ride or die - rini au

20

love is something that most people are dreading to experience. it is something so dynamic, that even sometimes you don't realize you experience falling in love with someone. love can come to you at anytime, anywhere, and with any person. love can be something that makes people happy, delightful, amazing, perfect, but at the same time, it is also frightening, anxious, and depressing. if you fall in love with someone, there's no going back, unless you meet other people and realize the person that you love at the moment isn't the one, it's the new person that you meet.

some people say you will experience falling in love with a certain person when you turn into an adult, or in your mid-20s. some people say middle school or high school love won't last. some people say that you will not fall for someone that easy.

turns out this doesn't apply to everyone.

richard bowen is not one of them.

richard would never thought that he would fall in love with his enemy in public, best friend in secret. there is something about nina that would make richard drop on his knees. there is something about nina that would make him smile. there is something about how nina's touch would give him some sort of effect that he somehow feels so addicting. there is something about nina's little things that richard would always observe and somehow he falls in love with it. there is something about how nina would always make him feel safe and comfortable whenever he is having a break down. there is something about nina that would make him fall in love with her.

richard starts to grow feelings towards nina since they were in first grade of elementary school. nina used to be the shy one, but then richard was the one who boosted her confidence. nina became a brave little girl that no one would even dare to mess up with.

it all started when richard was being bullied because of his name in first grade and because he was hanging out with a girl, specifically nina. nina defended him and somehow richard found it amusing and at the same time he was intrigued. it was then he realized he had a small crush on her.

during the days on where he started becoming enemies with nina, he would always cry at his room on how he was mad at himself for making her angry and cry. his crush on her starts to become bigger when he found out some guy on his grade when they were in fifth grade confessed his crush towards nina, but sadly nina declined his crush. no one knew why, but he found his answer when he was in tenth grade, which was his sophomore year.

he never got over nina. he kept imagining if one day their families would made up so that richard could confess his crush all along to her and he hoped that she felt the same way.

thank goodness, she did.

when nina came to him the day he cried under the bleachers and they admitted they missed each other, all he wanted at that time was to confess his feelings. but he knew it was too fast forward, which is why he let down his ego to take things slow.

the way nina would always comfort him and be there for him whenever he needed her, the way nina would understand the small to big habits of him, the way nina would always tell him that she will always be his best friend, no matter what happened with them.

it was then he realized in summer before sophomore year, he knew he's in love with her.

falling in love at sixteen years old? that is probably the most impossible thing.

but this is richard bowen we're talking about.

he let out all of his bravery to confess his love for her three days before sophomore year. he remembered nina's words about how he would always be her best friend, no matter what happened. he hoped at that time if she didn't love him back, they would still be okay.