CHAPTER 19
♚ don't chase after someone who won't chase after you ♚
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“Ren’s boyfriend!”

I tugged at my cap, stopping in my tracks as one of my classmates greeted me.

“Seems Ren’s time was eaten up by those third-years though, huh?” the girl said with a sigh.

Her companion nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry though, I’m sure he’ll make up for it, Jin!”

I nodded, still looking down… Nice going, Aron. Use a name that closely resembles my real one. Nice.

There was a brief pause. I was looking at the floor, so I wasn’t sure what they were doing – that was until, one of them suddenly bent down slightly to make eye contact with me. I jumped back slightly. I could tell she was affronted by my reaction. “S-Sorry…” I muttered.

She squealed. I saw her friend grin from my peripheral vision. “So cute~!” they chorused.

Please. Go away.

“Don’t !” my savior, and reason why I need saving, said, heading over to us.

I stood by the doorway to my own classroom, and was finally able to look around when Ren was keeping our two classmates busy. It was evening already, the sky was dark outside, and things were already packed up. The class was back to its usual state, the decorations stored at the back of the room. I turned my head briefly-

And took a step back when I was met with my own reflection.

The girl smiled at me. “Ren told me you don’t like showing your face since it’s even more feminine than his – but that shouldn’t matter! Be proud of the facial structure your parents gave you!” she said, patting me on the shoulder.

I took hold of the offered large mirror… which wasn’t a mirror at all. “This… is…?”

“Oh? It’s one of the trays we used for our café. It’s so shiny, huh? You can see your own reflection!”

“Sinjun~!” one of her friends called out. “Come on! The bonfire’s already been lit and everything! I don’t want to miss all of it!”

The girl before me took hold of the tray and smiled at me. “Bye bye, Ren’s boyfriend!”

I merely raised up a hand in dismissal as they left the classroom. I faced forward again… and just saw the guy I was ‘boyfriends’ with.

“Everyone’s down at the field,” he explained at my questioning glance.

“… No, that’s not what I’m wondering. Why are you in your waiter uniform again?” I asked, taking note of his black and white attire. He was wearing a white long-sleeved blouse and black slacks, complete with bow-tie, and a tray and towel in one hand. His hair was tied back in its usual ponytail, his side bangs framing the left of his face.

Instead of directly answering my question, he gave me a formal bow and went over to a table. It seemed that not the entire classroom had been cleaned of the café décor… there was still two school tables connected, covered by a white cloth. There was a flower vase in the middle and utensils for two on either side.

Ren pulled back a seat and smiled at me.

I sat down and accepted the menu he offered me. “So dinner was your plan?”

“Only the beginning of it,” he said with another kind smile. “May I take your order then, ma’am?”

“What? So we’ll be eating left… over…s…” I trailed off as I saw the menu.

It was supposed to class menu they handed out earlier… but the original text was taped over with a white paper that listed various cup noodle flavors.

I stared at Ren, wondering if he was joking with me… but I felt this was serious.

He maintained his waiter smile for a moment before caving. “The café was a success, so there were no leftovers and… I didn’t prepare for any cooking,” he admitted, a bit embarrassed.

I gave him a thumbs up before looking back down at the menu.

“You’re… okay with that?”

I looked back up at him and pushed up my glasses. “I got to see you’re embarrassed expression. I’m more than okay.”

His hesitant look disappeared and he sighed, a bit exasperated but amused too.

“Chicken flavored cup noodles then…” But then I glanced back at him. “You know how to make cup noodles, don’t you?”

Ren was one of those rich kids, with most likely a chef at his place and everything. There was no way he’d ever eat cup noodles… and I’m also strongly against eating instant food as well, but the occasional storm that leads to me not being allowed to leave home has made me aware of the importance of such food.

Ren frowned, not liking how I was underestimating his cup noodle preparing skills. “I know how to-“

“What comes first? The water or the powder?”

“… Does it matter-?”

“Yes,” I said, honestly shocked at his response. “Powder varies according to brand, so to attain the right amount of saltiness, you have to pour the water first, as it is easier to control the level by the addition of the powder – which, by the way is quite unhealthy. So limiting its amount is much more advisable than limiting the amount of water-“

Ren took the menu and headed to the back of the classroom where some of the kitchen appliances still were.

