Chapter 2 PERIOD

Rea sat still, propping her chin on the classroom window sill. Her pale face was wet from the rain splashes.

Rea extended her hand, raindrops gathered in her palm, and dripped as she tried to hold them.

Her brown eyes gazed across the field, capturing a man running through the rain, using one hand to shield his head. He passed by the classroom window where she sat.

However, their eyes briefly met. Rea stared blankly, while the man seemed surprised to find Rea behind the window.

Rea broke eye contact first. The man continued on his way, moving quickly due to his long legs. It only took a moment, and now he had disappeared from view.

Rea squinted, feeling a gentle breeze on her face. Gradually, a sense of pain struck her. Her stomach was seized by cramps. Then a small grimace escaped her lips.

Rea turned her face away from the window, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked oddly at the man next to her.

"Hey Re, heard that Rakan is going to be transferred to our class," said the boy in the midst of the heavy rain.

A crescent moon-like smile appeared on the boy's face, then his cold hand began to support his chin, looking at Rea with hidden intentions.

"Rafa...," Rea replied softly, almost inaudibly. For some reason, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, as well as nausea and dizziness all at once.

Rafa's initially cheerful face slowly faded. His forehead furrowed, sensing a change in the pale girl's expression.

And for the last time, Rea felt her head spinning. Her cheek fell onto the table, her vision blurred, and her eyelids slowly closed. Her world turned pitch black.

Rea woke up with a painful groan, finding herself in a different and unfamiliar room, all alone. She was lying on a single-sized bed.

Rea endured the pain spreading in her stomach. She knew this was one of the early signs of her period. It wasn't usually this painful. She was confused.

She didn't care who had brought her to this place. Frustrated, she got up and stepped off the bed, venting her anger. Things on the table beside the bed were suddenly thrown about.

"Darn it! Why does it hurt so badly?" Rea kicked a chair, a table, and other nearby objects.

"Ugh! I feel like punching someone," she added, her face reddening with frustration.

"So, what should I do now?" she muttered. Clutching her stomach, Rea quickly climbed back onto the bed, facing the wall. She reached for her phone and called someone.

"Hey Fa, where are you?" she said to the person on the other end.

[In class. Are you awake?]

"Go to the convenience store now!"

[Huh, why?]

It was clear that Rafa was confused. Rea didn't answer his previous question either.

"Just buy me something, like pain relievers or something," Rea snapped.

Rafa was taken aback. Why him? How would he know about that kind of stuff?

[Rea, how am I supposed to know about that? Hey!]

Rea hissed.

"Whatever, just ask the cashier, is it that hard for you to handle life?"

[Rea, but it's still during school hours. Aren't there-]

"Hurry up! Don't blame me if you don't bring anything," she ended the call. With great effort, Rea adjusted her position to lie down. It hurt on the right side, and on the left, it was no better. Eventually, she lay in a supine position.

"Being a girl is so hard!"

"Why does this have to happen, it's not usually like this," she complained.

"Ugh!" she screamed. Instantly, the door to the health office was opened by someone.

"What are you doing here, causing a scene?" Rafa's voice came from behind.

Rea rolled her eyes.

"Why are you here, Rafa? Where's my order?" she demanded. The girl continued to squirm and groan. The curse of her period was testing her to the limit.

"Oh, come on," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "I wasn't allowed to leave, Re. So, I had to leave you here."

Rea shifted into a sitting position. Meanwhile, Rafa seemed to be looking around, searching for someone.

"Are you blind? Can't you see I'm in agony like this? So, what do I have to do, Rafa?" she raised her voice.

Rafa glared at Rea in irritation. Menstruating or not, she was just as fierce. Why was he destined to have a friend like her?

Rafa disappeared from the room, the sound of the door closing abruptly. Rea always managed to infuriate people with her antics.

A few minutes later, Rea heard the door to the health office open again. Rea remained lying on her bed, in the same position as before. She didn't want to turn around; she assumed it was Rafa.

"Is it done, Fa? Just put it on the table," she said without changing her position.

The person placed Rea's order where instructed.

Rea could hear a chair being pulled out, assuming that Rafa was sitting. Whatever, it was too bad that he had to leave class because of her.

"Fa, seriously, it's so uncomfortable being a girl."

"Every month it's like this, such a hassle!"

"It's even more painful this time."

