#32.
Is it Beder?
Is it you?
* * *
To Scribe Beder Lang,
Beder, if the strange letter you just sent is yours, please answer me.
I’m so curious that I can’t sleep.
At dawn, on the 23rd day of the First Summer Month.
-Cordelia Gray
* * *
07-23-TUE-AM 11:50
From: Cordelia 〈[email protected]〉
To: Juliet 〈[email protected]〉
Look at Juliet Caplan, the one with incredible handwriting.
Can people with good handwriting imitate bad handwriting freely?
For example, can someone with a medieval Scribe level of beautiful handwriting do that?
* * *
07-23-TUE-AM 11:57
From: Juliet 〈[email protected]〉
To: Cordelia 〈[email protected]〉
Look at Cordelia Gray, my friend with terrible handwriting.
What are you doing to ask such a thing?
Are you working on that medieval picture book you mentioned last time?
Or are you planning some document forgery crime?
If you’re asking whether someone like me could imitate the writing of someone like you, the answer is a definite ‘No.’ Your handwriting is a masterpiece of mess. But people like us, who are naturally gifted with beautiful handwriting, can kind of imitate different styles.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 1:50
From: Cordelia 〈[email protected]〉
To: Juliet 〈[email protected]〉
My old friend who turns questions into insults,
One more weird question.
Do you happen to remember my favorite way to tear paper?
I feel like I might have told you once before.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 2:14
From: Juliet 〈[email protected]〉
To: Cordelia 〈[email protected]〉
Cordelia, your team must be really free.
If you’ve got so much time, can you quickly check your calendar and clock?
There are still four long days until the weekend, and a whole 4 hours left until the end of work. Do we really have to make your terrible handwriting and special obsession with paper shredding our conversation topics at this point? Your friend suddenly feels bored to the point of nausea. How about we talk about Liam or your secret guy instead?
But before we start chatting, tell me the rating. If it’s R-rated, I’m ready to put aside the mountain of proofreading work and listen. If not, I might treat your emails like you treat Garrett’s.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 2:42
From: Cordelia 〈[email protected]〉
To: Juliet 〈[email protected]〉
R-rated.
…I bet you’ll open this if that’s the first line, right?
There’s nothing scandalous in this email like you might be hoping for, but once you read it, I think you’ll find the story interesting.
So, someone sent me a letter. The last line said, “Tear it up in the way you like, Cordelia.”
Juliet, you might not know this, but I have my own special way of tearing paper. It’s something only my late mother knew about.
When I was little, my mom would collect all the useless papers—flyers tucked into the newspaper, old bills. She never threw any of it away. She always said that each piece of paper was important when she was young.
By the time those papers piled up to about my height, I’d gather them together, fold three or four sheets twice, tear them three times, then gather them again for one final tear. That way, the paper would be completely shredded, with no trace of my name or my mom’s name on the bills.
My mom used to praise me for my meticulousness. When she introduced me to people at the local shops, she’d proudly say, “This girl even has her own favorite way of tearing paper.”
Yeah, it was something only my mom and I knew about. But now, someone sent me a letter and ended it with this:
“Cordelia, tear it up the way you like.”
Creepy, right?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:12
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
My lovely perverted friend.
You’ve really been a strange one since you were little. I’m trying to like you more. Can you come over and tear up some of the bills piled up at my house?
Anyway, that letter, isn’t it just like a chain letter?
Cordelia, you don’t actually believe that’s your mother, do you?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:33
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
I’m not crazy enough to think that my dead mom came back to life over just one line. Not yet, anyway.
And my mom had beautiful handwriting. This person’s handwriting is awful. On top of that, it looks like it was written with an ink pen, not a ballpoint, shaking and smudging all over the place, so I had to stare at it for a long time to figure out what it said.
But do you know what’s even creepier? When I looked closely, the handwriting looked exactly like mine. Even the way the circles were drawn was the same as mine.
So, are you scared yet?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:42
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
The fact that there’s another handwriting like yours in the world is pretty terrifying, I have to admit.
