My Universe

48: “Let’s grab dinner together. Just the two of us.”

“And if I go make aggressive actions now, then what?”

It was a surprise to see how it actually affected the brunette as the raven immediately held her wrist to stop her from sprinting out of the infirmary when she was already standing up from her seat with fire flaring around her.

After treating the cut on her finger, Winter told Aster about how she had an assumption that her groupmates intentionally hit her arm with their elbow while she was cutting the carrots, which resulted to the knife slicing through the skin of her finger instead. Hearing that, the brunette almost could not control her anger that she abruptly got up from the chair and was about to go back to the kitchen with a violent plan for revenge in mind. Fortunately, no crime would be committed in the university that day since the raven swiftly stopped the latter from doing so.

“Oh my god, Aster. Relax, will you? Things will just get uglier if you charge at them,” Winter said as she forcefully made the latter sit back down on the chair across her.

“How can I relax? They’re literally the reason why you were bleeding!” Aster replied in annoyance.

“OMG, stop acting like I got stabbed or something.” The raven could not help but let out a chuckle at the actions of the latter. “Nothing good will happen if you attack them as revenge or something, okay?”

The brunette did not respond as she just pursed her lips in while staring at the face of the latter across her to calm herself down. Even Aster herself found it unusual how she was being all worked up with Winter getting a cut on the finger because of her groupmates. She was never attached with anyone since she regularly goes to different universes after six months, which meant that she had no time and reason to get herself completely attached with anyone.

Since the brunette never got attached to anyone, it was clearly a given that she does not feel any sympathy to anyone as she would always think that it is completely unnecessary to feel certain emotions for other people that she does not have any close, special connection with. It was not like they would join and be by Aster’s side even if she leaves to other universes after six months.

Yet for some reason, Aster could feel her emotions getting overwhelmed just because of the fact that the raven got a cut on her finger to the point that she almost went back to the kitchen just to avenge her. Because of this realization, the brunette was able to calm herself down as she thought about the fact that she might have been slowly getting attached on her; but for some reason, she could not imagine avoiding her just for the sake of her feelings.

“All right, fine.” The brunette nodded as she let out a sigh with her eyes shut.

Immediately, she opened her eyes when she felt the cold, soft fingers of the raven massaging her forehead in a gentle manner. That was when Aster realized that she had been frowning for the whole time and that Winter was doing the exact same thing that she always does to her. The brunette found herself feeling calmer as she stared at the smile on the face of the raven.

I’m probably going to fall in love with her anytime soon or whatever, Aster thought. A smirk crept up on her face as she did not bother being afraid of it. After all, she was Aster—a woman who enjoys challenges.

***

The both of them eventually remembered that they had to go back to the kitchen no matter what since it was a performance task that they had to do, which would greatly affect their grades. Not wanting to end up with low grades, they went back to the kitchen after expressing their annoyance toward the groupmates of the raven.

The scenario that the two women expected to see as soon as they arrive back in the kitchen was everyone continuing to cook the dishes like nothing happened. After all, the people in their class were not the type to genuinely care for one another for a long time as they basically only cared for their classmates that they were friends with even outside university.

But their expectation was different to reality as the both of them stepped in the kitchen to see only half of the class focusing on their work while the rest were watching the instructor talk to four women. The atmosphere was tense, though the others were able to not get affected by it as they put all of their attention on the food that they were cooking instead of sticking their ears in the conversation that their instructor was having with their four female classmates.

Aster flashed a smirk on her face in amusement when she recognized the four women who had their heads hung low while listening to Mr. Tray speak to them in a low voice. Seeing how their instructor had a frown on his face, they could assume that he was angry and that he was scolding the four groupmates of Winter for some reason.

After asking for some updates from her groupmates, Aster passed the message to Winter. It turned out that someone clearly witnessed how one of the group members of Winter’s group hit her arm with her elbow while she was slicing the carrots on purpose. Another good thing was that the witness was the type of student who would do anything just to have something that would benefit him in return. After telling the instructor about what he just saw, he was able to successfully strike a deal with the instructor to give him plus points for being honest.

Winter’s groupmates silently threw glares at her when they went back to their table as Mr. Tray stood next to their table to watch them work. Even though it was pressuring to have their instructor literally watch every movement that they make, it still benefited Winter as it felt like she had a defender.

