"Luna baby?"

Luna looked up and turned around to face her parents.

Erica also looked past her phone to eavesdrop.

"Sorry for disturbing you but how are you doing in school?"

"Is that Victor boy being too much of a disturbance? It sounds like he's been trying to get a hold of you for a long time." Her father went straight to the point. He was overly eager about helping her.

Luna shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "I'm doing perfectly fine."

Her parents looked at each other then looked at her again.

"Alright. Keep up the good work, okay?" Her mother stroked her head.

Luna nodded.

After they left the room, she glanced at Erica who still had her eyes glued to her phone.

‘She's definitely unhappy.’

Luna sighed inwardly.

‘So much for preventing my meeting with Victor.’

"You know… I'm really okay."

Since there was no one else in the room, Erica knew that Luna was speaking to her. She put down her phone in defeat and pouted at Luna. "That's what you always say."

"Please don't do anything? I'm happy with the way things are."

'How can she be happy with a nuisance like him going after her? She's been chased around school and her routine's all ruined because of him. Now he even has the cheek to come running here.’

"It's actually getting really creepy that you know whenever I'm planning something evil."

Catching how Erica did not promise her to not do anything, Luna shut her laptop, turned off the table lamp, then joined Erica on her bed.

"Let's sleep together tonight, okay? Cheer up."

"... I'm no longer a little girl… You don't have to be so worried about me..."

"Sorry, just as we'll always be babies in mother's eyes, you'll always be my little sister in my eyes." Luna smiled.

Since they had already brushed their teeth, they tucked themselves straight into bed and held hands to sleep.

Their eyes were closed but different things kept them awake for longer.

‘I'll make him feel what I'm feeling right now… No. A thousand times worse.’ Vengeful feelings and thoughts accompanied Erica to her dreamland.

Whereas Luna fell asleep questioning her ability to change the way things were progressing.

The following days passed by uneventfully.

Victor stopped hunting Luna down, so she could return to studying in the library in peace.

However, Luna believed that his sudden obedience was no mere coincidence. She hired the same private investigator from before and kept up to date with Erica’s activities again.

The reports she received this time were very normal. Nothing stood out. Erica went to classes in the morning, then attended her extracurricular activities or hung out with her friends. Like Desmond, Erica was doing an excellent job at establishing the contacts they may need in the future.

Luna glanced at her laptop and books in front of her. Compared to her siblings, she already had her hands full with just her studies, which defeated the purpose of being in this school. In the first place, she had only gotten in because her parents pulled some strings.

Not wanting to be deadweight, Luna had attempted to network during class and group work. However, it always failed. No matter how many books or videos about social skills and building a presence that she had read and watched, no one paid her much attention. She was just not interesting enough. She was always the initiator. The moment she stopped reaching out, all contact was lost.

/Hm? The window in her classroom broke and she volunteered to manage the issue?/

Although volunteering to take charge of events and matters was a common occurrence in this school, not to mention for Erica, things like classroom maintenance was still considered a menial task that not many would bother about.

The resolution of the window matter took longer than Luna had expected of Erica.

Erica became friends with the person in charge of the school's maintenance and worked together to come up with an innovative design that would increase durability but reduce the costs of making it.

The first product created replaced the broken window that she was in charge of. Then, it will be mass produced to replace all the windows in the school and marketed to the public.

This was another achievement under Erica’s belt and her reputation among her peers soared. Her family, including Luna, was, of course, equally proud of her.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

However, Luna could not shake off the feeling that there was more to this than what meets the eye, which made her feel very guilty towards Erica.

Luna stared at her laptop screen with a faraway look in her eyes.

‘The classroom's just above… It wouldn't hurt to check it out, right? That way I can get it off my chest.’

She packed her belongings and left the library that took up two floors of the recreation building and climbed up to the fourth floor.

After checking that the classroom was empty, she went in.

Her eyes scanned the large room that had canvases, mannequins, and other models placed around the room. Since the report even specified the exact window that had been changed, Luna could easily identify it.

She gently slid her fingers down the glass and across the metal edges, feeling the coolness of the material underneath her fingers. She gripped the bottom then slowly slid it upwards. It moved smoothly and easily.

A cooling breeze blew in and chilled her face.

Upon closer inspection, there was really nothing wrong or out of place with the new window.

‘It really is an appealing design… Did I think too much this time…?’

Yet, the nagging feeling refused to go away.

‘Is this really the end? Did I really cut the string of fate between them? Did I actually derail the plot? It’s just too good to be true...’

While her mind was plagued with thoughts like these, she absentmindedly gazed at the view outside the window. It was facing in the same direction as the window at her favourite corner.

A row of plum blossom trees lined the building. A cobbled footpath led into the well-maintained beautiful garden. The view calmed her down enough for her mind to wander and eventually she thought about the view adjacent to this side.

Luna headed to another window and pushed it outwards. However, it refused to budge. Applying more force did the trick but she did not dare to push it out too much. She did not want to cause a freak accident by forcing it open. So, she went down to the next window.

