CH 40

When I saw my ex-girlfriend, I couldn’t speak. I didn’t expect to see her.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? What have you been up to, Ren?”

“…..Just whatever”

My voice was trembling. Hearing my voice, my ex-girlfriend put her hand over her mouth and giggled.

I used to like these gestures. But now I hate everything.

Kaede grabbed my hand. I looked at her and saw that she was looking at me with a worried look on her face.

“It’s okay, I have something to talk to that girl, so please sit on the bench over there first, Kaede.”

“…it’s no good, I’m worried about you, Ren-kun.”

Kaede had also noticed, after all. The woman standing in front of me was my ex-girlfriend.

No matter how many times I said it was okay, Kaede pretended not to hear.

Looking at the situation, my ex-girlfriend, who had been giggling until a while ago, started laughing.

“What? Are you guys dating?” My Ex asked,

“No, we are not dating.” I replied,

Right?! There’s no way that Ren could be dating someone that beautiful, despite being the man who was dumped by me.

“…..”

Indeed, I was dumped by this guy. She was Yurina, my ex from middle school.

I wanted to say something back. But when I tried to say it, the trauma came back to me. I couldn’t even speak, probably because I was standing in front of her.

“Come to think of it, when you broke up with me, you asked me why, right? I’ll tell you why! It’s so funny!!”

“Funny??” I asked,

“You were just a stepping stone in the process of me and Daigo-kun getting together!

“What are you…”

“Daigo-kun never attacked me, so I wondered if he would attack me if I went out with someone, and as expected, he came on strong. I didn’t need your help, so when I said I broke up with you, we started dating right away.”

(T/N: What kind of fetish is this)

I didn’t understand her words as she held her stomach and laughed, “Hahaha.”

Daigo was the guy who used to be my best friend, and Yurina went out with me to date Daigo?

If what she just said was true, I was mistakenly thinking I was the only one in love with her from the beginning….

“Since you talked to Daigo-kun, we ended up breaking up right away, but… it’s really the worst.”

Yurina glared at me with the same trashy look she gave me back then.

Her eyes made my shoulders jolt a little.

Yurina approached me. Then she pointed at me.

“I didn’t want you! I didn’t want you from the beginning! You interfered with me and Daigo-kun’s love! Don’t ever let me see your face again!”

This was something I didn’t want to see or hear again. I couldn’t say anything in reply, so I just kept my mouth shut.

I felt sorry for myself. I thought I had changed. I thought I had become stronger because I had found someone new to love. But in reality, nothing had changed at all.

“But it’s funny, Daigo-kun liked me from the beginning, but the moment I told him that I was going out with you, his eyes changed color. I think he really didn’t like you.”

“…that’s not true.”

“It is, I don’t need you.”

When I heard that, I finally heard something break inside me. I didn’t know what was broken. But it felt like everything was finally over.

As I turned my back to Yurina and started to walk away, Kaede approached Yurina.

A few seconds later, there was a loud bang! Pah!

I turned around to find Yurina holding her cheek, after Kaede had slapped her.

(T/N: THAT’S MY GIRL)

“Hey… what are you doing!” Yurina said,

“I’m sorry, I felt so sick that I just slapped you”

Yurina, too, would not be silently beaten. She slapped Kaede back.

“With this, we are even, so let’s talk calmly. I don’t think you understand Ren-kun’s good points, or rather, I don’t want you to understand.”

“What? There’s nothing good about that guy…”

When Kaede heard this, she placed her hand on her chest and began to speak with her eyes closed, as if she was remembering.

“You’ll never understand how he protected me as best he could from my father who tried to force me to work at night, how he spoke kind words to a girl who was about to commit suicide, how he let a girl who had nowhere to go back stay in his room.”

Hearing those words, something broken inside me began to mend.

I had never expected such warm words to touch my heart.

“What even are you to Ren!”

“Ren-kun is the person I love”

I could not hide my embarrassment and confusion at the sudden confession. It was the same for Yurina.

Yurina let out a gasp, and with a dumbfounded look on her face, she said

“You guys are gross, I’m leaving.”

With that said, I could only watch her back as she turned and walked away from Kaede.

Not good enough, I told myself, I have to change here and now.

Then, I stepped forward.

“Yurina!”

“What is it this time…?”

“I’….Hayasaka Ren loved Yurina, that hasn’t changed, I’ve had a lot of unresolved feelings for a long time. But I’m putting an end to that today.”

Hearing this, Yurina said gross and left at a faster pace than before.

Then Me and Kaede sat down on the bench, as planned.

“Kaede, does it hurt where you got hit?”

“I’m totally fine! More than that, it’s Ren-kun.”

“Kaede, You said everything I wanted to say.”

Kaede looked at me and gazed into my eyes. Then she flashed a smile at me.

“Earlier she said she didn’t want Ren-kun, but that’s absolutely not true, okay?”

“I know….”

I said I understand, but I didn’t think it would be this painful to be told that.

“You still don’t understand. …”

Then Kaede suddenly stood up in front of me, looking at me with serious eyes.

“I’m going to return the words that Ren-kun said to me before, right here and now.”

“Words?”

The words I said to you before … I had no idea, maybe because I couldn’t think straight.

“I need you”

Those words were the words I said to Kaede before. The moment I heard that, I noticed that my eyes were moist. I was on the verge of crying.

After Kaede said that, she placed her hands on her cheeks and her face turned red.

“As expected, It’s really embarrassing.”

And then she sat down next to me again.

“It’s so embarrassing, were you embarrassed when you said it before?”

In fact, it was embarrassing, and the cold wind touched my skin.

But somehow, my heart was tremendously warm.

“Thank you, Kaede.”

I said just those words to Kaede.