At the instant she heard the voice, Dairya halted her steps and looked to her left, where she went daily—"Mr. Pillay’s grocery store."
In that mont, her eyes saw nothing but the entrance to the grocery store. She stared blankly, allowing passersby to walk past her and then disappear at the end of the street.
She rembered every morning and every afternoon before this, each ti she passed by here, she could see Mr. Pillay busy inside or outside greeting students headed to school. But in recent days, he had rarely appeared, including today, and today, he hadn’t shown up as expected.
Disappointed? She sowhat denied it. She wasn’t entirely disappointed; recalling Mr. Pillay’s condition yesterday, she felt more worried. He didn’t completely abandon his promise to her; he was also fulfilling his commitnt to her, but because of this, he had paid a price.
Helplessly, she glanced back at the path she ca, with a bitterness in her heart she didn’t know whom to share with. Was it regret?
Perhaps she should have told Mr. Pillay sooner; more than her absurd fantasies, she wished those who cared about her in this world could live well.
What a pity...
Her fists slowly clenched, and suddenly she tasted what hating oneself felt like.
She hated that she hadn’t grown enough; how she wished to grow up quickly, so she wouldn’t need others’ help and could courageously show concern for those who loved her.
Shifting her gaze back, she looked ahead again. In that mont, she abandoned her preconceived path, pushed aside the railing in front of her, and walked to the small garden. Hesitant at the door, she finally knocked.
Knock knock knock~
"Mr. Pillay..." she called inside, but there was no response, as she expected. She didn’t give up, nor did she keep knocking; she simply sat on the steps in front of the door, waiting slowly for the result like yesterday, like the day before, using the simplest way. More than disappointnt, she hoped in her heart.
For the sake of this hope, she was willing to invest all her ti here!
Watching the pedestrians coming and going on the street in front of her, looking at the fallen leaves blown to the ground and soaked by water, she unknowingly ca to like this feeling—sitting here alone, waiting for one person’s appearance.
Her heart was calm, but as ti passed, children her age beca fewer on the street. She knew if she didn’t move now, she’d be late, but she didn’t get up. To her, this ti belonged to herself; she didn’t want anything else to take it away.
But it didn’t last long. Soon, a pair of brown exquisite leather shoes appeared before her eyes. She looked up; it was a woman with long golden hair but an exhausted face, soone she recognized, making her freeze.
The other frowned, looking down at her and, after a while, called her na.
"Dairya?"
"Hmm?..."
Her voice brought Dairya back to her senses but also into a panic.
"Teacher Ellie... I..."
"What are you still doing here? Don’t you know you’re almost late? Co with to school!"
Teacher Ellie seed not to have slept well, her face showing exhaustion, her tone was breathless as she spoke. After waving to Dairya, she walked out of the small garden, and after a mont of struggle on her face, she ultimately got up and followed.
"Let’s go." Teacher Ellie called, then walked ahead, while Dairya followed with her head down.
Everyone today, their condition didn’t seem good. They moved listlessly towards their destinations, no one making a sound. This atmosphere pressured Dairya, making her uncomfortable. Several tis she wanted to say sothing to Teacher Emmy walking in front of her but ultimately said nothing.
Thus, under Teacher Ellie’s lead, she entered the school, arriving at the classroom door. When she opened the door, the teacher was already lecturing inside. His voice compared to yesterday even carried obvious fatigue. When Dairya just pushed the door open, he paused in his lecture, looked at her, and she thought he would scold her for being late. Unexpectedly, he said nothing, rely waved her to her seat with a gesture that felt indescribably chanical.
Dairya was sowhat stunned; she didn’t know why but felt sothing in this world was rapidly dissipating. She even saw the withering leaves outside losing color!
However, she wasn’t afraid. Perhaps, to her, the world had always been like this.
After the teacher on the podium looked away, she lowered her head and walked in. Her seat was the one in the fourth row by the window. Today’s teacher’s voice was like countless familiar monts before, a "buzzing" sound in her ears like mosquitoes, annoying her greatly, unable to pique any interest.
She looked at her textbook, the neatly arranged words appeared so blurry in her eyes. Her mind was heavy, yearning to quickly end this tedious class, to hurry ho!
But just waiting for ti to pass idly was dull. She rembered in the past, in such monts, she’d look out the window at the blue sky and birds, occasionally hearing their sounds, but today the weather was gloomy. She saw no birds, only fallen leaves in succession, like the desolation of late autumn, finding nothing that could be called "beautiful," the only direct feeling was dead silence.
And now she didn’t even have such a simple ans of entertainnt!
The teacher’s voice on the podium grew increasingly distorted but couldn’t be blocked out, like magic sounds pouring into her ears, gradually making her loathe. She never desired a quiet environnt without disturbance so much as now, allowing her to quietly wait for that person’s appearance, waiting for the surprise belonging to her.
She continued to endure, but as the "tick-tock" of the clock hands on the podium and the irkso lecture voice kept flowing into her ears, it didn’t take long before she finally couldn’t stand it!
She just wanted to return to that step and watch ti slip by her rather than deeply experience it!
The desire, once infinitely magnified, led her to snatch her bag and, to everyone’s surprise, run out through the back door of the classroom. Everyone froze—even the male teacher on the podium was dazed for a while, but fortunately, he finally reacted.
"Dairya! Stop!" he hurriedly chased after but was so flustered he didn’t notice Teacher Emmy just about to enter, crashing right into her!
"Teacher Sok, you..."
"Quick, a student is skipping class!"
"Who?"
"Dairya!"
"This child... Quickly, go after her!"
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