Riven felt like her chest was being constricted, and it wasn't because of her bandages.

Yesterday was one of the best days in her life, despite the revelation that Irelia was interested in boys. It was the first time she's ever truly felt carefree in her life, but now she felt like absolute shit now that it was over.

She thought about Irelia, how she had made her feel so happy the day before, how the Ionian made her heart flutter every time her gorgeous eyes landed on the exile.

But now, she only felt an ache, a sense of longing for what she couldn't get:

Irelia.

Riven had fallen for her, hard. She couldn't deny these feelings anymore.

Not when they hurt this much.

Not when they were this strong.

A beat of her heart.

Irelia shook her shoulder and suddenly it felt like it was on fire. "Riven? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," she said mindlessly, her mind still elsewhere. "I'm fine."

There was a pause. "You don't seem fine. Should we go back to the room early today? We can skip the festival today."

"No, I'm fine," she repeated in a monotone voice.

Irelia turned Riven's head towards her, her eyes piercing into Riven's mind. "Riven."

She blinked a few times, finally coming back to her senses. "Huh? What?"

Irelia sighed. "I think we should go get some fresh air. Come on."

"Where are we going?"

Irelia shrugged lazily. "We're just walking for now. Is something wrong with that?"

"No, I think that's a good idea. The festival's a little too loud for my tastes," Riven admitted. If she went everyday for two weeks, she'd probably end up deaf.

Irelia chuckled, and the sound of her laugh made Riven's mouth feel dry. "I agree. When I come back to celebrate, I always sneak off to that place I showed you for some peace and quiet. I enjoy the festivities as much as the next person but it gets a little overbearing, especially when it goes on for two weeks."

Riven's heart thumped hard.

Oh god. She forgot she'd be here for two weeks. She didn't think she could handle seeing Irelia all day everyday for that long. Not anymore. Not after she's accepted her attraction to the Ionian.

Riven licked her chapped lips anxiously. "Yeah, that's rather excessive, don't you think? I'n not sure I want to stay the entire time now," she said in a subtle attempt to find out how long they'd be staying here.

A smile graced Irelia's lips, and Riven wished for nothing more than to feel them pressed against her own. "It is, but it's tradition. Nothing wrong with a little tradition. I do agree that it's a bit long and impractical nowadays though. The festivities kind of die out after the first few days anyway. I was planning on returning to the Institute after a week here as well, unless you want to go back sooner?" Irelia looked at her unsurely. She didn't seem like she wanted to leave early, and Riven didn't want to make Irelia upset.

Could she handle that much torture for that long? She wasn't sure she could make it through the rest of the day, let alone for at least five more.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm not really comfortable with staying here that long."

"Oh." Irelia's mood visibly deflated. "That's no problem. We'll go back in a few days then. I still have things to do here."

Riven sighed. Of course she would be busy. She wouldn't come back to Ionia just for fun. Hopefully she'll be fine during that time. "What do you have to do?"

Irelia frowned slightly. "Well, I have to attend a sacred ceremony at our largest temple tomorrow. I also have to go to a meeting discussing what actions we should take towards the Unforgiven three days from now. That means we'll be here for a total of five days."

Riven nodded before she suddenly realized something. "The Unforgiven? You mean Yasuo?"

Irelia nodded sharply, her pretty face contorting into an ugly scowl. "He must be brought to justice for killing an Elder and betraying his homeland. The League can only protect him from punishment for so long."

"I… I see. Is it possible I could come along?" Riven asked hopefully.

Irelia looked at her strangely. "You want to accompany me? My duties aren't necessarily entertaining. I was planning on having you explore the island a bit more in my absence."

"Yeah, I'd like to see what you do here," she lied. She really didn't want to see Irelia until she could sort out her feelings, but she didn't have a choice. Wandering Ionia alone also wasn't something she wanted to do either.

Irelia hesitated, her brow furrowed. "I… I suppose I could bring you along to the temple as long as you respect and follow along with our traditions, but I'm afraid you can't come with me to see the Elders."

Riven bit her lip. She couldn't live with feeling guilty. She had to expose herself.

What had Irelia said? That the truth must be told at all costs? That that was the Ionian way?

Riven could do with the Ionian way for some redemption.

"Why not?"

Irelia turned away from her and her frown deepened. "It's a private discussion. You'll be able to find out about our decision after we make it."

"Can you make an exception for me?" Riven asked hopefully. This was probably her only chance to tell the Elders the truth.

