For Your Failed Unrequited Love

With three people helping her, she was able to quickly find all the coins.

Lucy held out the pouch as Felix’s friends approached her, and they dropped the coins in.

Ting~ Ting~

Her money pouch was filled with the sound of coins clinking.

“Thank you,” Lucy thanked them, blushing.

“Hey, Felix. What are you doing?” One of Felix’s friends called him since he was standing far behind.

Felix was looking down at the coins on his palm as they shimmered over his hand.

But Lucy’s eyes were on his face, hidden in his golden hair.

Well…

Lucy had seen this expression once before, from a boy crouching and wrapping his arms around his knees by the lake.

Why on earth…

Why do you look like that?

“Hey, FELIX!”

Felix looked up, startled out of his trance by his friend’s call. Realizing that everyone was looking at him, he approached Lucy with an awkward look.

He slowly dropped the coins he had picked into her bag.

Ting~ Ting~

The coins cling happily inside the pouch as they all had returned safely into Lucy’s hands.

“Let’s go,” Felix said to his friends.

Before Lucy could thank him, Felix turned around and walked toward the front gate of the Academy. She looked at his back, feeling the weight of the coins in her hand.

She could not forget the sad expression on his face.

* * *

The week started anew.

The spring sunshine leaked through the white silk curtains and illuminated the classroom. Unable to overcome the warm weather and languid sound of Mr. Arkel’s voice, the students who were sitting down started dozing off.

Lucy, who had always sat firmly in the right position and had her eyes wide open, stared at the back of the person in front of her. There was no focus on her gaze, and her pen drew meaningless circles on the notebook.

There was a certain face in her head that kept popping up. 

Someone with long golden hair.

Someone with eyes as blue as a lake.

And someone who still looked sad and lonely…

“Lucy Keenan!”

A shrill voice rang in the quiet classroom, and Lucy suddenly came to her senses.

Mr. Arkel was staring at her with a fierce look.

“You’re not listening, aren’t you? I’ve called you twice to get up and read page 90!”

Lucy stood up in dismay at Mr. Arkel’s scolding. She hurriedly turned the book over to the page he had said. While she was lost in thought, the class had already covered over ten pages.

You’re crazy, Lucy Keenan!

Lucy scolded herself.

I can’t believe I’m losing my mind over this. 

Lucy cleared her throat and began to read. Mr. Arkel still looked at her disapprovingly, but fortunately, he didn’t scold her any more. She soon sat down after she had finished reading page 90.

Wake up!

She pinched her arm hard. So hard that her tears were about to come out.

Don’t think too much and concentrate on your class!

She stared at the blackboard with her eyes wide open.

I’m really not going to think about anything else anymore.

Lucy forced out the face that had been floating in her head and clenched her fists as if she had made up her mind.

Her efforts continued in the library.

After organizing the returned books without a break, Lucy even brought a cloth and wiped the empty table. It was not enough, so she reorganized the positions of the potted plants.

She deliberately trying to get busy to shake off all the thoughts that were floating in her head.

“Lucy, you’re full of energy today, aren’t you?” Adrian said, watching her.

Lucy was surprised as if she had been caught. After a while, she approached Adrian carefully.

“Well…” Lucy hesitated, and Adrian looked at her with a puzzled expression. At lastLucy made up her mind and said, “Is everything okay these days?”

…at Sunbae’s house.

Adrian’s brows knitted at her question. “What’s the matter? Nothing, Why?”

“Nothing.”

Adrian chuckled at Lucy’s bland reply. Just as he turned around, Lucy asked another question.

“Are you feeling sick?”

I mean, someone in Sunbae’s family.

Adrian burst into laughter. “Am I sick? Well, I’m not.” He approached Lucy with a worried look. “You’re a little strange today, Lucy. Why do you keep asking me that?”

Lucy shook her head very hard.

“Nothing!”

She left with a loud shout.

* * *

Even though she didn’t want to think about it, Felix kept coming to her mind, and now Lucy even doubted her own self-control.

Am I a person who can’t concentrate?

It was time to get serious about studying for the exam. It wasn’t the time to be distracted. In order to prepare for the exam and work in the library at the same time, it was necessary to manage her time well.

She thought of her father, mother, and grandmother, even the faces of Baron and Baroness Connor.

It was some form of mind therapy.

By remembering the faces of those who supported and cheered her on to attend the academy, it was a way to erase all the useless thoughts in her head. She kept remembering their faces, and the images of Felix, who always appeared without notice, also calmed down for a while.

“As expected, it works.”

Lucy went on to recall her grandmother, who had been wearing socks many times, and Baron Connor, who only lit one fireplace in the middle of winter. As expected, useless thoughts disappeared at an astonishing speed.

Lucy seemed to be able to concentrate for her examinations now.

If only she hadn’t heard Felix’s voice in the hallway at that time. Lucy stood still. Her head turned naturally toward the sound of his voice.

It wasn’t difficult to find Felix mixed up in the crowd as always. All she have to do is find the most beautiful blond.

He was standing in front of the herbal section and talking about something serious with his friends who were with him yesterday. He looked annoyed.

“Mr. Estrid says he’ll extend the deadline for submitting the Limosium potion. So, by tomorrow afternoon—”

“You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind getting a zero on the assignment.”

“Hey, Felix! You’re only saying this because you don’t know how stubborn the teacher is. I’m sure he’ll fry you until you submit the assignment.”

Felix stubbornly shook his head. “You were the one who broke my vial in the first place, Alec!”

“That’s why you’ve been given the opportunity to submit again.”

“Well, I’m not going to make it twice. I’ll just get a zero.”

They were talking about making a ‘Limosium’ potion, one of the tasks of herbal medicine class.

It seems that his friend accidentally broke the potion that Felix had submitted as an assignment. Felix argued for a long time with his friends who told him to recreate it and submit it as soon as possible, saying that he doesn’t care if he doesn’t receive a score.

That idiot! Lucy cried inwardly at Felix. That medicine is so easy to make!

Lucy had grown up with her grandmother who ran a pharmacy. She could make the drug even with her eyes closed.

It was unusual for a teacher at Xenomium Academy to extend the deadline and accept the assignment again. If it was her, she would have bowed to Mr. Estrid, who had been generous enough to look after her situation.

It’s a medicine that can be made really quickly.

The process of making medicine unfolded naturally in her head. Although there were many ingredients needed, it was relatively easy to obtain, and it did not take much time to make it, different from other drugs.

It was a task that showed Mr. Estrid’s excellence, giving a chance for the students to get high grades easily.

Let me see.

Lucy’s eyes looked out of the window. Yellow dandelions stuck out their heads and bloomed here and there on the wide flower bed. Dandelion was one of the ingredients used in limosium potions.

Lucy, who was thinking of other ingredients with dandelion, suddenly came to her senses. Her startled face was reflected in the window.

Are you crazy? Aren’t you going to study for the exam? Why would you think of making it?

Lucy looked at her face reflected in the window and scolded herself.

Don’t worry about Felix Berg!

Now Lucy was even angry with herself. She thought she’d be a real fool if she make a potion for Felix.

With a  determined face, she moved away from the window and turned around immediately. Then she walked out of to the corridor.

Felix’s voice faded away. She made another promise that she would never think or worry about him again.

* * *

“I’m a fool.” Lucy murmured as lunchtime approached. She was plucking a dandelion from the flower bed.

Her basket already had a handful of dandelion picked from various flower beds.