𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐎 | KUROO TETSUROU

08 : COMMENCE.

They never experienced their ever-afters.

And now the story that Yukimi always held within her heart opened its pages the moment Kuroo uttered those words.

With a shaky breath, she looked up from the chopping board and looked at Kuroo dead in the eye. "Why are you asking that, Kuroo?" she laughed, making the tall lad furrow his brows. "I mean, that question is so random and I'm asking what made you think of that."

Kuroo looked away and stared at the wall. "I'm making sure of something," he answered.

"I still like Romio."

The tall lad pursed his lips as his heart dropped. Gulping, he still didn't look at her as he asked another question, "Why don't you confess to him, then?"

"I don't want to."

Kuroo's golden eyes shifted to her, taking in the sorrowful look on her visage — how she forced her attention towards the vegetables on the countertop even though the weight of his stare seemed to make her squirm. "Why?" he breathed. "I saw the way he looks at you." Because it's no different from me. "He likes you, Hana. Aren't you glad that he feels the same way about you?"

She stopped cutting, placing the knife on the countertop. With blank eyes, Yukimi lifted up the chopping board and poured the vegetables in the pot. "I am glad, yes," she sighed. "But confessing my feelings will be such a waste if I already know what he'll be going to say in return." Lifting her eyes to meet Kuroo's gaze, she tried smiling. "You know, he told me that he regretted liking me and if I confess, it's going to be a situation that I will have to bear for the rest of my stay in Nekoma. However, that won't change the fact that I still like him. Maybe someday, if I'm strong enough, I'll tell him my undeterred feelings for him."

Kagami discreetly rejected her? That was utter bullshit. Kuroo clenched his jaw, preventing himself from cursing that boy out loud because as much he hated that Kagami's guts and blank face, he still cared for the girl who fell in love with him — the girl who bored these melancholic eyes that did not suit her at all. "Why would he say that?" he huffed. "Shouldn't he be happy that there's someone — someone this amazing and wonderful — who grew to like him despite his insecurities. Yes, I overheard his heart-to-heart talk with one of his friends, and your crush never seems to stop talking about his flaws." When Yukimi glared at him, he sighed. "That wasn't meant to ridicule him, I was just simply proving a point."

"Uh-huh," Yukimi nodded, looking at Kuroo with narrowed eyes. She turned towards the pot and lowered the heat of the stove as she stirred the stew with a ladle. "You know, I joined the choir last year just because of him? I was such an idiot." She laughed to herself mockingly, making Kuroo look at her in concern. "I quit because somebody asked me if I joined the club for my sake. That made me realize how idiotic my decisions are because of Romio. I couldn't help it — love makes us do crazy things that we didn't know we could do, after all."

"You blew me away that time," Kuroo breathed, shocking Yukimi. When she looked at him with widened eyes, the tall lad had the urge to take back what he said. This couldn't be the time he would be confessing, right? This setting is so lame and so normal. He wanted something grandeur when he confesses his feelings to Yukimi. "Uhm — what I'm trying to say is that maybe it wasn't because of Kagami that you joined the choir. You always have a great voice, Hana, and I think your inclination to singing and anything art-related made you join that club. And besides, the more you mention that you joined the choir because of that boy, he will make it something that could boost his ego and it's not a good look on him."

Yukimi stared at him, not breathing at the tension surrounding the two of them in the kitchen. "If you're trying to make me feel better, Kuroo," she told him. "I — uhm — thank you." The intensity of Kuroo's words made her stutter and blush. He found her voice great? Breathing a heavy sigh, she looked down and weighed that she didn't need another person in her life to make her confused about their mixed signals.