Okano Hinata was not the observant type of person but that changes when it comes to Maehara Hiroto.
Okano had come to notice everything about Maehara Hiroto, from the chewing of his lower lip whenever he's nervous to the way how he shows his emotions to everyone. She wasn't aware of it at first but it somehow grew accustomed to her and has been a habit, observing Maehara Hiroto has become one of her habits she can't just outgrow. She rested her hand on her palm with her elbow on the desk and silently watches Maehara casually chat with their class representative, Isogai Yuuma.
For others, it would really seem to be just a casual chat exchanged by two friends albeit they fail to notice the faint tinge of pink dusting on the playboy's cheeks. Okano narrows her eyes and bits the insides of her cheeks once her stomach churns in displease and a familiar feeling rests in the pit of her stomach. She exhales softly and tears her gaze away from the childhood friends as Maehara lightly touches Isogai's hand.
'Smooth move.' She huffs and rolls her eyes.
Unfortunate for her, it doesn't stop there.
Classes were thankfully over, the amount of their training gets even harder each passing day, not like she's having a hard time. Okano stands up from her seat and strides to Maehara's, they had started hanging out for a while and walking home together, much to her delight. She was thinking of staying a bit on the park they usually pass by on their way home, you never know that something good might happen. Okano internally squeals as she imagines something romantic to happen.
Something like, Maehara would finally realize his feelings for her.
Or was that just wishful thinking?
"I'm walking with Isogai today, sorry." Okano resists the urge to drop her jaw.
Maehara smiles at her sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. She stared at him with disappointment flickering on her brown orbs, this wasn't anything she expected to happen. Okano inwardly sighs and forces a smile to reassure the boy in front of her.
"It's okay, Maehara-kun."
Maehara looks at her skeptically, she nods but frowns.
"It's really okay." She tries not to choke on her words.
"…okay." Maehara flashes his heart-winning smile.
"Maehara, let's go?"
Their male class representative approaches the playboy and Okano wants to ignore the sudden lit of the boy's eyes. She decides to ignore the bright smile that is plastered on Maehara's lips as he threw his arms around the slightly shorter male. Okano watches them as they walk out of the classroom happily talking with whatever their topic was. She exhales deeply and replaces her forced smile with a more genuine one.
'Well, atleast his expression now is a lot better than before.'
She remembers the dejected look on Maehara's face once Isogai had ignored his offer on walking home together as the class representative was busy at the moment. Maehara had nothing to do but walk away with slumped shoulders and a sullen expression. Okano shakes her head and clears the memory off her mind.
'Definitely a lot better.'
"Why did you bring me here again?" And why did I even agree going with you?
"C'mon Okano, you don't want to hang out with me?" Maehara asks and pretends to be hurt.
Okano rolls her eyes at him, "I want to but why here?"
It wasn't unknown to Okano's knowledge that this is the place where Isogai works as a part-timer. She lets her eyes wander around the place; there were families and some couples that ate here. She turned to Maehara and could still here the clinking of utensils, noisy chattering and the sizzling from the kitchen.
Maehara shrugs and answers, "I want to see Isogai work."
Okano raises an eyebrow.
'You see him work frequently and somehow drag me every damn time.' She wanted to tell Maehara.
She stares at Maehara as the latter watches Isogai take a customer's order. Her chest clenches and her stomach twists into knots, how will she pry Maehara's attention from Isogai to her? Earning Maehara's undivided attention seemed hard but the boy was willingly giving it to Isogai even if he didn't want it nor asked for it.
"Maehara-kun." She called but the latter didn't seem to hear.
"Maehara!" She tried to be louder but no avail.
Okano puffs her cheeks and slumps on her chair with her arms crossed. She sends glares to the oblivious boy who was seated across her and was busily watching his childhood friend do his work. Okano notices how Maehara lightly bits his lower lip and his gaze on Isogai hardens. She finds there was a longing and a yearning feeling on Maehara's stare. Her heart clenches even tighter it felt like it was hard to breathe, this sight wasn't knew to her.
Every time they visit Isogai on his work Maehara would totally ogle at him.
But his longing gaze surprised her.
Averting her gaze from him, she kicked his feet under the table and earned a hiss of pain from Maehara.
"Why did you do that?" He asks more rather hissed.
"Stop ogling at your friend and order us something to eat! I'm starving!"
Okano didn't fail to see the reddening of the tips of Maehara's ears as he frantically calls for a waiter.
Okano notices that Maehara stopped fooling around with girls for two weeks, it tremendously surprises her since Maehara was known to be a playboy, a womanizer. She squints her eyes at the two boys in front of her, Maehara's hand was on top of Isogai's as they talk behind the campus unknown to her presence. In the past week Maehara and Isogai spent more time with each other and is basically more inseparable. The familiar feeling that had rested in the pit of her stomach which was jealousy never left.
Another week passed, she discovered that the two were dating already.
The thought hasn't fully registered in her mind as Rio talk to her(read: gossip) about witnessing them share a chaste kiss inside the store room. Once it had sunk in her mind, she realized a lot of things.
Okano realizes there's something much more than the light touches and longing glances Maehara throws at Isogai.
Love.
She also realizes one more thing.
That she'll only be a friend to Maehara.
A/N: So this was posted in tumblr and Ao3. I crossposted this here since so far there's not english maeiso fic and that somehow made me cry because most of them here are in indonesian language. Reviews are welcomed! I hope you like this~