Chapter 96: Ren’s “secret” is discovered.
The door closed behind Ren, while Noah remained standing by the table and Aria stood on the other side.
Ren had positioned himself between the two of them, and for several seconds no one spoke.
Noah looked first at Ren and then at Aria.
Aria’s expression was still calm, though she no longer wore that confident smile she had maintained throughout the negotiation.
Ren, on the other hand, looked genuinely upset, and Noah had never seen him like that.
"What do you plan to do with Noah?"
Ren asked, and Aria crossed her arms.
"I already answered you, didn’t I?"
"Don’t dodge the question."
Ren pointed at the open folder on the table.
"I want to know why you’re trying to get engaged to Noah."
Aria raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Because I want to."
"That explanation doesn’t convince me."
"It’s explanation enough for you."
"No, it isn’t."
Noah looked at Ren.
"Ren..."
His friend didn’t even glance at him.
"Wait."
Noah stayed quiet, because the way Ren and Aria were speaking didn’t sound like two students who barely knew each other.
There was no formality or distance.
Aria didn’t seem surprised by Ren’s presence either; on the contrary, she seemed annoyed that he had shown up.
Aria sat down again.
"This doesn’t concern you."
Ren let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Of course it concerns me."
Noah began to understand the situation.
’I see.’
Aria rested a hand on the table.
"The previous agreement no longer makes sense."
Ren clenched his teeth.
"You can’t decide that on your own."
"Yes, I can."
"Of course you can’t."
"My family has already agreed."
Ren took a step toward the table.
"Your family isn’t the only one that matters."
Noah looked between the two of them.
’So they really are engaged.’
Aria sighed.
"I knew you’d use that."
"Because it’s a rule between our families."
"It’s a formality."
"It’s a condition."
"A condition that can be modified."
"Not without mutual consent."
Aria stared at him fixedly, but Ren held his ground, and Noah raised a hand.
’This is my chance to confirm my point.’
"Excuse me."
Both of them turned toward him, and Noah pointed between the two.
"Could you explain to me what you’re talking about?"
Aria was the first to answer.
"About the conditions necessary to formalize the engagement between both families."
Noah felt the conversation getting worse again.
"Our engagement!?"
"Yes."
"But there is no engagement!"
"There could be."
"No, I already told you!"
Ren cut in.
"Exactly."
Noah looked at Ren, who continued.
"For a proposal of this kind to be valid within the families involved, it isn’t enough for you to say you want to do it."
Aria rolled her eyes slightly.
"That depends on the type of agreement."
"Not in this case."
"I could negotiate directly with his family."
"And mine would have to approve it."
Noah found the opening to dig deeper.
"Your family?"
Ren took a second too long to answer.
"Yes..."
Noah found the perfect moment to confirm everything.
"Why would your family have any say in who Aria gets engaged to?"
Aria looked at Ren, and she answered quickly.
"It’s complicated."
Aria smiled.
"Actually, it isn’t that big a deal."
Ren looked at her with a warning.
"Aria."
"What?"
"I’m not giving you permission to say anything."
Noah realized they had just tried to hide something from him right in front of him.
"Now I need to know."
Ren turned.
"Noah, it isn’t important."
"I think it is."
Aria rested her cheek on one hand and seemed to be enjoying the situation more and more.
Ren pointed at her.
"And you, stop smiling."
"Why?"
"Because I know what you’re doing."
"I’m just sitting here."
"You’re provoking me."
"And it’s working perfectly."
Ren took a deep breath, and Noah watched his friend, noticing that there was something different in the way Ren was reacting.
He didn’t seem merely worried about Noah; he was specifically angry with Aria, and a lot.
Aria looked at the folder again.
"In any case, Noah already heard my offer."
Ren turned toward Noah.
"You’re not going to accept, right?"
Noah raised his eyebrows.
"I already rejected it."
Ren relaxed at once, which both Noah and Aria noticed.
"Feeling better already?"
Aria said, and Ren tensed.
"What?"
"I just noticed you seemed very worried."
"Because you’re genuinely dangerous."
Aria smiled.
"Who, me?"
"You hired a private investigator to follow Noah."
"To research his tastes."
"That doesn’t make it any better."
Aria placed both hands on the table.
"Are you jealous?"
Ren went completely still.
"What?"
Ren asked, while Aria kept a completely calm expression.
"I asked if you’re jealous."
"O-Of course not!"
The answer came out too fast, so Aria smiled more.
"Right."
"I’m not jealous."
"Then stop acting like you are."
"I’m protecting my friend."
"I could convince him."
"No."
Noah looked at Ren, who spoke again before he could.
"Besides, even if Noah accepted, you couldn’t formalize anything."
Aria frowned slightly.
"That’s debatable."
"It isn’t."
"My family has enough resources to renegotiate any agreement."
"But it can’t break an existing one without consulting the other family."
