Chapter 34

“Just because.”

Utterly defeated by Theo, who always paid back exactly what he was dealt, I petulantly turned my head straight forward out of spite.

But right then, a girl entered my line of sight.

She was a kid with brown hair that bounced at her shoulders, coy eyes, and adorable features.

I fixed my gaze on her for a moment.

I thought I knew most of the kids in the orphanage, but despite her rather distinct appearance, I couldn’t recall who she was at all. It seemed she was a recent arrival.

“……”

The girl was conspicuously sneaking glances over to where Theo and I were.

‘Does she have something to say?’

If she kept looking because of Theo’s appearance, I would have immediately engaged her in a staring contest.

But there were no negative emotions in her eyes whatsoever.

Rather, her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Unable to just ignore someone acting suspiciously, I made eye contact with her and mouthed.

“What is it?”

“……!”

At that, the girl startled, her eyes widening as she pointed a finger at herself.

It meant, “Are you talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?”

She must have thought I wouldn’t notice her staring.

Nodding, I mouthed to her once again.

“Come here.”

Judging by her expression, she definitely had business over here. If she was hesitating out of shyness, I was even willing to walk over to her myself.

Just as I was about to get up from my seat, the girl briskly walked over and stopped in front of Theo and me.

“Hi. I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Iris.”

“I’m Grace.”

Grace introduced herself with a picture-perfect smile.

It wasn’t really my place to say, considering I had a name just as flashy as hers, but it was quite a classy name for a kid living in an orphanage.

“Nice to meet you. This next to me is Theo.”

When I tapped Theo with my hand, only then did he lift his head and turn his gaze toward Grace.

“Hi, Theo!”

Theo just nodded without a word.

He didn’t seem particularly interested in Grace. Grace, however, seemed to be the exact opposite.

Looking at Grace’s eyes fixed on Theo, I became certain.

The person Grace had been sneaking glances at all this time wasn’t ‘us,’ but ‘Theo.’

Seeing her unable to tear her gaze away and just staring intently at him, it seemed Grace had quite a bit of interest in Theo.

But since when?

I tilted my head in confusion. I had no memory of seeing Grace before today.

Since I was with Theo most of the time, I would have quickly noticed a gaze like that.

I tilted my head to the side and observed Grace’s expression.

‘Does she genuinely want to get close to him? Doesn’t she know the rumors about him being a devil?’

Certainly, there were no emotions other than gladness visible on Grace’s face.

‘Is she just a kid without prejudice?’

Otherwise, she might just be excited to have found a friend she liked for the first time since arriving at the orphanage.

If that was the case, there was no reason to be wary.

Still, I had never even imagined a girl approaching him like this, so I was a bit surprised.

But it wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was a good thing.

‘Is it… a good thing?’

I set aside the thought that ended in a question mark and spoke to Grace.

“It looks like you have something to say to us… or rather, to Theo.”

At the phrase ‘something to say,’ Theo’s head turned back to Grace.

Theo seemed ever so slightly wary of her, but perhaps because he had mellowed out lately, he didn’t show it outwardly.

Grace’s face lit up at my words, and she spoke boldly to me.

“Yeah. Could you give us a minute?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah…”

Give… them a minute?

I was inwardly shocked, but I didn’t let it show.

Feigning nonchalance, I patted Theo’s shoulder and told him to chat with Grace for a bit.

“Thanks.”

Looking at the brightly smiling Grace, I awkwardly got up from my seat and started walking.

Once I reached a spot where I couldn’t hear their conversation, I stood there staring blankly at the two of them.

‘What is this…?’

Something felt strange. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but it felt uncomfortable.

I grabbed my hair and fell deep into thought, as if I had drifted into another world by myself. And I pondered.

About this inexplicable discomfort crawling inside me.

‘What on earth is this feeling?’

It looked like Theo was going to make a friend.

If so, I should be happy. Because I was the one who cheered for Theo’s social life more than anyone, and it was my duty to do so.

But what in the world was this unfathomable anxiety, or sense of alienation?

I nervously tapped my foot in place, agonizing seriously.

