They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 495: Moving On

Nnenna, who was already academically ahead by at least a year and a half, spoke clearly, with confident ease.

"So, if you want to identify parasites quickly during practicals or diagrams," Nnenna began, "you need to remember their signature patterns."

"Like what?" Ava asked, scribbling in her jotter.

"Okay," Nnenna counted off on her fingers, "tapeworms are flat and ribbon like. They almost always have segments, like tiny boxes strung together. If you see something that looks like a flattened centipede in a diagram? That is a tapeworm."

Ava nodded quickly.

"And flukes," Nnenna continued, "they are leaf shaped. Most of them are hermaphroditic and have suckers near the mouth area. Their shape is key, once you spot the oval or leaf form, flukes should come to mind."

"Ugh. Gross, but okay," Ava said, making a face but jotting it down anyway.

"Oh! And nematodes, roundworms, are unsegmented and smooth, usually with tapered ends. They look like thin spaghetti noodles, if that helps."

Ava burst into a giggle. "Spaghetti. Great. Now I’ll never look at pasta the same."

Somto smirked but did not say anything, his heart warmed by the energy in the car. The morning sun filtered through the windows, casting a soft glow on Nnenna’s profile as she explained one concept after another with such ease, such light.

This was a side of her many didn’t see, soft, brilliant, willing to share what she knew without ego.

"And amoeba?" Ava asked.

"Ah, those little guys!" Nnenna grinned. "They’re shapeless, like blobs. Always changing form. If you see something with no fixed shape, just one nucleus, and moving with those arm like extensions? That’s pseudopodia, it’s an amoeba."

"What about plasmodium?"

"Simple. If you see ring forms inside red blood cells? Think malaria. That’s Plasmodium falciparum. Usually in a blood smear."

Ava blinked in surprise. "You’re like a walking exam key."

"I try," Nnenna teased with a wink.

Somto couldn’t help but glance at her in the rearview mirror. The morning hadn’t even started properly, but already, he knew this was going to be one of those days he would never forget.

Once Nnenna wrapped up her explanation, the two girls settled into a comfortable silence.

Ava leaned her head slightly against the seat, watching the world blur past the window. Her lips moved silently as she mentally rehearsed a few more definitions, but her mind wasn’t truly there anymore.

Without realizing it, her eyes drifted toward Somto in the front seat.

The same person who had unknowingly broken her heart just a few weeks ago.

He looked so calm. So steady. One hand on the wheel, gaze fixed ahead, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly whenever Nnenna said something funny. He didn’t even know.

And that’s what hurt the most.

It hadn’t been just a silly crush for her. Somto had been her first real love. The kind that snuck up quietly, like sunlight through curtains in the early morning.

The kind that built itself up in small pieces, his laugh, the way he explained things patiently, the way he cared for Nnenna with that subtle but fierce protectiveness.

He never looked at Ava that way.

And he never would.

Not because he was cruel. No, Somto wasn’t cruel at all. In fact, that was what made it worse, he was kind. Kind without even trying. He treated her like a little sister, a trusted friend. Nothing more.

That realization had shattered something inside her.

And despite how much she smiled, how well she studied, how much she laughed with the others... the truth was, she wasn’t okay.

Not yet.

Not even close.

Some nights, the tears came without warning. Quiet and frustrating. Because how do you mourn something that was never yours? How do you heal from a heartbreak that nobody even knows you suffered?

She could still remember the ache in her chest when she watched him look at Nnenna.

Really look at her.

The way his whole world seemed to still whenever Nnenna was around.

She could never compete with that, and she didn’t even want to. Because Nnenna was her best friend. One of the last people she would ever want to hurt.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t sting. That didn’t mean she hadn’t imagined, just once, what it would feel like to be the girl Somto looked at like that.

Just once.

Now, she sat in the backseat, silently nursing a heart that hadn’t quite learned how to stop hoping.

She blinked quickly and looked away from him, returning her gaze to the window.

Some feelings take longer to fade. And some wounds heal quietly... but they always leave a scar.

And Ava? She was still somewhere between healing and pretending.

She closed her eyes for a brief second, letting out a slow breath.

It still hurt. It would probably hurt for a long while. But as she sat there, the hum of the engine soft in her ears and Nnenna’s gentle presence beside her, something inside her began to settle.

Nnenna wasn’t just her friend anymore.

She was like a sister now. Someone who had pulled her close without effort, without even trying. Nnenna had shared her strength, her kindness, her laughter.

She didn’t know Ava’s secret, but Ava knew, deep down, that Nnenna would never intentionally hurt her. And that was exactly why Ava could never bring herself to get in the way.

Somto didn’t love her. He loved Nnenna. And that was the truth.

A painful, unavoidable truth. noveldrama

But it was better than pretending. Better than clinging to a dream that was never meant to be hers. She had seen what real love looked like, between her mother and father.

The way they still looked at each other, the way they supported each other through everything. That was what she wanted.

Not a half love.

Not something one sided.

She had thought, hoped, it could be Somto. But now she knew: she deserved a love that was returned.