Stay With Me (Onodera x Takano)

Chapter 1

"Tell us about him!"

"Yeah, tell us!"

I sighed. "Okay, if you insist. I'll tell you about your grandfather. I'll tell you... how I fell in love with him."

-

It all started back in high school. I don't remember how it started, but I came to have a really huge crush on Saga Masamune.

He loved reading books in the school library. I thought I would become closer to him if I read the same books as he did. So I checked out every book he did and read them. But when I checked them out, I wrote my last name as Oda because... Well I don't exactly remember why. I didn't want him to think I was stalking him or something. I was just an idiot.

One day, we both reached for the same book on the shelf. I was filled with so many different emotions. So... I just said it.

And those three little words are what changed everything for me for the rest of my life.

I love you

Then he asked if I wanted to go out with him. So I did. And it was all perfect. I was dating the guy I loved and thought that nothing could mess it up. Well... I was wrong.

One month later we had sex for the first time. Afterwards, I asked "Do you love me?" And the answer I received was one I did not expect.

He laughed and I wished I never asked that question in the first place.

So I left to study abroad the next day and I never saw him again until... ten years later.

It was ten years later when I saw him again. I wanted a job as an editor in the literature department at Marukawa Publishing. Instead it got mixed up and I ended up editing shoujo manga. I found out my boss happened to be Masamune.

But he wasn't Saga Masamune anymore. His parents were divorced so his last name changed to Takano. That's probably why I didn't recognize him. But he recognized me right away. I don't know how, since the last name he knew was different from what he thought was mine back then. But he knew.

I guess it's true. You never forget your first love. But maybe I didn't remember him because I actually wanted to forget about him. He never felt that way. From what he told me, he looked for me after I kicked him in the head and left. But he couldn't find me because of that stupid fake last name I wrote in those books.

Anyway, after about two years of working for the Emerald Department and denying that I loved him... I decided that it was too long. I've been denying it for such a long time but why? Why was I denying it when I knew exactly how I actually felt?

I don't know. Maybe because I was scared. Afraid about what would happen if we did start dating. Because there's more that happens after the "happily ever after" and that's what scared me the most. But I knew I would rather be with him for as long as I could than just be afraid for the rest of my life and regret it later on.

So I finally said it.

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Author's Note

Hello! Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new book! I hope you look forward to the next one!