| 𝙎𝘼𝙉𝘼 𝙊𝙇 | 𝙈𝙋𝟭𝟬𝟬; 𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗘𝗢

• Better than her • [EDITED]

The photo above is the inspiration of this chapter!

Edit 6/24/2020:
Edited the pov and revamped it by lots! Gosh, looking back at this tho, it's so cringy- I'm starting to regret publishing this tbh.

Will be referring to readers with "They" or "You" pronouns from now on!!!
———

You've been friends with Shigeo since, well, diapers. The two of you would always hang out together with his little brother, Ritsu. The two of you would do everything together; just as promised.

You started crushing on him when the two of you were in preschool and that remained strong up to now. His cute smile, his compassion, his will to protect others—You loved everything about him.

But, he liked Tsubomi. Not you.

Cruel, but it can't be helped.

Other than that, what devastated you the most was the news of them being officially together. As much as you hated the idea, you remained supportive and put up a facade to reassure Shigeo's constant worries; dismissing his concerns with replies such as, "I'm fine." Or "Just tired.".

You continued this act of yours up to now and things are going pretty smoothly, if you do say so yourself. Though the thought or at least a mere mention of their relationship felt like salt rubbing onto your wound.

You are currently at the plaza to buy some stuff you've been wanting to buy for a while but, unfortunately, happened to cross paths with the "lovebirds" during their date.

As soon as they saw you, Shigeo immediately went to greet you but Tsubomi beat him to it. "I don't like you, you look like a dumb third wheeler who's ruining our date." The girl spat as she narrowed her eyes at you, seemingly disgusted by the mere presence of you.

Shigeo was taken back at his girlfriend's response. He didn't expect Tsubomi, the supposedly "nice girl", to say something so vulgar to someone! Much less to his best friend.

Feeling even more disheartened and awkward, you muttered a small apology to the both of them and waved goodbye to Shigeo.

You speed walked your way out of there until you just full on ran away. After a few minutes of running, you slowed your pace and huffed out shallow breaths, trying to regain your composure. Since winter was around the corner, the climate was cold to the point you could see your small but desperate puffs of breath.

Out of breath and tired, both emotionally and physically, you decided to take a seat on a bench nearby. Gazing emptily into the grey skies, you lifted your arm and covered your eyes with it as you felt tears brimming the corners of your eyes.

Unbeknownst to you, Shigeo finally caught sight of you after chasing after you for God knows how long! He steadied his breaths and approached you quietly, his sadness and guilt pooling in the depths of his stomach.

He gently lifted your arm that covered your eyes and saw your red and puffy eyes. He grimaced and held your hands in his to comfort you somehow. Your brows scrunched in confusion. "H-How-?"

"I broke up with her earlier... If she doesn't respect you then she obviously won't respect me either. I rather lose her than you..." He smiled and hugged you tight.

Overwhelming happiness and relief washed over you and you happily hugged him back with your walls finally coming down and your heart opening up to him once again.