[COMPLETED]
(Book #1 of 'The Clever Series')
There couldn't be two people more different than each other, but there couldn't be two people more alike, as well.
Perceptive eyes that notice everything.
Battle of wits, with intense romance.
But what...
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It took a little while for Shimizu Ren to realise that her head was thrown back, her shoulders were shaking and she felt the need to breathe in before she would pass out. That's when it dawned on her that the one laughing out loud like a maniac in the room was her.
She wheezed trying to comprehend why she would go hysterical all of a sudden. But then his words came rushing back to her, and she looked back at his dumbfounded face. The maniacal look, previously in his eyes, had dimmed, but still extant.
She sighed, feeling her smile get smaller on her face, and said,"You're not as scary as you may think you are, Atsumu. Maybe when you're playing volleyball, but outside of the court, you're just a big attention-seeking baby."
She shook her head, "And haven't you learnt anything? It's definitely not going to scare me if you shout; I'll either laugh or get irritated. Well, today was the former."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I wasn't trying to scare you, Renny... I just want an answer," he said, pursing his lips.
She sighed again, looking down at her feet. "You know, it does remind me of the time when we broke up," she said, with a tinge of sadness painting her words, "Our conversations got so much louder towards the end... It became so unbearable..."
Their conversations had gotten louder. Not just louder, but accusations were hurled in all directions, sharp scorns with seemingly no foundations were directed with such precision, it left their relationship (and them) really battered. She didn't know him, but she felt drained just even thinking about the pandemonium that was the time before they decided to break up.
She looked back up to continue, but was surprised to see him look so... forlorn.
Wh-... Why... ?
She watched him, befuddled, plop onto the adjustable sit-up bench right behind him, and she was jolted out of her stance when he pulled her forward towards him, grabbing her by the wrists. He went on to slump a little in his posture and rest his forehead on her stomach.
But what happened next, stunned to the core. In the midst of still adjusting to the fact that she saw a direct reflection of her pain from their past, she also caught his quiet, shaky breaths and sensed his shoulders shake a little.
Is he... is he sobbing?!
"Atsumu! What... why are you crying?" She panicked, trying to wriggle out of his grip on her wrists to take a look at him, but he didn't let her, his grip tightening even more.
"Stay," he quietly croaked, and she felt herself stiffening, knowing no other choice but to stay as he asked. Begged?
Time passed by, till the whirring of the central air conditioning was finally the only thing she heard in the room. His sobs had quietened, but he was still breathing harshly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the thought of the inappropriateness of their embrace in their workplace trickled into her consciousness, but she pushed that aside. She would be ready to face the consequences of that, and would deal with it as professionally as she could. For now, the curiosity to know what has been going on his mind was stronger than ever before.
