章 11: Love him or Hate him?

Mary Kleine's POV

"Mom, I am bored."

"If you are getting bored, why don't you go and go to the park that we saw on our way?"

My mom told me, and she kept unpacking the boxes and placing the furniture in its place with her magic.

Six months after my father's death and my declaration to complete his dream,we left our hometown.

Since there was nothing left there for us, we shifted to the city of 'Sephra," where my mother used to live when she was young and work as an adventurer.

"Though she still looks young,"

Mom's going to open a flower shop here, and I am going to focus on my swordsmanship. Though I can't hold a sword until I turn eight years old.

"Then I am going to the park."

"Take care, sweetheart, and come back till dinner time."

After getting out of the house, I immediately ran towards the park that I saw while coming here.

Soon I arrived at the entrance of the park and looked around. The park was small, with a couple of slides and swings in it and a bench at the end of the park.

So I looked around.

Then I saw a boy sitting on the swing; he had been looking at me from the moment I entered the park.

I walked towards the boy, and his face turned red as soon as I got close to him.

I got near him, and the moment I looked him in the face, I felt my face grow hot because what I saw was a round face with pale white skin and dark hair.

But the most striking feature of his face were the pair of his golden eyes, which were so beautiful and attractive, and with them he stared deeply at me.

"So pretty"

"Hmmm"

I involuntarily uttered these words and immediately regretted it.

I can feel my face getting hot due to embarrassment, but he didn't hear what I said, so I tried to cover it up by saying he was hearing things.

Then I took a breath and said,

"Hey, can I play swing?"

I asked in a slightly hesitating tone and waited for him to respond, but he didn't answer, so I asked again.

"No?"

Still, he didn't answer, so I began to leave the place.

"Hey, don't go; you can play here."

But the boy stopped, and after saying this, he got off the swing and gave his spot to me.

" Really! Thank you!"

"O-oh, no, that's fine."

I thanked him, hopped onto the swing, and started swinging back and forth.

After some time, I got off the swing and looked around.

"He left?'

I didn't' know why I was so upset when the boy left.

After that, I walked back home since it was time for dinner.

When I entered the house and looked around, all the furniture and things were placed perfectly.

Then mom walked out of the room, saying,

"Ah Mary, did you have fun in the park?"

" Yeah"

"Why are you upset?"

I told her about what happened in the park and how I met this pretty girl, to which she sighed and told me not to worry about it.

"Why are you getting ready? Are you going somewhere?"

"Ah, that's right, we are going out to meet some of my old friends and former colleagues. Mary should also get ready."

"Your colleagues? Are you talking about your former party members?"

"Yes, sweety, so get ready; we have to get there quickly."

"Fine."

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Now we are standing in front of a two-story house, which seemed pretty normal to me.

Mom walked to the door and pressed the doorbell.

Creak.

After a few seconds, a beautiful lady opened the front door. She was gorgeous, and she had long, dark, shiny hair that reached up to her waist and was tied in a braid. Her hair kind of reminds me of the boy I met today.

" Surprise!"

" Whoa!"

Suddenly, my mom jumped onto the lady and hugged her tightly, totally surprising the latter one.

"What's happening, Ros-Marily?"

"Long time no see, Chris."

After that, a red-haired man came to us and halted in the corridor when he saw Mom waving at him.

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After that, we came inside the house.

The house was normal from the inside and had a calm atmosphere.

My mom was chatting with her friends; they are my mother's only friends and certainly very sweet people.

"Where is your son?"

"Ruu is upstairs in his room; wait a minute, I'll call him."

Then Mrs. Rose got up from her chair and

"Ruu sweety, come downstairs; there are some guests here to meet you."

"So their son's name is Ruu.'

Then, after a minute, something unexpected happened.

Because the one who entered the room was the same boy that I met at the park.

When he entered, he also noticed me and

"You are the same girl from a while ago, right?"

When I saw him again, I asked him the question that had been on my mind since this afternoon.

"Yes, and my name is not ' the girl," it's Mary Kleine. Also, why did you leave the park without telling me?"

I said it grumpily because I was upset at him for leaving me alone in the park.

"Mary, do you know Ren?"

"Didn't I tell you how I met a pretty boy in the park?"

"What about that?"

"He is the one I met in the park."

I answered Mom and turned towards the boy, whom my mother called Ren.

"Pretty boy? who?"

When Ren asked this question, everyone in the room looked towards him and sighed in unison.

"He is not even aware that he is pretty."

"So Ren was the same boy you met in the park, right, sweety?"

"Yes, mom, he is the same guy."

"Mom? Isn't she your elder sister?"

Again, everyone inside the room looked towards Ren, but this time his parents burst into laughter.