…But honestly, I still think it’s just some crazy person who can’t write for their life sending you a chain letter or something.
Maybe that crazy person is your long-time stalker? How about asking Liam to escort you?
Admit it, my friend, this might be the perfect chance to finally make a move on that handsome guy.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:44
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
I applaud your consistency, first of all.
I’ll take care of whether Liam ends up lying down or standing, so don’t worry.
For now, how about dinner with me tonight instead of Liam?
How about a pub after work?
I’ve got the letter with me, so I’ll show you.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:45
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Cordelia. You said you’d make Liam stand up?
Well, that’s definitely your job to handle. No doubt about it!
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 4:45
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
Shut up, Juliet. Please, just stop.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:11
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Stop? As if.
Let’s talk more about how you’re going to make Liam “stand up” on the way home.
Speaking of, I assume nothing’s happened yet with Liam.
But what about that other guy?
Is he still cheating on you?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:25
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
Cheating, really?
That guy. Yeah, he’s the one giving me headaches right now.
I just can’t figure out what’s going on in his head.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:26
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Cordelia, sometimes you have a bit of a wicked side.
Why do you always bring this stuff up right before we finish work?
Couldn’t you have started at two, for once?
Fine, we’ve got 30 minutes to dive into it.
What did that guy do to make you so confused about his feelings?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:27
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
He said he saw another woman and was so mesmerized by her beauty that he couldn’t look away.
He said it was the first time he ever felt so moved by someone’s face.
Seeing my reaction, he said his heart ached too, for no reason.
And…
Hold on, I’ll finish after I take this call.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:27
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Is he kidding?
Why would he even tell you that?
What a jerk.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:40
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
No, Juliet. Listen to the rest of it.
After looking at her, the last thing that came to his mind was me.
While staring at her, he said he started thinking about me.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:41
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
That sounds like total nonsense.
He thought of you, so what?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:42
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
He said he thought of me, and because of that, he couldn’t fall in love with her.
He said he wouldn’t be able to fall in love with anyone else from now on. Because no one’s like me.
I know, I get what you’re saying.
You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?
You haven’t seen him.
But I know him.
He wasn’t just trying to get me to fall for him.
And he has nothing to gain from sweet-talking me either.
You need to meet him. When he says he thinks of me, I know he means it.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:45
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
I understand what you’re saying.
There are some things that can’t be conveyed unless you experience them yourself.
And, yeah, saying no one’s like you is kind of romantic.
Now I get why you like him.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:46
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
Right? That part is kind of romantic, isn’t it?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:46
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Yeah, he’s got a way with words, that’s for sure.
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:47
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
Juliet!
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:47
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Anyway, Cordelia.
Since the master of smooth talk told you no one’s like you, and here you are filling your 5 PM with talk about him, what exactly is the problem? Were you just bragging and I didn’t get it? Or is it the fact that Liam isn’t in bed with you yet?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:49
From: Cordelia <[email protected]>
To: Juliet <[email protected]>
I know he wasn’t lying.
But still…
I think he’s clueless about his own feelings. He probably likes that girl but just doesn’t realize it yet.
There’s no way he’s in love with me.
Liking the pretty girl in front of him makes more sense.
Just like how I’m drawn to Liam right in front of me.
Yeah, Juliet, talking to you has helped me sort things out.
He likes that girl.
He just hasn’t realized it yet.
So I guess it’s up to me to tell him, right?
* * *
07-23-TUE-PM 5:56
From: Juliet <[email protected]>
To: Cordelia <[email protected]>
Are you insane?
You’re supposed to sabotage that, not encourage it!
Get ready to leave work.
I don’t know what you’re going on about, but I think you need a serious lesson from me today.
———= Author’s Note ———=
To the readers thinking, “What kind of salary thieves are these?”
You didn’t think I’d leave out Prince Archie, did you?
There are two more chapters to come.
Please click on the next one.
P.S.: Thank you all for your recommendations and likes!
<– Drunken Letters Three –>
(2/3 continuous episodes)
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