Ongoing Cycle

31

There was something that was bothering [Y/N]. She had been reflecting on herself and her actions since yesterday. As she deeply thought about how she'd been acting around other people, for the first time, she realized how terrible she treated Kuro. Sure, he was annoying and was someone who've hurt many girls before, but she didn't have the right to be mean towards him. That wasn't who she was. Especially now that she knew his painful secret, she was holding a lot guilt in her heart.

      So as she was sitting in Language Arts and in front of the boy, she wondered if she should apologize. With them done with their project before any other groups, they now had free time to do whatever the hell they want. She watched as Kuro lazily typed something away on his phone and contemplated. She was kind of afraid to say something to him. She didn't want his response to be cocky and get herself all embarrassed for even trying.

      She knew she couldn't live with this guilt though. She no longer hated him, but instead was a little grateful and sorry for him. He had done a lot for her, so the least she could do was to apologize for her behavior. She shouldn't be so self conscious. Who cares if he doesn't take it seriously or does not accept it? As long as she tried was what counted.

     Leaning forward on the dark, wooden desk, she took a deep breath. That immediately caught Kuro's attention and his blue eyes flickered up. He also leaned forward on his own desk and now their faces were only a foot away from each other's. [Y/N] quickly backed away, leaving him laughing.

      "You get so flustered easily," he pointed out with a wolffish grin.

      "There's a thing called personal space," she responded snootily. She mentally cursed to herself. They were already off topic. There was something about Kuro that makes her want to argue with him on everything.

     "Says the one who, out of the blue, kissed me on the cheek yesterday."

     "Shhhh!" she quickly shushed him, wide eye and looking around fearfully. Luckily, everyone in the classroom were too busy working on their projects to be listening for gossip. "Your fan girls will attack me if they ever hear that!"

      He rolled his eyes and chuckled at how dramatic she was being.

      She cleared her throat. "Anyway..." she began. It was such an awkward transition, but she didn't know how else she could turn the discussion around. She had to say it to him before she could chicken out. "I...want to apologize to you."

     He raised his eyebrows and looked at her in both confusion and amusement. "About what?"

    "Uhh," she said. Her cheeks reddened and she looked out the classroom window to avoid his eyes. "I don't know. Just for...being a bitch towards you. Yeah. I'm sorry for being a bitch."

     He blinked at her for a few seconds. Then he laughed long and hard at this, making her squirm within her seat. Her heart was pounding and she felt ashamed to see such a response, but she couldn't help but notice how beautiful his laugh was. He never fully laughed like this, but it was a sound that moved her heart. She loved the low rumble of it and the breaths that he took for laughing so long. He even had to wipe some tears from his eyes.

      "Hey, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not laughing because you apologized. It's just that the way you worded your words was just a bit funny," he tried to assure her. She let out a breath of relief to that. That really scared her back then.

     He smiled softly at her. "This was really sudden of you, but thank you. This means you're slowly falling for me, right?" He gave her a quick wink and she groaned.

     She was really glad she was able to do it though.

     "So now what do we do? We still have thirty minutes left of class," she asked the boy.

      He thought for a few seconds. He gave her a devilish smile. "Let's do thumb war," he said, wiggling his thumb at her.

     She made a face at him. "What are you? A child?"

     "Come on. You know we're all children at heart here."

     She relented and held out her own thumb. Wrapping her right hand around his own warm hand, they both stuck out their thumbs upward. Kuro did the weird countdown thing and they began their game. She attacked first and totally missed. He did a counterattack and he got her, but she was able to escape his thumb on time. They continued the game and it soon ended because Kuro had won, but it made [Y/N] all the more competitive so she declared a rematch.

     She laughed at Kuro's face as he struggled to pull his thumb away from hers. It was so funny that she got distracted and she lost her grip. He had won another round, but she didn't care because it was that funny.

     She didn't think this small, simple game could brighten her day so much. She couldn't remember the last she had this much fun. She never thought she could remove her troubles from her mind, but here she was, playing a kid game and forgetting about her parents.

     She had judged Kuro way too harshly from the beginning. She thought he was someone who'd never study, but what did she see? Him at the library. She thought he was going to steal Miku from her, but when in reality, it was her insecurities that led her to lose that friendship before. She thought he had a perfect family and she could never relate to him, but....they were actually quite similar.