For almost three long years, she played the role of the perfect supporting actress in his life. She was the safe harbor, the reliable confidante, the girl who listened with a strained, practiced smile while he mapped out his heart for other people.
She knew about his first girlfriend, and the other girls he dated. The names and all the tragic arcs of how they shattered his heart. She even knew about his first kiss, the one that he described to her in agonizingly explicit detail over cold coffees, using words like "wet" and "breathless" while her own heart splintered a little more with every descriptive word. For years, she dropped hints, left breadcrumbs of her affection, and looked at him with eyes that practically screamed notice me. But he never did. She was just one of the guys.
Until the universe, in its chaotic brilliance, finally decided to shift and took on her side. It started with a simple, unexpected boldness of her. Not that it was literally unexpected, but she bet herself to make the moment happened.
"Hey, could you give me a ride ?" she asked.
From one time ride to ride number she-does-not-even-count. At some moment, she realized that the ride stretched into a conversation that didn't involve his exes or other girls. Which then blossomed into an invitation: Their very first date.
And he chose the red door library.
To anyone else, it might have seemed mundane. To her, it was the most perfect, beautiful place on earth. It wasn't a grand, sweeping hall, but a small and cute corner library tucked away from the bustling streets. The red door was already open, inviting them in, and they stepped into a space where every single inch was filled with books, towering from the floor right up to the ceiling. A shared wave of excitement washed over them. They were both giddy, high on the sudden, electric shift in their dynamic.
Right as they were walking in, they accidentally bumped into a mutual friend of theirs. Tatsu. Tatsu's eyes widened as he looked at the two of them standing so close together in such a cozy spot. Immediately, he started questioning them, dropping heavy hints and teasingly wondering out loud why on earth they were coming to this place together. He fully intended to poke fun at their sudden closeness, a knowing smirk plastered across his face. But honestly, neither of them cared. They just laughed it off, completely unfazed by the teasing, too wrapped up in their own excitement to let anyone else disrupt it.
"Let's pick our worlds," he whispered once they were inside, gesturing to the cramped, beautiful shelves. The game was simple: pick a book, claim the world inside it, and dive in.
They ended up sitting side by side at a quiet wooden table. To be completely honest, she couldn't even remember what book she had picked, her mind went entirely blank, completely hijacked by the boy sitting right next to her. The pages in front of her could have been completely empty for all she knew.
She watched him dive headfirst into his chosen world. His eyes sparkled behind his glasses, catching the warm rays of the afternoon sun that streamed through the window right in front of them. He turned to her, his voice dropping to a calm, steady murmur. He didn't speak with an excited rush; instead, there was a profound quietness to his tone, a gentle warmth that wrapped around them, and an undeniable feeling of being welcomed in. It felt less like he was just introducing the plot of a book, and more like he was softly opening his heart, inviting her into a hidden corner of his mind that he had never really shared with anyone else before.
She didn't hear a single word, of course. Not a syllable. She was completely lost in her own thoughts, drowning in the warmth of his proximity. She had to physically hold herself back, anchoring her hands to the edge of the table to restrain herself - though she didn't even know what she was fighting against anymore. Was she trying to stop herself from leaning across to kiss him ? From finally fracturing his sentences and confessing everything she had hidden for almost three years ? Or was she just desperately trying to keep herself from falling even deeper for him right then and there ?
After a moment of getting lost in the stacks, they spent the late afternoon riding around, watching the city paint itself in shades of amber and violet under the setting sun.
Their final stop was a DVD Store.
Unlike the quiet library, this place was buzzing with life, with so many people coming and going. Yet, as they walked down the aisles, it felt like the noise just faded away. They spent some time choosing DVDs that they both knew they weren't actually going to buy. Between the rows of old films, they kept stealing glances at each other, catching the other looking away with a flushed smile. It felt like the most perfect romance movie she had ever been in. He scored again. A profound sense of certainty washed over her. This wasn't just a crush anymore; this was fate. He was my person.
A few days passed after that day.
The ride felt quiet silent that day. The easy flowing chatter they usually shared was replaced by an uncharacteristic quiet, a dead air; he only asked a question every now and then as he rode, his mind clearly somewhere else. When they finally arrived at her destination, she stepped out offering her usual familiar thank-you-for-the-ride.
But today felt different. He didn't look her in the eyes. Instead, staring ahead, his voice dropped to a deep, slow murmur.
"Can we talk for a moment ?"
She murmured a soft yes, her heart suddenly hammering against her ribs. She began placing internal bets with herself, wildly torn between two terrifyingly distinct possibilities: was this the moment he finally want her too, or was he about to tell her that there was yet another girl in his life ?
"...do you wanna be my girlfriend ?"
It wasn't a grand, sweeping declaration, nor was it a particularly romantic sentence. Yet, it was the exact sequence of words she had spent years wanting and waiting to hear. Even though the phrasing wasn't nearly as harmonious as the elaborate confession she had imagined in her head, it was real. And she found it a almost cruel confessing his feeling while she was standing there on the pavement. The sheer weight of his words hit her all at once, and suddenly, she couldn't feel her legs.
