Wrenna walked out from the library and noticed all the anime and manga clubs that had stalls lined up under the shade of the tree. There were even a bunch of cosplayers dressed to the nines.
She used to enjoy anime and manga a fair bit back then, so she had her own little manga ideas that she would actually draw. However, it didn't finish and was left halfway.
She wasn't even sure if she could have kept it up after transferring to the Department of Economics.
“Hi! There'll be an anime music festival this Friday night. Feel free to join!”
A flyer was shoved into Wrenna's hand and she gave it a once over before smiling at the student who had talked to her. “Sure thing.”
“Thank you!”
The student ran off to shove flyers at other people while Wrenna walked back to her dorm room.
She passed the flyer to Dora. “Wanna go?”
“Are you free now?” The other girls looked at each other in shock.
Wrenna chuckled. “I need a break too, after all. Xandra, let us all go.”
“Of course!”
Wrenna smiled at Xandra's agreement, but the other members of their dorm room were still looking at Wrenna strangely.
She was really going through a lot of mood swings. They thought she had the time to relax for a while back then, but she was acting crazy again and would stay up until the wee hours of the morning on her own.
Now that she has invited us to go to the music festival, could she be in a better mood?
They glanced at each other and Dora finally popped the question.
“Wrenna, how have you and Damian been recently?”
Wrenna looked up and smiled mildly, her expression devoid of any of the excitement she used to have whenever she talked about Damian.
“We're doing fine.”
Fine?
Even your attitude is totally off!
Dora could already sense it and she glanced at Xandra, who just shook her head subtly.
“That's great! I heard that Stella got a boyfriend recently. She hasn't been bothering you anymore, has she?”
“Nope. She's not going to cause any more problems between Damian and I anymore.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, don't worry. We're really doing well.”
“Ah, I see. I'm glad to hear that.”
Dora stayed quiet and sat down while the others started communicating through frowns and raised eyebrows, leaving the whole room completely silent.
On the inside, Dora was extremely panicked.
Good? What's good about all this?
Wrenna seemed to have changed far too much. At first, she had been full of hope and admiration for Damian. Now, the sweet Wrenna from before had changed and she had become completely calm, even a bit eerily unruffled when talking about him. Her smile was no longer as bright as it once was and her voice tone was no longer happy.
What happened to her?
Does studying really change someone that much?
Dora simply didn't buy Wrenna's story.
After Wrenna went to the library that afternoon, Dora held an impromptu meeting with the other two.
“Xandra, you know Wrenna the best. What happened to her? She really is acting way too different than normal. She can't have gone crazy from all the studying, right?”
Xandra shook her head. “I don't know.”
Linda said, “Hasn't she just become more mature? It's not like she'll be the same innocent girl forever after being married to him for some time. Maybe it's the marriage that has made her more mature.”
“That's complete bull! Haven't you heard that a woman in a happy marriage will only become more and more innocent and immature because her husband loves her so much? On the contrary, Wrenna is so mature now. She even smiles less. She's probably not happy at all.”
Dora was starting to make a lot of sense, and her worried expression caused the other two to feel anxious as well.
“Should we ask her later? We can't let her worry about everything on her own, can we? What if she gets depression from everything that is going on?”
“Don't say that.” Xandra didn't like making such speculations.
“Asking will be useless. She used to tell us everything, but now, she has learned to hide her emotions. We won't get any answers. If she wanted to tell us, we would have known by now. Besides, we shouldn't pry too much into her marriage life. Maybe she just never wanted us to know in the first place.”
It wasn't unheard of for people to wish to hide their negative sides from people around them.
If she really was unhappy, she would feel even worse if they kept pestering her.
Xandra seemed calm on the surface, but she was worried as well. She just knew that Wrenna would already have found someone to rant to if she really needed it. It might not be them, and it might not happen right now, but there was always going to be a right time and a right place for it.
All they could do for now was wait.
Wrenna, on the other hand, had no idea how much the others were worried for her.
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