She got up from her
seat cautiously, her eyes still on him. The rest of the S.A students watched
them curiously. A bead of sweat trailed down her temples and she managed to
whisper his name, “Ryuu?”.
He smiled, “Yes, it’s
been a while”. With that she backed away from him and ran.
“Ah wait!” Hikari ran
after her. Ryuu just watched her run away understandingly, his heart sank with
every step she took away from him.
Ayano felt her vision
blurred as she ran towards the woods, the greenhouse getting further and
further behind her. She only stopped after tripping over a root and fell. Her
heart hammered in her chest and her lungs cried out for air. Drops of tears
fell from her face and she dabbed at them furiously with her sleeves. Why? She
screamed silently. Why after all this time?
The footsteps behind
startled her. Hikari appeared, “Ayano-chan! What happened?” she panted.
In the greenhouse, Ryuu
sat down on the chair and rubbed his temples. The group surrounded him, waiting
for an explanation. He looked up at their expecting eyes and sighed, “Sorry, I
can’t tell you all yet. Not before I’m able to forgive myself”.
In the end, she didn’t
tell anyone anything, preferring to keep it a secret. These people probably won’t
understand anyway. Ayano held the phone in her hand, fingers hovering over the
speed dial to her father. Can she do it? It was her firm decision to come here,
backing down right not isn’t the right thing to do. She sighed and threw her
phone on the sofa. She hugged her knees on the steps of her conservatory.
Lily, her golden
retriever came over and tucked under her arms. She petted its silky golden fur.
Lily was a gift from Ryuu on her 10th birthday. She remembered being
scared of the little fur ball but then Ryuu took her hands and gently taught
her to stroke the puppy’s head. The trusting little dog licked her fingers and
she fell in love with it. They named her Lily because she sneezed on the pollen
of the Lilies in Ayano’s conservatory. That was 7 years ago, now the little fur
ball has grown so much. She wondered if Ryuu still remembers Lily. Ayano put
her chin on top of it’s head and whispered, ‘He’s back’.
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