Though paralyzed, still radiantly charming!

Chapter 375: For life

“Nessa, are you feeling down?”

On the way to class, Ethan asked Vanessa with concern.

He had only gotten half the story earlier, and now he was hoping to get more details directly from her.

“Did you really notice?” Vanessa looked a bit surprised, thinking she had hidden her emotions well.

“Yeah.” Ethan nodded seriously, “Because we’re best friends, right?”

Even though they had only officially become friends the day before, that didn’t stop Ethan from treating Vanessa as a close friend. After all, she wasn’t just Lila’s friend—she was his friend too.

And it seemed like this made Vanessa happy.

She smiled and shook her head lightly. “It’s just a small thing. I’m fine now.”

Who knows how Sophia would feel if she found out that, in Vanessa’s eyes, what she considered so important was just a “small thing.”

“If you ever run into any trouble, Nessa, you can always tell me. I’ll help you, no matter what.”

Vanessa was momentarily taken aback by his words. Not long ago, Sophia had said something similar to her.

Normally, she found it annoying when people, especially students who didn’t have the ability, made big promises they couldn’t keep. But this time, hearing it from the girl beside her, Vanessa didn’t feel the slightest bit irritated.

She turned her head to look at Ethan, pretending to be casual as she asked, “Lil Bunny, are you ready to carry someone else’s burdens?”

Ethan was startled by the question, wondering if he had said something weird. How did this suddenly turn into a conversation about carrying someone else’s life?

But when he saw the seriousness in Vanessa’s calm eyes, he matched her tone, nodding without hesitation. “Of course. If that’s what you want, Nessa, I’ll carry your burdens. Lil Bunny here is pretty strong!”

He wasn’t sure if Lila had that kind of resolve, but he knew he did. And since Vanessa was asking him, he couldn’t lie to her.

If he said no in such a serious moment, who knows what might happen? Lila could lose an important friend if things went south.

So, Ethan had no choice but to accept the responsibility, even if it meant doing it with a heavy heart.

Vanessa could feel his sincerity. His resolve was real, and she didn’t doubt for a second that he could follow through.

Maybe it was because this girl had saved her from tough situations more than once. She was like a beam of light that had shone into Vanessa’s heart, making her subconsciously believe that this girl could do anything.

This response lifted a lot of the gloom from Vanessa’s heart, and her steps became lighter.

The girl, as radiant as moonlight, playfully clasped her hands behind her back and leaned in closer to Ethan, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him. “By the way, we haven’t exchanged contact info yet, have we? Let’s do that now.”

“Uh…” Ethan froze for a moment.

The problem was, he was using his own account right now, and they had already exchanged contact info last night. If she added him again, his cover would be blown.

Seeing his hesitation, Vanessa asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ethan pulled out his phone, trying to play it cool. “I was just thinking about which account you should add.”

“Huh?”

Vanessa was confused at first, but then it clicked. The personality in front of her wasn’t the same as the one from last night. Did Lil Bunny use two different accounts?

Ever since she found out Lila had two personalities, Vanessa had been trying to figure out how to interact with her. Treating ‘Shiny Lila’ the same way as ‘Shy Lila’ would often scare the latter.

In the brief moment Vanessa was thinking, Ethan quickly created a shared account—a sub-account that would forward messages to his main one.

He added Vanessa as a friend using this new account. Afterward, he thought about adding Lila’s account too, just to cover all his bases.

But Vanessa shook her head.

“No need for that right now. I’ll add that Lila later.”

She had already started treating them as two separate people. It was a strange feeling—she had only befriended one person, but it felt like she had gained two friends.

This small detail made Ethan realize how seriously she was taking things. He smiled as he put his phone away and said, “She’s a bit shy, but she’s a good kid. Please be her friend, Nessa.”

“Of course.”

Vanessa nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Both you and her are important to me. We’re going to be best friends for life!”

“For life?” Ethan looked at her, surprised.

Vanessa responded with a smile as warm as a spring breeze, saying, “Didn’t we already agree on that?”

Wait, when did we agree on something like that? Ethan thought to himself, sighing softly. Looks like Vanessa’s adding her own little twist to things again. But, well, it wasn’t so bad.

The two of them soon arrived at the classroom, where Lila once again drew the attention of all their classmates.

However, after what happened yesterday, everyone was a bit hesitant. They were worried about accidentally scaring Lila into fainting again.

It wasn’t until Ethan took the initiative to greet everyone that they realized the “shiny” version of Lila had returned.

And just like that, Lila’s desk was surrounded once more.

Clearly, the novelty hadn’t worn off for the class yet.

Ethan didn’t mind, though. He smiled and calmly handled all the questions from their curious classmates. It wasn’t difficult for him—he made sure to give everyone attention, which only boosted Lila’s standing in the class even more.

The classmates were kind, too. No one asked any awkward questions about the changes in Lila’s behavior. Instead, they seemed to have silently agreed on how to interact with her: they would only approach when the “shiny” Lila was around, and if the “shy” Lila appeared, they’d keep a respectful distance, almost treating her like the class mascot.

Meanwhile, Vanessa sat at her desk in the front row, resting her chin on her hand as she watched the scene unfold.

It wasn’t that she was worried about losing her best friend to the crowd.

She knew deep down that none of these people could compare to her.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little wistful, maybe even a bit envious.

How nice would it be if I could be like Lil Bunny, she thought. To wake up one day and find that all the problems that have been weighing me down were solved by a completely different version of myself.

But as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she shook her head sharply.

No, no, Nessa! How could you even think about running away like that?