I Like You, Natsume-oniisan

Chapter 33: Messed Up Feelings

It seemed the world had turned upside down for Mikan. Everything was confusing, especially about anything which was regarding her dear brother, Natsume. She thought Nobara was lying. But what could she gain from lying? It was true that Nobara did try to cheat on Natsume but that was in the past. People change for the better, she just hoped so.

Mikan did not know what to feel at all. For heaven's sake, Natsume who had rejected her two years ago was actually in love with her for a very long time! She was wondering why he had rejected her despite liking her that long. It was puzzling.

She became paranoid whenever she was around Natsume. She would jump or flinch whenever Natsume called her name. She would look around frantically whenever someone mentioned his name. She would look away whenever she caught him looking at her way. It was definitely tiring but she just could not help it. Her body just moved on its own.

She thought she had given up on him.

She wished she had.

But this time, her feelings for him was totally different from the last time she had for him. The feeling was different. Unlike the last time, her heart would flutter whenever he made any comments about her, be it insults or praises. Her face would feel extremely hot whenever he tried to interrupt Ruka's conversation with her and pull her away from Ruka. At first, she did not care about it and thought that Natsume was being over-protective. However, after Hotaru had told her that Natsume might be feeling jealous because she was spending too much time with Ruka, she began to feel this way.

Maybe Nobara was right. Her love for him in the past was just pure puppy love. This time, was it really love or was it just a feeling of awkwardness because of the secret?

She wanted to know.

Come to think of it, she did say that she might like Ruka, only a bit. Did that mean she was two-timing?

Mikan gasped and rubbed her forehead in dismay. She felt so bad. How could she like two guys at the same time?

Her life had indeed changed a lot after hearing the secret.

She groaned and banged her head on the desk.

"Ouch. That's going to hurt a lot," Hotaru whispered.

Still burying her head on the table, she groaned again, "My life... It's all a lie... It's so unreal... I'm such a bad person..."

"You sounded like it is going to be the end of the world soon, Mikan. What happen to you nowadays? You look distracted and weary."

"It's a long story."

Hotaru rolled her eyes and snorted. "Yeah, I know. You always say that. Now tell me, what exactly happened to you?"

"It's a very, very long story."

"Yeah, right. Let me guess, did you happen to know your brother's secret?" Hotaru said with a smirk.

Mikan shot up and gaped. Hotaru had hit right on the spot!

"Oh my goodness! You're so clever!"

"Of course, I am. So I'm correct, right?"

Mikan blushed a little and replied, "Some... Something like that but it is even more complicated. You don't understand it so never mind about it."

Hotaru did not respond or say anything. All she did was to look away. She remembered that secret well as she was the one who had forced Nobara to confess it to her. Who would have thought that Natsume had actually liked Mikan for a long time?

Since Mikan knew about it, Hotaru was not surprised that Mikan would be thinking hard about it. Sometimes, Hotaru had to admit that she did wonder what was going in the little head of Natsume's. If he liked her, then he should have say it. He did not have to beat around the bush and get angry or jealous because of Ruka.

"I don't want to understand either," Hotaru said with a small smile. "All I want you to do is to smile more. With you groaning and hitting your head against the table, my ears will hurt a lot."

"You don't happen to know the secret, do you?" Mikan asked while looking at Hotaru in suspicion.

Hotaru pretended not to know a thing by shrugging and making a thoughtful face. Mikan looked at her for one last time before looking away too. There was no way she could smile because she was lost inside her heart. Her feelings became messed up and she was so unsure how to face Ruka and Natsume.

How she wished that she did not pester Nobara to tell her Natsume's secret.

Yuka put down the chalk and looked around the classroom. Everyone was busying copying the notes she wrote on the blackboard, except for Mikan. She noticed that Mikan's head was on the table, looking very lethargic. She walked over to her desk and gently tapped her shoulder.

"Andou-san, are you feeling well? You look sick," Yuka whispered.

Mikan's head instantly shot up and gaped at Yuka.

"I... I..."

Yuka smiled and asked again, "Are you sick?"

"I... Nope... I... I'm just feeling tired," Mikan stuttered with a blush.

Yuka nodded and told her to go to the washroom to wash her face so that she could freshened up a bit. Mikan did as she was told to do. After washing her face with tap water, she slowly walked back to her classroom.

On her way back, could you guess who she had bumped onto along the hallway?

Yes, you got that right. It was Natsume.

He was holding onto a file and was writing something with a red pen while walking briskly. Suddenly, his head jolted up and his eyes immediately fixated at the petite figure who was busying wiping her face with a face towel.

He stopped right at his tracks and called out to her, "H... Hey Mikan!"

Mikan responded by flinching as it was obvious that Natsume had called out to her. She did not have to look at him just to find out if he was really the one who had called out to her. She instantly turned her head to the other side and pretended to use her towel to wipe the side of her face which happened to face Natsume. Not knowing why she did that, she continued to walk past him with an embarrassed face hiding behind her face towel.

"Hey," Natsume called out again but this time was slightly amused. "Are you trying to be funny again?"

