*:･ﾟHard To Love ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 16 - brooke

KOU
—❁—

"Yes, there it is.. I knew I was going crazy." I mutter softly to myself as I find one of many photos of Sousuke and I that I had stashed in my old desk.

My old room in the family house was turned into a spare room, but was frequented by my Father if and when he ever stopped by. I had hidden a box of photos that I spent forever collecting in case something like this were to ever happen.

Specifically, a lot of them were old pictures that Sousuke took on his camera back when we walked all over town together. He gave me some of them himself but others were some that I had printed out of my old phones photo gallery.

I had planned to show him this as we talked to try and at least convince him that I wasn't insane, so then that way he could really understand that I wasn't some creep chasing after him. Though I guess I'm not exactly giving myself a good track record.

After I quickly grabbed the box, I made my way back downstairs to say goodbye to Tiara so that I could go meet Mitsuba at the dorm. I felt incredibly nervous going back. Sousuke was clearly insanely upset from what I heard, and I don't think I'm prepared to be chewed out by him to its farthest extent. "Hey Tiara, I gotta head back to campus now." "What? Already?" I softly smile as she gets up and walks over to me beside the front door. "Yeah, I'm afraid so. But hey, listen.." I kneel down to better match her height and look at her. "How about I take you to that awesome café you really like this weekend so that we can have lunch?" Tiara smiles instantly and hugs me tightly. "Okay Kou-nii! Say you promise so that you can't take it back." She looks at me with a smile on her face, holding her pinky out. "Pinky swear on it!" I softly chuckle and link pinky's with her. "I pinky promise swear to take you to the totally awesome café this weekend." I smile widely as I watch her giggle before hugging me again. "I'll see you later Tiara, alright? Until we see each other again this weekend I want you to think about all the goodies you want at the café." "Okay Kou-nii.. I'll make sure the weekend comes really fast!" I smile and look at her before getting up. "Good, stay out of trouble." Tiara nods and watches me open the front door before waving at me, and she smiles as I give her a small little wave back. I could hear her lock the door behind me as soon as I got it completely shut, and I was quick to get in my car and traverse back to campus.

The closer I got to the dorms, the more nervous I could feel myself getting. Sousuke was probably plotting my death as we speak. and I won't be surprised if his face is the last one I see.

I took the elevator all the way up to our floor and walked all the way down the hallway to our dorm. As soon as I got the door open I was greeted with Sousuke's totally unamused face and tightly crossed arms. "So?" He mutters. I got a soft smile on my face as I slipped my shoes off beside the door. "Man, not even gonna let me take my shoes off before you chew me out?" Yeah.. he totally wasn't up for me trying to make light of the situation. "You're not funny." I watch him turn and walk off from me. I then softly sighed and followed him. "Sousuke.." "You know, I am so pissed off at you right now. While I was here on my own I was finally realizing all of the reasons as to why I should totally not trust your ass!" "What? What happened?" "What the hell do you mean 'what happened?'"He mocks my voice the best he can before looking at me with an angry expression. "I'm talking about how you filled my Mom's head up with a bunch of bullshit lies when she already had a bunch on her plate?" I put my free hand on the back of my head, still holding the box of photos in my other hand. "Why couldn't you just be honest with me?" He takes a step closer to me, looking somewhat betrayed.

Betrayed.. man, I'm totally the worst.

"Sousuke, I was honest with you—" He drops his crossed arms and holds his forehead in his hands. "You're not listening to me Kou." He then glances back up at me. "Why couldn't you just tell me everything upfront? Why did it take me having to ask you in so many other different ways in order for you to tell me some of the story?" "I—" I softly sigh once more and look over to the side past Sousuke before looking down at the small box in my hand. "So do you believe her?" I look back up at him, only to notice that he went quiet for a moment before shrugging. "I don't want to believe her.. but she's my Mom, so I guess I have to." I softly nod and look down at the small box again. "Here." I then hold the box out to Sousuke. "What's this?" "It's my final piece of proof." My eyes follow him as he walks over to his bed and sits down on the edge of it, opening the box. "What are these.." He mumbles. "They're photos of us from our time at Kamome.. when we were together." I mutter, nervously placing a hand on the back of my neck.