Ten years ago...
"Hahaha! That's right! That's right!" a conceited laugh echoes loudly in the spacious office filled with five adults, all wearing black suits. Overpowering the others' laughter, the oldest man in the group sitting at the end of the long office table continued to laugh loudly, making the only teenager in the room feel more uncomfortable.
Even without understanding what's funny about their conversation, Larissa joins the adults with an awkward smile.
"You really made the right decision to take her in. She really is talented."
"He is right. Genes are really powerful. Look how tall and fit her body is."
"She really takes after her parents. She will bring success to our team soon!"
Larissa's head throbbed the more she listened to the other adults trying to leech off the man at the center with their words.
In her eyes, these adults are more pathetic than the beggars begging for coins. However, she cannot distinguish herself from those adults because she is also attempting to be acknowledged by the old and powerful man in the center.
At the age of ten, a fire broke out in their house that resulted in her entire family being burnt into ashes. She's the only survivor because she was training at the gym at the time the fire broke out.
Having no one left to rely on, the old man was the only savior who came and helped her, but on one condition: she needed to ace the rugby team their company sponsored.
The old man, who is also the former coach of her athletes' parents, pushed her to train hard and even admitted her into an elite private school, where most admitted are children of wealthy and prominent people.
"Come on. Don't pressure our Larissa that much. But I am sure she will surely rise to the top. Right, Larissa?" The old man said it with so much pressure, which made Larissa feel suffocated again.
Training was hard.
Building up and pushing her body to the limits was hard, but the hardest thing she felt was to match everyone's expectations. Although she's having a hard time pushing towards the goal that is almost impossible for a teenager to achieve, she continues to struggle as she thinks it is the right thing to do to payback the old man who saved her from starving and gave her a roof to sleep on.
Bluuuurggghhh
Larissa vomits everything inside her stomach after she finally left the stifling office she went into. The office was on the top floor of the private school she attended, and she dashed to the nearest restroom to throw everything out, including the uneasy feeling she had whenever she was around those adults in black suits.
Knock knock knock
Larissa flinched after hearing a knock on her cubicle. She had a cold sweat as she got worried about what the person outside would tell her. It's not like she's doing anything out of the ordinary according to the school rules, but every student in this private school is easily disgusted and sensitive, especially when it comes to cleanliness.
Larissa gulped down the rest of the liquid she was about to throw up and waited for the person to speak after knocking. She then looked down because the person had slid a tissue box and a hydro flask into the gap under the door.
"Are you alright?" the unknown person asked.
Larissa panicked even more after hearing a boy's voice. She then felt unsure if she had entered the right restroom or not. She didn't properly check because of how sick she felt before throwing up.
"You can have that. They said cold water can relieve nausea. You probably had a hard time with your meeting with the oldies. I always come to meet with them, too."
"Do you feel nauseous after meeting them as well?" Larissa asked back.
The boy on the other side was surprised to hear a female voice inside the male's cubicle while Larissa still talked to him, even though she knew she wasn't supposed to be at the male's restroom. It was just that the boy's comforting tone made her sickness go away.
"I-I don't feel bad because I am already used to meeting with them. They are just a bunch of oldies who put pressure on us just because they can't lift themselves up alone. Rather, it was my friend who was suffering from the same thing. He usually drinks cold water to calm himself down." The boy responded, even though it's pretty obvious that his voice turned awkward after he realized he was speaking to a female student.
Larissa picked up the expensive hydro flask and thought the boy talking to her was a child of one of the wealthy men in the black suit. The boy also told her he frequently met with the old man on the top floor, implying that he was important and wealthier than anyone else.
"Thank you for this."
"Y-you better get out of here before anyone else sees you. I'll clear out the hallway, so you better get out soon!" the boy said before running out of the restroom.
Larissa felt strange and grateful to the boy for being kind to her. It's been a long time since she last received such a gesture, which she can't help but smile sweetly about.
Click
She finally opened the cubicle door while holding the hydro flask and tissue box, but she dropped them again after getting startled at the sudden opening of the restroom door.
It was the boy again. He only stood at the door and shouted loudly while his eyes were closed.
"The hallway is clear! You can go out!"
Bam!
The boy closed the door and left after saying what he wanted.
Larissa said thank you even if the boy was gone, but when she was about to pick up the box and hydro again, the boy opened the door, which she looked at with surprise.
"Anyway! You're doing great! Don't let those old farts affect your progress!"