Chapter 10: Parties and Social Anxiety Time flew by and it was already afternoon…
Time flew by and it was already afternoon. Ethan had already turned in his mission at noon.
As the time drew ever closer to four in the afternoon, Ethan struggled with his thoughts. Even after agreeing, he was still wondering if he should find an excuse to escape, but he ultimately agreed.
He struggled with the decision for a long time, but that didn't stop him from sorting himself out first.
He first took a bath. He still maintained many of his old habits. Even though cleaning magic could clean him better than taking a bath, he still preferred the feeling of taking a bath.
"Do I really have to go?" Ethan asked himself.
When was the last time he attended a large gathering like this? Ethan couldn't remember. In any case, he hadn't socialized in a long time, and the thought of going out to meet people made him instinctively refuse.
Ethan slowly sank down into the bathtub, water overflowing his mouth. He exhaled one bubble after another, which rose to the surface, touched the air, and then disappeared.
Are you going?
Ethan was reminded of his school days ten years ago.
One day, his classmates grabbed him and said they wanted to have a get-together. They didn't give him a chance to refuse and dragged him there. It turned out to be another complete prank.
Because of his past experiences, he developed a fear of social interaction. He would try his best to be perfect in front of unfamiliar people, fearing that if he made a mistake, others would laugh at him.
But they are not from Starfall City.
Ethan had already noticed a significant difference between the people outside and those in Starfall City; the normal appearance of the outsiders shocked him.
What are the people of Starfall City like?
It is a vicious, selfish, insidious, cunning, and malicious breeding ground.
"Mental illness" is the highest compliment they can receive. Everyone is sick to some extent, but it's a mental illness that is incurable.
And what about the people outside?
Compared to the Starfall People, they were law-abiding, polite, and normal in every way, which made Ethan feel uncomfortable and strange.
For example, if someone confesses their feelings to someone they like and is rejected, they will only try to become a better person to prove themselves or get revenge later.
And Starfall City? Ethan heard that one of his former classmates was killed along with his entire family for refusing a confession of love…
Students from outside the school who dislike a teacher might at most play pranks, and those with the ability might even get the teacher fired. Killing a teacher is a very low probability event.
And Starfall City? Let's put it this way, for example, Ethan's shadow, his elementary school classmate Jack, who hates him and also hates the class teacher.
They framed him when he was a child, making him seem like a shameless thief who couldn't even admit to stealing.
Jack could sense that something was off between him and the others back then, and with just a few schemes, he could completely break down his psychological defenses.
Under Jack's deliberate manipulation, Ethan did indeed break down and develop psychological problems, but instead of killing his teachers and classmates as Jack had hoped, he shut himself off.
When Ethan came to the school for the last time to withdraw from the program and left, he could feel the disappointed look in Jack's eyes behind him.
Since then, Ethan has never heard from Jack again, as he has stayed at home and it has taken him a long time to calm down.
So Ethan thought, the people outside aren't as crazy as the people of Starfall City, they probably wouldn't deliberately embarrass him, right?
Ethan decided to trust Bertha after all. If it really was a prank to embarrass him, he would just throw the party and run away.
Now that Ethan had decided to participate, his anxiety returned.
He showered, dried his hair, combed it, and kept his cloak neat, but he was still not satisfied.
What else did he need to do? No, but it still felt like something was missing. Ethan looked left and right, but couldn't think of anything else. Then he realized he didn't smell good, and he didn't want to wear perfume.
Ethan checked the time; it was about 3:55. He opened a portal and went to the coordinates Bertha had given him.
When they arrived, they found it was a barbecue restaurant, and Bertha was standing at the entrance. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him, and she walked over to Ethan in a few steps: "Almost everyone's here, I'll take you there, Mr. Nix."
Ethan followed her cautiously.
Bertha led him through many rooms until they reached the last room at the end of the corridor. Bertha pushed open the door, and the scene inside came into Ethan's view.
People. A lot of people.
A dozen or so people sat in a large circle, chatting and laughing. When they heard the door open, they all looked over.
Ethan opened the portal in an instant and instinctively tried to escape, but Bertha grabbed his shoulder and pushed him inside.
During this time, Ethan leaned back frantically in resistance, but he couldn't break free from Bertha. With so many people watching, he was pushed into the innermost position, where Bertha sat down next to him.
“This is our newest member, Mr. Ethan Nix, who joined us a week ago,” Bertha said with a smile, introducing everyone one by one. “And this is…”
"...Welcome everyone to the Mage Guild. Thank you all for joining this gathering." Bertha introduced everyone present, including her good friend Lily, who wasn't a newcomer but was someone she knew, and said politely, "Let's start eating now."
Lily looked at Bertha and winked, "This is the Starfall City Guardian you were talking about?"
Bertha nodded, glancing helplessly at Ethan, whose head was bowed so low he was practically crawling under the table.
