Hey, stranger (Shuca)

Chapter Eight

'Meet me at the school garden in Campus 1 at 5pm'

"What's that?"

"A note that somebody put in my locker."

"Wow, is it a confession?"

"... Not sure."

"Are you going, then?"

"Probably. What if it's Shu? I couldn't miss the chance."

"Stop being delusional, girl. It can't be him."

"You never know."

~

"What? You're confessing today?" Ike asked, shocked to hear what Luca had told them.

"Yes! Aren't you guys excited for me?!" Luca bounced around Ike and Vox.

"Good luck, I guess. But, isn't your crush kinda like, I don't know. Bad? Rumors about her are everywhere, you know?" Vox warned.

"Really? I never heard anything about it, though." Luca wondered.

"Yea, not when you're always busy going to Shu's dorm these past few days." the two snickered, leaving Luca flustered.

"What are you guys talking about? He's just helping me out with something."

"Yea, sure." Ike rolled his eyes playfully.

"But either way, they're just rumors. We can't define a person based on what others say."

"We know, we just don't want you getting hurt. That's all. You're too kind, after all." Vox sighed while patting Luca's shoulder. "I guess if that's what makes you happy, go ahead buddy."

Luca smiled at both of his friends. "Thanks guys."

~

Luca went straight away to the school garden after the bell rang, signalling the end of his classes. He was feeling excited, not gonna lie. But something felt wrong for some reason. He shook the feeling away and proceeded his walk to the garden.

As he got closer to his destination, he saw a girl, leaning onto the tree while scrolling on her phone. He approached the girl silently.

"Hey, you came." Luca said.

The girl looked up at Luca. "Oh, it's you."

"Yea, you look kind of disappointed." Luca said, studying her face.

"I mean, of course I am. I thought Shu was the one that put that note in my locker." The girl rolled her eyes.

Luca laughed awkwardly. "Well, it's me."

"Yea, no shit. So, what do you want?"

"I uh, I like you, I guess." Luca said.

They both stared into each other's eyes, with no emotions, whatsoever.

"... You don't even like me." The girl said emotionless.

"What? I do." Luca protested.

"Well, either way, I don't like you. So if there's nothing else, I'm going." The girl said as she started walking away from Luca. Luca felt angered.

"What, you don't like me cuz you got a crush on Shu? Just to let you know, I'm really close with him. And knowing Shu, he wouldn't confess to you nor accept your confession. Ha! He wouldn't even take a glance at you cuz he's not gonna like someone like you. Oh, and we even kissed!"

*Slaps*

"What the heck is wrong with you?!"

"..."

"*scoffs* The one that confessed to me was you. So why the hell did you do that?! You two kissed?! That's so disgusting! Ugh! This day just couldn't get any worse!"

And with that, the girl stomped off abruptly.

Luca felt hurt. He couldn't understand why he said all of that to his crusb, after mustering all his courage to confess. He watched his so-called 'crush' moving further away from him, until she was totally out of Luca's sight. He sighed in defeat.

With a reddened cheek, he followed to wherever his legs wanted to take him to. He felt so down that he didn't noticed how his feet dragged him to the front of Shu's dorm.

"Luca? What're you doing here?" Shu asked as he opened the door, shocked to see Luca.

"..."

"Uhm... You confessed today, right? How... Did it go?"

Shu studied Luca's face. He noticed that Luca had a handprint on his cheek and was on the edge of crying. He panicked.

"Oh, I was about to throw this bag of garbage. Would you like to go in first?" Shu mentioned and Luca nodded his head.

"Great! Uh, I'll be back." Shu closed the door, leaving Luca alone in his dorm. Luca dragged his feet and sat on the floor, leaning onto Shu's bed. He stared into the space, not minding to do anything at the moment. A few minutes later, the clicks on the door could be heard.

"Hey, uh, how you feeling right now?" Shu asked as he removed his shoes, stabilising himself with the aid of the wall.

"I confessed to her..."

"Huh? Yeah, I know. You told me that you were gonna confess today..." Shu said as he sat beside Luca.

Luca hugged his knees. "I was rejected..."

"..... You were?" Shu asked.

Luca nodded and bit his lips. "I didn't even confess to her properly. She just straight up rejected me... And... I've said some bad things to her..."

A tear fell from Luca's eyes.

"H-hey... Don't cry, Luca... She's not worth it. And, whatever you said to her, I'm sure you don't mean it, right? Don't worry." Shu patted Luca on the back, trying to calm him down.

"I... I didn't even get to kiss her... All those practices went to vain..." Luca sobbed.

Shu felt a pang in his heart. 'Were what we did meant nothing to him, then?' He thought.

The whole quiet dorm was filled with sobs and sniffles. Shu had never seen Luca cried before. He's always so cheerful and optimistic. Shu was pretty confident that Luca's confession would go well so he did not expect to see Luca crying right now with a hand imprinted on his cheek.

"Hey, uhm. Please don't cry anymore."

Luca cried even more when he heard Shu comforting him.

"!!Why're you crying even more now?" Shu sighed. "How about this, pretend that I'm your crush and kiss me...?" Shu suggested.