Aria stopped smiling, because for the first time Noah saw that the argument had truly touched on something important.
"You’re doing everything you can to stop it."
"Because it’s absurd."
"Why?"
"Because Noah already has a girlfriend."
"That doesn’t prevent an additional engagement."
Noah raised a hand.
"It does for me."
Aria ignored him for a moment while Ren continued.
"And even if he didn’t have a girlfriend, that still doesn’t mean you can suddenly show up and decide he’ll be your fiancé."
Noah looked at Ren, who looked back at him, and for a moment the situation almost felt normal, until Aria spoke again.
"You’re overreacting."
"No."
"The engagement between our families can be modified."
"Not without mutual consent."
"Exactly."
"And my family isn’t going to accept you simply inserting a man without sharing him."
Silence filled the room.
Noah and Aria stayed completely still, and Ren seemed to realize what he had just said.
Noah looked at him.
"Without sharing him?"
Ren opened his mouth, but nothing came out, while Aria smiled slowly and Noah pointed at Ren.
"What does that mean?"
"I-It’s just a figure of speech."
Ren answered too quickly.
"It didn’t sound like one."
"You’re misinterpreting it."
Aria settled into her chair.
"Actually, he understood it pretty well."
Ren looked at her.
"Don’t talk."
"Why?"
"Because no."
Noah looked between the two of them again.
"Wait."
He began to recall an important fact from the original story.
’Ren was...’
His mind stopped, because there was a detail he had been avoiding for months because it didn’t fit: Ren was a woman, not a man.
Noah looked at Ren.
Ever since he had arrived in this world, he had assumed Ren was a man, because he had never really questioned his friend’s appearance.
Not the clothes, not the voice, not certain behaviors.
He had accepted what seemed obvious, but now Noah felt something beginning to click into place.
Aria took the floor.
"The original agreement establishes that..."
Ren slammed both hands on the table.
"Aria!"
Aria looked at her.
"What?"
"I told you not to talk."
"You can’t keep hiding it forever."
"Yes, I can."
"Clearly you can’t."
Noah stood up slowly.
"Hiding what?"
Ren turned toward him.
"Nothing."
"Ren."
"It isn’t anything important."
"You just said Aria can’t be with me because she doesn’t want to share me."
"Noah."
"Answer me."
Ren looked at Aria, who showed no intention of helping her; on the contrary, she seemed to be waiting, so Ren turned back to Noah.
"We can talk about this another day."
"No."
The two of them kept staring at each other, so then Aria spoke.
"The original engagement was between our families."
Ren closed his eyes.
"Aria."
"And as the only daughters..."
Noah felt as if he had misheard.
"Daughters?"
Aria nodded.
"Yes."
Noah looked at Ren, then at Aria, and back at Ren.
"What do you mean by daughters?"
Ren grabbed Noah by the arm.
"We’re leaving."
"Wait."
"Now."
Ren tried to pull him toward the door, but Noah resisted.
"Ren."
"We’ll talk later."
"I want to know now."
"This isn’t the time."
"Why not?"
"Because no."
Aria stood up.
"If you keep avoiding the answer, you’ll only make him more suspicious."
Ren turned.
"This is all your fault."
"You’re the one who walked in."
"Because you were trying to get engaged to Noah."
"And it would work better if you didn’t interfere."
"It won’t work."
"Because you’re jealous?"
"I’m not jealous!"
"Then accept that I’ll be with him."
"No."
Aria raised an eyebrow.
"That’s what it looked like."
Ren tried to pull Noah again, but he broke free.
"No."
Ren looked at him with concern, while Noah began to remember the little things that had made him suspicious, and he slowly opened his eyes.
’It can’t be.’
He looked at Ren’s face.
"Are you...?"
Ren shook his head.
"No."
"I didn’t even ask anything."
"I already know what you’re going to ask."
"Then answer me."
"I don’t want to."
"Ren."
"Noah."
"Are you...?"
Aria watched in silence and, for the first time since Noah had met her, she didn’t seem interested in controlling the conversation.
This belonged to Ren, so Noah spoke again.
"Ever since I arrived at the high school I always thought..."
He stopped, because he couldn’t say that he remembered another version of the story.
"Everyone treats you like..."
Ren answered.
"I know."
Noah confronted Ren directly. Ren closed his eyes, and Noah felt he already knew the answer.
"Ren."
Noah’s voice came out more serious.
"I need you to tell me yourself."
Ren opened her eyes and looked at him.
She no longer looked angry; instead she looked embarrassed and also worried.
Noah waited, so Ren remained silent for several seconds while Aria did not intervene in that tense moment.
Finally, Ren took a deep breath, lifted her head, and looked directly at Noah.
"Yes..."
Noah said nothing, waiting for the next words, as Ren pressed a hand against her own uniform before speaking.
"I’m a woman, Noah."