I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend

   It was obvious how Rudrick, who was twice as shy as others, would react to my nickname. What’s the point of saying it when he couldn’t even call me that? ‘This was a lie in good faith.’ While doing my own rationalization, I glanced at Rudrick’s eyes. It was sad to see him shut his mouth with drooping eyes. There was an awkward silence for a while, and Rudrick spoke softly through the silence. “You asked me to match with anything.” Hey, when did I say anything…! I wanted to refute it, but if I say this, I was in a cold sweat because the real World War II was about to happen between Rudrick and me. You’ll get upset. You’ll definitely get upset. How am I supposed to soothe this? When I was racking my brains. Surprisingly, the ambush was elsewhere. “Why are you lying?” I screamed inside. ‘Mother…!’ Now standing behind me was the terrific mother who gave me this ordeal, who was playing around with her daughter’s nickname. “Wait a minute…” “Dahlia, lying is bad.” “I need to talk to you…” “Oh, you didn’t want to say it’s a family nickname? Then there’s nothing we can do. Rudrick, you have to understand.” I wanted to scream, ‘What do you even understand!’ but the gloomy mumble was faster. “…if you didn’t want to say it, you should have been honest.” My body trembled and I quietly glanced back at Rudrick. It was hard to see his face because he was bowing his head, but it was clear that he had a complex expression of disappointment, sadness, and depression. ‘I’m screwed!’ I wanted to tear my hair out. However, the first thing to do was to fix the situation. Let me think, what can I do here? 1. Be honest and get along with each other for a while. 2. Pull it all the way to the end and fall apart from each other. In the end, there was only one answer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie.” Rudrick looked up. The face was exactly what I thought it would be. “I just thought it would be a little embarrassing if you called me by my nickname.” “I’m ashamed too.” “But it’s also a little funny…” “Why do you think so?” “You won’t be able to say it if you hear it.” “No.” Rudrick answered firmly. “I can do it!” Somehow, I felt vaguely at the tone of that conviction. When I first met him, he couldn’t even express himself well, but it’s been so long since we’ve met that he has become so daring. I felt proud that the child I was caring for had grown up, and at the same time I felt a sense of shame that I had no choice but to confess my nickname. I asked, hesitatingly, stroking my hair. “Really… are you going to call me?” Only then did Rudrick’s face brighten. “Promise.” With that bright face, I pondered for three seconds. and said bitterly. “Darling.” He stopped breathing. “…huh?” I knew it. Seeing Rudrick, who’s undoubtedly contemplating as I expected, made me feel distant now. I spoke more casually than earlier. “My nickname is ‘Darling’.” “…” “You promised?” “…” A long silence passed. With his mouth shut and his eyes looking down, Rudrick’s face turned red. His appearance earlier bragged that he could say my nickname was something I wanted to run away from right away beyond going anywhere and being in trouble. Looking at it, I felt strange… Obviously, I thought that if someone called me by that stupid nickname, I would die of shame on the spot. But what the hell is this? There’s a tickling in my heart and the corners of my lips are about to go up… This is really… ‘It’s funny!’ I held back the laughter that was about to leak out. It was then that I realized why my mother had to give me such an absurd nickname. And why she kept bringing up such a nickname in front of my father and why she was always happy to make him feel embarrassed. “It seems that Dahlia was a little mistaken. It’s not that hard to call it.” “What?” “I gave you that nickname to help you become a lovable person, wouldn’t Dahlia be too sad if I said that? You should call her sweeter with more affection.” My mother, who was watching us from behind, bowed to her waist and caringly explained the origin of my nickname. And then she makes eye contact with Rudrick and smiles… Knowing the meaning of that smile, I got goosebumps at the back of my neck. My mother looked at Rudrick affectionately. “Come on, copy me.” And she slowly opened her mouth. “Darling♡.” Rudrick fainted on the spot.  * * * Come to think of it, I wasn’t really that kind of a ‘good friend‘ in my previous life. To be precise, I was a troublesome friend. Most of my friends who became closer after the daycare period defined me this way. ‘It’s not bad, but it’s a friend I want to punch.’ To put it nicely, I was playful in a good and bad way. If you ask me if this is good or bad, I have nothing to say. The reactions of my friends to my pranks were also extreme. There were friends who joked with me, and there were friends who hated it. But strangely enough, there are friends who want to joke around. A pure soul that responds to every joke and reveals all thoughts on its face. That’s the kind of person Rudrick was. ‘It’s because you’re so cute.’ To make a little more of my excuse, I was never going to reveal my ugly desire against Rudrick. It hasn’t been long since I decided to become a ‘real good friend‘, but if I reveal my nature and bully him recklessly, I might become an enemy rather than a friend. Above all else, if I had tormented such a small and delicate child, it would not be fun and I would only feel remorse. But maybe I’m already getting the hang of it. When Rudrick reacts to every word I say, when I touch him a little bit, his face turns red and he can’t say anything. Even more stimulating, when he’s about to cry and tears build up in his big eyes. Whenever that happened, I heard a cry from deep inside my heart, ‘More, a little more!’ but I tried to ignore it. For some reason, once you taste it, you will never be able to go back. But in the end, I did… Although I didn’t intend to, I tasted the forbidden fruit. ‘I can’t go back anymore.’ And it wasn’t until I realized that the more I played with Rudrick, the more I found out what was missing. I didn’t feel empty just because I couldn’t call Rudrick by his nickname. I felt empty because I was pretending to be too kind and suppressing my evil nature. But come to think of it, didn’t we promise to be honest with each other? If I only show my kind side, won’t Rudrick become anxious again? ‘Yes, let’s be honest!’ It’s all for Rudrick and me-, after I had just finished rationalizing myself, I decided to reveal myself little by little. As my last bit of conscience, I wonder if I should give Rudrick time to get used to it. And the resolution seemed to be going quite according to plan.