𝕵𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖞 𝕲𝖆𝖒𝖊 | 𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖔 𝖝 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 |

Chapter 29 | Present

"No."

. . .

"I wasn't over her."

His honest words echo through the chilly night breeze right as they leave his lips. The rustling of trees and whistling of the soft wind fills your ears, drowning out his confession with white noise as your eyes begin to glaze over right before him. You take a deep breath in attempt to slow your mind down so that you might understand why his admission brought tears to your eyes in the first place.

A pressing guilt begins to weigh down your chest as you wipe the tears away before they can slip down your cheeks. Choso, after hearing a small sniffle from you, looks over at you with worry and shame as he hooks an arm gently over your shoulder.

It's not like you weren't the one who used his presence to capture the attention of another, even if he was the one who offered. But it was the why behind his random proposal that draws your mind to jump towards the worst conclusion: he used you to get Yuki wrapped around his finger. But the only one wrapped around his finger now was you, and you felt like a fool for complying without question.

The conclusion itself, however, makes no sense. Would he really have committed himself to you if his heart still craved only Yuki?

"Y/N." Choso's soft voice pulls you out of your head and back to reality with him.

"Did you use me to get her back?" You blurt, the hurt beginning to bleed through the cracks in your words. You couldn't feel it but the tears continued streaming down your face despite your attempts to keep your eyes dry.

Immediately, his brows furrow at your question. His eyes full of sympathy and understanding. He huffs a sigh, and though your eyes are slightly blurry from developing tears, you notice a slight curl at the end of his lips.

"I didn't want her back, Y/N." He reassures you, his voice deep, gentle, and sweet.

He reaches over, frowning and pulling you closer to his chest so that your head rests just underneath his chin. He sets his chin lightly on top of your head, lulling you into calmness with his embrace.

"I wanted you. I just didn't know it yet." He whispers as his mind recalls the saddened look carved into your face that night and his unassailable urge to comfort you, despite being a stranger.

You were so used to Gojo's unbreaking pattern of pulling you forward and back, and left to right. Though Choso had shown you over and over again, up to this very moment, the realization bloomed in your head that Choso was not Gojo- and he never would be.

He gently lifts your head up, angling you to look up at him and meet his warm gaze. To anyone else, these purple eyes always seemed cold, but for you they would melt, and you could see it now for yourself the way they soften whenever he lays his eyes on you.

"That woman that you're so worried about is nothing but a flitting memory from my past." He says softly with his lips hovering just above yours. "But I'm choosing to live in the present now, simply because you are here, and I will go wherever you will go."

His hold on you grows firm as he pulls your head closer to him, placing his lips upon yours and allowing himself to melt into you so that you might understand just how much the connection between the both of you has grown. And in between wet and warm kisses, the raven-haired man whispers against your lips:

"Because you are mine."