My Romance Life System-Chapter 71: Rejection

We were about to sneak off to the cafe, when the library doors slid open. It was Ruby, and she wasn’t smiling anymore. Her whole posture was off. she looked completely uncomfortable.

’Crap.’

She saw us standing by the vending machines and her face just crumpled with relief, which was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. She hurried over, clutching her textbook like a shield.

"Hey," she started, her voice a little shaky. "Sorry, I had to get out of there."

"What happened?" Nina asked immediately, her friendly-pillar mode activating. "Did Jake say something weird? I swear, if he started—"

"No, nothing like that," Ruby cut her off, shaking her head. "He was nice. Really nice, actually. It’s just..." She looked down at her shoes. "It felt like an interrogation."

My stomach dropped. ’An interrogation. Yeah, I guess it would come off like that.’

"He just kept asking me all these questions," she continued, looking back up, a confused frown on her face. "About ancient history, and documentaries, and what kind of books I liked. It was like he had a checklist. It didn’t feel like he was talking to me, it felt like he was trying to pass a test."

’Because he was. And I was the one who wrote it.’ This was a disaster. I had taken a guy with a crush and turned him into a creepy, question-asking robot.

"He’s just... a little awkward," I said, trying to do some damage control. "He’s not usually like that."

"I know," she said with a sigh. "He’s in our class after all. I just felt like I was being interviewed for a job I didn’t apply for." She managed a small, tired smile. "I think I’m just gonna head home. My brain is fried."

She gave us a little wave and walked off, leaving Nina and me standing there.

Nina turned to me, her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. She didn’t have to say anything. The ’I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea’ look on her face was loud enough.

"Okay," I said, letting out a long breath. "So my plan was a complete failure."

"You think?" she said, but there was no bite to it, just a quiet amusement. "You sent him in there with a script, didn’t you? Let me guess, ’Phase Two: The Approach’?"

"It was," I mumbled, my face feeling hot. "It sounded like a good idea."

She just shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Kofi, you can’t just give someone a strategy for talking to a person. That’s not how it works."

"I know that now," I said. "I just... I didn’t want him to screw it up. So I screwed it up for him."

We started walking toward the school exit, the plan for the café completely forgotten.

"So what’s Phase Three?" she asked, her voice light. "Are you going to have him ’accidentally’ drop his books in front of her? Or maybe you’ll tie their shoelaces together?"

"Ha ha, very funny." I glanced over at her. "I don’t know what Phase Three is. I think I need to scrap the whole operation and just tell him to be a normal human being."

"Now there’s an idea," she said.

We walked in a comfortable silence for a minute. The whole wingman thing was a mess, but walking with her like this, it didn’t feel so bad.

"You know," she said, looking over at me. "For a guy who spent his whole life avoiding people, you’re really trying hard to help one get a girlfriend. It’s kind of sweet."

’Sweet? I’m pretty sure I just orchestrated a social train wreck.’

"I don’t know if sweet is the right word. It’s more like I’m the unwilling director of a really bad play."

She laughed, "Well, you’re trying. That’s more than most people would do." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

’Yeah, because most people aren’t being threatened with chronic hiccups by a cosmic entity.’

"This whole wingman business is a lot more work than I signed up for. At this rate, I’m going to need to find a girlfriend of my own, just so I have someone to complain to about all this."

And just like that, the air between us went completely dead.

Her easy, teasing mood vanished in an instant. She didn’t look angry or sad, she just went... blank. The conversation was over, and I had no idea why. She just kept walking, a few feet ahead of me now, her posture a little stiffer than it was a moment ago.

’What was that? It was a joke. Why did that one little joke make her shut down completely?’

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a quick, nervous motion. We kept walking, but the easy space between us was gone, replaced by a thick, awkward silence.

"Hey," I said finally.

She flinched a little, but didn’t look at me. "What?"

"I... was that a dumb thing to say?"

"No," she said, way too quickly. "It’s fine. It was a joke."

She was a terrible liar. I stopped walking, and she took a few more steps before realizing I wasn’t next to her anymore. She finally stopped and turned, her arms crossed over her chest.

She still wouldn’t look at me.

"This morning," I said, the words feeling clumsy as they came out. "You called me hot."

Her head shot up at that, her eyes wide with a kind of gentle panic.

"And now I make one stupid joke and you do... this." I gestured vaguely at her, at the blush on her cheeks and the way she was holding herself so stiffly.

"Kofi," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Don’t."

"I just want to understand," I said. "I’m not trying to be a jerk."

She finally looked me right in the eye, and her expression was a mess. She took a breath.

"It’s all this... stuff," she said, gesturing vaguely between us. "It’s just... a lot. And I’m not ready for it. Not yet."

The words hit me like a punch.

I just nodded. My own chest felt tight, but for a different reason now. "Okay," I said quietly. "I get it."

A visible wave of relief washed over her. The tension in her shoulders eased, and she gave me a small, grateful smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I said, a real smile spreading across my own face. "Friends. I’m good with friends."

"...ok," She didn’t sound convinced by my words.

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