Chap 10: The victim of love.

Cupid was the one who sat at the back of the class, the perfect position to take a deep sleep without being discovered by the teacher until the end of the class. 

After taking a long nap during math class, Nova would be the one to wake him up when breaktime came. 

But strangely enough, the one who woke him up today was… 

"Heos…" 

"Huh? Why are you so angry? Did I do something wrong?" 

"Uh…uhm!" 

"Hey! That hurts! Why did you kick me in the leg! I'm sorry, ok? Sorry for waking you up, but the other students said you seemed to have been asleep since last semester so..." 

"Shut up." 

"Huh?!" 

"Shut up." 

"Still angry?! I told you…I'm sorry…"

"Shut…up!"

Cupid felt uncomfortable because the first person he saw when he woke up was Heos's face as bright as the sun. So dazzling, so annoying.

"I'm…sorry. I also bought you some melon milk."

Cupid looked down at the carton of milk Heos placed on the table and then looked back at Heos: "I'll let it go this time. What do you need from me?"

"Well…"

"Do you need to go out and talk privately?"

"Okay! Yes I really need that! Thank you very much!!!"

"Uh…so loud…!"

"Sorry…"

Walking down the hallway, Cupid wondered where Nova had gone.

"When you came in to wake me up, Nova wasn't there, was he?"

"Yeah…I didn't see Nova anywhere…"

"Uh…during recess, will those who review for the excellent students be sent to the teacher's office again? But probably not on break time, right?" Cupid tilted his head in confusion as he inserted the straw into his newly given milk carton.

"No, I don't think so. Liu and the other good students in my class still go out to eat like usual."

"Uhm…"

"Why?"

"Nothing." Cupid shook his head. The melon milk was still as delicious as ever. He'd never get tired of drinking it. Even if he drank a whole carton, Cupid could finish it in just a week or two. "Hey, about you…"

"Oh yeah! The more I thought about it, the more confused I get. Can you tell me how you figured out what I wanted? Come on, come on, I'm just a little curious."

"Being too curious isn't a good thing…"

"Oh, come on, Cupid…"

"Uh…just this once." Cupid had nothing else to do so he just stayed here and chatted with Heos for now: "Do you remember when you first approached me?"

"The first time during PE class?"

"Uhm hm. That time, you asked me if I got good grades thanks to Nova, and then when we met again, you asked the same thing."

"That's right… I was a bit…"

"But what you want from me isn't an answer to that, right? Because you suddenly skipped to the matter of Yunne wanting to be friends with Nova."

"But what if I was just curious about Yunne?"

"If you were simply curious about her, then why did you have such a "pale" reaction when I told you about that? Why did you scream as soon as Yunne said she wanted to be friends with Nova? Why? If you wanted to befriend me, why didn't you ask about me, but about other things, every single time…?"

"Because…"

"Because of Nova."

"Wow… it's like seeing a real-life detective show…"

"Detectives are real…what the hell are you talking about?"

"No, what I mean is! Uh! Let's leave that aside for now. Who would have thought you would be so observant…"

"Asking me if Nova helped me raise my score was just a question to get close to me, right? You think that would make me angry enough to tell you everything…? Uh, well…" Cupid nodded, biting his straw: "That's true, it's indeed effective, but you just make me want to kill you and leave your corpse in an abandoned building rather than help you get information from me…"

"So scary!" Heos shook his head and shouted: "So scary! I'm glad I didn't make enemies with you, otherwise, my corpse might have been dragged into the river, you definitely wouldn't do that, right…?"

"…"

"Hey…don't be so quiet, don't look away either! Hey, hey now!"

"…"

"Cupid, we're friends! Hey! You were just threatening me, right?!"

"It depends…"

"Hic!!!"

"So you really like Nova?"

"Straight to the point…! I see…" Heos raised his hand to scratch his head: "Yeah…" After a long silence, he bit his lip and replied: "Well, I kinda…a bit crush on him…I guess…"

"Uhm…then you can do it yourself."

"Huh?"

"You don't need my help."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I only help those who are in need, to save my energy and time…and besides, you don't need to worry, just your own efforts are already enough."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Repay you for a lollipop and two cartons of milk, I'll help you whenever I feel like doing it."

"Hey, that's so mean of you!"

Cupid shrugged, not paying any attention to what Heos said: "Well, I'm not here to be your "angel of love" in the first place, was I? I'm here as Nova friend, that what you want from me so I'll be it. Now listen closely, Nova usually comes to school early, rushes into studying, and even during break unless I personally ask him to go out with me, and on Friday afternoons he often studies in the school library."

"W…why are you…thank you?"

"If you need anything else, just say it, if I can answer it, I will. If you make Nova happy, I'm happy."

"I'm a little curious, I know I'm asking a lot from you but…you seem to be very close to Nova, am I right?"

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Why would you sacrifice your happiness for someone else?"

"…" Cupid frowned: "What…?"

"Just now. The more I think about it, the more I see that you're doing this silly cupid thing for Nova…right? Or am I wrong? Because…you were angry because of Nova, you came to test me to see if I was worthy because of Nova, the people who asked you for help in love…you did it…I was just guessing but…was it because of Nova too?" 

