If Jealousy Could Kill

Chapter 23: Revelations & Regrets

Rina sighed softly, rubbing the back of her neck as she pushed the heavy front door open. She pushed it closed with a heave before making her way slightly into the house. She let her bag drop to the floor before she bent down to take off her shoes. Once she had managed that, she drug her tired self into the living room.

Rina didn't understand why school had made her feel this tired; usually she was never tired after school. She was awfully glad that she ended up not having work after school, she was nowhere in the mood or mind frame to deal with work. All she really wanted to do for the rest of the night was rest and relax.

When Rina got to the living room, she tossed her bag onto the couch. As soon as she had done that, she could hear the shout from the kitchen.

"Rina, is that you?" Haruna called from the kitchen. Rina's mood began to perk up when she realized that her roommate was home. She just hoped that she wasn't here as well, Rina wasn't in the mood to see Tomomi right now.

Rina quickly made her way to the kitchen, peering inside and smiling when she saw Haruna standing there. Haruna was leaned up against the counter, a cookie in hand with her other hand leaned out against the counter behind her. Rina could also take notice of Haruna's clothing choice. The older brunette was wearing a simple outfit that consisted of a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans.

Rina made her way into the kitchen but the closer she got to Haruna, the more her smile faded away. Standing close to her now, Rina could clearly see the mark on Haruna's neck. There was no way she could miss that with the way Haruna was dressed. She knew she must have missed that last night because of the shirt Haruna had been wearing. Now that she was in a tank top, there wasn't really any hiding it.

"What's that?" Rina asked before she knew what she was doing. It was a question that Rina almost regretted asking right away, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted Haruna to confirm her fears. She didn’t even know why she had asked it, it had just come out without her even thinking about it beforehand.

"Hm?" Haruna murmured. She pushed the rest of her snack into her mouth before rubbing the back of her neck nervously. She knew exactly what Rina was talking about. She'd forgotten about the mark that Tomomi's handiwork had left. "Tomo just got a bit carried away with herself."

"Oh..." Haruna couldn't ignore the dejected tone of Rina's voice, almost as if she was saddened by Haruna's answer. She wanted to question it but at the same time, she didn’t really know how to question it.

Rina walked over next to Haruna, making it a point to not look at her. The young girl grabbed a glass, filling it with water and ignoring Haruna the entire time. Haruna stepped back, an odd feeling swarming her body. Had she made Rina upset? That didn't make sense, Haruna had come home with plenty of those marks in the past and Rina had never cared. There was no reason for her to care, so it had to be something else upsetting her.

"Rina... Are you okay?" Haruna asked softly. She saw Rina glance over to her and she could swear she saw tears in Rina's eyes. The feeling swarming Haruna’s body only got worse when she saw that. Now she was fully convinced that she had upset Rina but she still didn’t know why or how she had.

"I'm fine." A chill ran through Haruna's body at the cold way Rina had said those words. She certainly didn't sound fine.

"Did something happen at school?" Haruna continued to pester. Rina didn't respond right away, instead taking a sip of the water she had poured. The younger girl kept her back turned to Haruna, not wanting to face her. If she faced her, she knew her eyes would be drawn to the proof of how close the couple had really gotten.

It had been worse than Rina had thought. She knew that the two girls had grown closer, that was clear through the pet names Tomomi had been using, but she didn't know it was that bad. Rina didn't even have to question how the hickey had come to be, she knew in her gut what those two had done. And she knew how much she was beginning to hate Tomomi for having touched Haruna like that.