No matter how young Shuel was, he was not that young that he could not think straight.
I thought he would change his mind later, but that was the future.
Shuel, who confessed to me, was in the present.
It was hard to accept it as he was a child, and so I had ignored it and took it lightly.
“No. It’s not that……”
Those words came out before I could think. But I couldn’t continue the sentence.
I shouldn’t ignore someone’s heart just because they were young.
It was my fault.
“I’m sorry for taking your feelings lightly. I didn’t mean to. I’m really sorry.”
My face burned with shame.
As someone who has been proudly claiming to be a very open person so far, it was shameful to admit my mistake.
At my words, Shuel looked at me with his eyes wide open.
With a bitter smile, I reached my hand out to wipe his tears away.
“Why do you hate me?”
My heart ached at those words that came out with a hoarse tone from crying.
“Why would I hate you?”
“But, you don’t like……”
At the end of his sentence, a sob cried out again. Now, I realised what his ‘I like you’ means.
It was just different from mine.
“Hey, Shuel.”
Shuel nodded his head at my quiet call. I rubbed his eyes, feeling guilty about his tears.
“I like you, but I like you just as I like Rieta, Derick and Marie.”
“I…know.”
Shuel struggled to answer in a stable voice.
He tried to act strong, but tears welled up in his pink eyes again.
“It’s not because I don’t like you. I want you to know that.”
“Then? Why?”
As soon as my words ended, Shuel asked eagerly.
The sight of those desperate eyes made me laugh a little. How can you go through your first love so harshly?
“You are still young and there are so many opportunities out there.”
You are very pretty. That I’m almost jealous of it. Though, it was still lovely.
“I may be the only person you see right now, but things will change as you grow up. You will meet many beautiful people and might fall in love with one of them.”
That’s how bright your future will be. I wonder how precious and beautiful it would be?
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
“When you grow older like me, I won’t be as pretty as you are. So that’s why I can’t.”
By the time I finished speaking, Shuel’s tears had stopped. Only his red, swollen eyes were evidence that he cried.
“Then, Rwen.”
Shuel, who seemed as if he had wanted to say something for a while, struggled to lift his mouth open and asked.
“Is it because I’m too young now?”
I smiled wryly and hesitated for a while before finally answering.
“……Yes.”
Yeah, maybe this was for the best.
After crying for a few days, his emotions would clear up. Human emotions certainly do not last very long.
And after that, would he feel awkward?
Thinking about it made me feel a little sad. I wanted to stay close to him……
It was Shuel’s small gasp that woke me up from my sadness. Startled, I became restless.
Is that a cry?
He’s going to cry, right?
H-How do I comfort him? No, can I even comfort him in the beginning?
Yet, the moment I decided that I should at least wipe his tears so his eyes wouldn’t swell, Shuel raised his head.
His face was clear, void of any tears. On the contrary, they were sparkling.
“Then, what if I still like Rwen when I become an adult?”
My head went blank at the unexpected conclusion.
“……Huh?”
“If you don’t believe that I like Rwen because I’m too young now, will you believe me when I’m an adult?”
“No, what–”
I was at a loss for words to refute.
For the past 10 minutes or so, I’ve been saying that I couldn’t like Shuel because of my age.
I wanted to open the door and run away, but I locked the door of this room. I wanted to refute.
It was an excuse. I made it up entirely.
“Like Rwen said, time flies.”
He began to quote. It sounded like a letter that I’d written before.
“I’m going to keep liking Rwen, and I’m going to keep saying that I like you. I will grow up in no time.”