Gambler of Feelings:
Dedicated to the whole BoruSara discord community!
Chapter Fourteen
Sumire took a few deep breaths out and in. She felt nervous, extremely nervous. But who can blame her? She waited two years to confess her feelings to Mitsuki, but something always was getting in her way. If it wasn't, Mitsuki past girlfriends at some points were a convenient excuse for her not to confess.
After the conversation with Chō-Chō before the winter break, Sumire realised her personality was the source of all her problems. Loving someone for so long, but at the same time not being able to confess fearing rejection. Longing for a love she didn't get during her childhood. Pretending to be selfless while in reality, she was really the selfish, horrible monster.
Sumire Kakei wasn't ready for love, but at the same time desperately tried to be loved. She knew it, yet she felt a need to confess to Mitsuki. Why? Why she confronted Chō-Chō about her love for Mitsuki? Wouldn't it be easier not to tell Chō-Chō at all?
Starving for feeling to be loved. Fearing to be loved. Sumire felt like a hypocrite.
"What the hell I was doing during these past few weeks?" Sumire whispered this question to herself. To be honest, the whole mess in her head started when Sarada joined their club. Sumire always thought she was overshadowed by Chō-Chō in many ways. Sarada changed that by pointing out how club members didn't treat her seriously.
Sarada changed many things if it came to Sumire relationships with all of the club members.
Mitsuki was giving her his attention, Boruto paid less attention to everyone in Sarada's presence for comparison. Chō-Chō started to be her rival in love. However, her relationship with Shikadai changed the most to the point where they both respected each other.
All those events lead to the moment when everything started to change a little bit too soon.
With this line of thinking, Sumire arrived at the place she's supposed to meet up with Mitsuki. "Lunatera Café" was her favourite coffeehouse, so it was her idea to meet with Mitsuki here.
Comfortable black sofas, purple walls, nicely decorated tables and friendly atmosphere were the main factors why she liked to spend her time here a lot. It's a perfect place for the love confessions, right?
Sumire noticed that Mitsuki was sitting already at the table near the window. She walked over and tried to relax.
"Hi, did I make you wait?" Sumire asked avoiding eye-contact with him. Mitsuki seemed to notice she was nervous, but not knowing why.
"Yeah, you did. But I don't mind waiting, I'm used to it." Mitsuki being honest with her counted as a reason why she loved him. However, no matter how many reasons she could've love was unreasonable. That's why it was one and only chance to confess her love.
"Uwawawah! I'm so sorry that I made you wait." Mitsuki let out a chuckle hearing her apology. He liked to spend time with both Sumire and Chō-Chō because he considered them one of his closest friends after Boruto.
"Apology accepted." After this short exchange, they ordered their drinks and discussed over what they were doing during this winter break. Sumire thought it looked almost like a date. Almost.
"Mitsuki, can you hear me out?" Mitsuki noded, while she tried to think how to put her feelings into the words. She was wearing a black dress with long sleeves just for this occasion.
"Truth to be told I always admired your honesty. At first, I found your antics in stalking Boruto annoying but soon understood that you're just worried about him a lot. I know underneath that stalker mask you just want for all your friends to be happy. But you have a lot of other good qualities! You're a soft-hearted and handsome as well. I could mention a lot of reasons why I do feel or think about you in that way. But I blame me loving you as main factor. I love you, Mitsuki."
She did it! Sumire couldn't believe how all these words flew out of her mouth and she managed to maintain eye contact with Mitsuki. The same Mitsuki who had shocked expression right now. Are her feelings mutual or not? Time seemed to flow like an eternity.
"I'm happy to know how you feel about me, Sumire. In fact, I think it's the first time where I heard so genuine love confession directed to me. However, I'm not ready to be in a relationship, yet. I'm really sorry, but I don't love you." Mitsuki looked down on the floor after he rejected her.
"I-I s-see. That's fine, y-you know? I can't force you to love me after all. Excuse me, I must go to the bathroom." Sumire responded and very quickly disappeared from Mitsuki's field of vision.
In the back of her mind, she knew that rejection was a possibility. She thought that she was prepared to hear it. However, it didn't matter how many times she convinced herself that everything is alright, she wasn't feeling alright at all.
