3

It all began two years ago. The both of us had some free time, and so Eriol and I were at the school library. I was doing math homework, which I've never been good at so I really had to concentrate; and Eriol was helping me, since he knows I suck at math, and he's a math genius, so every time I needed help, he came to rescue me.

Both of us had our heads over the book, he was explaining me the theory, and I was looking at the problems I'd have to solve. We were so close to each other that I could smell his shampoo fragrance, and I'm quite sure he could also smell mine.

And then, forgetting for a second about the trigonometry problems, Eriol said:

"I need an advice. I like a girl."

My heart skipped a beat. It was me. He definitely meant me. After all, we had spent our last summer together. Sometimes Rika hanged out with us, but she had spent so many hours at the Flower Retirement House (three times a week) doing an internship, that everybody could say it was only Eriol and me. We walked around Penguin Park, to the mall, we had ice cream together, and even watched movies at my place at night.

Looking back at that summer in just a fraction of a second, the only conclusion I could come up with was that he meant me.

Until I saw him blushing, his sight lost somewhere far away, and I finally understood that nope, he did not mean me.

So, what I did was to make a mental list of all the possible girls. To be honest, it wasn't even a long list. Eriol doesn't have that many female friends. Not even male friends, now that I think of it. He has his best friend, a boy they called Spee, who had moved to Osaka last year, and he still had his other best friend, Yamazaki Takashi from next class, and that was it.

About girls, he barely knew Mihara Chiharu, from the school's volleyball team. And she only made it to the list since I basically forced him: I had asked him (quite obnoxiously) to tell me who he considered the prettiest girl in his class. I also asked for the prettiest girl in my class, and his answer, which came as no surprise, was Daidouji Tomoyo. I mean, I already knew it was the obvious right answer, but I'm not going to pretend it didn't hurt me a bit.

It could also be Akizuki Nakuru, the college student that, same as him, works part time at the bookstore. Eriol had mentioned she was quite smart and interesting. She had studied abroad for a whole semester, in England, which made total sense for them to bond since Eriol is half British, thanks to his great grandfather lineage. I'm also half something, or at least part something: my mom's grandparents where both Korean, and I'm quite sure dad has some long lost relatives that are Chinese.

I was just about to ask him who was the girl, when the librarian told us to keep it quiet, and so we went back to look at the math book, and proceeded to solve the trigonometry problems. That day, the topic didn't come up once again. Eriol didn't mention it again, and I didn't dare to ask. Truth be told, I didn't want to know. He didn't mean me, and for me, that was the only thing that mattered.

Eriol is the type of guy that seems to know it all. Probably thanks to his glasses and his perfectly cut and combed dark blue hair, that makes him look as an intellectual. His English heritage can be seen in his voice and manners. Until you get to know him. He's kind, yes, but he's also funny, and he loves to come up with random fantasy stories, probably based on all that comic and manga he reads and collects. He has blue eyes that give him a calm aura. He's also skinny, but that doesn't mean he's weak. I know that first hand because once in middle school I twisted my ankle and he had to carry me on his back, all the way to the nursery. He has a lovely smile. He has a dimple in his left cheek that makes him look squishable, and that I just love, since without it he would look much older and stiff.

Rika (just as me and Misaki) has short hair. Her is a dark chestnut, while mine and Misaki's are more like caramel. Although, the only thing none of us three are alike, is our personalities. Misaki's nine, and she still is and behaves like a little girl: childish and annoying is the best way to describe her. I, am a hopeless romantic. Grandma says I need to stop watching so many rom coms and get a boyfriend, so I can actually learn what love is, which includes having your heart broken.

Rika, on the other hand, is the most mature of us all. It has nothing to do with her being the oldest, but maybe because she had to be the one to take care of us since she was little. Anyway, Rika's personality is the most calm of us all. If we need advice, we prefer to go to her instead of dad. The way she speaks, moves, thinks and express herself, gives the idea that she carries with centuries of knowledge. As if her existence belongs to an elevated realm, far away from us mortals. As if for her, the trivial worries of fashion, makeup and boys were childish and she had better things to do with her time, like saving the world, ending world hunger, achieving world peace, and stopping global warming, to mention some of them.

About a week after our convo in the library (when I had kinda forgotten about it), Rika came home from school, a little bit later than usual. We were in the middle of October, and the cold was slowly settling up in Tomoeda, so her cheeks and nose were a bright pink, despite having a scarf tied around her neck. It was supposed she'd be late because she was doing homework with some classmates, so Misaki and I (who were at the kitchen, making dinner) didn't even find it weird.

Until she said:

"I got something to tell you."

Her eyes were sparkling, and her trembling fingers couldn't untie her scarf. I thought it was because of the cold.

"What?" Misaki asked, impatently.

"Eriol says he likes me."

Rika finally untied her scarf, and shrug her shoulders, visibly satisfied. I couldn't speak, and the wooden spoon I was stirring the tomato sauce for the spaghetti fell inside the pot.

"He waited for me to walk out of school, so to tell me. He says… I'm the girl of his dreams. Can you believe it?"

"Wow." Was all I could say. I wanted to share that happiness with her, but at that moment, I didn't feel happy at all. And that was so wrong of me. She was my sister, and of course I should be happy for her. But I could only feel pain, despair, and jealousy. I was very, very jealous. For a moment, I even felt I was unable to breathe. So, eating up my tears, I took a deep breath, and repeated: "Wow!"

"Wow!" Misaki said too. "So that means, you're now boyfriend and girlfriend?"

I took another deep breath, waiting for her answer. Rika walked towards us, and from a bunch of grapes that were placed on the countertop, she took some. Before putting one in her mouth, she said:

"I think so."

That's when I saw it. Her smile. Big, radiant, goofy. A pure and sincere smile, the smile of a girl who's madly and deeply in love. Rika also liked Eriol. And she liked him a lot. But I couldn't help but wonder if she liked Eriol, more than I liked him.

That night, I sat down and wrote my letter for him.

Hope you're having a nice week.

See ya tomorrow~~

Ribo ~