“At least wait for me to finish!”

“… Despite how there were dozens of food booths earlier, I’m surprised I wound up with instant noodles as dinner,” I said, setting my chopsticks down when I was done.

Ren’s chopsticks holding onto some noodles came to a halt as he looked up at me. “I know, I know! I honestly though that we’d have more time! But by the time I was done with student council work and- why are you grinning?”

I quickly turned my smile into a frown. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Teasing me so much now…” he mumbled.

“Yes, yes I am.”

“At least deny it!”

I rested my cheek on the palm of my hand and smiled at him. “You’re always so cool… so seeing you flustered and nervous because your plans messed up is a nice change of pace.”

“Cool?... Well, I am pretty cool-“

“You aren’t denying such things either!”

“-but… I pull a cute and playful side often at times too, don’t I?” he said with a tilt of the head. “Are those considered cool?”

“Yes, especially when I know in the back of your mind you have ulterior motives or are just bullying whoever you’re being cute too.”

Ren pouted at me. I flinched. “… You make me out like a bad person-“ he began.

“Well, you certainly aren’t nice…” I paused. “No… you’re way too nice. But you’re not too.”

He smiled, obviously baffled at my contradicting observation of him. “… So what am I?”

“Devious,” I said… not really answering his question. Though I’d say that was the perfect word to describe Ren. “You’re a greedy guy that always does what he can to get what he wants.”

Ren frowned at my description. “Greedy?” he said aloud, as if that was the first time anyone ever called him that.

“Greedy. You always want things to go your way. You want people to always like you. You don’t want anyone to think negatively of you. You always want to resolve any conflicts you get into quickly-“

“Well, those are perfectly normal wants-?”

“You want to help everyone all the time. You want everyone to always be happy. Most of your wants always involve other people rather than yourself,” I said, meeting his eyes. “And you always get what you want, one way or another.”

“Yes… I think that describes me a bit too well,” he said with a laugh. “Kind of like both a good and bad person, huh?”

“You aren’t bad,” I said, turning to look outside at the night sky.

“You aren’t bad either.”

I snorted at his words. “You don’t have to flatter me back.”

“Though you do make a horrible first impression.”

I raised up my can of juice in agreement. “And second impressions.”

“And third.”

“And fourth.”

“And fifth.”

“… So I make horrible rather than bad impressions, thanks for the compliment-“

“But those are just impressions,” Ren said, finally setting his chopsticks down. “But once I got to know you… Should anyone actually get to know you, you aren’t that bad at all.”

“… That bad?”

“If you weren’t so shy about being nice-“

A timer suddenly went off.

Ren grabbed his phone, eyes widening. “Our introspect into our personalities sure lasted a while!” he said, laughing. “Really, Jinah, the conversation topics you come up with.”

I let his amusement on my social skills slide as I checked my watch. “… Five minutes and three seconds till eight. What happens at eight?”

Ren stood up and headed to the light switch to turn off the lights and shroud the room in darkness. I gazed outside at the only source of light. I saw the faint glow of the bonfire from the side, several lights still on in the first floor of the other school buildings as well as all the street lights now lit. I looked down and saw various students just loitering around.

“… Either a lightshow or fireworks,” I said when Ren took my hand to lead me to stand by the window.

He opened the window and we were met with a cold, soft wind. “Fireworks!” he said, smiling at me.

I leaned on the window ledge, letting my arms dangle down. “Not a big fan of fireworks.”

Ren glanced at me in genuine surprise. “What? Why?”

“Too loud… and it was a pain last year to remove the bird carcass on my roof during one firework show near my place.” At his so obviously disappointed face, I sighed. “Why did you think I liked fireworks?”

“Because you love colorful lights!”

I frowned. “What made you think that?”

“Well, you looked really breathtaken on Christmas when I showed you the lights under the frozen lake!”

The lake was practically glowing rainbow.

Ren took a careful step on the ice, walking towards the center. “… Ah… seems it doesn’t work that well,” he suddenly said, looking down. He turned to face me. “… Jinah?” he asked with a raised brow.

I stood there, my gaze on him unwavering. The various colors of light shone on him. It cast a colorful glow on his profile.

He looked so… magical.

“Jinah!” he called out again.

A fairy was calling my name.

