𝗗𝗘𝗞𝗨

01. L9VEY START

"Hey, wanna play a game with me?"

It took seven words to snap him out of his daze and two moments of silence to register her voice. It had taken him a second more to realize he wasn't hidden from this girl's eyes, and though his mind would like to believe she was here to boost her ego, she didn't seem to have a dislike towards him.

"Huh?" he mouthed, ceasing his working hands piling books inside his bag, and staring up at her, in his defense, he didn't know how to talk with girls, and none approached him, much less look at him.

"You know, like truth or dare?" she nervously smiled, not used to social interactions as much as him.

"Um... Yeah- sure." he had no idea why he had said yes without thinking it thrice, he did feel guilty for making her wait for a simple 'yes' or 'no'. The least he could do was help her out somehow.

"Oh! Really? You'll play one game with me?"

Now that he gets to look at her, he can see how delicate and fragile her features are, despite looking dull prior seconds ago, her face had brightened and her lips spread into an unsure smile. His heartbeat quickened.

"Y-Yeah, I don't mind." she was his classmate, and he had been caught staring at her a few times by kacchan, earning a crude response he still recalls, 'Two loners end up together, man, such a good love story.' Perhaps, it gave him some hope.

"Alright!" she quickly sat down beside him, pulling a chair close and pressing her lips together while she thought of something, "Okay, truth or dare?" she asked with a grin, and he felt his cheeks and ears growing warm. "T-truth."

"Is it true that you like me?" that choked the breath out of him, and he completely lost hold of his words, struggling like a fish out of water. He felt embrassessed she had to find out this way, and it would have been a little too hopeful for him to think kacchan wouldn't spread a rumor about his crush.

But, this wasn't how he had imagined it going, he couldn't predict her response if he did confess the truth, and lying while asking for the truth would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

So, he took in a hurried breath and anxiously answered, "yes." it sounded shaky and strained to come from his mouth, but from what little he could tell, she had smiled and laughed, not in a mocking way, a genuine laugh that he had gotten for being honest.

She looked him straight in the eye and said.
"Well, I guess you could say I have a crush on you too."

It had seemed like a miracle the more he thought about it, sitting so far behind her in class watching her every movement, not paying a lot of attention to what was already escaping his mind since morning, he couldn't believe that someone liked him and that happened to be the only girl he had his eyes on since kindergarten, they never talked though before yesterday.

They were just classmates their entire life and suddenly, she comes up to him and shares his feelings it almost saddens him to know that it happened right as their middle school days were ending and they wouldn't be in the same class anymore. He wanted to know her but all he ever knows is the rumors he had been too interested in to eavesdrop on.

He startles himself upon hearing the bell ring, dropping his pencil and failing to catch it before it fell, unfortunately for him, he had attracted some attention to himself. Hers included, and he couldn't slow down his pounding heart, he had to nervously smile as he bent down to retrieve his pencil from the ground.

The next second his gaze lands on her she's already up on her feet and walking toward him. He had nothing prepared.

"Oh- um uh hey!" he didn't know how to act around her, and she even though taken aback by his high-pitched greeting, stopped in front of his desk. Then, she smiled, "Yello, wanna have lunch with me on the rooftop?"