The hallway was deserted, with the midday summer sunlight gradually peeking through the glass window. The darkness covered half of Cupid's face, making it impossible for Heos to see his expression.

"Huh." Cupid's sigh somehow sounded like laughter: "So you do have a brain."

"Hey!" Heos frowned: "Have you teased me enough?!" He was confused because it was a bit rare for someone like Cupid to be able to laugh…or was it just his imagination…

"It's true, I did a lot of things for Nova, but that's because Nova and I have been friends for a long time now…and I don't have many friends at school...Then again that's my business, thank you for your concern. I think you should focus on your school love life and your studies."

"Ah... sorry... I went too far..." Cupid's voice wasn't as cold as before, it sounded... gentle, that was what worried Heos the most. It seemed like he spoke without thinking again...

"Uh." Cupid shrugged, his mouth still biting the straw even though there was no milk left in the milk carton: "So, are you planning on taking any gifted student exams?"

"No..." Heos saw him change the subject so he quickly changed the subject too: "Give me a break, studying advanced math is tiring...!"

"Same. Ah, also, the winter festival is coming up, right?"

"Yeah!" Heos suddenly became excited: "There's a sports festival coming up, you're gonna join in right? See you there, my comrade!"

"Uh...give me a break...!" 

-o- 

"Hello Yunne. How are you? Are you alright?"

"Okay… I guess…"

"Did you meet Nova?"

That afternoon, Cupid realized that Nova seemed to be avoiding him. He kept going somewhere, and he would run away again when class was over.

"Yes, I did see him, I was able to talk to him for a bit but he seemed to be in a hurry…Nova came home earlier than you said, I think."

Handing Yunne a strawberry candy, Cupid looked annoyed: "Sorry… this is likely my fault…Nova seems to be avoiding me." He didn't know if he had gone to Cupid's house to cook before going home, but Cupid only found out now if he was home. His mother and brother both came home late, so there was no one home to ask if Nova was there: "Well, I'll give him some space for now."

"Are you two fighting?"

"Well…I accidentally asked about something I shouldn't have…"

"Ah…" Yunne then encouraged Cupid: "That's okay! I also have a close friend who gets angry with me a lot!" but then Yunne shrugged: "But part of it is because she's shy and doesn't like to express her true feelings…"

Is Nova…like that too? Cupid wondered. Was he gentle at school because this was a place for studying, so he didn't like to express his feelings, or was it because Nova and Cupid were close friends that Nova treated him differently?

He didn't know either…

"Do you and that friend get angry with each other a lot?"

"Huh?" Yunne thought for a long time: "I don't know either…because sometimes she just goes "hm!", "hm!" and wouldn't talk if I asked her the question she disliked… I was so scared at that time, like, I wondered if she was angry with me or if I just touched her bad heart…"

"Uh… everyone has their unique personality huh…"

"So Nova is different?" Yunne realized that she asked too much so she quickly shook her head and said: "Sorry, I didn't mean anything, I was just wondering because I heard that you and Nova are very close friends…so…"

"I know what you mean…about Nova…Nova will…" Now that he thought about it, he realized that Nova was also a person who liked to hide many things: "Whatever he hates…it depends, if that hate is "forced" like eating carrots, he will grit his teeth and eat it, but if it's not forced…I don't know about it in front of everyone but he's quite violent when he's with me."

"Hahaha…"

"Why are you laughing?"

"Nova put together with the word "violence" sounds quite strange. I…I mean, Nova looks pretty gentle at school…so…"

"I get what you mean."

Nodding, Cupid felt that it was time to go home…

"Hey, Yunne."

"Yes?"

"If the person you like…likes someone else, would you…feel sad about it?"

"I…well…if that person likes someone else…" Yunne was embarrassed, looking back and forth, looking at Cupid then looking down at her hands that were clasped together: "Uh…well…at first I said I wanted Cupid to help me get closer to Nova. I didn't know if my feelings were really that deep, but…if Nova liked someone else…I would be a little sad."

"Oh…"

"Well…If it has come to that then I have to endure it. Nova being happy makes…me happy too."

"..." Cupid gently raised his hand and patted Yunne's back: "Sorry… I cross the line…"

"It's okay! It's all fine…" Yunne quickly shook her head: "Since it's love, you have to endure it. If you can't conquer it…if love is that easy to come by, then it is not true love anymore! Right…?"

"Uhm…"

I envy you, Yunne, you're so persistent…although Cupid's a bit sad about what will happen later, Cupid promised that if Yunne didn't find out that Nova liked someone else, he would be the one to tell Yunne about it…

Or should he not…should he let Yunne continue with this blind love…

"I'm going home. Good luck in your love life, Yunne."

"Okay, thank you very much. See you later, Cupid!"

Oh…love…what a disastrous recipe for life…

Cupid had hoped that he would not be involved in such things anymore…but who would have thought…

Taking a deep breath and then sighing, he wondered why others were infatuated with love while he has to play the victim, being crushed by its pressure.