That day, Ken and I sat in the club room, alone again.

At first I didn't want to come, but then I decided to come to let him know that we shouldn't see each other alone anymore.

I wanted to tell him that from now on he'd only see me at official club meetings.

But we had been sitting here for about an hour, and the words I wanted to say to him hadn't come out of my mouth.

I kept putting it off... not knowing how to say it.

Ah... I've rarely been so hesitant.

More minutes passed in silence.

Silence was not unusual for us.

And at one point, when I was finally ready to tell him what I wanted to say, as I opened my mouth to say the words, he suddenly said my name.

"Rina..."

And all my resolve immediately vanished.

"Yes?"

I looked at him a little confused.

His focused and calm gaze was on the book he was reading.

"I love you…"

The words he said were so unexpected that at first I thought I was hallucinating.

I slowly turned away from him and froze.

My breathing seemed to stop.

Badump... badump... badump... badump...

And all I could hear was the loud beating of my heart...

What did he say? He loves me?

No, maybe I heard him wrong.

Maybe I've gone crazy.

Yes, I've gone crazy. My feelings for him so clouded my judgment that I began to imagine things.

"W-What did you say?" I asked, trying to sound calm.

"I love you, Rina. I've been in love with you for a while now..."

He said it again...

Does he really love me? But why now? Why is he confessing now? Or am I just dreaming?

I pinched myself.

No, I'm not dreaming.

I still couldn't move, frozen...

Moments passed in silence.

And he waited patiently without saying anything, as if he wanted to give me time to digest what he had said...

Does he really love me?

My eyes fell on him again, on his calm face, still focused on the book.

Part of me still couldn't believe it.

I mean, it was all so sudden.

"If you're joking, it's a very cruel joke," I finally said.

"I'm not joking, and this isn't a game. It's the truth... I really love you... more than you think... and more than my words make it seem... And right now my heart is beating so hard it feels like it's going to jump out of my chest... and I can't move, pretending I'm reading this book, but in fact I've been reading the same line several times now completely missing its meaning... I mean, I'm just saying all this to say.... My feelings are real... More real than anything else... I love you... I really love you..."

So he's only pretending to be calm?

I smiled slightly.

My heart was pounding too, as if ready to jump out of my chest. And my hands were... sweating.

I couldn't understand what this feeling inside me was... No, it was crystal clear. I was incredibly happy. Happy to hear those words.

"I... I love you too..." I said softly. "I love you very much..."

A quiet, calm confession of love, but so in our style. It was as if we didn't need any other words. We didn't need any pompous and fancy romantic words.

We just looked at each other and smiled.

I've been flirted with by tons of guys, but I've never felt like this before...

Still...there was one thing that bothered me.

Was it wrong for me to accept his confession and confess to him in return? Especially after Miyu said that she liked him?

I had the feeling that I had done something wrong.

But still... I love him and I couldn't give up my feelings.

What should I do?

One day I asked him, "Wouldn't it be better if you dated her?"

He replied, "Don't you care what I think? I love you, not her."

It was a rhetorical question, I wasn't going to let him go anyway, but honestly I was incredibly happy to hear him say it. Because I loved belonging to him...

Ah... and why do we like the same guy?

What am I supposed to do?

And then I had an idea.

An incredibly stupid idea.

If I hid my relationship with him, I wouldn't have to tell her, and she wouldn't have to look at me with a face full of hatred and contempt.

"We probably can't meet in this room alone like this anymore," I said.

"But I like our meetings..."

"Yeah... it was fun, our secret meetings, kind of romantic in a way..."

"Well, we can find another place..."

"What? But we need a place where no one is around, and preferably at school..."

"I have an idea..." he said.

From that day on, I started pretending to hate Ken.

Why?

Maybe it was the paranoia that Miyu would see through my lies? Or the guilt? Or jealousy? Why did I feel like I was stealing her boyfriend, even though Ken and I both loved each other and started dating first?

Yeah... Those days were full of lies to my sister, and at the same time they were full of our secret meetings with him, like in some kind of romantic movie.

Still... I couldn't help feeling guilty.

I should have told her the truth from the beginning. After all, she was my sister and I loved her.

I was just a coward.