Chapter Two

News really spread fast. Rumors about Nina Yukimura and Ryoma Echizen are already a rampant topic in school. Some say that Ryoma already likes Nina when they were still in middle school; others say that Ryoma confessed to Nina during the time that they came late together, but actually nobody knew the real story.

~FLASHBACK~

"Echizen-kun may I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Ryoma tried to have another sip of his drink.

"What do you like about a girl?"Ryoma was surprised about what Yukimura asked. He nearly spitted out what he drank.

"I'm sorry if I surprised you. It's okay if you don't answer,"Yukimura apologized while smiling at him.

"It's okay,"Ryoma replied, thinking of what is this girl up to.

"You know I like guys who are into sports but also good in academics. I also like guys who have a cold demeanor but a real gentleman," Yukimura announced.

"What are you trying to say," Ryoma asked with a puzzling face.

"To make things simple, I like you Ryoma," the girl confessed. Ryoma is actually surprised by Yukimura's confession. It is his first time to have a confession like this, usually when one of his fan girls confess to him; she usually leaves a note in his locker, telling him to go to a certain place at a certain time, when it's already confession time she tries her best to tell him what she really feels about him and the cold prince rejects the girl as coldly as he can but some reason Ryoma can't do the same thing to Nina.

Ryoma can feel that Nina is different from those fan girls. Her feelings are not simply feelings of admiration, there is something more. Could it be the thing that he was waiting for that would help him heal his wounded heart?

Ryoma didn't notice that Nina was waiting for his reply. She move closer to him and said something that made Ryoma go back to his senses.

"Even though you don't want to admit it yourself, you have a hard time moving on from Sakuno Ryuuzaki," Nina stated.

"What does it have to do with your confession," Ryoma replied.

"I can help you move on."

"How can you guarantee that," Ryoma asked with a smirk in his face.

"For more than fifteen years of living in this world, you're the only man that I paid attention to, cared so much for and loved with my whole heart. If I need to say it again, I'll say it. I love you Ryoma Echizen to the point that I'm willing to give you everything. If you want to forget Ryuuzaki I'll make you. I'll make sure that you'll fall in love with me," Nina sworn to him. It seems that she is really determined to have Ryoma.

"If you want to be my girlfriend so be it, just make sure that you will do what you said earlier," Ryoma answered.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

Ryoma and Nina usually spend their lunch together at the rooftop if not, Nina is busy practicing with the cheering squad and after school even though Ryoma wanted to escort Nina home he can't even though Nina has also her practice with the cheering squad, Tezuka is being strict during tennis practice since the tournaments are about to start in few weeks, nobody gets home unless everybody finishes doing his punishments. There was even a time that they left school at around 10 pm.

As Ryoma's girlfriend, Nina tried to do something special to Ryoma. They spent their lunch time together and Nina brought Ryoma his bento.

"Ryoma-kun, I hope you like it," Nina showed the bento to Ryoma.

"Arigatou,"Ryoma replied. He tried to snatch the bento but Nina took it away.

"Let me feed you," Nina asked with a blush on her face.

"Fine," Ryoma moved closer to Nina and opened his mouth. He heard that somebody opened the door. It was his former girlfriend Sakuno Ryuuzaki.

"Sorry for disturbing you," she apologized and ran away. Ryoma showed some gestures that he wanted to chase after her but Nina, grabbed his uniform and stopped him.

"Stay. You don't have to explain anything to her, we are just doing things that a normal couple do" Nina demanded. Ryoma followed what she said. Nina's right, there no need to chase after Sakuno, after all his relationship with Sakuno is already over. He's with Nina now so it's normal for them to do these things from time to time. There's no point being conscious about these things because they are a couple.

Later that afternoon, Ryoma had his tennis practice. They had their usual warm-up exercises, and drillings. They had a short break before they have their own training routine. More than ten minutes have passed since the break ended and yet, some of his senpais are still missing.

"Ryoma-kun, will you check if Momo and Eiji are still in the Infirmary. They said that they are going to visit somebody or maybe they are just goofing around," Oishi-senpai commanded. Ryoma followed what his senpai told him. The first place he checked was the Infirmary. Oishi was right they were still there. He could already hear their voices from the corridor.

"Are you sure that you are already a regular in the girl's tennis team? You are still clumsy as ever, you almost fell off the stairs" Momo noted.

"Come on Momo-senpai have some faith in me. My skills have improved a lot you know," a familiar voice said. It was none other than Sakuno.

"You're lucky that it was just a sprain Sakuno-chan. You're also blessed that you have these two handsome and cool men to take care of you." Eiji remarked. The three of them burst out laughing.

There a moment of silence after that, but then Momo spoke again which made Ryoma tremble.

"Have you heard the rumors about Ryoma,"Momo asked Sakuno.

"Yes Momo-senpai," she replied.

"So what do you think about it," Eiji asked.

"Well, there is nothing I can do about it. If that is what he wants, something that will make him happy, then I might as well be happy for him," Sakuno answered.

Ryoma froze. For some reason there was a pain building up in his chest. He sensed that his senpais were about to leave the room. He ran as fast as he can, so that his senpais won't know that he heard the conversation they had.

A.N.: Thank you for reviewing and adding my story to your favorites!