Your Babies | Sano Shinichiro

XIX

Ever since your sleepover with the two kids two nights ago, you can't help but let your mind wander back to Shinichiro.

After thinking things through and finally accepting that you do have feelings for your seatmate, it has become increasingly hard for you to sleep those two nights. Your mind always making sure to make you think about just how things can turn out if things were a little different from your current predicament.

All the while, the thought of having the dance practice with him is making your heart erratically beat in your chest, both from the anxiety of what you might do when you're finally face to face with him, along with excitement of finally being able to spend time with him.

It's complicated.

The fact that you're about to spend time with him is bringing you mixed emotions.

You're happy, now that you're cleared up your feelings, you're quite happy to be able to spend more time with the person that you have feelings for. But at the same time, the person that you like had just asked you to be his friend.

Dancing with him for at least five hours every week is a definite way for you to catch more feelings for him. It is a definite way for your feelings, for this 'like', to turn into something more.

And you're not sure if you want it to turn out that way.

But alas, you don't have a choice.

Not when you're already at the gym, your teachers are already fixing up the formation for the starting line while the others fix the sound system. You nervously breathe out, shaky hands fidgeting with your uniform as you try your best to not look up at Shinichiro who's barely a few inches away from you.

He would have been farther if it weren't for the choreographer making Shinichiro take a step closer to you, snarkily uttering under his breath about boys not knowing how to treat ladies right.

Your partner had exploded into different shades of red, to say the least, after hearing the choreographer's remark.

Giving yourself a little pep talk, you finally find the courage to look up, eyes immediately making contact with his dark orbs. You freeze, mesmerized at the sight.

You don't think you've ever been able to clearly look at him properly. With you always trying to run away from him, it feels like you've just deprived yourself of such an amazing sight as you continue to ogle at him.

Dark eyes which makes it feel like the universe is swallowing you whole with all the sparks going off in them as he stares at you as well. Thin lips slightly parted. Hair meticulously styled into his usual hairdo.

And if you breathe close enough to him, you can barely smell a familiar laundry detergent. You can't quite pinpoint where you first smelled it from but it makes you feel at home.

"You... you look really beautiful."

Just like that, both of you are looking away once more, eyes trained to the ground as you feel your whole face heating up, not at all expecting for Shinichiro to suddenly blurt out a compliment while you're in the middle of staring at him. Your heart feels like it's about to jump out of your chest, you can feel it throughout your body, the beating feeling so loud that you're afraid that just being a few inches away from him will make him hear the erratic beating of your heart.

You wish that it will just calm down. You can't afford to lose your control in front of him.

"Sorry, I didn't think that I said that aloud- I mean- not like I was thinking about it in my head but- but that doesn't mean that you're not beautiful. You are, I just didn't mean to tell that to your face right now or make things awkward."