I'll Be Over You
She stared out her window, not really looking at anything, and one would mistake the glaze in her eyes as tears. But it's been months since she last cried.
The feeling of emptiness had never left her, not since the day he told her that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. Sometimes she still wondered what went wrong, but then again, come to think of it, nothing was right with the set-up to begin with. Rei Otohata wasn't exactly the sweetest person on planet earth; on the contrary, he'd probably rank third or fourth in the 'coldest person in the whole, wide world' category. She still marveled at the fact that she was able to last almost a year of dating that ice prince. Ordinary girls would have left him the minute he started giving off his cold, aloof vibes which he was very famous for.
But she never gave up on him.
It was he who said goodbye.
Sighing and knowing that things would never work out the way she wanted anyway, Aya Hoshino stood up from her bed and started preparing for another long day at work.
It was the third guy she turned down that week, and she knew that a fourth officemate was planning on asking her sometime later. It wasn't that she didn't like the guys; they were far nicer and more sincere than Rei, and probably his only advantage over them was the fact that he could join a gazillion modeling contests and he'd always, always end up as the winner. She wasn't after looks, not then, not now. But then again she couldn't find herself accepting any invitation from anyone, knowing her heart was still unready to let someone else inside.
A small part of her still hoped he'd come back.
The bigger part knew that's next to impossible, and that she should just move on.
She passed their favorite bench on her way home and it brought back too many memories than she'd want to remember. The past always had a bitter taste in her mouth, and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of them permanently. She wondered if there was an institution that removes certain memories of your choice for a price. She'd give everything she had to be able to forget, but she knew deep inside she feared that she might.
She didn't want to forget him.
But she knew she must.
She saw him standing near her gate, and her heart did a double flip inside her chest. What was he doing there? He was supposed to be going about his own merry way, painting the town red or whatever color he preferred. Was it possible that he wanted her back? The idea was too much for her that she found she was unable to move a muscle.
The possibility of getting back together with Rei Otohata scared her to death.
Five hours later she went back to her house and found no trace of the guy. Perhaps he finally grew tired of waiting and decided to leave. Sighing in relief mixed with a slight tinge of disappointment, she hurried towards her gate and opened it, gently entering her premises and locking the door behind.
She never saw the pair of sad, blue eyes following her inside the house.
She sat near her window and sighed for the thousandth time that night. She hated herself for not taking the chance, and she knew that it would never come again. It was only logical for her to move on, and she knew she could do it if she tried really hard, but something kept holding her back.
"I need to be over you, Rei Otohata," she whispered sadly, the tears she had kept locked inside for months finally spilling down her beautiful face. "And I'll be over you, even if it's the last thing I do."
Outside the Hoshino residence, a solitary figure remained in the shadows, his face a mask of indifference and coldness. His insides were eating him, screaming at him to just ring the doorbell and beg her to take him back.
But he made no move, and he contented himself watching her cry for him from her bedroom window.
He was still the cold Rei Otohata that everyone knew.
Sneak peak from Goodbye to You:
"I'm only going to say this once, Aya," he said, his eyes never leaving her face, even when she refused to look back at him. "I want you back."
And she nearly choked her throat out, because he was so frank and straightforward she wasn't sure if it was indeed the Rei Otohata she knew from high school.