Irelia glanced at her then averted her eyes once more. "Please do not ask me to bend the rules for you. I wish I could but I can't," she said sadly, catching Riven off guard with the unexpected emotion in her voice.

"Sorry," Riven apologized. "I didn't mean to pressure you into doing that, but I need to talk to the Elders."

Irelia arched an eyebrow at the exile. "Why is that?"

Riven absentmindedly scratched the back of her head. "Uh, I don't think I should tell you. N-not that I don't want you to know, but it's something I need to say to all of the Elders. It's really important," she explained vaguely.

Irelia crossed her arms and sighed. "Fine. I will ask the duchess if it's permissible for you to join us."

"Thank you," Riven said, and she truly meant it. That was all she needed, a chance to redeem herself.

"Do you want to play Hangman?"

"Not really," Riven mumbled, her eyes closed as she lied down across the couch. The pandemonium in her mind was making her head hurt.

"Oh."

The downtrodden look on Irelia's face made Riven feel even worse, and she mentally cursed at herself for it. Dealing with a headache wasn't as bad as dealing with guilt, especially if it was because of Irelia.

She sat up with a groan. "I'll play with you if you want."

Irelia smiled a little, but it looked extremely forced.

Riven didn't have a good feeling about this.

"I'll be back soon." Irelia stood up and left to get the materials needed. Meanwhile, Riven twiddled her thumbs anxiously. Why was she so on edge all of a sudden?

Irelia returned with a notebook in her arms, effortlessly twirling a pencil between her slender fingers. "Let's try something different while playing," she said cheerily, although Riven could tell it was an act.

"Something different?" Riven asked, both intrigued and worried.

Irelia hesitated, and her fingers stopped moving. "I forgot to tell you that Hangman isn't only figuring out one word, but you can also use phrases instead to make it a little more interesting. Let's do that this time to change it up a little."

Irelia paused again, her expression conflicted. "I-I'll start," she stuttered uncharacteristically.

She shakily drew the scaffold and lines. Something about Irelia's unusual behavior rang alarm bells in Riven's head. Why was she so nervous?

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her eyes scanning over Irelia's body in search of any physical ailments. She looked fine. Was something bothering her?

Irelia shook her head. "What? N-no, nothing's wrong. Start guessing," she demanded.

"Okay…" Riven paused to look at the paper. A one letter word, a four letter word, then a three letter word in that order. Seems simple enough.

"I can't believe you didn't get any of them right."

Irelia stared at the paper hopelessly, her fingers pressed against her temples. One head, one body, two arms, then two legs. Riven had lost after six consecutive turns.

"You didn't even guess any vowels," Irelia said, her face now buried in her hands. "Z? Who even guesses that on the first turn? All words have vowels in them, Riven, you've always started with a vowel. Are you even trying?" she asked, the smallest hint of anger in her voice.

To be honest, she wasn't. She was too busy trying to figure out what the hell was going on inside her head and what Irelia was doing to her.

"S-sorry," she apologized halfheartedly, her mind still overwhelmed with emotion. "I'm just distracted. I'm just kinda out of it. Maybe we can play later?"

A few seconds of silence.

"No," Irelia declared loudly, surprising Riven with the amount of conviction in her tone. "You're going to see this message today, even if I have to draw even more details on the stickman for that to happen, even if I need to hang millions more of them, because I've put this off for too damn long."

Riven weakly raised her hands in a placating manner, afraid of Irelia's sudden outburst. "O-okay, calm down! Is… is there an A in it?" she asked. A was a safe guess, right? It was the first letter of the alphabet and both of them usually guessed it first.

Little did she know how wrong she was.

An involuntary twitch of the lower eyelid, impossibly pink lips parting in a scowl, and something in Irelia just snapped.

She let out a wordless shout of frustration and frantically scribbled something on the notebook, slamming it closed and throwing it down onto a stunned Riven's lap.

Riven could only sit there, paralyzed with shock, as she watched Irelia hastily leave the room, not even bothering to close the door on her way out.

Irelia wasn't one to show her emotions very often because of what had happened to her and although Riven is one of the only people she'd open up around, she'd never seen he Ionian so irate. What was she so upset about?

Her eyes fell onto the closed notebook on her lap.

What did she write?

She gingerly opened the notebook to the page they were on, her heartbeat pounding rapidly in her ears. What could be so important?

Her eyes widened.

'I love you.'