Ethan didn't look up from the moment she started speaking.
Ethan's reaction was so strong not only because he was the spokesperson and everyone was looking at them.
Instead, he noticed that everyone else was dressed in casual clothes, while he was wearing a cloak, making him seem out of place.
He should have realized it was just a dinner party, a chance for the newlyweds to get to know each other. No one would come wearing a cloak, but damn it, he was the one who did.
A woman was sitting to Ethan's right.
She doesn't look young; the years have kissed her cheeks, leaving a few shallow wrinkles to prove their existence.
She didn't look slim at all; she was rather plump, the kind of woman who looked like a typical housewife.
But her smile carried an irresistible gentleness, as kind as a breeze, gently caressing everything.
She asked, "What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"
Ethan seemed less nervous around her, though he was still uneasy. She reminded him of Selene.
Bertha noticed that several people sitting close by were casting curious glances at her, and seeing this opportunity, Bertha was not going to let it slip by, even though she hadn't gotten Ethan's permission.
“Mr. Knicks seems to be a bit socially awkward.” Bertha smiled helplessly.
Everyone looked at Ethan, who was trembling slightly and lowered his head even further after hearing Bertha's words, and had an expression of sudden realization.
No wonder, I wanted to run away as soon as I opened the door and looked into the room. I didn't dare to look up at anyone the whole time. It turns out it was a social anxiety attack.
“I understand, I used to be socially awkward too.” A young man sitting a little far from Ethan spoke first. Ethan recognized him as Terry, whom Bertha had introduced in order.
"When my social anxiety was severe, I didn't even want to go to school, I didn't know or chat with anyone outside my family, and I didn't dare to make eye contact with others when I was walking on the street."
"So what happened next?" someone asked with a laugh.
“It’s all thanks to a friend of mine.” Terry’s smile twisted for a moment: “It was him. He lost a bet with someone and danced in front of everyone, dragging me along. I couldn’t break free, so I fought with him. Later, I realized that no matter what I did, it couldn’t be more embarrassing than that.”
Good-natured laughter immediately erupted around him.
“Social anxiety is very normal.” The second person sitting to Ethan’s right was a young girl wearing glasses. Ethan remembered that her name was Cassie. “There are a lot of people with social anxiety now. More than half of the students in my class are social anxiety people.”
"Child, stop pinching him." The woman named Mary next to Ethan looked at him with loving concern, her voice gentle: "You're going to draw blood."
That motherly demeanor was mesmerizing.
Ethan paused, his hand, which had been clenching, relaxed and clenched into a fist. He nodded slightly.
"Are you hot?" Mary asked with concern, looking at the cloak that only revealed the lower half of her face.
After all, the barbecue had been going on for a while, and it was almost time to eat. The space above the barbecue was distorted, and everyone was sweating and drinking iced drinks.
Ethan clung to the high collar of the cloak, struggling for a while before stealing a glance at Mary. She was still gazing at him tenderly, which gradually calmed Ethan's heart.
He slowly took off the hood of his cloak, revealing his entire face, but he still didn't dare to look up at everyone, his ears tinged with a thin layer of red.
Everyone was stunned for a moment. They didn't expect Ethan to look so young. They thought he was a socially awkward nerd in his twenties or thirties, but he turned out to be such a young and innocent socially awkward person.
Ethan pretended to be busy, picked up a few pieces of grilled meat and stuffed them into his mouth, but forgot that they were freshly grilled and were so hot that Ethan almost spat them out. He swallowed them whole and then drank the water next to him in one gulp.
Ethan picked up a few pieces of raw meat and started grilling it, trying to distract himself with something else. As expected, the meat burned, and Ethan's efforts to salvage it were futile.
Everyone could see Ethan's unease. This shy boy didn't even dare to look up at them. If he did, they would see that some people seemed to be chatting, but their eyes were actually secretly looking over at them.
They saw Ethan, who had burned himself while eating the barbecue, sticking out his tongue with a pained expression after drinking water. The barbecue had been grilled several times until it was charred, and his ears were even redder.
In the end, Mary couldn't stand it anymore and personally taught Ethan how to grill the perfect meat. This time, not only were his ears red, but his face turned red all the way to his neck, making one wonder if he was about to burst into smoke.
But after successfully baking it, Ethan ate it with great satisfaction, his mouth greasy and his cheeks bulging, looking very cute.
"It's a child." Everyone thought in unison.
A note from the author:
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Before coming:
Bertha: 14, Socially anxious, Guardian
Lily: Wow!
——
I enjoy watching women who aren't conventionally beautiful, neither young nor slim, and certainly not delicate. I simply can't resist a woman displaying strong, defined muscles.
*Because he couldn't digest it, Ethan vomited as soon as he got home.*
I hope there will be comments and interaction.
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