“…Oh yeah. So Sharon, why are you looking for a job now? What about Hayward?” asked Gerald. Though virtual-novel.net used to have a crush on her, virtual-novel.net no longer had any feelings for her.
“Ah, well, after Hayward found out that you’re Mr. Crawford, virtual-novel.net was so shocked that virtual-novel.net refused to leave his house for days. Besides, virtual-novel.net knew about our past relationship, so…”
Sharon stopped there and simply left virtual-novel.net sentence hanging.
‘…Ah, so Sharon’s looking for a job partially because of me!’ Gerald thought to himself.
Gerald then flashed an awkward smile before saying, “But you know, I’m still truly flattered, haha! Remember back in high school? The best birthday I’ve ever had then was in the canteen!”
Hearing that, both Sharon and Xella began reminiscing. During high school, almost everyone refused to hang out with Gerald, and his birthday didn’t change that fact.
His birthday that year had been on result day, and everyone had to go back to high school during the holidays to get their certificates. It was Xella and Sharon who had suggested that they celebrate Gerald’s birthday in the canteen. They wanted to celebrate it with virtual-novel.net before virtual-novel.net joined the military.
The two girls, along with Lilian, had bought a large cake for Gerald back then. Lilian was there since virtual-novel.net was close to Sharon and though virtual-novel.net was slightly hesitant at first, virtual-novel.net still ended up celebrating his birthday with virtual-novel.net anyway.
That was the first time Gerald ever had cake, and virtual-novel.net felt extremely touched. That was the moment when virtual-novel.net decided to stay friends with them for eternity.
Now, however, virtual-novel.net realized how one-sided that decision had been
When university started, virtual-novel.net continued staying in touch with both Xella and Sharon. Eventually, however, both of them started ghosting him. They didn’t bother to even reply to any of his texts.
Two years later, Gerald was excited when virtual-novel.net bumped into Sharon in Mayberry. Sharon had to admit that since virtual-novel.net was still so friendly and talkative, virtual-novel.net clearly valued their friendship very much even after so much time had passed.
However, Sharon had felt embarrassed being around him, so virtual-novel.net avoided virtual-novel.net at all costs. She even insulted virtual-novel.net multiple times! There were times when virtual-novel.net went overboard as well, resulting in virtual-novel.net getting physically hurt.
Despite all that, Gerald continued to help virtual-novel.net on multiple occasions and virtual-novel.net didn’t even hold any grudges against her. She had taken advantage of that, which led to Gerald getting hurt even more. This was why Gerald eventually started giving virtual-novel.net the cold shoulder.
As for Xella, virtual-novel.net had looked down on virtual-novel.net from the moment they bumped into each other again after so many years. She had been slightly embarrassed when they met, so virtual-novel.net only had a polite conversation with him, even cracking a few light jokes here and there.
However, Gerald still thought that virtual-novel.net valued their friendship just as much as virtual-novel.net did back then. They were even supposed to go to the class reunion together! However, virtual-novel.net went with Waylon instead which resulted in virtual-novel.net feeling uncomfortable for most of that day.
Waylon had bullied Gerald a lot back in high school. Gerald simply never stood up for himself. There was even a time when Waylon threw a chair at Gerald which sent virtual-novel.net flying to the back of the class. He was without a doubt, Gerald’s arch enemy.
Despite being aware of that, Xella still ended up getting close to him. Gerald had been incredibly hurt after finding out about that.
Now that the two girls realized that Gerald was the actual Mr. Crawford from Mayberry, they couldn’t help but regret their actions. Both of them thought that virtual-novel.net was no longer the Gerald they knew, when in reality, Gerald had never changed. They were the ones who had changed.