Was I just immature? Or had I unknowingly started treating Theo like my possession?

Whichever it was, no, whatever the case, it was the worst. These were clearly feelings I shouldn’t be experiencing.

Facing the ugly emotions hidden inside me head-on, I couldn’t bear the vivid yet unfamiliar feeling and fell into despair.

‘Was I really a person of this caliber?’

To think I was this awful…

Feeling somehow wronged, I turned my head toward Theo and Grace.

At some point, Grace had taken the seat next to Theo where I had been sitting and was talking to him.

Seeing that sight, I felt that prickling discomfort in my chest once again.

I shook my head hard to shake off the feeling.

‘To feel this way towards eleven-year-olds…’

Even I found it ridiculous. I’m not a kid…

But it was impossible to simply ignore even these petty feelings.

My past life memories were telling me to stop being childish, but my eleven-year-old self was screaming that I couldn’t help it.

‘Is this what they call an identity clash or something?’

It was as if my past life memories and my present self were fighting each other.

As I was lost in this confusion, someone lightly tapped my shoulder.

I turned my head with the same serious expression and looked at the person who called me.

“What are you doing here, Iris?”

I came face-to-face with Evelyn, who had a question mark written all over her face.

“Oh, it’s Evelyn.”

“Iris, it’s my first time seeing you make such a scary face.”

Evelyn also furrowed her brow and asked me.

“Is something wrong? Theo isn’t by your side today?”

“Yeah. Theo is over there…”

Evelyn’s gaze darted toward where I was pointing.

Then she froze. Like someone who had just discovered a bomb, she grabbed me and started shaking me.

“What is going on here!”

“Wait, why are you reacting like…!”

I was helplessly grabbed by the collar and shaken back and forth by Evelyn.

“What do you mean why! Theo is with another girl!”

“So what?”

As if there was some reason why that shouldn’t happen, Evelyn beat her chest as if frustrated to death looking at me.

“You and Theo are an official couple! Why is she suddenly wedging herself in!”

“…….”

Wh- what couple?

I felt my consciousness fade for a moment, experiencing a dizzying spell of vertigo.

The bold naming sense of eleven-year-olds made my head spin.

It was a similar feeling to when I heard the nickname ‘Angel’ spoken out loud.

“Of, official…”

That was a preposterous word I couldn’t bear to say out loud myself.

Ultimately giving up on vocalizing it, I said, “When on earth did that ‘official’ thing happen? Why would Theo and I…”

Of course, it was true that Theo and I were always stuck together.

But strictly speaking, Theo and I were best friends, in a relationship more akin to a mother and son.

I took care of Theo, and Theo relied on me and followed me well.

“‘Why would Theo and you’, you ask?”

Evelyn sighed and rummaged around before pulling out her notepad.

She doesn’t even have pockets, so where does she keep pulling that out from?

I watched what Evelyn was doing, thinking of a certain blue robot that loves crossing its arms.

“Now, listen.”

Opening the page confidently, Evelyn began reading down the contents she had written.

“Iris, you introduced Theo in front of the orphanage kids, and since then Theo hasn’t left your side for a single moment, right? You two go everywhere together, plus Theo only smiles at you, only listens to you…!”

“What about it.”

That behavior from Theo was nothing more than wanting to lean on the first person to ever be on his side.

Theo had held onto me and talked about getting married or becoming family, but I didn’t consider that romantic affection.

‘It’s just an obsession with not wanting to lose his one and only friend. That feeling went a bit overboard, so those words came out.’

At my unimpressed reaction, Evelyn slapped her palm against her forehead.

I flinched at the sharp, clear smack.

“Iris, I’ve told you before, but we aren’t kids anymore. There’s a meaning behind all these actions.”

It was a rather perplexing thing to hear from an eleven-year-old pipsqueak.

To empathize with Evelyn’s feelings, I briefly recalled my time as an elementary school student in my past life.

At eleven years old, you’d be in 4th grade. Kids would often tease others about who liked whom, and there were quite a few kids who went around holding hands.

‘Like Evelyn said, have I been thinking of them too much as children?’