Breath of the Wild College AU fanfic │Thinking About You

Final Secret

"What does the keychain have to do with this?" Revali asks.

"That keychain was a gift I received many years ago when I was still a child... Link gave it to me when I won my first national competition. When I lost the keychain, I thought it was a sign that I had to let go of Link, but then you returned it to me, and... Well..."

"So the keychain made you kiss Link," Revali concludes, blaming me for his misery with a keen look of disappointment. I shrink in my seat and keep my lips pressed together. 'Oops' is all I can think of.

"I truly am sorry." Mipha bows to us. "I beg all of you for forgiveness."

"It's fine," Revali says.

"Yeah, it's not your fault," Link adds in a kind voice.

"You're good," Impa joins them.

Mipha looks at me but the words she needs to hear won't come out. Why would I say that I forgive her? Saying those words feels inappropriate as if they would confirm that she did something wrong when in reality, I am the one at fault. "I can't believe you're apologizing to me," I quietly return. "I betrayed you, Mipha. More than once, in ways much worse than you know. Not only did I keep this major secret from you, but when Link and I kissed for the first time... I mean-I-I kissed him, thinking you were his girlfriend."

"When was this?" She asks, cheeks redder than the Christmas balls decorating the tree.

Link and I exchange a shy look. "Er," I nervously stutter, "B-back in--in August."

"August?" She gasps. "This has been going on since August?"

"I'm sorry, Mipha. We never meant to lie to you. Link was clueless, and I... Well, I was scared of hurting your feelings and destroying our friendship. Only did lying result in just that. I am mortified and ashamed of that. You must be angry at me."

"I was... A little," she murmurs. "Though... I must admit that I am more embarrassed. And hurt. All this time, I had to convince myself that you and Link are friends. Of course, I noticed how different he was around you and even suspected that he may have feelings for you, but I always believed that you did not like him back since you never implied it. I certainly did not expect the two of you to be in a serious relationship."

"They're not," Impa tells her, and Link and I simultaneously look in opposite directions. "What? I thought this was the hour of honesty," she shrugs.

"So you are not together then?" Mipha asks.

"They are. But they aren't," Revali mocks.

"I don't understand," Mipha looks at us for answers.

"Link and I..." my heart is about to explode. What we have is more complicated than ever. I don't know what to say. We haven't had the time to talk about us. I know what he wants us to be but does he know how I truly feel about him? Have I made myself clear? Am I ready to say it out loud? In front of everyone? No, when I declare my love, I want it to be between Link and me only. No longer do I want other people to be involved in our relationship. But even so, even if all that was clear at this very moment, that still doesn't tell us what we are right now. I'm so sick of questioning what we are and what we have. Once all of this is resolved it's time to prioritize Link and finally make it official. No more excuses. I'm done running away and hiding. 

"We're not together," Link answers for me. "We're still figuring out how to make things work..."

"In the beginning, my father was the one standing in the way of any relationship to a guy. Then I found out how you felt about Link," I say to Mipha. "After that, I knew that choosing Link meant failing you. And now, so many things are going wrong at once that it would be naïve to add more change, uncertainty, and responsibility to our lives before cleaning up the mess we made... I don't want to build a house on ruins."