Was this really happening?

“I… l-love… loved you all this time…” she said. “Idiot… why did you not notice it? How dense can you be?? And when I felt hopeless that you won’t confess and I mustered up my courage and fight back my fear to confess to you, thats when you realize your feelings and steal the lead???”

Was this a confession? Or was this just an angry rant? Kanako didn’t know.

“I loved you all this time as well.” Kanako replied in a calm tone. “But I didn’t know our feelings overlapped, you know? I was afraid.”

“Thats why you are dense…” she muttered under her breath. She gave up under his calm demeanor.

She looked him in the eye, staring back at his gaze. What might he be thinking? She wondered. Maybe at this point in time, or even ever she might not know.

All she could know was what he said or did.

And he pulled her inside his chest. Ayane felt the warmth of an irregular beating heart, and felt the tremble of his body.

Irregular breaths as well.

“I am sorry… I am a bit emotional right now…” Kanako replied, tears falling down his cheeks. “Its… a bit overflowing…”

Ayane didn’t know what to do. But surprisingly, no tears fell from her pearly eyes. She snuggled inside him more, trying to wrap her arms around his waist, patting him down.

“Gosh… I have never seen you cry before.” She smiled silently. Has he opened up to her even more now? She liked that idea.

“I have waited for your reply…” Kanako said, sobbing. “I thought that this time… giving you space was the right choice… was I wrong?”

Ayane ran her fingers over his flowing black hair.

“You are the definition of a gentleman, you know? But sometimes…” she trailed off. The bitter image of Sakiko appeared in her thought, almost ruining the whole mood.

Kanako leaned close, resting his teary eyes on Ayane’s shoulder. “Pathetic, aren’t I?”

“Nope, you are not.” She wrapped her arms around his head, covering himself up.

His face was warm.

She brushed her cheeks over the back of his head. “You are the best person I have met this year, Kanako-kun.”

She lifted his face with her soft and slender fingers, laying his eyes parallel to hers.

“Hmmm…” she gave a judgement-al stare. “It definitely isn’t right seeing my cheerful-”

She flushed out. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly—irregular, fragile, but beautiful. And cute.

“…. so moody and depressed, y-you know?” She left out the most important part.

Embarrassed, she looked him in the eye. This was the guy, this is the reality. He really became hers, something she had been dreaming of.

It felt like the boundaries has been opened to infinity. It felt free, conscious and refreshing. She was not on chokehold, nor was he.

Was this really happening?

Did the person she was holding so lovingly in her palm really become her …?