Princess Shirayuki of Akigaya

A Wish 02

Rin sat at the windowsill looking outside at the full moon. His emerald eyes roamed around the garden grounds and then to the spot where Annie had sat when she had looked directly into his eyes and confessed. Those amber eyes full of emotion had gazed directly towards him and he had felt helpless. He immediately looked away as a mixture of feelings rushed inside his heart.

"You could have been kinder." Nol spoke as he lay on the sofa inside Rin's room thinking of what had just happened that morning over and over again. "But who knew she would have picked you." He stated for the millionth time that day.

Rin looked at his cousin. He had been lifeless after discovering that the girl he liked had rejected him. Feeling gloomy, Nol had resorted to lying on the sofa all day long with Rin accompanying him and trying, without any success, to cheer him up or at least to go outside.

"You could have courted her before." Rin suggested.

Nol then sat up. "I did."

"What?" Rin asked shocked to the sudden news.

"Well not exactly, but remember in the last race when I talked to her in private? I asked her out on a date." Nol started explaining. "I thought things were great between us, and I thought today was a perfect time to ask her. I imagined her picking me, all happy, and you supporting us."

Rin looked back towards the window. "Supporting you." He repeated those words under his breath and noticed his reflection on the window and the sorrowful expression on his face. Rin immediately stood up discontented and walked towards his bed.

"I'm tired. Can we talk about this in the morning?"

Nol followed his cousin's figure with his eyes and sighed. "I'm heading down to the kitchen for a drink."

"You go ahead without me." Rin replied without looking back.

Rin then heard his cousin leave the room and he screamed into his pillow. He then turned around and lay on his back facing the canopy. He had decided that friendship was more important than love. That was why he had never acted or made a move before. He had bottled his feelings and dug a deep hole to hide it, but it was no use because today it all came back when Annie looked into his eyes. When she confessed that bottle shattered into pieces and his feelings had come rushing out again, but Rin was not going to regret the decision he had made. They were childhood friends. Best friends. People he knew all his life and who grew up along his side. He believed that their bond was more important than his own feelings of love. Rin couldn't allow himself to gamble on his friendship.

"Things will be back to the way they were." He whispered to himself trying to find comfort for his aching heart.

The next morning Nol and Rin didn't find Annie joining them at the breakfast table. They looked at each other and knew that summer was going to be very different from the last one.

"Well what did we expect?" Nol stated as he stabbed the ham on his plate. "She must be furious with me for putting her on the spot and hurt by you for breaking her heart."

Rin sighed and knew it was true, he was beginning to feel that he might have been a bit too harsh. "Should I go speak to her?"

Nol looked up and raised an eyebrow. "About what? How you rejected her?"

Rin shrugged not knowing what to do for the first time. He had never felt this lost before. "No, for being a jerk."

"Well we all know that." Nol stated and Rin punched him on the arm but received no usual reaction back.

"Are you okay Nol?" He asked worriedly.

Nol just shrugged. "I will be once she leaves my head."