Reaching to the bathroom, she noticed Chō-Chō walking over to Mitsuki. Did she plan to confess today as well? It wasn't important. She already got the answer and was rejected. Sumire closed the bathroom door and tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. She started to cry feeling awful. Was it selfish of her to want for Mitsuki feel the same way as she does? Sumire didn't know the answer. But she did know that she doesn't want anyone to see her tears.
Chō-Chō happened to be at the same café and overheard Sumire's confession towards Mitsuki. How she's supposed to beat that confession now? But hearing Sumire confession gave her the courage to confess to Mitsuki today as well.
That's why Chō-Chō walked over to Mitsuki that had currently a sad smile, while drinking his coffee.
"Yo, it must be rough for you as well. I mean rejecting Sumire." She didn't try to hide the fact she overheard their conversation.
"Were you spying on my conversation with Sumire, Chō-Chō?" Mitsuki rolled his eyes in annoyance. Chō-Chō regretted her words at this moment. Hurting Sumire's feelings was hard for Mitsuki as well. Chō-Chō felt a pang of jealousy. Does Mitsuki really loves Sumire, but rejected her for some other reason than he mentioned? Impossible, right? No, it wasn't. Mitsuki lied to Sumire about his own feelings.
"I just was enjoying my coffee and overheard everything by accident. It isn't my fault you were too much distracted by Sumire's chest to notice I was here the entire time." Chō-Chō snorted. She was the best sarcasm master among all her friends.
"Thank you for your unnecessary commenting skills, Chō-Chō. It helps me realise a lot of things I didn't have an idea about." Mitsuki smiled feeling a little bit better.
"And with my unnecessary commenting skills I will make your situation more complicated because I love you in the same way Sumire is loving you." She blurted out accidentally. It wasn't how she wanted to confess her feelings! Chō-Chō felt like she made a mistake. It wasn't the right time to declare her own feelings.
Unlike Sumire confession, Chō-Chō confession was way more casual. That's how Mitsuki knew Chō-Chō seriously loved him as well.
"I'm sorry, but I must turn you down for similar reasons I turned down Sumire. I'm happy about your feelings towards me, even if I don't love you." Mitsuki seemed more conflicted than before after seeing Chō-Chō looking more depressed than usual.
"It's okay. I admit it hurts me a lot, but being rejected isn't the end of the world for me. Besides, I know you lied about not loving Sumire. You could fool her with your words since she was too nervous, but your act didn't convince me at all." Chō-Chō stated with confidence. The only thing that stopped her from running to the bathroom and starting to cry together with Sumire was her urge to know why Mitsuki lied about his own feelings.
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you my reasons about turning Sumire down, but it's true that I lied about not loving her." Mitsuki words stabbed Chō-Chō heart more than the packet of her favourite potato chips being sold out.
"I'm going to check up on her. I think that lying about your own feelings will cost you more than you're expecting to. I'm telling you this because I love you and care about you as well." Chō-Chō walked away leaving Mitsuki with a lot of unpleasant thoughts. Mitsuki in the depths of his heart knew that Chō-Chō was right for calling him out on that little lie of his.
The door to the bathroom opened. It alarmed Sumire that she lost track of time and she tried to wipe the tears with a sleeve of her dress.
"Sumire?" Chō-Chō said softly knowing that although Mitsuki loved her, Sumire thought he didn't.
"Chō-Chō..." It was all she had the strength to say after exhausting herself with crying when Chō-Chō walked over to her.
"I confessed to Mitsuki after witnessing your confession. Thanks to you I had gathered the courage to do it." Chō-Chō admitted to her, but she just felt out of place.
"So Mitsuki loves you?" Sumire couldn't hide the bitterness in her voice.
"Nah, I got rejected as well!" Chō-Chō shook her head like something funny just happened.
"Y-you were rejected?" Chō-Chō being so calm about Mitsuki rejecting her was surprising for Sumire.
"Yeah, I was. It's not the first time when I was rejected, so I'm more immune to rejection than you, Sumire." Chō-Chō smiled in her direction warmly. "I guess that means we should date each other, right?"
Sumire couldn't help but smile a little when Chō-Chō used their little inside joke to lift her spirits up.