While she pushed open the other window, the faulty one stayed on her mind and soon turned into paranoia. She looked down and found that the windows were directly above the path leading into this recreation building.

‘What if someone else tries to force it open? I better call for it to get replaced.’

After making the call, she stayed in the room and studied.

When the worker arrived, he began work without acknowledging Luna's presence. Being used to such behaviour, she paid no mind.

Something odd soon attracted Luna's attention, though.

"Hm? It's not the stiffness of the joint? Doesn't seem to have any ru-"

"Excuse me." Luna interrupted his mutterings.

"Yah!" He yelled out in shock. "You- When did you come in?"

"Sorry for scaring you, but I was here all along." She stepped aside and gestured at the laptop on the table. "I was the one that called you."

"Oh… Damn, sorry for not noticing you earlier."

Luna shook her head. "Do you mind taking this window down for me please?"

"Sure, I was about to do that." He continued to talk while he got to work.

"I tried oiling it and tweaking it, and it works fine now, but something about the windowpane seems off. So,” the worker grunted as he took the windowpane in, “Damn, it IS heavy. Heavier than normal. How did this get here in the first place? Do you know how dangerous this is?"

The worker continued to ramble on, but Luna only listened to him half-heartedly.

‘Erica… So, this was what you've been up to…’

She then requested for the windowpane to be replaced immediately with the spares the school had in their storage, then she thanked him for his effort.

After that, she secretly instructed the private investigator to change his target to Rina. "When she approaches the recreational building, notify me IMMEDIATELY."

Unbeknownst to her, there was someone else tailing her the entire time she was investigating.

Lucas's migraine attacks were finally gone with Victor's recent obedience. Victor was even seriously taking his advice to heart. The couple was learning to be more careful so that jealous people could not take advantage of their carefree nature and turn it into their weakness.

Now, only one thing was left on his mind.

Lucas sat at his usual spot in the library staring from the corner of his eyes at the person responsible for the nagging irritation gnawing away at him.

Her words had pushed him down a rabbit hole, and the most recent issue with Victor and Rina made her words stay at the forefront of his mind. He was now compulsively questioning himself and his actions.

‘Why can't I let Rina go? Why can't I leave them alone? I'm sure I can find a way to gain an upper hand with Principal Koo since Victor's an idiot. I'm sure Rina isn't the only girl on earth who’d treat me as an equal. What exactly did Rina do to warrant me having a soft spot for her?’

Yet, no matter how much he tried to fight against his irrational feelings, he always lost. Thinking of himself as a slave to his emotions ticked him off and made him feel like he was a stranger to himself. Every fibre of his being wanted to rebel against it, and this would always bring him back to Luna's words.

His current state felt like an enlightenment that was more of a torture than a blessing. He could not help but wonder if Luna was going through the same thing or if she had found a way to break free from this situation.

As a result of his constant observation, he noticed a new behaviour she had acquired recently. As soon as her phone vibrated, Luna would check it without delay. It was as if she was waiting for some urgent news. Her distracted behaviour piqued his curiosity. He had pegged her as someone with impeccable focus that could rival his.

So, when he saw her leave the library early, his curiosity got the better of him and he ended up tailing her.

Since he was kept abreast of the news in school, he knew of Erica's new achievement and knew that the window Luna was inspecting was the one Erica had designed.

Lucas found it too easy to watch her through the open doorway.

‘I'm not even trying to hide, and she doesn't notice me. She really lacks vigilance. Isn't it dangerous? Her family is still powerful enough for her to warrant some level of caution.’

When he saw her take her laptop out to study, his eyebrows twitched. He felt defeated. While she did not let a moment pass by wastefully, there he was wasting his time on stalking someone.

‘How did I get reduced to this?’

He was about to leave when he caught sight of the maintenance worker coming up the stairs, prompting him to hide in the classroom adjacent to the one Luna was in.

‘... Just a while more.’

Thanks to him staying on, he realised what might have resulted in Luna's lack of vigilance.

‘How did he not see her? She may be quiet, but she's right there.’

Upon having that thought, he experienced a brief moment of deja vu.

‘She’s right there...’

After spending some time trying to understand what this déjà vu was about, he recalled what Erica said before.

“The girl who sits at the other end of your table every day?”

Lucas remembered his response, and his mood dipped. He was no different from the maintenance worker. Luna had always sat at the same table, but he only noticed her recently. Even now, he was not sure how long they had shared the table.

‘How...?’ He had always been attentive to his surroundings.

‘What sort of life must she have led this whole time? To expect and assume that nobody would pay her any notice or attention...’

At that moment, he caught a slight change in Luna’s expression.

‘There is something wrong with the window.’

After the replacement, Lucas secretly inspected the faulty windowpane and realised what was wrong with it.

‘Protecting your sister again? Huh. So, you are caught in this like I am.’

Besides the odd sense of camaraderie, there was also frustration and rage uncontrollably rising from the pits of his stomach at the thought that Erica was still up to no good.

‘God fucking damn it.’ He cursed himself.