In a classroom where several children laughed and chatted calmly, unconcerned about the teacher who had not yet arrived, there was one child in particular with pale skin. He was alone, with no friends by his side. His posture was closed off, distant, as if he invited no one to come near him.
The boy stayed focused on an open book on his desk. Even with the constant noise filling the classroom, something that could overwhelm anyone, it didn't seem to affect him at all.
That day should have been like any other for him, but it wasn't.
A girl with black hair that fell to her shoulders, wearing the school's required uniform, sat down beside him. The boy noticed her immediately. Nervous, he tried to ignore her presence, but it was impossible. His attention was no longer on the book, even if he pretended otherwise.
Suddenly, the girl leaned a little closer toward the book, blocking the reader's field of vision.
That was something he could no longer ignore. Without looking directly at her, he took the book and pulled it closer to himself, creating distance.
The girl frowned slightly when she noticed the gesture. She didn't like it at all.
"Hey, I'm reading too," she said, her tone somewhat annoyed.
The boy didn't respond. He enjoyed his solitude, but even more than that, he enjoyed silence. He had learned that speaking sometimes brought consequences.
Suddenly, the book was roughly snatched from his hands, as the girl took it away abruptly.
The boy stared at her in silence while she held the book. However, he made no attempt to take it back.
"You're shy, aren't you?" the girl said, watching him with curiosity.
The boy remained silent.
Seeing his reaction, the girl wondered if he didn't understand her. The answer quickly came to her mind, it was absurd.
Of course he did. If he was reading a book, it was obvious he understood every word.
"Why don't you answer me?" she insisted.
There was no response. The boy only looked at her, motionless.
Bored, the girl stood up from her seat. With an amused smile, she said:
"Well, I'll keep the book, okay?"
The boy didn't speak.
"I guess that's a yes," she added, turning around.
Before she could walk away, a low voice stopped her.
"No… please."
The girl turned around, surprised.
"So you can talk after all."
The boy fell silent again.
"Can I know your name?"
There was no answer once more.
"You know, if you're not going to talk, then don't," she said indifferently.
The girl placed the book back on the desk and turned around to leave, but before she could do so, the boy's voice sounded again.
"Ren… my name is Ren."
The girl turned back and smiled.
"Ren, that's a nice name. Mine is *#*."
At that moment, Ren thought that brief conversation would be the last he would have with that girl. But it wasn't. Of course it wasn't.
The next day, she spoke to him again. And the day after that as well. Then another one. For some reason Ren couldn't understand, the girl always approached him whenever there was free time to talk. In response to that insistence, he only answered with short phrases, with evident hesitation, always keeping a certain distance.
The girl knew very well what Ren was doing.
So, one of those days, tired of his constant silence, the girl stared at him and asked:
"Ren… do you hate me?"
Ren, who had never shown any emotion in front of *#*, did so this time. He laughed nervously, feeling cornered by that question.
He knew he had to answer, but he didn't know how she would react, because he didn't hate her, but he also didn't want her too close.
With words he perhaps hadn't fully thought through, Ren said:
"No… I don't hate you. It's just that I don't know you."
After that response, *#* began to talk to him about her life. She told him a bit of everything, even things she hadn't yet lived. At first, Ren felt overwhelmed by so much information, but as the days passed, he began to grow fond of her.
What had started as simple closeness, or like a planted seed, slowly transformed, without him realizing it, into something deeper. Ren had fallen in love, although at that time he didn't know it. He didn't know love, but he would learn, in the most bitter way, what betrayal was.
One of those days, the boy who always went unnoticed, the one no one seemed to even know the name of, arrived before everyone else, even before Ren, who was usually always the first.
At that moment, Ren thought that perhaps that solitary boy had woken up earlier than usual, so he cautiously took a seat.
But that wasn't the case.
"Don't trust anyone, especially those who get closest to you," the boy said.
Ren heard those words with confusion. For a moment, it seemed to him that they were directed at him, though he wasn't entirely sure. Even so, he couldn't stop thinking about them.
When classes ended, Ren was on his way home when he saw *#* with the same group that used to humiliate him whenever they could. The scene confused him and stirred a strange feeling inside him.
That feeling fully settled when he learned that *#* had become the girlfriend of one of those boys.
Completely devastated, Ren understood then that the words of that stranger hadn't been empty, but carried a message.
A sad message.
Chapter 25: Happily Ever After