Translucent Melody || rini au

29

"nini," he breathes finally

she inhales deeply and sniffled lightly before swallowing, "i have to go-"

"no wait please-" he walks in front of her before she can move past him and she sucks in a breath at how close he arrives

she quickly takes a step back and he sees the pain in her eyes, making his heart break a little because he knows that he's the cause of it

"you were amazing." he says quietly

nini nods silently and folds her arms "is that it?" she asks

he opens his mouth, not quite knowing what to say and she looks away from him

"okay," she whispers before walking past him

ricky clenches his jaw and fists together before closing his eyes

"you're the girl."

nini stops abruptly in her tracks, her arms dropping to the side of her body and he turns around to see her slowly doing the same, a stunned expression on her face

"what did you say?" she asks

"you're the girl." he says again

nini knits her eyebrows together "the girl-? you mean the one with the voice?"

he nods silently and she shakes her head with a scoff

"you've never heard me sing-"

"that day we first bumped into each other. towards the end of lunch in the auditorium, it was you in there wasn't it?"

she opens her mouth in slight surprise and embarrassment. the song she sang that day was extremely personal

they hold each other's gaze for a few seconds

"please say something-"

"what do you want me to say ricky?" she asks with a sigh, folding her arms again

"i don't know, maybe how you're feeling?" he says evidently "because i'm-"

"you're what?"

"i'm feeling pretty relieved and-happy that it's you." he mutters

she nods "well that's good for you,"

nini turns away to walk off and he knits his eyebrows in confusion

"so you really have nothing to say?" he asks disappointed

she scoffs and turns back around to face him "i'm sorry, but what are you expecting me to do?"

"i'm expecting a little bit more of a reaction from you-"

"a reaction? what so you think this is just a fairytale where i jump into your arms because you found the mystery girl you've been looking for and all of the problems fade away instantly? is that what you want ricky?" she questions, taking a step towards him

he feels a lump form in his throat and the pain of her words hit him in the chest "i didn't say that, but maybe i thought that you of all people would understand-"

"understand what you're going through, right?" she finishes "funny, because i expected that from you too."

ricky shakes his head "you can't do that-"

"no, what you can't do is tell me how i'm supposed to react right now!" she exclaims, feeling her eyes sting "you're happy you figured out it's me? great! excellent! but don't think i haven't forgotten everything."

he watches as she walks closer to him and continues speaking, looking at her with his eyes tearing up too

"all my school life, i kept breaking slowly and slowly, because of you. so all of the pieces, all of the broken little pieces had to get glued back together by me. alone. i didn't ask for help or cry to anyone. you broke my confidence down and now i finally have it back. you don't get to tell me how to act in this situation. i feel proud of myself for doing this for me. you don't get to look at me and pretend to understand me anymore. so how about you just leave me alone and we both go our separate ways, because that's how it's meant to be."

she feels a hot tear roll down her cheek as she takes deep breaths and quickly wipes it away, watching ricky's face

she saw all of the hurt he was trying not to show and it honestly broke her heart

"is that really what you want?" he asks her, his voice breaking ever so slightly as he takes a step closer to her

she felt more tears fill up her eyes as she looks into his and shudders a breath

"yes."

it wasn't though. not even close.

she wishes that everything she just said wasn't true. and she wishes that it could be a fairytale scenario, where he gets her as his girl and they have the perfect story.

but they can't.

she knows that.

she doesn't accept it deep down, but all of her feelings were so much to handle that everything she kept bottled up was pouring out and she couldn't stop it

ricky sniffles and quickly wipes his face as he looks at her, nodding lightly

"goodbye nini," he whispers before turning around and walking off, his legs getting heavier and heavier with every step he took

nini watched as his figure decreased in size and she felt her heart dropping further and further down her chest as tears streamed down her face

it was only when he was out of sight that she leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, hugging her knees close to her chest as she cried quietly to herself