"I never thought..."
"...I'd hurt Xin Xin."
She really hadn't thought it would happen.
When she saw blood trickling through the gaps between Chu Kexin's fingers as she covered her face, her mind went completely blank.
Zhao Ke and the others were shouting loudly.
Their voices were clearly loud, yet to her, they sounded as if they were coming through a veil.
They faded in and out.
Like a radio signal with a bad connection.
But she could hear the anger, surprise, and... fear in their voices.
Looking back, perhaps she was the one who'd been afraid.
She'd hurt Xin Xin.
She'd hurt Xin Xin's face.
The most important thing to a girl...
In her panic and helplessness, she'd chosen to run away.
She'd fled the dance studio.
Ignoring Zhao Ke and the others shouting after her.
Anna smiled wryly.
"At the time, I guess I just acted on impulse and ran away without thinking."
But because she'd run away then... "I didn't have the nerve to go back afterward."
Anna reached up and rubbed her forehead.
She didn't have the nerve to face Zhao Ke and the others.
Most of all, she didn't have the nerve to face Chu Kexin.
She could already guess what Zhao Ke and the others would say about her running away.
She'd secretly gone to the school.
Hiding behind a big tree outside the grounds.
She wanted to know how badly Chu Kexin had been hurt.
She saw Zhao Ke and the others.
But she waited several days and still didn't see Chu Kexin.
She grew more and more uneasy.
Was Xin Xin badly hurt?
Without realizing it, the taste of blood spread through her mouth.
Then a sharp pain shot through her nerves.
It hurt!
Only then did she