symbols of love - aone takanobu

05.

THE WHOLE TABLE GASPED AS IF THEY WERE TRYING BREATHE IN FOR AIR. aone felt stuck, unable to move when his name was the one to said, not his friend's. his eyes went wide, probably the widest it's ever went. he couldn't believe his own ears, he felt like his own mind was playing tricks with him. "did you just say....aone?" aonogawa questioned in disbelief. they were all puzzled, having either stunned or confused looks on their faces. aone especially. "well this is awkward."

"did i say aone? did i really?" he looked down at the letter, staring down in astonishment at the only words he read so far. 'aone, huh? really?' he thought to himself. his brain and eyes wanted to read the rest of the letter but his mind and gut told him not to, it wasn't his to read. it wasn't his. 

"nice going aone!" one of the teammates said as they patted him on the back, the rest of them smiling at him as he slowly looked up to them- tearing his eyes away from the letter. they all congratulated him shortly together as futakuchi slowly lifted his head up to meet aone's eyes. "congrats dude. really." he gave him a small smile. anyone from a mile away could see that he felt somewhat sad about the situation. i meant who wouldn't, he made this big deal to his friends about someone finally being interested in him when it turned out to be a lie. it was embarrassing. who would be interested in me?

aone softly grunted at him as he was handed the letter and the rest of the cookies. he didn't too much look at them, but he could tell there was a couple left- enough for him to have one and give to his family when he got home. he stared down at the letter, at his name that wasn't written by him, his parents, or his teachers. he felt.... good. really good. giddy even. another loud gasp left his teammates when they saw their most intimidating player do one of the many things they ever saw- crack a smile. it was a small one, but they all saw it nonetheless. 

"is that the aone smiling?" futakuchi nudged him in his arm, which didn't move him as much as it thought it would, but aone's smile began to smile a bit bigger. he nodded at his friend, still looking at his name that's been written down. all he could think was...... pretty.

"well... are you going to read it to us?" the table went dead silent. all of their eyes went to aone to the boy he said it, hizaki, and back. "dude!" someone else said as he chopped hizaki in the head, "come on, i was just asking !!"

the day was a regular day, except for one person- aone. he felt anxious, giddy, confused, and happy all in one. he was never one to be ansty in class, he was one of the -if not the most- very few calm people in his class. but the thought of someone having feelings for him made him want to jump around, which he felt silly for.

he didn't know why he did it, why he put himself through waiting for the school day to end. what if the person was in his class? what if they knew he gave their gift away? what if they thought he didn't want it? all of these questions slowly but surely flooded his mind and made the smile that's been on his face all day disappear.

he was in his last period. he didn't know if he wanted to open his letter on the train ride home or in the comfort of his own room out loud to his pet turtle. he wanted to lean more towards the second idea but he knew his nerves simply wouldn't let him. the class wasn't doing anything but catching up on their studies and assignments- which he loved having this class as his last because it gave him time to relax before practice. he didn't have practice today as it was a friday and the coach wanted his players to have time to themselves this weekend.

aone looked up to the clock- 24 minutes until class ends. he searched around the classroom to both see what his teacher was doing and to see if any of his classmates were looking his way- which they weren't. that relieved him, he was already nervous as it is. he slowly took the note out of his bag that he carried with him and took the letter out the envelope.

turtles. i should have known.

"dear aone,

you may not remember or even know me, but i know you. i've known you for quite some time now. i've noticed things about you. like how you love turtles, love red velvet anything, how you love volleyball but you don't let it interfere with your schoolwork, and how you are probably one of the kindest people in this class but people tend to overlook that due to your intimidating looks. but you don't intimidate me, in fact you pull me in. i wanna know more about you. you are always on my mind, yet i wanna know more about you. i want to know what drives you, this irks you, what you want to do with your life, what you think is the biggest thing in life we can achieve... i just want to see myself with you. and i need to know if you feel the same way. i've been quiet for so long about how i felt, but today is the day i speak up. please come see me at the vending machine that is by the janitor's closet after school if you feel the same way. i will be waiting.

with love,

your secret admirer"

aone's eyes nearly filled with tears after he finished reading the letter written for him. he couldn't believe it at all. those words felt like poetry to him, they felt like something you only would hear in movies or in a cheesy romance series. but no, this was real life and it was his life. he truly couldn't believe his eyes.

he skimmed through the whole letter again to analyze it some more. this time around, he noticed more things like how they was both a heart and rose sticker in the bottom corner of the page. how the handwriting was pretty but a little staggered at the same time- which is how he knew that they was shaking just a bit while writing the letter. how the addressing sentence and farewell sentence was in a different color- light pink to be exact- than the actual color of the writing. and lastly, that the note was slightly scented and smelled like a woman's scent. did they spray perfume on this?

then, aone paused. the name on the bottom wasn't a name at all but just the words "secret admirer." was this a prank? or joke? was this person really scared of him? why couldn't they just tell him who they were in the letter? he once again looked around the room because he sensed the subtle feeling that eyes were on him. he closely examined everyone until he saw a girl sitting in the second to last row by the window quickly whipping her head away from him. she turned towards another girl that sat besides her and whispered something aone couldn't make out, but she had her head down on top of her desk with his arms folded. either she was sleeping, or she wasn't feeling well. aone squinted his eyes at the girl who was staring at him-not in a strange or evil way- he found it a little weird that she was looking at him read his letter, but he was use to strangers staring by now. he shortly stopped what he was doing when he felt someone grab on his shoulder and slightly shake it- futakuchi.

"so.. i saw you read the letter. what did it say?" he whispered towards aone as he leaned over to his desk, wanting to sneak a peek. aone didn't really want to explain to his friend or admit it out loud because he knew he would get flustered all over again and possibly stutter. "someone said they have feelings for me." he lowly said, not making eye contact once.

"dude that's awesome !! who is it? do you feel the same way? bro, don't tell me you've been crushing on a girl and haven't told me !!" he smiled as he lightly punched his shoulder.

"that's the thing .... i don't know who."

———author's note.

hi guys i've been wanting to make longer chapters so i have more to give yall when i do post bc my updates are kinda slow so i've been trying to incorporate that ! longer ones to come i promise