"If this were a person, I would've given it a Rabbit Punch by now," she muttered. The girl kept complaining.

"Fa, are you still alive?" she yelled when she realized that her friend wasn't saying anything. Usually, in times like this, Rafa would be rambling incoherently.

"Hey, are you mute or something?"

But there was still no response.

"Hey, Fa, answer me!"

It seemed hopeless; Rea was getting too annoyed. She didn't like being ignored like this, especially by her friend, Rafa.

"I'm going to slap you if you don't respond. I'll count to three, get ready to lose the use of your legs."

"One."

"Two."

"Th-"

"Chatterbox!"

Finally, she responded. However, something was odd. The voice was different. The girl's eyebrows furrowed. Clearly, this wasn't Rafa.

"Who are you? Don't mess with me!" Rea tried to turn her body to face the person.

"You?"

Surprised, Rea widened her eyes as she saw the man who had once been close to her now sitting there.

Rakan had an expressionless face, even though his heart was trying to endure sudden pain.

"Who let you in? What are you doing here? Can't you just stop appearing in front of me all the time? My eyes are tired of seeing you!"

Rakan's jaw tightened. Beneath the chair, his hands clenched, unbeknownst to Rea. The girl's unintentional words pierced the depths of his heart.

"I've been here since earlier," Rakan replied after trying to contain the pain in his chest.

The way Rea addressed him hurt him. She used to call him "aku" or "kamu" (informal pronouns), but now she used "lo" (informal "you"). Rakan wasn't used to this new form of address. He was forced to use it due to the circumstances, even though he couldn't fully accept it.

Rakan placed a plastic bag he was holding on the table and took out its contents.

"Here." Rakan handed a bottle to Rea. However, the girl looked at it lazily.

"I'm not that foolish; you can't poison me." She turned her face away. Rea was too lazy to deal with Rakan.

Rakan fell silent. When did he ever want to poison her? There was no intention to do so whatsoever.

Rea was being overly dramatic. What was going on in this girl's head? Why did she always assume the worst about him? Even when they were in a relationship, she often did the same thing.

"Are you blind? This is medicine to relieve your pain."

It was obvious that Rea had never used it.

"I remember telling Rafa to do it; why did you show up instead?" she inquired, trying to investigate. Rakan appeared to heave a sigh.

"He told me to, said he couldn't handle it," he explained. Rea contemplated various possibilities. Since when did her friend behave like that? Strange. At the very least, Rafa should have informed her.

"How's your stomach? Still hurting?"

Instantly, Rea's facial expression became unreadable.

"Don't act like you care!" she retorted sarcastically.

"Pretending to be strong isn't good. You might end up hurting yourself more," Rakan said, putting his belongings on the table. He then got up and looked down at Rea. She only glanced at him with indifference.

"Take your medicine; I don't want you to suffer through the pain like that." Rakan flicked Rea's forehead. The girl yelped in pain, causing him to reflexively touch the area he had flicked.

"You!" she pointed at him, not pleased. She assumed that this guy's behavior was getting weirder by the minute.

"Rest; your screaming won't help." Rakan ruffled Rea's hair gently before disappearing behind the door.

Rea was frozen in place.

"What's wrong with that guy? Is he mentally ill? It's already in the advanced stage, poor thing," Rea quipped casually.

Feeling the pain she had been experiencing gradually subsiding, Rea walked over to the plastic bag on the nightstand. She examined the items inside to see what they were.

Rea furrowed her brow, not understanding the objects she saw. She took each item out of the bag and inspected them.

"Kiranti? What kind of weird thing is this?"

A thin wrinkle appeared on her forehead. Ah, maybe Rea should search for it on the internet. She had never used it before, so how would she know its function?

"Sanitary napkins?"

The girl was bewildered. Rakan had bought them? He was quite bold. Buying sanitary napkins at a store was bound to come with a significant amount of embarrassment.

"Ugh, why should I care?" She continued her unboxing. Besides, why should Rea bother about it?

"Paper?"

Why would such a thing be in the bag? It wasn't possible that he had picked up trash from the street and put it in there. If that were the case, Rakan was in trouble.

Rea's actions stopped abruptly when she saw the writing on the paper.

Rea then folded the paper back into its original shape. The sentence on the paper was now clearly visible.

"Use this because you make me feel embarrassed in front of the cashier!"

Rea covered her mouth with one hand, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Take that!"

To be continued...