"Yes, we probably should." Sumire nodded, but she knew deep down that her feelings for Mitsuki will not fade away so quickly. Perhaps both her and Chō-Chō needed some time alone. It was blessing in disguise that they confessed their feelings to Mitsuki during the winter break.
Sarada was spending the majority of her time reading books and sleeping in the bed. It was her form of relaxing during her free time, but she couldn't help feeling a little lonely by herself. That's why when she heard a doorbell, she opened the door to see Boruto came to visit her without the other club members. Sarada invited him to sit with her in a living room.
"Should I visit you at another time? I think it can be awkward sitting just with me here, ya know?" Boruto tried to confirm if Sarada felt okay being just with him in the same room.
"It's alright. I doubt you can do anything to me." Sarada sighed. She was really bored, so it didn't matter who would help her cure her loneliness.
"Are you looking forward to the school sport festival? This question had an obvious answer. Their entire club put a lot of effort into creating games for that event.
"I do. Though, I can't say I'm looking forward to passing through the large crowds of people." Just like she said the large crowds of students would probably annoy her too much, but nobody could annoy her more than Boruto. He patted her head last time when they talked with each other. She wasn't a freaking animal, but a human being! Wait a minute... Does that mean Boruto thinks she's a domestic pet?!
"You can always stick to me, ya know! I mean to stick with all club members, hehe." Boruto let out an awkward laugh completely unaware of Sarada inner struggle if he thinks she's a pet.
"I don't know if it helps me. I'm not feeling at ease talking with other students, they're too loud." Sarada admitted to him not knowing why she felt the need to explain it to Boruto.
"Is that the reason you called me an idiot during our first meeting? Because I was too loud and made you feel uncomfortable?" Boruto was asking her many questions today, even if she was distracted by how handsome he is. No wonder he had fangirls pinning all over him. He wasn't just handsome but considerate as well.
"No, I was angry because of my destroyed phone due to me bumping into you." Sarada felt it was a really pathetic reason to call someone an idiot while having a bad day. Looking back it was very petty and immature behaviour.
Her phone got destroyed by bumping into him?! That explained her overreaction at the time. Boruto was pretty sure he would've reacted a lot worse than Sarada if his phone would be the one that got destroyed.
"I'm really sorry, ya know! As recompensation, you should go out with me to buy a new phone after the festival. If you want, I won't force you." Boruto proposal was nerve-wracking for him. He wanted to have a positive relationship with Sarada.
"I gladly accept this offer. Chō-Chō complains too much about me not having a phone." Sarada genuinely smiled in his presence. Boruto noticed she looked much more beautiful with this smile. Realising he finds Sarada more attractive than two months ago, Boruto blushed and almost passed out. He needed to stop having such embarrassing thoughts!
"So, you will give me a chance to be your friend?" Yeah, that question should make his imagination stop running wild.
"Only if your intentions about being my friend are honest and you won't use that friendship to win in our bet." Sarada answer was enough to make him happy for now.
"That means a lot coming from you, ya know? I plan to be a great friend then!" Boruto's declaration made Sarada feel a warm, comfortable sensation. Now she could feel completely at ease in Boruto's presence. It's like all remaining doubts within her heart went away.
"It does, so do not take this lightly!" Sarada wanted for him to take her seriously.
"I'm not planning to lady meow, meow!" Boruto shouted and pulled her into a friendly hug which she accepted without protesting too much.
"I'm not lady meow, meow." Sarada started to think that maybe Boruto's is taking her for a cat.
"Your hair smells nice, ya know? Like strawberries." It was after those words when Sarada break out from their friendly hug, feeling that she must be blushing. Boruto coughed and decided that admiring the walls in the living room is more interesting at the moment. When he stared at the walls, she went to prepare black tea for them to drink.
They spend the rest of the day looking for clues around her house to have sort of lead for their bet. In the end, they didn't find anything useful. Maybe it's better they didn't.
"See you after the winter break!" After Boruto visit at her house ended Sarada couldn't help but look forward to meeting him after winter break will end. Sport festival should be more enjoyable with Boruto around, even if she still had a problem in expressing her feelings to other people.
AN:
Here is chapter 14! Yay, yay! Hope ya all liked it! And I'm happy that I managed to finish writing this chapter sooner than I expected.
Yours Clumsy Author - Karinrumi ;)