He also wasn't alone. Noemi was walking next to him and they both had happy expressions on their faces. This made the result of the confession quite obvious. When the two of them arrived next to the two boys, Benjamin took the opportunity to speak first.
"Congrats, you two."
Julian immediately followed after him.
"Congrats. I am happy for you."
The two new lovers smiled shyly but joyfully and thanked them. At this point, they didn't even get surprised by the fact that they knew everything just by looking at them. They chatted for a little while, Nathan recounting how the confession happened, until Noemi's belly rumbled, making her red in the face. The three friends grinned at her and Julian tactfully conveyed.
"We will let the two of you eat together. We solo guys won't intrude on you anymore."
However, Nathan strongly shook his head in denial.
"No, let's eat all together. Is that okay with you, Noemi?"
She seemed a bit overwhelmed by the situation, being the sole girl in a group of guys looked both terrifying and attractive to her. Still, she summoned up her courage and replied in a trembling voice.
"Y-yeah, of course."
Seeing her like this, Nathan took her hand and reassured her.
"No need to be tensed. I will eat with your friends next time."
She seemed happy at his gesture and beamed.
"Okay!"
The group of four headed to the school canteen, got their meals, and sat together at the same table. Benjamin and Julian were curious about the couple's feelings and started interrogating them.
"So, what do you like about Nathan?"
"Ugh. I like that he is kind and mature. And also, he is very c-cute."
"Nice answer. What about you, Nathan? What do you like about Noemi?"
"You guys are way too nosy."
"Too late to say that. You didn't stop Noemi from answering. It's obvious you were curious too."
"You got me. Well, in truth, I have been interested in her for a while now but I never had the opportunity to talk to her more directly. We talked a lot during our trip to the café yesterday and I think that only confirmed my interest. So I was very happy when she confessed today. It felt like we were thinking the same."
"You didn't go into any details but fine, let's leave it at that."
They continued their lunch until it was time for Benjamin to go. He stood up and declared.
"I hope she won't take it as badly as Sarai."
"You're going to reject her no matter what?"
"Yes. I have no plans to date for the moment. I feel bad for the girl but that's just how it is. Alright, I will go now, see you later."
He quickly headed to the meeting spot and saw who was waiting for him. Without surprise, it was Selene, who had been seating next to him yesterday at the café.
"Sorry for the wait. What did you want to talk about?"
She looked at him anxiously and didn't immediately answer. After taking a big breath, she started to speak.
"Can you let me talk for a bit without interrupting me?"
Benjamin nodded and she continued.
"You see, I kind of idolized you before and I was happy with just seeing you every day but I changed my mind yesterday. When I saw you trying hard to include Julian in the conversations so that he didn't feel left out, I felt that you were really kind. It's weird, right? I knew it already but I guess seeing it from closer gives a different feeling."
She took a break before adding.
"That's why, even if I don't have much hope that you will say yes, I thought I would regret it if I didn't even try. Is there any hope that you would consider being my boyfriend?"
This speech gave him a weird hunch, as if he was missing a piece of a puzzle. Still, it wasn't the moment to get lost in his thoughts. In the end, no matter how good her speech was, his decision was already taken. He could only repeat what he had said to Sarai the previous time.
"I am sorry, Selene. I have no plans to date anyone at the moment."
She looked at him sadly for a long time and eventually nodded.
"I knew that you would probably answer like this and I thought I was ready for it but... It still hurts a lot in the end."
She turned back without another word and slowly left the place. Now left alone, Benjamin didn't feel great either. It was never a good moment to reject those sincere girls. He felt like he wanted to be alone for a while and sat down on the ground. His thought went back to her speech from before. Now that he had time to think about it, it wasn't its content that made an impression on him. It was probably the rationality and the logic of it all. It seemed he had unconsciously been quite biased against girls in this world. They were so impulsive and easily led by their libido that it was easy to forget that if those parts were excluded, they would be as logical and rational as any calm person from his previous world. He couldn't help feeling yet again that this world was very unfair to women.
He got lost in these sorts of thoughts for some time until he got interrupted by the bell for the next period. He almost thought about playing hooky but finally decided not to, hurrying to his classroom. He arrived right before the teacher for the next class closed the door that would mark people as late. The teacher frowned but didn't say anything and let him go to his seat. He noticed that Selene hadn't come back yet. As for the rest of his classmates, they all guessed the situation by interpreting his facial expression.
The teacher immediately started the class and they all had no choice but to focus on the lesson. Or at least, pretend that they were, as all high schoolers did.