My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 34

“Hey, Faye.”
Harry raised her hand in greeting, her eyes flicking briefly to the figure behind Faye.
The Asian friends who usually stuck to her side were nowhere to be seen—she was alone.
“Where’s Nina?”
“Left her behind. She talks too much.”
Faye gestured toward the table as she asked the question.
“Mind if I sit for a moment?”
“Sure.”
For Harry, who had been racking her brain over how to separate Faye and Nina, this was a stroke of luck.
After pulling out the empty chair, Faye settled into the seat beside her.
Even after sitting down, I could feel Faye’s gaze studying me intently.
“I saw you arguing with Aemerus this morning. Don’t get the wrong idea—I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”
I didn’t doubt Faye’s words.
After all, it was I who had deliberately made a scene of the argument.
“How embarrassing.”
As Harry laughed bitterly, Faye’s expression grew even more serious.
“What were you fighting about? Is it serious?”
“No. It was really nothing.”
Harry shuddered as if disgusted by Aemerus’s pettiness, glancing around cautiously.
Only after confirming that no one was paying attention to them did she lower her voice considerably.
“I told Aemerus that his shoulders seemed broader than before. I was trying to compliment him.”
Faye’s body had already leaned in toward her.
“And?”
“I asked if he had some special secret. Then he told me to stop paying attention to him and focus on managing my own body instead.”
“What? That’s completely rude.”
“Exactly.”
Harry shook her head firmly.
“But here’s the thing—I actually saw something.”
“What?”
Harry glanced around once more before leaning in and whispering directly into Faye’s ear.
“Aemerus has padding sewn into his shirt.”
“No way… Really?”
Faye’s eyes widened in disbelief as she asked repeatedly.
Each time, Harry nodded with absolute certainty.
“This has to stay secret—you’re the only one who can know. Understand?”
“Just trust me.”
Faye made a bold declaration.
‘I hope you really aren’t the culprit either.’
I exhaled a quiet sigh to myself.
Either way, Faye was an Asian girl like me, and she’d tried to include me in her circle out of concern for my being alone.
So I didn’t want to think badly of her if I could help it.
Both Aemerus and Faye were good friends to me.
‘I’ll find out soon enough.’
If Faye really was Aemerus’s stalker, she’d use this secret I’d just discovered to attack him.
All I had to do was check whether the stalker’s next message mentioned the shoulder pads.
If the stalker showed no reaction, Faye’s innocence would prove itself.
Of course, there was also the possibility that nothing would come of it and only rumors about Aemerus having fake shoulders would spread.
But I’d already discussed this with him beforehand, so there was nothing to worry about.
The Hockey Team players who saw him undressed almost every day would gladly testify to the truth.
I looked at Faye and smiled softly.
“Talking with you really does make me feel better. Thanks to you, Faye. I appreciate it.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
After exchanging warm words, I stood up to follow Faye back to her friends.
Since things were going according to plan, I no longer needed to keep pretending to be angry with Aemerus.
“I should probably talk to Aemerus again. He’s a friend Jessie introduced me to… and if things stay awkward between us, it’ll make things uncomfortable with Jessie too.”
“Why did Jessie introduce you to a guy like that in the first place?”
“He must have thought he was looking out for me in his own way. I don’t want to misinterpret Jessie’s intentions.”
As I spoke firmly, Faye shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, all’s well that ends well. I hope you two work things out through talking.”
“Yeah. Thanks for listening.”
Faye returned to her original spot.
I grabbed a sandwich and searched for Aemerus, who was somewhere around here.
As always, he was easy to spot.
I approached him, noticing how he stood out even among the burly Hockey Team players.
“Aemerus.”
Just calling his name made the boys around him react with exaggerated excitement.
“It’s Lili!”
“Lili, I had something to tell you—perfect timing.”
“Come sit here.”
Randy, who’d been sitting beside Aemerus, even gave up his seat for me.
‘What’s going on? Why are they acting like this?’
I sat down when they told me to, but—
I was looking at the boys with suspicion when—
Aemerus spoke up.
“Tyler, you had something to tell Lili, right? Say it now.”
Tyler? I wasn’t close enough to him to have anything particular to discuss.
Harry tilted her head curiously, studying him.
Tyler then shuffled forward awkwardly and apologized to her.
“I’m sorry for sneaking a photo of you yesterday. I was actually trying to photograph Aemerus, not you.”
This is… an apology?
Tyler’s half-hearted apology, rushed and self-serving, was worse than no apology at all.
‘I didn’t really think much of it before. But now that he’s apologized, I’m actually more annoyed.’
Should I be angry? Or let it go?
Aemerus ended her internal debate for her.
“Tyler, it seems this morning’s training wasn’t quite enough.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. Just hearing about it makes me feel like I’m going to be sick again.”
Watching Tyler’s face turn ashen as he trembled, Harry could only look bewildered.
‘Was the morning training really that intense?’
Yet the Aemerus she’d encountered this morning looked exactly as he always did.
Far from exhausted—he’d actually seemed refreshed.
“Lili, this guy actually threw up during training this morning.”
Randy pointed at Tyler and tattled.
“Gross.”
Harry instinctively recoiled from him, only to bump into Aemerus instead.
Aemerus then pulled her chair directly beside his, creating distance between her and Tyler.
Randy snickered at the two of them making such a fuss.
“If you don’t forgive him, he might throw up again later.”
“Why?”
“Because Aemerus promised to work him to death until you forgive him.”
‘Oh, could it be…?’
As Harry listened to Randy, something clicked in her mind.
Yesterday, when she’d complained that the Hockey Team training was too easy, Aemerus had mentioned he’d suggest increasing the intensity.
‘He actually went through with it.’
She’d thought he was just saying it to placate her, but apparently he’d been serious.
“See? You should’ve listened to me when I told you not to do it.”
Randy poked Tyler teasingly, but he couldn’t even argue back.
Taking photos of her secretly was infuriating, and sending them to Jessie was even worse.
But judging by how pathetic he looked now, he’d received sufficient punishment.
“Fine. I accept your apology.”
“Thank you!”
“But if something like this happens again, I’m reporting it directly to the principal.”
“I won’t do it twice.”
Tyler’s complexion brightened with his second chance, and soon enough his appetite returned—he devoured his lunch with gusto.
‘Ugh…’
Watching him eat so voraciously, Harry grimaced and pressed herself closer against Aemerus’s side.
‘Jessie eats neatly, and so does Aemerus.’
Honestly, how irritating.
I clicked my tongue softly, and I felt a gaze from beside me.
When I turned around, Aemerus was staring at me intently.
“What?”
“Aren’t you forgiving him too easily?”
At Aemerus’s question, I let out a small laugh.
“There’s nothing worth being angry about.”
If I stayed angry any longer, it would only deepen Tyler’s resentment toward Jessie.
I simply judged there was no need to add fuel to his already blazing jealousy.
“Besides, you already got angry on my behalf too.”
“Well, if that’s the case…”
Aemerus nodded obediently, as if he had no intention of arguing back.
I gazed at him for a moment before whispering softly.
“Your false information has been successfully spread.”
“…”
“Let me know if there’s any reaction, understood?”
Once again, he simply nodded like a docile beast.

