By the time I left the building, it was already getting dark outside. I walked toward my car, which Mr. Raka had brought around. Earlier, I had called Mr. Raka before coming downstairs so he could drive over and pick me up. I only went down after receiving a message saying he had arrived and was waiting below.
Mr. Raka saw me approaching the car. He got out and went around to the back seat to open the door for me. Once I got in, Mr. Raka closed the door and returned to the driver's seat.
Bang bang.
Oh God, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Just as Mr. Raka got into the car and was about to start driving, a hand appeared against the window beside me. The hand was held open as it knocked on the car window next to me. Since it was right beside my face, I was badly startled. Mr. Raka wanted to drive away, but I stopped him.
"Wait a second, Mr. Raka." I wanted to find out who was actually trying to stop this car.
"Be careful, miss. We don't know what that person's intentions are."
"All right, Mr. Raka. Don't worry."
It was dark outside, so I understood Mr. Raka's concern. If it was a bad person with malicious intentions, we could end up in trouble and get hurt. I didn't want to open the car door, so I told Mr. Raka to keep it locked.
I decided to lower the window just a little so I could hear the person outside, and so they could hear me too. I pressed the button, and the window lowered slightly. I was still wearing my hoodie, with the hood still up. I left it that way so my face wouldn't be too visible to the person outside.
"Ah, sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else. I don't know what I was thinking. Besides, there's no way that person would come here."
That was... Lana's voice. I recognized it even though I couldn't see her face. I didn't think she could see mine either. I never expected her to still be here. So I hadn't been hallucinating earlier—the person who called out to me when I was about to take the elevator after picking up my food order during break really had been Lana. I thought I was so tired that I was hearing her voice even though I'd only seen her when she arrived.
After saying that, she left. I raised my window again until it was completely closed. I asked Mr. Raka to drive, but not home. The car pulled away, then took a roundabout route to come back from the other side. We returned to the tutoring center, but parked in a more secluded spot. I wanted to see what she had been doing all this time at the tutoring center, even though she kept getting rejected.
From inside the car, I could see her—Lana was still with her mother. They were sitting at the café beside the tutoring center. Their eyes kept scanning everyone who entered and left. As far as I could tell, they were trying to network for connections so they could get in through a recommendation from someone taking tutoring there. So they were really that determined.
If only she actually considered me a friend. She wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble or spend so much time looking for acquaintances when it might not even work out. I could have simply recommended her so she could enroll in tutoring. Even if she wanted the highest-tier package like mine, I definitely would have gone along with it. Too bad she didn't appreciate me. I had already decided not to get too involved in their problems.
There was no point in helping them when they hadn't asked, especially since I ended up not being appreciated anyway. I leaned back against the car seat and closed my eyes.