Mikan finally removed the face towel from her face and blurted, "I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. Ever since that night, you're acting all strange and fidgety whenever I talk to you. And today, you've reached a whole new level by ignoring me this morning and a minute ago," Natsume grunted. "What have happened to you?"

Mikan stopped walking and laughed sheepishly. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right. Do you seriously think I will buy your answer?"

"Look, Onii-san. I'm practically fine. You're probably thinking too much."

"At least, I'm sane enough to notice your strange behaviour," he protested with a half-hearted smirk. "For heaven's sake, we have been living together for at least twelve years so I can tell whether you're acting strange or not."

Mikan's heart palpitated. She had not seen him smirking for ages and she had to admit that his smirk was amazing. Even his half-hearted smirk was still as 'hot' as ever.

Mikan gasped and slapped her left cheek. What was she suddenly thinking? Why was she suddenly labeling Natsume 'hot'? No, she was not supposed to think of him like that. And she had never think of him like that before!

What was wrong with her?

"Are you all right?" Natsume asked suspiciously, interrupting Mikan's conflicting thoughts. "Nobody suddenly gasped loudly and slapped himself. Do you need a mental doctor?"

Shaking her head, Mikan stuttered again, "Fine... I... Fine..."

There she went again, stuttering like an anxious and nervous person standing on stage. She really wanted an explanation as to why she was behaving like this. It was not natural at all; it was awkward.

"I... I need to... g... g... go now," Mikan stammered and started walking like a robot.

Natsume arched his eyebrow and coughed.

"You are definitely acting weird. I hope you're not influenced by Nogi-san since he likes to absent himself from school without much valid reasons," Natsume spoke aloud, giving a bossy look. "That boy is a bad influence to you so you should leave him..."

Upon hearing that and seeing his bad attitude, Mikan snapped, "He has his reasons! Don't bad-mouthed him when you don't even know who he is!"

"Then, who is he?"

"He is a..." Mikan thought for a while as she tried to refrain herself for saying that Ruka was usually absent which might be due to his career or revealing the fact that he was actually the famous Runo. "He's a good and responsible person so he sure has his own reasons."

Just like what she had anticipated, Natsume frowned. He usually did that whenever she mentioned Ruka's name or when she was so happened to be with him. A few days ago, Mikan was with Ruka in the classroom. It was just the two of them as they were trying to finish their Biology assignment. When they had finished, they began to chat many random things until Natsume burst into the classroom. That was when he began narrowing his eyes at Ruka and pulled Mikan away from him. It might seem childish as Natsume was like an over-protective brother.

Of course, she knew that he might be doing it out of pure jealousy.

"Oh? You like him, don't you?" he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

Mikan remained silent and looked away from him.

"Fine. You can go," he finally gave up and walked away quietly.

Mikan stood still as she saw Natsume walked down the staircase. Somehow, her childhood memories came flooding back to her mind. She remembered how much she adored him, how innocent she was, how much she enjoyed his company and so on. Her eyes slowly trailed to Natsume's large hands and smiled to herself.

She remembered how tightly he held onto her tiny hands and the warmth of his hands that filled with unspeakable love.

She had the urge to hold onto his hands again...

Mikan gasped again and pinched her arm. What was she trying to think again?

"Andou-san, what are you doing?"

Mikan turned around and saw Yuka walking towards her. She gasped once more as she realised that she had been spending more than fifteen minutes outside of the classroom. No wonder Yuka was out looking for her, or so she thought.

"I was heading back to the classroom," Mikan replied. "I'm sorry if I take my time."

Yuka laughed softly and said, "No worries. My lesson has ended not long ago. If I'm not wrong, is it lunch break now?"

Mikan scratched her head and mumbled, "I think so."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Ye... Yes."

"Great! See you the following lesson." Yuka smiled and walked down the staircase too.

Mikan nodded slightly and headed back to her classroom.

"Ah, Yuka. I need to see you now."

Yuka turned around and saw Luna standing next to her office, gesturing her to follow her into the room. Yuka raised her eyebrow in curiosity and gingerly followed her. When they entered into the room, Luna closed the door behind her and walked over to her messy table.

"What is it?" Yuka asked.

Luna rummage through her drawers and took out an A4 size letter. Yuka eyed at it in suspicion as Luna slowly stretched out her arm and placed the letter right in front of Yuka's face.

"Open it," Luna ordered seriously.

Taking the letter away from her hand, Yuka carefully opened the letter and found a thin plastic file in it. She hastily took out the file and opened it. Flipping through the pages, her eyes became narrower and narrower.

"Luna, what is the meaning of this? I don't understand what the hell is going on!" Yuka demanded and shoved the file back to Luna.

"You're a Biology teacher so I assume you do know about DNA."

"I do know my stuff, but how come? How did you get our DNAs? How can you do this without my permission?"

"By blood, of course. I know I'm in a wrong to do this type of thing but I want to know if my guessing is right."

Yuka blinked and asked, "What?"

"You're in fact happy, right? Based on the DNA profiling, your daughter is alive."

Yuka fell onto her knees and rubbed her temples furiously.

"Yuka, Mikan Andou-san is your daughter."

Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 33.

Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 32. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D

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