Chinen X Chukari

Chukari fanned herself wildly. She had just been running from her annoying enemy. He wasn’t really a fast runner, so he wasn’t a match for her. She wasn’t that good a runner herself but she was fast enough to get away from him. She looked around. He was not in sight. She gave a sigh of relief.

She panted. She had been running for quite a while. She didn’t know why she was running. All her enemy had told her was that he wanted to tell her something and gave her such a look with his eyes that she just had to say, “Catch me first. If you do, I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

And then she just sped off, leaving him standing still and staring at her shadow which soon disappeared from his sight. So there she was, running, although she just stopped to rest. Thinking about it again, she realized she was silly for running away. She had been surprised to find herself running here and there and everywhere. What exactly made her do it, she didn’t know. All she knew was that the moment she saw that unusual look in his eyes, she had to get away from him. It was like the look was some kind of an indicator for running away.

Now, she stood up straight and looked around once more. He was still not in sight. She sighed in relief again. He sure run slow, she thought.

Then, Hang on! She thought. He doesn’t run this slow. She knew he was slow but not that slow. She had been there for maybe about ten minutes? So how come he still hadn’t arrived there panting or something? Something was out of place. She knew. But what?

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered her eyes. She screamed. “Who’s that?”

She heard a laugh and immediately knew who it was.

She removed his hands and glared at him. “What’s so funny?” she half shouted.

“You,” he laughed.

She clenched her fists. He was not her enemy for nothing. She was just about to shout at him when she realized he was smiling at her with that weird look he gave earlier.

“What?” she asked, getting nervous for goodness knows what reason.

“You said if I caught you, you’ll listen to me, right?” he said.

Before replying, she realized he looked kind of nervous and his voice had a little quiver that could have gone unnoticed if the surroundings were a little noisier. “Yeah. So spill it. What do you want to tell me? If you’re going to brag about how you caught me then think again. I was resting here.....”

For the next word that was coming out of her mouth, he leaned forward and muffled it. She opened her eyes wide and tried to push him away but he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. He may be a slow runner but he was a boy and was definitely stronger than her.

She tried to open her mouth to say something but he wouldn’t give her the chance. After a while, he broke the kiss. She looked at him. Her seeing his red cheeks made her blush too. Her heart started to go all fluttery like it wanted to fly and started to beat faster than it usually did. She wanted to clutch it but was afraid that he would see it and ask her. She quickly looked down.

“I...” he started.

She looked up, her face still burning.

“I...” he repeated.

She looked at him intently. She knew what he was going to say but she wanted to hear it.

“I...” he said once more.

She was getting a little annoyed. She wanted to hear the words come out of his mouth. But he couldn’t seem to say it. He already took her first kiss, what more did he want, make her wait to hear his confession?

“I...” again he said.

And she got fed up.

“Look, Chinen Yuri. If you like me why don’t you just say so instead of just saying ‘I’. In the past, you could just talk back to me and argue whenever you felt like it. So what’s wrong now? Are you waiting for me to say it instead? Fine! Chinen Yuri, I like you!”

She paused, her face burning more than ever. She wanted to run away but her feet were rooted to the spot. She wanted to know what he thought. She wanted to know. She just did.

Then she felt her body being pulled into an embrace.

“I like you too,” he whispered into her ear.

She raised her arms to put them around his waist. He pulled off a little and kissed her gently on the lips again as a little teardrop of happiness slid down her cheek.

-brenda-