***

Aemerus returned home after finishing practice with his teammates after school.
The moment he finished drying his hair after showering, he habitually reached for his phone.
“Time really isn’t passing today”
“I’m so bored, I should probably clean”
He silently laughed upon seeing Harry’s messages from the Ice Cream Shop where she was working in his place today.
These days, they exchanged messages comfortably without any particular reason.
It felt like a dream.
He was pondering what to reply when his phone vibrated.
“The more I know you, the worse you are”
“No one likes you, not even Lili”
“She only puts up with you because of Jessie”
“Here we go again.”
Aemerus didn’t even properly read the messages that the stalker had sent in rapid succession.
His mind was occupied solely with how to continue the conversation with Harry naturally.
“The jacket has already been retrieved.”
I should have gone to get it a bit later if I’d known this would happen.
No, actually, thanks to going to retrieve it yesterday, I managed to prevent Harry and Jessie from having a cozy time alone together.
Even as he remained lost in thought, messages continued to arrive.
“Did you know?”
“Lili talks behind your back too”
“You strut around with shoulder pads taped to your body, bragging here and there.”
Aemerus let out a hollow laugh as he scrolled through the message.
“I didn’t expect such a quick response.”
He had been about to relay this information as Harry had earnestly instructed, but he hesitated.
“It’s still too soon.”
He felt sorry for Harry, who had gone to such lengths, but he had no intention of apprehending the stalker just yet.
Aemerus dismissed the stalker’s message as if nothing had happened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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