Delving Into the Buried Chapter

Chapter 8

"Yumi. Hey, Yumi! Talk to me, please?" 

The day after, Zaranaia was still nudging Yeonica. "Hey, Zaranaia. Go home. We have so many assignments to do. Stop following me," Yeonica said, not interested.

"Ihh, you're mad at me! Don't you want to hear the story I will tell you?" Zaranaia said, still following her. 

As Yeonica is observing her this day, she still treats her like she treated her before. She thought maybe Zaranaia still doesn't know that the pictures inside her notebook are missing.

"By the way, what happened yesterday? Why did Ma'am Estiva call you at the faculty?" Zaranaia asked her, obviously not giving up.

Yeonica exhaled heavily. If only she didn't have trust issues, she might really believe that Zaranaia is innocent. But after finding out about those pictures, she's starting to doubt everything. 

"It's nothing. Just about my documents. Go home, Zaranaia. I'm not available today," Yeonica simply replied.

"But Yumi..." Zaranaia pouted. "I'll just follow you until you talk to me."

Yeonica stopped walking and faced her. She looked at her face; she looked so innocent. As she said, she's starting to doubt anything. Now that Zaranaia's attitude towards her didn't change, she started doubting her discovery, too. Is this person in front of her behind Margareth's death? Is she behind those secretly taken pictures of her and the other students? Why did she have them in the first place?

"Fine. Let's just go to that convenience store again," Yeonica said. Zaranaia's eyes lit up a little. 

"Yeees! Let's go! I hope we see no teachers there."

"Why? Are you hiding from one of our subject teachers?"

Zaranaia laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey! My grades are not that great at the moment. And sometimes having them around doesn't feel safe. It's uncomfortable. Well, it depends which teacher."

As they walked to the convenience store, Yeonica saw Edem again passing by. Fortunately, at that time, no bullies were following her, even though Zarco was nowhere to be found. 

Speaking of Zarco, Yeonica needs to find more information about that kid, as he is the only one they couldn't find much helpful information about. They assumed that he might be the son of high officials or VIPs, as his information seems to be strongly protected.

All she knows is that Zarco seems interested in Edem, as he almost always follows her, and he's always there to protect her from her bullies. Remembering Edem, she might be so quiet about her experiences in school. She never saw her ask Mrs. Estiva for help. And her father, the principal, doesn't seem to do anything. 

Two things are possible: the principal doesn't know or he chooses to ignore. Yeonica doesn't know about their family's story anyway.

"YEON—YUMI!"

Yeonica and Zaranaia stopped walking when someone across the road called Yeonica.

"Leana? What the hell is she doing here?" Yeonica whispered.

Zaranaia looked at her. "Who is she?"

Leana walked towards them, secretly talking to Yeonica with her eyes.

"Oh, Yumi, my niece! I see you're with a friend," Leana said, pretending to be her aunt. Yeonica slightly widened her eyes, asking her what she was doing here. Leana answered her by also widening her eyes, telling her to go with the flow and come with her.

"Ah, yes. Zaranaia, this is my auntie. Auntie, this is Zaranaia." Yeonica introduced them to each other. 

"Oh, hi Zaranaia! But I'm so sorry, I and my niece actually have an errand to run right now. Can I borrow her for today?" Leana said.