Part Seven

"The bride's arriving soon!"

The announcement sparked off excited whispers but the noise of the crowd died down in anticipation of the bride's arrival. He'd been silent all the while, and he did not bother to whisper excitedly at all.

"They'll look so perfect together."

"Remember how she used to hate him when they were teenagers?"

"It's such a perfect love story!"

Yeah, it is, isn't it? he thought dully.

The cameramen were taking up positions all around the hall, running around frantically to get the best spot.

Why am I here anyway?

He knew he could have turned down the invitation. Just…not turn up at all. He even thought he would, when he'd gotten up that morning.

Was he a masochist or something? Or was the whole affair so hard to believe that he had to be there just to witness the exchange of vows with his own eyes?

Well, whatever it was, it sure was a damned blasted thing that he couldn't run out of the door now.

The door opened.

Everyone turned and oohed.

It was the last thing he wanted to see – her in her wedding dress, and him a guest out of the several thousand. But he did not want to draw attention to himself, to be the only one not to follow her journey down the aisle, and so he turned and forced himself to look at her.

His chest hurt, but he forced himself to take in every inch of her, as if he was forcing his senses to believe that by the end of the day, she would belong to someone else, and he would have lost his chance forever – not that he ever had one.

It didn't hurt any less when she walked past him. It didn't hurt more either.

But it hurt like hell.

At one point in time he had to suck in his breath as violently as he dared without arousing suspicion, just to convince himself that his heart was functioning.

He forced himself to listen to every word of the ceremony. Let it sink in his goddamned brain, dammit, and then maybe he would get over her.

Get a grip. You're nothing compared to him. He's rich, good-looking, a pro tennis player, charming, and he even has a bloody mole. The whole country knows who he is.

Some of my so-called friends can't even be bothered enough to remember my name. I'm not even significant enough to have an identity other than that of my brother's shadow.

He felt sick, nauseous even, when the couple made their way out of the church to the waiting limo outside, the smiling bride in her smirking husband's arms.

But it wasn't to say that the feeling was unfamiliar to him. That was always what he had been, after all – the guy on the sidelines. That was how it had been for the last ten years - from the day he laid eyes on her, to the day he knew he had fallen for her, and it wouldn't even stop on the day she no longer became Tachibana An.

He didn't want to ponder what he'd been wondering all these years – would things have changed if he'd tried to do something? Anything at all?

But as he stared after the wake of the film stars and tennis pros and journalists – his auburn-haired brother being one of the latter - chasing after the newlyweds, it hurt less to think that he couldn't have possibly made a difference.

owari

A/N: To tell you the truth, I've been sooo aching to write this. But I just got scared off because Yuuta and An could be possibly one of the most improbable pairings in this whole fandom. So I tossed out what was the previous chapter. (Yep. Not so unrequited. Rather the potential for unrequitedness.)

But I got encouraged by Risa-chan (thanks!) and also this song.

Somewhere closer I can hear the wedding bell
It's a fine day I am wearing a blue shirt like the sky
I am standing in the line while holding confetti
I see the girl of my dream is shining like the sun beside him

Won't you marry me if I could be a rich boy
Won't you marry me if I could be very handsome
Won't you marry me if I could be a tall guy
Don't you marry him if I could be in the next life

-Marry Me, Ellegarden

I wrote this with the aim of capturing what is the most realistic and common in life. (After all, the kind of requitedness I always suffer from is the kind where I don't do anything at all. Who dares to?) I wasn't trying to go for anything symbolic, or Hollywood, or dramatic. Just something that I could relate to.

And to end it off, thank you Risa-chan, RoYale and Aeris.