Am I in Love with You? ~Karma Akabane X Reader~

Chapter 3

  "(Y/ N)-chan!" your head instinctively snapped around at the sound of your name being called aloud and you were surprised to find a smiling Isogai standing behind you. You had just gotten to class not a minute ago and were about to take your seat at your desk when the ikemen had called for you.

"Isogai-kun!" you exclaimed, a grin making its way onto your face at the sight of the brunet. But that grin vanished almost as fast as it'd appeared as the memory of what happened the day before returned into your mind; you had asked Isogai to meet you under the cherry blossom tree at the bottom of the hill after school yesterday to confess your feelings to him but you ended up... going a bit too far with your plan with Karma and by the time you remembered your meeting and had arrived at the selected location, the ikemen was nowhere to be seen. It would've been an understatement to say that you were angry with yourself; you were continuously beating yourself up throughout almost the entirety of last night, your dreaded mistake haunted you endlessly.

"I want to apologize!" you both unexpectedly blurted out at the same time. Both of you then exchanged perplexed looks to each other, wondering what the other was talking about. "U-uh, I'll go first if you don't mind..." Isogai said moments after he'd shaken off his confusion, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face as he averted his eyes from yours.

"U-um... sure. Go ahead." You gave him an encouraging nod but your movements were vaguely awkward as you tried to hide that fact that you were somewhat relieved that you didn't have to speak first.

"G-gomenasai for yesterday," he apologized, lowering his head in shame and embarrassment. You were about to stop him right then and there but what the ikemen said next caught you off guard and the words died on your lips before you even had the chance to speak them. "I've forgotten that I had an extra shift at work after school yesterday and when I remembered, there wasn't any time left for me to tell you about it... Honto ni gomenasai!" he took a deep, apologetic bow.

Your eyebrows furrowed as your puzzlement grew. "Wait... So... you didn't come to the cherry blossom tree after school yesterday...?"

The ikemen lifted his head slightly to shake his head and replied with a plain 'No'.

It took you a few moments to finally register his words but when everything inside your head had clicked, you breathed out a silent sigh of relief, your shoulders slumping slightly. So Isogai hadn't gone to the cherry blossom tree and waited for you; it was undoubtedly good news to you and yet... you felt a hint of disappointment that he hadn't...

"I really, really am sorry, (Y/ N)-chan," Isogai apologized once again, escaping you from your thoughts and filling you with a sense of guilt as he did so. "I hope that you'll forgive-"

"Isogai-kun!" you spoke his name, making him pause mid-sentence and meet your soft gaze. "It's alright, don't worry about it." You assured him with extreme gentleness. "And, I... was kind of late too... so... so it was actually a good thing that you didn't show up..." you added with a sheepish smile.

"Really?" the ikemen's eyebrows rose up at your admission and you nodded slowly, sheepishly. "Oh, but... I'm still at fault for not informing you of my absence earlier..."

You gave him a warm smile and said, "Alright, then how about we meet after school today? It'll make up for both of our faults."

Isogai let out a sigh and replied, "I wish I could but I have work after scho-"

"In that case, I'll meet you at the café after you're done with work!" you interjected, preventing him from finishing his sentence. You watched as the brunet's gold eyes widened vaguely at your brusque declaration. "B-but my shift ends at 10 pm, I can't-" he continued to explain but you'd heard enough; you've already decided that you'd confess your feelings to the ikemen today, you've reached to the conclusion that the longer you take, the more complex things will get.