Sixteen

CHAPTER 16

Alicia skulked around like a thief. She followed Amanda's trail in secret, like a secret agent. Every now and then Alicia looked around, worried if anyone else had seen her behaving in such an unusual way.

So far, Alicia saw that Amanda was indeed going to the toilet. The girl had covered her clothes with a denim jacket, so she was conspicuous. The direction Amanda was walking was indeed to the public restroom in the dormitory. But from her walking position, Alicia could see that Amanda was busy playing with the cell phone in her hand. Every now and then Amanda looked down, looked at the phone screen, and then refocused on the road in front of her. Was Amanda texting someone?

Alicia was still walking behind Amanda with careful steps, when Amanda suddenly stopped.

Amanda let out a long breath, then put the cell phone in her jacket pocket. Alicia tried to hide out of sight, but her movements were too slow. Amanda turned around and raised one eyebrow as she looked at Alicia's panicked face. "What are you looking for, Alicia?" she asked to the point. "You followed me, didn't you?"

Suddenly, Alicia who had been following her turned nervous. Alicia was stunned. She didn't expect Amanda to notice her movements this quickly. Amanda would either misunderstand, thinking that Alicia was going to do something bad to her, or Amanda would think that Alicia was the real stalker.

Alicia cleared her throat and stuffed her hands into her skirt pockets before finally saying, "I, I'm going to..." Alicia suddenly realized something. "Hey! How do you know my name? We don't even know each other yet."

Alicia's high voice instantly echoed in the empty main hallway. There were only the two of them there. Their distance, estimated to be less than a meter, did not prevent Alicia from seeing Amanda's flat face that implied dislike with both hands folded on her chest. Amanda didn't seem to care about Alicia's question, she gave a short snort and spoke up again,

"What are you following me for?" Amanda changed the subject. She asked the question first, it should have been answered first.

Alicia shook her head quickly, she tried to refute. "I'm not following you. I'm just going to the restroom." Alicia pointed ahead. "The restroom is over there, isn't it?"

Amanda raised one eyebrow. "It turns out Elena was right," then smiled wryly. "You're a threat."

"What do you mean?" not accepting being labeled a threat so clearly by Amanda, Alicia inched closer and stared intently at her. "What do you mean by a threat? I'm not a criminal or anything like that, you can't just pass judgment like that!"

"Being a new student who is suddenly close to a detective and the son of the dormitory owner." Amanda chuckled in annoyance. "You think you're good, huh?!"

Alicia rounded her eyes. Now she realized that there were many things she didn't know in this dormitory. And the fact that Amanda was antipathetic to her was due to jealousy. Amanda didn't shy away for fear of being caught as the perpetrator. But is Amanda not James' killer?

"I didn't intend to," Alicia muttered. She looked away for a moment, then back at Amanda who was still staring at her. "Besides, I don't care about love affairs. There's something more important here."

"Do you know how much effort I put into getting close to Ace! I was even willing to lower my self-esteem just to sit at the same table with him!" Amanda said in a half-squeal. She then chuckled scornfully. "But you suddenly came and caught his attention that easily. You don't even care you say, do you feel so great now?" Amanda began to shed tears, "ARE YOU HAPPY BECAUSE YOUR COMPANION, ELENA, IS GONE NOW?!" Amanda laughed bitterly. "In this world, we will always be inferior to those with perfect physiques. Isn't it?"

Alicia shook her head weakly. "But you don't have any physical defects either," she said, trying to calm Amanda down. "I don't understand why you have to be this angry just because I'm close to Ace."

Amanda spluttered. "You'll never understand if you don't feel it." she then turned around, her back to Alicia's frowning face. "You'll never know what it's like to lose twice to the same person, will you?"

Eh? Twice? What does that mean?

The brunette girl was then about to walk away from the hallway. Until quickly, Alicia's voice managed to prevent her from taking a step. "Greenie!"

Amanda froze when she heard Alicia call her by her last name, she stood up without turning her body to Alicia.

Then, Alicia continued, "Have we met before?"

While behind her body, Amanda gave a small grin and shook her head. This made Alicia feel even stranger about it. "But you said... Twice?" Alicia said half forcefully. "This is the first time I've met you, why are you saying it as if it's our next time?"

Amanda said, "Try to improve your memory, Alicia. Maybe you'll find the answer," she said flatly, then her sneaker-clad feet took a step forward and stopped again. "Ah, yes, don't call me that again. I don't like the Greenie after my name." Amanda cleared her throat softly. "It reminds me of someone from the past."

Amanda then stepped away from him in the main hallway. Lost in thought alone. Wrapped in her own thoughts. How could Amanda know about my memory problems, Alicia wondered. Even she has been going through this difficult time for years after the incident. Amanda must know something.

Alicia muttered, "How did she know about my memory problems?" and looked at the CCTV in the corner of the hallway for a long time.

Until suddenly, a thought occurred to her because of the CCTV camera. "No - no, that mysterious messenger is watching me? Then spreading my personal data to people who consider me a threat? Damn it!" Alicia said to herself.

She then turned around, looked at the gazled floor that had witnessed James' death two days ago and said,

.

.

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"I'll find you soon, asshole!"