"Chris Rose, you raised your son perfectly; he is a gentleman."

mom said while her eyes sparked from getting praised and being called young.

"No, Ren isn't always like this, and it's also your fault for looking so young at this age."

Mrs. Rose told me that her son's behaviour is not always like this and also praised my mom, albeit teasingly.

Then my mom introduced herself and explained her relationship with Ren's parents.

"But I didn't expect Mary to meet Ren even before me."

"Mom, that's not important. Hey Ren, why did you leave without telling me?"

I demanded an answer from him since I wanted to know the reason why he left me alone in the park.

" I was embarrassed to talk to you."

Now every single pair of eyes in the room turned towards Ren.

"And why is that?"

I asked again since I wanted a proper answer, but Ren went silent all of a sudden.

"Hey, don't just stand there and answer me."

"Mary, please stop now; you are scaring him."

"I am not scaring him; I am just asking a question."

Mother didn't understand how frustrated I was because of Ren's silence.

"Because you are too cute."

Saying this, Ren ran back to his room on the second floor.

After that, the room was full of chatter and gossip, but my world had now stopped.

"Am I cute?"

Some sort of odd feeling was growing inside my heart.

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Three years later.

"The winner is Adam Stales."

Applause*

Everyone in the arena was clapping for the blond-haired boy, who was holding the tip of his sword on my neck with water spears hovering over him.

His name is Adam Stales, and he is a commoner just like me. Adam is an excellent swordsman since he defeated me without even sweating.

And he also has the same elemental magic as me.

' water'.

Adam slowly lowered his sword and gave me a hand to stand up since I was sitting on my buttocks.

"Next time, I'll defeat you."

"You'll have to join the imperial academy to fight me again."

"So you're going to the academy?"

" Yes"

"Then wait for me; I'll get my revenge there."

"That's cool."

After that, he walked towards the stage without even looking back at me.

"At least say goodbye, dummy."

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A year later.

It's been a year since I was defeated by Adam.

After that, I always practised my techniques and tried to improve myself.

"Hey, stop practising now and eat something."

"I think you are right."

Ruu called me for dinner.

Yep, my swordsmanship isn't the only thing that improved; my relationship with Ruu also changed drastically.

Now Ruu is my best friend and my only friend.

Since I never engage with other kids around me, only Ren is my friend.

And during this time, I've noticed some things about Ruu.

The first is that he gets jealous of me if I talk to any boy or talk about Adam in front of him.

The second is that Ruu is adorable when he gets jealous.

The third and most important is that Ruu is in love with me.

.....

"Mary Kleine, I love you!"

Thump .

I fell backwards from the swing because I was too shocked by Ruu's sudden confession.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I-I mean, from the first time we met in this park till today, I always loved you, not as a friend but as a girl, so-s," Ren kept fumbling.

"St-stop, just give me some time." I was overwhelmed by the sudden confession.

"Huh?" Ren gasped.

"So you are telling me that you love me and you want to marry me?" I confirmed.

"Yes," Ren agreed.

Ruu answered with a straight face, but suddenly, for a second, Adam's face flashed through my mind.

"Ruu, I am so sorry, but I can't accept this confession." I rejected him, and I still don't know why those words stabbed my heart.

"Why do you not like me?" Ren asked, and he looked like he was tearing up.

"It's not that; I see you as a good friend and think you are cute when you get jealous about me, but I don't think I like you in that way. So I am sorry." I explained, but with every sentence, it felt like I was lying to him.

"What am I even saying?" I thought. I didn't know what I was saying.

"Fine." Ren gave me a defeated smile.

"You are fine with it?" I was shocked and a little disappointed when Ruu accepted my decision so easily.

"Offcourse not! "But now you know my feelings for you, so I can do something about it," Ren said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, but I was not getting the point, so I asked again.

Then Ruu took a deep breath and

"Mary Kleine, I Ren Hilton will make you fall in love with me," said Ruu, running out of the park at full speed without looking back at me. leaving me there in the park again, like he did when we first met here and when he called me cute in front of his parents.

Chuckle.

When Ruu declared that he wouldn't stop here, I, for some reason, felt reassured in her heart.

'dummy ~'

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Five years later.

I am sitting in a tavern, and in front of me sits a boy with long, unkempt, dark hair that covers his face and eyes, so I wasn't able to see his expressions.

"So what is this about?"

I asked him while trying to keep my voice as cold as possible.

"Don't be like that, Mary; we know each other from our childhood, and you are my fiance, so it's natural for me to bring you out on a date."

"Ren Hilton, I am not your fiance, and we aren't engaged in the first place; that was just a verbal promise between our parents."

The boy in front of me went silent and looked down at the table.

