Ashley tilted his head slightly and glanced down at her with a puzzled expression.
"?"
"Yeah."
The other guys in the group turned their attention toward them with interest. Ariel continued speaking.
"You're hanging out with so weird loser now. You never used to even look at those kinds of people."
"Who?"
"Aren't we talking about Koi?"
Ashley frowned, and one of the guys watching spoke up. That’s when Ashley finally nodded, as if he had just realized. Ariel crossed her arms below her chest and pouted.
"You never even acknowledged people like that before. So why the sudden change? Don’t tell he’s blackmailing you or sothing?"
"?"
Ashley let out a loud laugh. The rest of the hockey team burst into laughter along with him. Ariel’s cheeks turned red, but she quickly turned her head away, pretending not to care.
"If you put it that way, I guess so."
"Yeah, we've been curious too."
One of the guys from their group, Bill, chid in.
"You let him join in during lunch every day. Why? There's no way he has anything on you, right?"
Bill added that last bit deliberately, smirking at Ariel as he spoke. Ariel scowled, while Ashley swallowed a big bite of his burger and finally answered.
"It's nothing big. I just... felt sorry for him."
"Felt sorry?"
Ariel asked in disbelief. Before Ashley could respond, another guy let out a knowing "ah" and nodded.
"Now that I think about it, that guy was getting bullied by so real scumbags."
Another guy agreed.
"Yeah, wasn't he getting beat up the first ti we saw him?"
"He wasn't actually getting hit. He was just about to be."
"Sa thing."
"No, totally different."
Ashley let the conversation drift as the others started joking around. Then he finally spoke again.
"Anyway, just be decent to him. The guy’s had it rough."
Everyone glanced at each other before nodding.
"Just acknowledging him should be enough, right?"
Bill asked, tilting his head slightly. Ashley shrugged and picked up another fry. The whole ti, Ariel had been sitting with a displeased look on her face. She finally spoke up.
"You shouldn’t hang around soone like that. It makes you look bad."
She took a sip of her soda and added in a snippy tone.
"We’re not like people like that."
Ashley stared absentmindedly at the ice floating in her cup before finally responding.
"Yeah. Of course."
He was the only one who didn’t put ice in his soda.
The thought passed through his mind before he let out a quiet chuckle and pushed it away.
"Oh, right. He’s in the sa class as us."
Bill suddenly rembered. One of the other guys nodded.
"He takes a couple of the sa ones as too. Doesn’t he have almost all the sa AP classes as you, Ash?"
One of them let out a short whistle, and his girlfriend snickered.
"If you’ve got nothing else to do, you might as well study. He’s got no friends, right?"
"Who would hang out with a loser like that?"
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Ariel scoffed, and the others laughed. Ashley laughed too, ignoring the small twinge of guilt in his chest.
For so reason, Koi’s smiling face popped into his mind at that mont.
To push the thought away, he deliberately chomped down on an ice cube, the crunch echoing in his ears. Then he emptied his head and joined in the casual chatter with the others.
*
"Hey, Koi."
"Hey, Bill."
One of the hockey team’s main players greeted Koi first when they crossed paths near the lockers. Koi returned the greeting cheerfully, and the guy gave a brief smile before heading to his own locker.
After that day, the guys who hung around Ashley started acknowledging Koi now and then. It was never more than a simple greeting, but for Koi, it was a monuntal change.
Until now, no one had ever spoken to him first at school. Only he knew how much joy that small greeting brought him.
But that wasn’t the only change.
People’s attitudes toward Koi started shifting. They no longer ignored him like he didn’t exist, nor did they whisper behind his back. Instead, they started greeting him casually, sotis even making small talk.
The first ti a classmate casually ntioned a TV show they’d watched the night before, Koi nearly fainted in shock. He had been too startled to respond properly, and the classmate quickly left.
But still, it was progress.
That night, Koi spent hours on his phone searching for details about the show. He even watched clips of it on YouTube, completely absorbed.
The best part of all was that Nelson’s group had stopped bothering him.
Not being mocked, not being beaten up, not even having to worry about it—how peaceful and wonderful that was.
For the first ti, Koi experienced a normal, worry-free life, and he couldn’t have been more satisfied.
And it was all thanks to Ashley Miller.
How could a person like that even exist?
Koi’s heart pounded as he thought about it.
Good-looking, tall, athletic, smart, and even a good person? Was there really soone that perfect in the world?
If the Church of Ashley Miller ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) were ever founded, Koi would be its first devoted follower.
That was how much space Ashley had taken up in his life.
To Ashley, it was probably nothing. But to Koi, he had turned a life filled with despair into sothing happy and fulfilling.
He would be forever grateful.
And if the day ever ca when Ashley needed his help, Koi would do anything.
Not that Ashley Miller would ever need soone like Koi Niles.
And so, ti passed.
The sester ended, and sumr break began.
*
♪♪♪♬♬♩♪.......
The loud ringing of the bell early in the morning woke Ashley up.
"Ugh..."
Letting out a groan, he buried his face into his pillow while stretching out a long arm, fumbling over the bedside table in search of his phone. The ringing continued relentlessly.
— Ash?
The high-pitched voice on the other end made Ashley pause for a mont before responding.
"...Ariel?"
His voice was still thick with sleep. Ariel answered from the other side.
— Ash, what are you doing? Are you still sleeping?
"...What ti is it?"
Forcing his heavy eyelids open, he checked the clock on his phone and almost cursed out loud.
"So? What do you want?"
His voice ca out rough. Ariel hesitated before answering.
— I just wanted to say I won’t be able to et up today. My dad wants us to have dinner together.
Ashley frowned for a second before realization hit him.
"...It’s the Fourth of July."
He muttered it like a sigh, and Ariel responded with a soft hum.
— Sorry. Are your parents visiting or anything?
Everyone knew Ashley’s parents were on the East Coast, and that he lived here alone. He replied without much emotion.
"It’s fine. Families should be together on holidays. Got it."
— I’ll call you later, Ash.
She left the sound of a kiss over the phone before hanging up.
Ashley stared at the ended call for a mont before tossing his phone onto the bed. Letting out a deep sigh, he turned onto his side.
"Yeah. Families should be together on holidays."
Repeating the words he had just spoken, he fell silent.
The room around him was endlessly quiet.
*
A distant whistling sound filled the air before a loud explosion followed. Fireworks had started.
Koi, standing behind the counter, instinctively glanced outside. Through the glass door, only the faint tails of the fading sparks were visible in the night sky.
That looks fun.
He thought absentmindedly.
Independence Day was one of the biggest holidays of the year, and everywhere was packed. Restaurants took the opportunity to raise their prices, and families paid without hesitation to spend the day together.
But it had nothing to do with him.
Spending ti with family was sothing he had lost long ago. On days like this, it was better to just work.
Shaking off his thoughts, he turned his attention back to his real priority—next month’s college entrance exams. He had finished all his preparations. The only thing left was his final score.
He was going back over the math problems he hadn’t solved the day before when the sudden chi of the store’s bell snapped him out of focus.
"Oh."
His eyes widened in surprise as he blinked at the unexpected person who had just walked in.
The man, who had entered without hesitation, stopped in his tracks when he saw Koi standing behind the counter.
"Ashley."
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