After the meal, the family members separated to return to their rooms. Their mother and grandmother asked Olivia several times if she was really okay and after she patiently answered them, they let her go back to her room. Benjamin went up together with her and told her one last thing.
"Let's meet at the station tomorrow after school, alright?"
"Yes."
She didn't manage to hide a hint of excitement as she answered. They went to their rooms after that and Benjamin spent some time thinking about the following day. He already had a rough idea about how they could achieve their goals tomorrow. Once he had a viable plan set up, he switched to studying for a while until it was time to go to sleep.
The following day, Tuesday, started as usual. Benjamin's classmates talked about their trip to the café and most of the girls pushed for doing something similar again in the future. Coming back to his seat after recess, he noticed that Nathan was acting strangely. Paying more attention to him, he saw that he was holding a piece of paper and trembling while looking at it. This scene seemed strangely familiar... Or more like, this was probably how he behaved when he received Sarai's note. This felt like it might be his friend's turn this time. If he had been acting anything close to how Nathan behaved now, he could understand how the whole class noticed it since it was quite obvious.
What he didn't expect was that when he opened his notebook, he also found a folded piece of paper inside it. He opened it and it read to please come to behind build 3 after lunch. This was almost a copy of the previous message, making him wonder if there was some sort of standard to writing those. Knowing that his and his friends' every move was monitored in this class, he didn't try to be particularly discreet about it. Of course, he didn't show it off either, just putting the piece of paper in his pocket.
It didn't take him too long to have an idea about why the girls were so active on this day. During the sports matches he participated in last week, a lot of girls confessed their love to him. However, it was more like shouting their feelings from afar, just like they would do at a star or a celebrity. A large part of them probably wasn't that serious about it either. However, a few of the girls managed to have more in-depth and direct contact with him and the other boys during their time at the café. There was a huge difference between admiring someone from afar and actually talking with them and enjoying some time together. If he had to guess, this was probably the cause of what of was happening today.
He looked toward Julian but he didn't seem to behave any differently from usual. This also could confirm his theory. Nathan and he were the ones who were directly seated next to the girls and who had done most of the talking, while Julian had been safer in between them. He was actually admiring these girls, especially the one aiming for him. She knew that he had rejected Sarai but still wanted to try her luck. That must have needed a good amount of courage. He only hoped she wouldn't react as strongly as Sarai did when hearing his rejection.
Just before going to lunch, Nathan announced he had somewhere to go first and that they should start without him. Julian had also realized what was happening and the two friends said that they would wait for him and wished him good luck, which made him smile wryly. He went on his way while whispering that it was true that there was no privacy in this class. Once he was gone, Julian turned toward Benjamin and asked him.
"You also got one too, right? Don't you need to go?"
"Mine wanted me to come after lunch."
Julian nodded and the two of them chatted for some time. At one point, Benjamin asked him something he was curious about.
"By the way, are you not unhappy about not being confessed to?"
That made him laugh for a few seconds, following which he answered.
"Not at all. I'm happy they don't. I don't have much interest in girls at the moment."
"How come?"
"Well, you know, I got used to them more after we became friends but I still think they're too childish and lecherous. It just turns me off."
"Ahah, you're not wrong. I don't mind them being like this because I think that's cute but I understand why you could dislike it."
"Sigh, I wish I was as open-minded as you are, Ben. But, I just can't. Sometimes, I can't help but cringe from the way they look at me or from something they say."
"That's fine. I don't think you have to force yourself to like them, right? What about older women, then? They are somewhat better already."
"Just barely. I am not too interested in older women either. I feel like they're too alien, too different. Keep it a secret but I think they're too intimidating to my taste."
"I get you. Just the other day, I was walking on the streets and a random woman driving a car invited me for a ride, just like that. That was really surprising, ahahah."
Julian grinned at him, stating.
"You're the only one who can laugh when something like that happened to you. You're a bit special, Ben."
Benjamin smiled teasingly.
"I feel like you don't mean this 'special' positively."
"Oh, you finally realized? You're weird. But that's also not in a bad way. I can understand why the girls would be crazy about you."
"I will take it as a compliment. Anyway, there is no law saying that you should date when you're young or anything. I heard it's becoming more common to have relationships late nowadays, especially if you are busy trying to improve your career."
He amicably tapped on his friend's back, concluding.
"Anything is fine as long as you're happy. That's my belief in life."
Julian's eyes widened a little at this last sentence. Benjamin felt like he wanted to say something but that was when they saw Nathan coming back.