsciously until I reached the headquarters in a wretched condition."
"My friends were shocked by my condition. Rock quickly hugged me, gently and slowly asking what had happened, but my breath and chest felt too tight to explain it. When I let out a sound, my eyes began to well up, releasing tears of sorrow. My voice was very hoarse and difficult to let out, so I hugged Rock tightly while explaining haltingly."
"Rock stroked my head calmly, encouraging me then, and now, here we are."
Nicolle looked towards Nox with her sweet smile and the beautiful backdrop of the sunrise.
"So, Noxy, please understand Rock's attitude because he only wants to protect us, just like his class as a Shielder."
Nox agreed.
"So, Nicolle, what should we cook the mushrooms into?"
Nicolle answered.
"How about crispy mushrooms with black pepper sauce?"
"Wow, that must be delicious." Nox was happy.
They then returned to the headquarters to cook the ingredients they had gathered.
Nicolle prepared the food, and Nox cleaned the cooking utensils and tidied the benches.
The smoke from the food spread throughout the building, waking everyone up in the morning with a surging hunger.
Areta secretly tried to grab a piece of the food but was slapped away by Nicolle.
"Aww, Sis Nii, why?" Areta held her sore hand.
Nicolle stared at Areta with a sharp look.
"Areta, and all of you, just woke up, didn't you? Brush your teeth before you eat, you stinky people!"
Areta made a disappointed face.
TO BE CONTINUED
The images and story are original; apologies if there are any similarities to other works. instagram = najwapw2007 facebook = nexus venus webtoon = nexus venus