The raven and the brunette would occasionally exchange glances and smiles while doing their work as they were relieved that Aster did not have to do anything to the groupmates of the raven for what they did anymore. Until they were done cooking, none of the four women were able to do anything bad to the raven as they were able to present the final results of their dishes successfully.

There were no more classes after that class as Winter and Aster left the building together like usual. The both of them were always together in classes and outside classes that people were beginning to think that they finally had become best friends after more than a year of ignoring and loathing each other’s existence.

“It feels really nice to have the food that I made for the first time in my 20 years of existence be approved,” Winter said as a smile was uncontrollably spreading across her face.

“Congrats. You deserve it,” Aster replied with a chuckle following after as she gave her a gentle pat on the head. Though deep inside, the brunette knew that the instructor gave the raven a B for her individual grade out of pity because of what happened to her finger.

 Even when they had already left the kitchen, Winter was still in disbelief over the fact that the first dish that she had ever made all by herself was approved by her instructor. Mr. Tray did not tell her any negative feedbacks as he told her that the dish which she made was edible and tasty. The raven agreed with him when he said that it was not the best as it still needed more improvements; but still, she was still glad that it did not end up as garbage.

“I’m not so bad, after all.” The raven shook her head with a cocky smile on her face.

“We should celebrate that,” the brunette said as she turned to her. “Let’s grab dinner together. Just the two of us.”

“Sure, why not?” Winter smiled, which made the latter do the same. “I should let Alice know, though.”

Ever since the day when Alice saw her roommate in the bathroom doing something that she deeply regretted doing later on, the both of them started to have dinner together every day even though either of them could be coming back to the dorm later than usual. It was a good thing though since Winter was getting close with her roommate unlike the first week that they had been together when she was uncomfortable to be with Alice because of how she was the alternate self of the lethargic employee in the convenience store near her dormitory building in the universe where Winter originally belonged to.

The raven was about to call her roommate to inform her about her having dinner with the brunette for tonight when they spotted her from a far distance. They were about to approach her when a man suddenly walked up to her in a friendly way.

Curiosity took over the two women as the raven pulled the sleeve of the brunette toward the wall of a building to prevent being seen by the art student. Like undercover agents, Winter and Aster ran toward places where they would not be seen by the art student to get close to her as they badly wanted to know what the man was speaking to Alice about.

“Stop moving a lot!” Winter hissed to the taller woman as she hid properly behind the tree, which was the closest hiding place to the art student.

“Hey,” the man called as he stood in front of the art student to catch her attention since she was walking with wireless earbuds in her ears.

“Oh, hi,” Alice responded in surprise as she immediately took the earbuds off her ears and gave the stranger a questioning look. “May I help you?”

“Hmm. I guess, you can help me.” The man wore a friendly smile on his face as he squinted.

“Oh, it depends though. What can I help you with?” the art student asked.

“You can help me kill my boredom by playing with me in an internet café.”

Winter and Aster turned to look at each other with wide eyes in surprise before turning back to them. It was a good thing that the man had a loud voice, so they were able to hear the conversation that he was having with Alice.

“Huh?” The art student slightly tilted her head to the side in confusion.

The blue-eyed man could not help but let out a chuckle at the adorable expressions of the shorter woman; well, even the two women who were eavesdropping on them.

“You must be that confused, huh,” the man said with a smile glued on his face as he extended his hand in the air. “I’m Myles Norman. My classes for today are done, so I have a lot of free time to spend. I happened to see the button pin of ‘Battle for Dinner’ on your backpack, so I was wondering if you want to hang out with me in the internet café.”

Alice was stunned on her spot as she could not find any words to utter for a response. First, she was surprised that a man whom she did not recall seeing around the campus suddenly approached her out of nowhere; and now, the man was inviting her to play a battle royale game with him in an internet café. The man looked like he did not have any ulterior motives, but that did not mean that it was safe for Alice to trust him immediately.

“W-What? But why me? We’ve never met before,” Alice replied in utter confusion.

Myles chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I know. I just think that it would be fun to play with someone I’ve never met before. Also, I think that you could help me with my rank.”

The art student did not look like she was completely uninterested with the decent-looking guy as the two women who were hiding behind a tree started to feel excited to hear her response.