Lotus

Rina - 11: Love

“Mahal kita.

You are my love.”

     Ren stared at her. She was covering her bright red face with her hands, embarrassed to have finally made herself clear. He thought of what he wanted to say. He wondered about so many things.

     How long did she feel this way? There’s no mistake that she means that she LOVES me. What do I do? How do I respond? She’s just sitting there, staring up at me with her stupid, big eyes like a cat. Oh God, is she going to cry? She looks so sad and scared. Damn, I’m an idiot. I want to punch myself in the face right now. God, just kill me. Strike me down and kill me now!

     “I should go,” Rina said. “If you don’t feel the same way, it’s okay. I should be used to this by now.”

     She got up and headed for the door. Her heart was broken, as expected, but she didn’t think that it would hurt this much. This heartbreak was different from her previous ones. She really was in love with him. Before she could reach the door, tears rushed to her eyes. Their backs faced each other as Ren could not bring himself to look at her.

     “Idiot,” he said, still not facing her. “I’ve told you my answer already. Didn’t you ever hear? I love you, too.”

     Rina turned around and stared at his back. Finally, Ren slowly turned around as well and timidly looked at her. From the expression on her face, he could see that she was clearly confused and troubled, anything but relieved.

     “I already fell in love with you, Rina,” he clarified. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”

     What Rina was unprepared for was this. She had hoped that Ren would not reject her, but she had only braced herself for rejection. Never did she actually believe that Ren would react in this way. She never imagined what would happen if he were to reciprocate her feelings.

     “O-Okay,” she hesitantly replied.

     The confusion in her face remained, but the concern was replaced with some delight as she began to smile. Ren awkwardly moved towards her, then pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, allowing her to feel his sincerity. The tightness of the hug comforted her, but also squeezed out the tears that she had been holding in from both the sadness of being almost rejected and the happiness of his acceptance of her.

     “Sorry,” Ren apologized, releasing her from his embrace. She, however, hugged him even more tightly and pressed her face against his chest. She was feeling a lot better. Despite this, she was also feeling a lot more awkward. She had never had a real boyfriend. Other than kissing, going on dates, and holding hands, she never planned on acting differently with him.

     “What do we do now?” she asked.

     “I don’t really know,” he replied. “I never really had a girlfriend before.”

     This came as a shock to Rina. She had always figured that Ren had at least one girlfriend before. He had always seemed to her to have at least some relationship experience.

     “You know, before I met you, I thought I was only interested in tall, blonde girls,” he said. “Somehow, I ended up with the exact opposite.”

     Rina proceeded to push him away, and then punched him in the arm.

     “You know, before and after I met you, I’ve had an undying hatred for boys,” she said. “But somehow, I ended up with the fifth boy I hate the most.”

     “The fifth?!” Ren asked in surprise. “How many boys have you dated?”

     Rina glared at him and pursed her lips together.