Chapter II
Characters: Chizuru Yoshida, Ryu Sanada
Genre: Romance
The room was static with tension. Chizu squatted beside Ryu, tears treading down her blanched cheeks, dripping onto her school sweater.
A slew of emotions dashed through him- he was afraid, despite that gallant stature. He was nervous. He was in pain, looking at her.
Ryu's heart palpitated like a breakneck train as he mulled over how to comfort his inamorata Chizuru.
Ryu was a nervous wreck, on the inside at least. The accompaniment of the ear-splitting and heart-wrenching sobbing overture and the symphony of worrisome thoughts in his mind fomented to compel him to take a leap of faith.
"Chizuru," he whispered in an akin manner.
This side of him was rare or unseen rather. A modicum of discomfiture crept inside Ryu, but he pacified it. The swain summoned more courage instead.
Ryu do something, you baka, how could you watch her cry?
"Chizu," Ryu called more endearingly.
A warmness spread across his chest as Chizu reciprocated that call.
Chizu, sniffing and tearing still, stared forlornly at Ryu. A gush of emotions prompted her to embrace the invitingly warm and comforting Ryu. His shyness and adorable attempt to console her struck a chord in her heart. She hesitated.
Ryu saw that imperceptible glint in her eyes. A glimmer of hope, he saw. He reached out to her again.
He opened his broad arms to offer an embrace, and called amorously to Chizu. A diffident smile caressed his cheeks, and a pair of hopeful eyes looked wistfully at his torn inamorata.
Without a conscious effort, Chizu's weeping had stopped. A tingling vibe besieged her, her negative thoughts neutralised by the delicate and romantic side of Ryu. She moved forward, establishing eye contact with the erstwhile Mr. Aloof.
For a fleeting few seconds the awkwardness of almost tangible. She was probably blushing, thought Chizu. Ryu, certainly surprised by Chizu's sudden silent frankness, maintained his composure, futilely perhaps.
Within him, a bubbling concoction of emotions was waiting to be unravelled in an explosion of expressions. He had never felt like this before. Sure, he was moved, rarely, if ever, by the sweet expressions of Chizu. But those were merely transient feelings. He was met with a brutal confrontation and affirmation. Every heart-thumping moment was prodding him to reach out to her.
Time seemed to hang in balance for a few seconds, as the obvious couple exchanged wistful looks.
Chizu vacillated as her ambivalent thoughts returned again. Was this her asininity acting? Her doubts and insecurities played devil's advocate. Was she misreading Ryu's possibly innocuous consoling? Damn this, she thought.
It must just be my deft vulnerability trying to exploit Ryu's good-heartedness.
Ryu was confused. The mien of softness had again left Chizu's stunning canvass, now replaced by a flash of disappointment and perhaps even disgust. Surely, Ryu thought, it was already obvious enough, her love for her.
He reminisced about the several occasions…
During his baseball victory, Ryu had exchanged an ecstatic hug with Chizu. Her svelte bodice against his tough, mean demeanour. That feeling, he couldn't quite pinpoint, but he could never forget that. At that point, for a passing moment, he thought, he'd have the courage to promulgate his love. But, he procrastinated.
On her birthday, he had bought her an enamouring heart necklace with her name engraved on it. Till today, the complement necklace, with his name Ryu engraved in cursive still remains in his pocket, waiting to be given away.
With every moment, greater doubt seized Chizu, as she felt more ashamed of her naïve thoughts towards receiving Ryu's love. Distraught had robbed her of the realisation of the subtle messages Ryu had given her. Blithely unaware and sadly mistaken was she.
The temporal electricity that existed between them had ebbed away, a silence cloaking all the room.
Ryu was raging with himself. He felt as though he was being pulled so many ways by the multitude of dilemmas the flooded his head. Hesitance, he loathed, but yet that deep-seated wound of rejection throbbed along with the fear of being turned down. This distorted mixture of feelings was driving him insane.
Chizu paused and took a gander at Ryu. He seemed to be pondering deeply. Beyond the handsome façade, she could see the troubled Ryu, but she was confused at the same time.
Unspeakable tension had usurped the room, as the obvious love between the couple dwelled within each of their hearts, nervously anticipating to be professed, but to no avail.
Finally, Ryu spoke.
"Chizu, I wanted to make this clear. I've bottled this inside me for very long already." Ryu proclaimed softly.
This was why Chizu adored Ryu. Those words you would never expect to fall from the lips of such an athletic, masculine man. It was a rare sight and Chizu appreciated it.
However, the statement struck her. Icy fear gripped her as her worst speculations seemed to be materialising. He was going to sever any possible relationships with her.
The room seemed to have died down abruptly. The tawdry blue-fluorescent lights gave the room a gloom appearance. Ryu's doleful face and his eyes betrayed a revelation that Chizuru wanted to escape from.
"Chizu, I need to ask you something."
This was the right step towards the goal established by both of the sworn lovers.
Chizu braced herself, as her eyes welled up, thinking about the impending setback that would devastate her.
"Do you enjoy being with me?" Ryu asked gently, clearly circumventing the crux of the conversation.
Chizu was presented with a dilemma.
"What... Of course, I do, why not? You're just like my brother!" Chizu fabricated a convincing pretense of companionship rather than love.
Ryu went with his visceral decision- which will prove to be an intelligent one.
"I mean… do you think we... are more than friends... as in..." Sanada stumbled, his nerves clearly displayed for Chizu.
A creeping sense of relief seemed to sneak surreptitiously around Ryu. He turned an expectant look on Chizu.
Ryu's heart ached as he looked at Chizu. She looked as though she was about to collapse. Her eyebrows were furrowed in worry and her eyes spelled utter melancholy.
Things had taken a completely unexpected swerve. There he was, it was euphemistic invitation, but finally our oblivious inamorata Chizu was enlightened.
She recollected, thinking of any signs of this love. She was starkly reminded of the little consolations, like the one that just occurred. She remembered the heart shaped necklace from Ryu. A simulacrum of smile tickled her lips as she thought at her ignorance. Ignorance ignored bliss.
Confronted with such a revelation, Chizu replied "Yes, Ryu. I would love to." Her words seemed to reverberate through the room like a dulcet overture.
Ryu was amazingly surprised. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the necklace. The silver reflected the energetic atmosphere in the room.
"Can I put this on for you?" Ryu requested.
The necklace sealed her love with him and established their mutual love.
She nodded, as a pulsating warmness enveloped her.
The necklace caressed her neck and then her chest. Ryu slid it carefully across her neck, whispering into her ear "I love you."
"I love you too."