I recalled that moment and faced him, completely serious. “It was you I found breathtaking back then.”

He suddenly grew flustered, unsure of what to say. After half a minute, he suddenly smiled at me. “You say some pretty embarrassing things.”

“I’ve gotten used to it,” I replied, shrugging nonchalantly and facing forward again.

“… So… you’re going to enjoy the firework show anyway,” he said after a while.

“I just said I didn’t like fireworks.”

“But I’m here… next to you. That should be good enough, right?” he said, also leaning on the window ledge and smiling at me.

I huffed and looked away. “You proud guy…”

A firework shot up into the sky.

“… but yes,” I muttered.

I looked up as the black sky was now sprinkled with color… Maybe fireworks aren’t so bad after all.

My gaze shifted down to the various other people around the school, also gazing up and marveling at the beautiful fireworks. I turned to face Ren, expecting him to stare up in awe too… but instead he was looking much further down.

Ren then turned to smile at me. “Look down.”

I faced back outside and lowered my head to see the area below our classroom… My eyes widened and I had somehow forgotten how to breathe when I saw it.

 I ❤ U 

“How…?” Those three shapes were constantly changing color and occasionally got deformed, but their meaning was clearly conveyed. I quickly looked up at the fireworks before looking back down.

They were reflections of the colors shining above them.

Several people were holding up mirrors that allowed the fireworks’ light to reflect on it… As I further took notice of the details below me, I gasped… No… not mirrors.

“Oh? It’s one of the trays we used for our café. It’s so shiny, huh? You can see your own reflection!”

They were our café’s trays. The ones holding those mirrors and forming those three symbols were our classmates.

I faced Ren, then our classmates, then him again, unable to say anything.

“While I do like it when I manage to make your talkative self speechless, I don’t want your silence now,” he said.

He smiled at me and I nearly came undone at the charming expression on his face that was coupled with the glow of the firework lights.

It was him that was so breathtaking. How could he have thought otherwise?

“What’s your answer?”

This was his confession. He was confessing his feelings to me. I always liked to think there was a possibility of him actually liking me… but I’ve been disappointed so many times that the chances of that possibility just kept getting lower and lower.

He was always so slow. He always kept leading me on. He always kept giving me this false hope that my feelings were requited.

I had grown so accustomed to knowing that he didn’t like me as much as I liked him. It had been ingrained in my mind that no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get him to reciprocate my feelings.

But now here he was, waiting for my answer to his confession.

The tables had turned.

I looked back down at the display he had prepared for me.

 I ❤ U 

Instead of answering, I reached for my phone and began texting.

Ren took a step towards me. “Jinah?” he said, suddenly unsure.

I looked up briefly, seeing his nervous expression. “Did you ask anything for me to answer?” I said, shutting my phone close after sending my message.

He pointed down below. “Isn’t my question clearly obvious-?”

“No,” I said, crossing my arms. “I don’t believe you’ve said anything to me other than ‘Look down’. Maybe that little stunt our classmates are pulling off are for someone else.”

“It isn’t-“

“And using such a public display – that almost ensures that you’d get a positive answer from the girl. How could she reject you when so many people are blatantly supporting you and witnessing this?”

Ren just gave me a soft smile. “I was expecting you to start dissecting my plan… but I hoped you’d answer me before doing so.”

“Answer what?”

He sighed and looked back up at the fireworks. “You honestly don’t know my question?”

“… I want to hear it.”

Ren suddenly turned to me. I met his gaze steadily. This was asking for more than I deserve, since I got such a beautiful confession down below... But I want to hear it.

He smiled at me in a way that once again left me breathless.

“I like you,” he said, taking a step towards me. “I like you. I like you. I like you. I like you,” he repeated, now just inches away from me.

I felt his hands reach for my own and I made no move to pull away.

He was blushing and whispering and so clearly flustered and shy when he asked,

“Do you still like me?”

“… Look down.”

Ren obeyed my words, looking back out the window and then down to where some of our classmates were still holding up the trays.

 Y E S 

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END CHAPTER 19
♚ don't chase after someone who won't chase after you ♚

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A/N: I had half a mind for Jinah to say 'no' hahaha! But there ya go, they are finally official! About time, I know! Haha~ Feel free to subscribe and comment :)