They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 560: I'm Hurting Too...

With that thought pressing down on her, Nnenna turned back and walked quietly to her room. Under their anxious gazes, it was all she could do, not argue, not fight, just retreat.

Months slipped by.

Her resolve never left, but the way she approached it changed. If Carl called her reckless, then fine, she had make sure she was not. She redrew her plans, reshaped them, cut away the obvious suicide.

Because of the shock that none of them knew she was doing something stupid while they gave her the space she asked for in those first two months, space was the last thing anyone gave her these past few months. They hovered, pressed, and never let her out of their sight, which made it painfully difficult to work on her plans. But tonight, finally, she finished.

The papers and maps lay neatly stacked, hidden away, her strategy ironed out to the smallest detail.

Nnenna thought she had been careful. She thought no one had noticed. But she underestimated Arthur. He had been watching. Always. And when he realized tonight would mark the start of Nnenna's plan, he acted. Instead of confronting her himself, he sent Ava.

"Nnenna?" Ava's voice broke the stillness a few minutes later.

Silence.

She waited. No reply.

Hesitation flickered across her face before she pushed at the door. It creaked open, it was not locked.

Ava stepped inside, eyes sweeping the room. Nnenna sat at her study desk, head bent over a pile of papers. From a distance it looked like schoolwork.

But Ava was not fooled. The silence, the stiff way her sister's shoulders hunched, the way she did not even glance up, it all screamed otherwise.

Ava's voice wavered, sharp with hurt. "Are you really going through with this? Planning to get yourself killed, and put us through hell, round two?" Nnenna froze. Her pen stilled mid line. For a split second, guilt flashed across her face, shock that they had found out. But just as quickly, she buried it. She said nothing.

The silence between them thickened, heavier than the air itself.

Ava lingered by the doorway, staring at Nnenna hunched over her desk like nothing in the world mattered but those papers. Her chest tightened. She looks so far gone...

"You know Carl is furious, right?" Ava said at last, her voice trembling despite her attempt to keep it steady. "He hasn't spoken to you in months. Aren't you... aren't you going to call him?" She hadn't planned to say it, but desperation pushed her. Nnenna gave no reply. Not a glance, not a twitch. Just silence.

Ava's heart twisted. She clenched her hands, fighting the sting in her chest. Fine. If nothing else could reach her, maybe this would.

"You're not the only one who lost someone you love that day." The words slipped out before Ava could stop them. Words she swore she would never say.

The air in the room froze.

Nnenna's pen stilled mid stroke. Slowly, she turned, her eyes narrowing in shock. What...? Ava's face was pale but firm. "I lost the love of my life that day too." Nnenna's heart skipped. Her breath caught in her throat. Somto? She had to mean Somto. But how? Since when? Why hadn't Ava ever said anything? Questions crashed in her head one after another. All those times Ava stood by her side, all the days she spent with Somto, laughing, learning, arguing... Ava had been there. Watching. Knowing. And still, still she never let it show.

Nnenna stared at her friend, stunned. She never even knew if Somto had felt the sway about her... but Ava? Ava had loved him all this time... and yet she had to watch as Somto spent most of his days with her. Teaching her, laughing with her, arguing with her.

And then it struck, if Carl had figured out her feelings without her ever saying a word, then it must have been obvious. Obvious to everyone. Including Ava.

Her stomach twisted. How hard must it have been? To love him, silently, while watching him give his time, his attention, to someone else. To me. Almost every single day.

Nnenna's throat went dry. So all this time... Ava knew. And she still stayed my friend.

"Was that why you didn't likethe first twe met?" Nnenna's voice broke the silence, low but firm. "How have you been coping, seeingwith him all this while? How did you even get over it?"

Ava blinked, pulled out of her own thoughts. A small, humorless laugh slipped out. "Obviously Who would like their rival? Even then, I could already sense something between you two. So yeah, I didn't like you at first.

Later... it was tough to accept you. But I didn't see why I should chase someone who didn't want me. And I ΟΠΙ didn't see why I should throw away a good friend just because I was jealous." Her lips twisted into something between a smile and a grimace. "I was just starting to get over it, to get over him when... when that happened." Nnenna frowned. "This must have been tough for you."

Then she spoke again "You mentioned that the first twe met something was off between Somto apdh? That can't b be true. Maybe for me, I didn't realize I had feelings for him at the time, but not for him. It was all one sided." "Who said it was?" Ava shot back, softer now, her eyes flickering. She opened her mouth, ready to push further, but froze.

Because suddenly she remembered, she had never actually heard Somto say he loved Nnenna. The signs had been there, sure, but words? Never.

And if she said something she wasn't sure of now, in Nnenna's fragile state... it could do more harm than good.

So she swallowed the thought and forced her expression neutral.

"Maybe it was one sided," Ava said quietly, "but my point is, I'm hurting too...