Mabel Quinn was oblivious to all of this. After memorizing the entire sequence of moves, she gleefully said, "How about that, I did pretty well, didn’t I? I remembered the whole routine."
Kyle Kinston didn’t hesitate to dampen her enthusiasm, "If you joined the army, I bet you’d get kicked out on your second day."
Mabel was unfazed and eager to reinforce what she’d learned, so she continued practicing with him.
While they were sparring, Kyle suddenly asked, "In high school, besides having a crush on Soren, you also wrote him a love letter, didn’t you?"
Mabel slipped and almost fell directly onto the padded mat.
Originally, she was supposed to counter his move, but now, she’d been pinned down by him on the mat.
"Hmm?" He looked down at her, waiting for her answer, his eyes flickering with a hint of danger.
"Yes, I did." Mabel admitted honestly. After all, it was true, and there was nothing to hide. Besides, since she decided to be in a real relationship with him, she didn’t want any barriers between them due to secrets. "Back then, in some TV shows I watched, love letters were quite a common element, so it was also trendy to write them in school. But after I wrote it, before I could give it to Soren, some things happened that made me realize he wasn’t who I thought he was. To him, I didn’t really matter. So, I threw the letter in the trash. But unexpectedly, a male classmate found it, picked it up, took it back to class, and then the whole class knew about it."
What was once a very embarrassing and awkward memory for her now seemed lighter when she spoke of it. Perhaps many memories and feelings in this world would eventually fade with time.
"You should be glad you didn’t end up with him," he murmured. If she were with Soren now, he would have had to come up with some way to break them apart.
But if that happened, how would she feel about him? Would she be angry, hate him, like back then...? So, the word "fortunately" was not just for her, but also for him.
"Yes, fortunately." Mabel agreed, grateful she realized back then that her feelings for Soren were just a fantasy, and the real Soren wasn’t how she imagined him.
Kyle got up and also pulled Mabel up from the mat.
"Let’s finish the training for today," he said.
"Okay," She planned to review everything she’d learned today once she got back to her room.
"Oh, make sure to write me a love letter later," he reminded her, walking straight to the door of the training room.
"Because I’m your boyfriend," he simply declared.
She was dumbfounded. Was it because she wrote one for Soren but not for him? Was he upset about that? Did he insist she write him one too?
And so, that night in her room, besides summarizing the moves she learned that day, Mabel also began writing a love letter for Kyle.
The school made a final decision regarding Lyra Grant’s attempt to frame Mabel Quinn: she would receive a major demerit, and her diploma issuance would be delayed by a year, dependent on her future performance.
The school chose not to expel Lyra but rather placed her under a probationary status.