New World with Four Husbands-Chapter 647: Informing the scarred mediators [2]

"Can you two please say something?" Coco asked, eyebrows furrowing. "Anything— just say anything."

Silence.

The silence was heavy and thick, like a fog that is spread out across a forest, making Coco feel like she was being scrutinized under their unnerving and unblinking stares.

Then, after a moment of another silence, Jonathan shifted in his seat.

".. Meow." The mediator had a straight face, eyes blank as he stared at his friend— as if he just didn’t say something horrendously ridiculous.

"Meow?" Coco raised an eyebrow, confusion all over her features.

"Woof." Renaldo barked, his voice sounding a little monotonous which was accompanied with his current blank stare.

"Woof?" Coco turned to the other mediator, a deadpan expression on her face. "Okay, what the fuck is happening? Are you two okay? What’s with this meow and woof bullshit of the two of you?"

"You told us to say something." Jonathan answered, making Coco shift her attention back to him. "So.. We did."

"Right." Renaldo agreed with a nod of his head, then he let out a sigh and leaned forward, placing both of his elbows on his thighs. "Though, kidding aside.. You’re really not Coco Hughes?"

"Yeah." Coco shrugged, leaning back on the couch. "I mean, shouldn’t it be obvious? I’m pretty sure I don’t act anywhere near like her."

"You.." Jonathan trailed off, his eyes narrowing a little. "You have a point. Your behavior is nowhere near how a noble child would act, but you’re already strange by the time you sought me out, so I didn’t question it."

Coco chuckled, genuine and light-hearted. "That’s right, the villagers called me strange."

"I don’t think they just called you strange." Renaldo objected with a slight shrug. "They called you trash, drunkard, scum, and a failure of a daughter. You name it. They called you everything you’re not."

"They called Coco Hughes everything because that’s who she became." Coco corrected, not wanting to be lumped with the woman who was awfully alcoholic and abusive towards her spouses just because she’s the only child of an influential noble.

"You make it sound like she didn’t want to become who she became." Jonathan commented, side eyeing his friend.

"I mean.. Not all people become drunkards without a reason." Coco shrugged, returning her friend’s gaze with a mirthful look on her eyes. "Some of them became alcoholic because being sober made them remember their shitty realities."

As she said those words, she remembered a certain classmate of hers who dropped out of the class because he became a little too drowned in alcoholic beverages.

He wasn’t a bad person, but he wasn’t motivated to pull himself out of his situation.

I tried to help him, but if someone doesn’t want themselves to be saved, then there’s nothing I can do. Coco thought, the corner of her lips curling down into a small frown.

"Anyway." Coco bounced back to the present and straightened herself. "Since the three of us can joke around like this, I’m guessing that you already accepted me for who I am..?"

She was nervous about what they would think about her, but then, she remembered why she was friends with them in the first place.

"It’s a little confusing and unbelievable, but thinking back on the times when you acted strange.. I can say that it adds up that you’re not the Coco Hughes I previously knew." Renaldo stated, smiling softly towards Coco.

"I don’t know who Coco Hughes was." Jonathan turned to Coco, a small awkward smile on his lips. "I’m just glad you’re my friend. I don’t care what or who you are."

Coco blinked and let their words sink into her brain. She felt relieved. She knew that she would be accepted, but a part of her still felt scared about how they would react— but then again, she already knew that they would accept her.

She doesn’t even know why she would feel nervous about it in the first place.

"You two don’t know how happy those words made me happy." Coco couldn’t help, but mutter, her muscles going slack after that whole ordeal.

"I could tell." Renaldo chuckled, shifting in his seat. "I have a question though."

"Sure, go ahead." Coco mumbled.

"You died, right? How did— wait, no.. I’m so sorry. If this is a sensitive topic for you, you don’t have to answer." Renaldo grumbled, forcing his gaze down on the floor.

The mediator wanted to know if she really died once and how did it happen, but when he spoke the words aloud, he immediately realized how heartless he sounded and couldn’t help, but backtrack.

"Nah." Coco waved his worry off, making him relax instantly. "I already accepted the fact that I’m dead in that world."

".. Really?"

"Yeah." Coco assured him with a smile. "Besides, my mother and my sisters are here, too. There’s nothing left in that world that makes me attached— the only thing that kept me sad for the past months was leaving my family behind without a proper goodbye."

Renaldo smiled, his heart feeling light at the words he heard, but then, he froze.

"Wait.. Did you just say that your mother and your sisters are here, too?" The mediator clarified, eyes widening in surprise.

"Yeah?" Coco answered, raising an eyebrow. "What’s with that reaction?"

"Well, to get into this world, shouldn’t they be dead in your previous world first or something?" Jonathan asked this time, his own surprise evident in his tone.

"From what mama told me, the three of them are here and that’s all that matters." Coco quickly brushed off their surprise, shrugging it off.

"That’s kind of selfish, don’t you think?" Renaldo tilted his head, giving his friend a pointed stare. "What if your sisters had something they wanted to do in your original world? But couldn’t because they died, too?"

"I—"

Coco opened her mouth to say something, to tell them that she knows her family best, but a sound coming from the front door caught her attention.