Yes, he is my former childhood friend and my best friend, Ren Hilton.

So many things have changed in the last five years, and one of them is my relationship with Ren.

After the declaration that Ren made about five years ago. He tried every single way to woo me, but I rejected him in every way possible. The reason behind this was simple.

I had to focus on my swordsmanship and my goal.

So after these countless rejections, Ren began to change. He somehow became a stalker of me and annoyed me with his petty confessions every day.

Then, to keep Ren in check, I tended to be harsh with my words and actions.

So whenever Ren confessed to me, I compared him with Adam, who is my rival and the biggest source of jealousy for Ren.

Unlike Adam, Ren is an average person with nothing special or worthy. Whenever Ren made an achievement, in the back of my mind, I subconsciously compared it to Adam's.

But it didn't work; it had the opposite effect, and Ren increased his efforts to pursue me, which made me hate him to the fullest.

After a few seconds of silence, Ren opened his mouth.

"It's because of that blonde douchebag, right?" He said.

" What?" I don't know who he is talking about.

"Yeah, that's definitely it; you like him, right? That's why you always reject me. Why do you like that asshole so much just because he has the same elemental magic as you or because he is a little cooler than me?" Ren kept going on with insults.

After that, Ren just kept blabbering and insulting Adam. And I can't see him cursing at my rival.

"What qualifications do you have to talk like that about Adam?" I was frustrated.

* Slap*

'Sh*t.' I slapped him. When Ren just kept blabbering on and on about Adam, I just couldn't let it slide, so I just slapped him right in the face.

Now he is looking at me with a dumbfounded expression plastered all over his face.

"Ah, I regret it." Yes, I regretted slapping Ren, but when he demeaned my one and only rival, I just couldn't keep quiet about it.

"Why do you keep following me? I told you that I am not your fiance." I put on a hateful expression, and I hate myself for doing this.

But since I slapped him, I was too scared to apologise, so I changed the topic to our engagement.

"And our engagement is something our parents decided on their own."

I took a breath and said,

"I refuse to accept their decision, and that-"

And then.

"Shit fu*k ahhaaaaaaaaaa"

Then suddenly, Ren grabbed his head and started screaming and rolling all over the floor.

' I didn't think he would react like this.'

Then, after a few minutes, Ren got up while holding the chair and looked at me like she was expecting something.

I got up from my chair.

"Looks like you've finally gone crazy. Well, I don't care, but do you understand what I told you?" I spat.

"Huh," he said, looking at me listlessly.

"Haa, I think he doesn't understand a thing." Ren was looking at me stupidly.

So I made myself clear.

"I said that you should stop bothering me and don't ever show me your face again."

Ren immediately opened his mouth and

"Fine," he said.

"I knew it; you won't accept. Huh? What did you say?" Since I couldn't believe what he said, I asked him to repeat it.

"Fine," he repeated himself.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No" is another immediate response.

"So you are saying that you won't follow me and irritate me, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," "Ren agreed. I don't know how to feel about that.

"you fine?" Ren asked me since I went silent all of a sudden.

" promise"

"What?"

"Promise me that you won't trouble me anymore." I can't believe this guy, so I asked him for a promise.

"Oh, that's fine. I promise that I won't trouble you any more than this." Ren said it in a crystal-clear voice.

"I don't believe you; I know you won't keep your word and behave like a disgusting creature again."

Yep, I can't believe him because after a few days he'll be back to his old ways, so I left the tavern while cussing at him.

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At Mary's home.

"How was your date with Ruu?"

"As usual, and why do you keep calling him by his nickname?"

When mom asked me about Ren, I told her that nothing happened different from usual but excluded the whole thing about slapping him in the face.

Because mom would probably kill me if she knew that I harmed her 'Ruu '.

Then I went to my room and laid on my bed.

I have this guilty feeling inside me whenever I say something bad to Ren.

But it's also his fault for being so clingy and creepy.

Then suddenly, one thought popped into my mind.

"What I should do after defeating Adam"

When I thought this, suddenly Ren's smiling face appeared in front of me.

Thump.

My heart thumps whenever I imagine Ren smiling at me.

I have this dream that when I become the strongest swordsman in the Garv kingdom, I will achieve my father's dream and defeat Adam Stales. I will accept Ren's proposal, maybe even marry him, but until then, I have to keep rejecting him.

I don't want any disturbance in my training, and I am damn sure that he is not going to leave me because of these petty fights.

"Because he loves me.'

I am going to the Imperial Academy after a month, so I don't have to meet Ren for a year, and I can improve my skills there and defeat Adam.

Ren is also going to apply there next year, but we would be in a different academic year since Ren is a year younger than me.

Anyway, I have to think about how I am going to avoid Ren in this last month.