Observant || Oikawa Tooru ff

13. Surprises

The next few days went by just the same. Her mother hadn't yet returned from Tokyo. So Noya came by to sleep over almost every day.

She attended school as usual and met Ushiwaka more than usual. He seemed to be coping well. Ume felt relieved.

One day during lunch, Ume and the Sato-Ito couple were occupying three different windows to look down on the playgrounds. The Sato-Ito couple was talking amongst themselves. They did not disturb Ume. Knowing her for years, they knew that the girl was more of a listener and preferred keeping to herself.

"Hey look! The rumours were true afterall. Oikawa got himself a girlfriend." Ito kun pointed out to his girlfriend.

Ume looked at the school gates and saw a familiar looking girl talking to Oikawa. Ume frowned. Wasn't that the uniform Shiratorizawa students wore? 

The girl seemed to be smiling and holding Oikawa's arm. 

"Don't tell me she's come all the way from Shiratorizawa just to have lunch with him?" Sato san asked from besides Ume.

"Too bad. He doesn't seem fond of the idea." Ito kun piped. And sure enough Ume saw Oikawa walk away from the girl. She was still standing on her place looking dejected.

That's when Ume remembered where she had seen the familiar blonde hair. She had seen this girl smiling at the camera, hadn't she? 

Suzuki Sumire, the girl Ushiwaka liked was dating Oikawa?

For the love of love triangles, Ume did not like this situation. Not one bit. She scowled and huffed and returned to her table.

"What's gotten into her?" Ito kun asked with raised brows. Sato San shrugged.

The whole of the remaining day she could not make up her mind whether to tell Ushiwaka this bit of information or not. She was only got more confused the more she thought about it.

Ushiwaka seemed to be doing good these days. Telling him that the guy his crush liked was fucking Oikawa of all people did not seem like a good option.

She was still warring with herself when she found herself sitting at their usual booth in the diner. Ushiwaka's huge figure walked towards her and plopped down on the opposite side.

He placed his elbows on the table and heavily leaned onto it. Alarms began blaring in Ume's head at the small action. 

Ushiwaka, to her was the kind of guy who must have been raised in very traditional ways. Elbows on the table was a big no-no for the dude. She was used to seeing him sit so ramrod straight all the time. His slumping figure made a her feel a pinch of pity.

She sighed. This guy, he looked so stoic but he must have liked the girl very very much to be so affected by her. He was still unhappy. Ume was almost firm on her decision on not telling him about Sumire and Oikawa.

But when he looked at her with such simple eyes. Like a little child fumbling about his emotions, unable to decide if he should be angry or he should cry. They looked at her with trust. Like whatever she told him would be the universal truth. She felt guilt gnawing away at her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, they looked determined.

"Sumire came to our school today. Apparently she's dating Oikawa." She got it out flatly. Ushiwaka jerked.

He dipped his head down. Ume felt hurt just by looking at him. 

Suddenly a thought hit her. Since when had she started caring for others? Felt sorry for others?

"What should I be feeling right now? " Ushiwaka's feeble voice came out.

"What should I know? I can't tell you to be angry at them. They have all the right to act on their feelings. I can't tell you to be happy for them. You like her too much for your own good. All I can tell you is to let go." Ume replied gently.

He looked at her. She gave him a sympathetic smile. She placed a hesitant hand on his in reassurance. He managed to change his pained expression to a stoic one. But he could not smile.

At that time, the both of them failed to notice a blonde head looking at them intently from outside the diner's window.

The girl put a fist in her mouth to muffle the noise of her sobs. She walked away from the diner. Coming to a stop in a secluded area of a park, her sobs suddenly jerked to a stop.

When she lifted her head, her eyes seemed dead. She whipped out her phone and dialled a number.

"Hello Maehara kun! It's been a while. Listen, I wanted to find some information on this person."