Sweet
Finnel bunched her brows in concentration, puckering her lips just a little as she mixed chocolate, sugar, marshmallows, butter, and milk. She stirred the confection together with a spoon in a mixing bowl, making sure that the batter was smooth and even. Saki was nice enough to show Finnel how to make fudge, and after careful coaching underneath Saki's watch, Finnel managed to produce something that wasn't burnt, charred, or completely inedible. Confident that she can do this by herself, Finnel thought that making Aoto a batch of chocolate fudge was a nice gesture to show that she really cared about him.
"Um, so I do this, then that, and…I think I'm about done," Finnel remarked to herself, pouring the batter into a tray and placing it in the refrigerator so the sweet treat would set and harden. "I really hope that Aoto likes it…a-and when I give him the fudge, I will…I will finally confess my feelings for him."
Finnel blushed at the thought, which made her fidget with her ribbon nervously. She smoothed the wrinkles of her dress and preened herself in front of the mirror, making sure there was not a single hair out of place or a blemish on her skin. Finnel wanted to look perfect for Aoto, especially since she told him that she was making a surprise for him. When Aoto smiled and said that he looked forward to it, her heart fluttered in sweet anticipation. The darker side of her mind, the side that insisted that she didn't deserve a happy ending because she was a bad girl and deserved only the worst punishments, was repressed into a dark corner of her mind, eclipsed by thoughts of Aoto and how wonderful he was to her.
She heated the fudge, before she beat the mixture until it had a creamy consistency all over. Once this was finished, Finnel looked at her handiwork in satisfaction. Nothing was burnt to crisp, nothing was charred beyond recognition, and nothing would taste like burnt cinders, either. This was the very first thing that she made that actually looked satisfactory, something that Saki would make. Finnel thought about her rival with some fondness, though she was determined not to lose to Saki when it came to Aoto.
A knock sounded on Finnel's door, and in her flustered state, she ran around the kitchen cleaning things up before opening the door to let Aoto inside. Once he made his way in, he wrapped his arms around Finnel and pulled her into a warm hug, staring at her with deep blue eyes.
"It smells delicious in here," Aoto commented, before saying, "Is Saki helping out in the kitchen?"
"N-No, it's just me," Finnel said with a slight blush on her face while she fiddled with her ribbons, looking down at the floor and staring anywhere else except Aoto's eyes. "I um, made you some fudge, and…I thought it would be nice if I made something sweet, you know, because I know you can get a sweet tooth sometimes and…and then…"
Finnel poked her two finger together in a display of shyness, before saying, "A-And then I wanted to tell you that I really, really like you, Aoto. I like you a lot. When I saw you with Saki-chan, I was jealous, and I was afraid that you cared for her more than you cared for me."
She then looked down at her shoes while she continued on. "I don't want to force you to choose or anything. But I'm really, really happy that you took the time to come here and spend time with me. I appreciate that, from the depths of my heart."
Aoto then tilted Finnel's chin so that she was facing him directly, and a great big grin was on his face while he looked at her. "You're pretty cute when you're being earnest like that. Now, about that fudge…."
Finnel then smiled, before wrapping her arms around Aoto and hugging against him. "Of course. I'll let you sample a treat. And then maybe afterwards, we could…maybe we could go out together and spend some time someplace fun, just the two of us. Or we could, you know…maybe we could stay here, and watch a movie with the lights turned off and then…"
Aoto smiled at Finnel at this, before saying, "I'd like that, just the two of us together. It's a date then."
Finnel's heart swelled when she heard Aoto say yes to her proposal, and she continued to hug tighter against him all the while as she nuzzled her head against his chest. "Oh, Aoto…you have no idea how much this means to me."
Without even thinking, Aoto then placed a kiss upon Finnel's lips, savoring the taste of her as thoroughly as he would've enjoyed the chocolate fudge she prepared for him. She tasted sweet, and Aoto kissed her for a while before he eventually pulled back, panting a bit for air, before saying, "I love you, Finnel."