Chapter 3 1/2

Chapter 3 1/2

Minami finally got the park, almost out of breath, and looked around for Ren. The air was cold in the October wind, so she sat on a bench and covered herself in the jacket she brought. She looked at her watch and noticed that she was 4 minutes early. "Well, that explains alot." She muttered to herself as she waited. after 3 minutes, she was shivering and needed something more warm than the jacket. As she was about to get up and run home to grab a blanket, a big coat was wrapped around her by a certain someone behind her. She looked back and blushed when she saw Ren with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Minami." Ren whispered to her. Minami was frozen in place, not by the cold weather, but the heated atmosphere between the two. Ren looked down to Minami's hands to see the card and rose in her hand. He grabbed the hand with the rose in it and held it between both of his hands with the rose in between the two. "Minami...you remember when we first met, right?" Ren asked her. Of course she remembered that day. Minami's parents moved to Tokyo when she was 7 and she went to the school there. She was crying in a corner on her first day because she didn't want to be there, but Ren came up to her with a little daisy flower in his hand. He gave it to her and said to her, "Hi, I'm Ren. I hope we can be friends." with a smile.

"Yes, I remember that day. You made me so happy by being the first friend I had here." Minami recalled, looking at the ground with a smile. "I do as well. It was the first day that we became friends. Since then, we've been the best of friends. We're always there for each other and relied on one another. I've always enjoyed my time with you, Minami." Ren admitted. "Wha-What are you saying?" Minami questioned. Her heart was racing from each word that came from his mouth, wanting him to say the words that she's been longing for since a such a time ago. "I'm saying that I've decided that I want to keep hanging out with you...forever. Minami, I love you." Ren bluntly said, looking into her eyes.

This was it. The moment that Minami has been waiting for. She's wanted for him to say those three words since the day she fell for him. Finally, it was possible for her and Ren to be together...but...

"Sorry, but I'm not ready for this yet."
"Eh?"
Minami hated having to turn down Ren's proclamation of love for her, but she thought about it on her way to the park. She's never been in a relationship before and she felt like she wasn't quite ready to be with Ren yet. "I love you too, but we're still young. We're still teenagers in our Sophomore year of high school. I want us to be together...but I don't want to rush into it. But...I still want you to be my first boyfriend nonetheless. So, for the time being, let's remain friends, but let's hang out more and try to make our friendship even stronger before we think about going up from that. Are you ok with that?" Minami explained to Ren, hoping he was on the same page she was on. Ren gladly smiled and hugged Minami. "I'm fine with it. Just don't run off with some other guy, alright." "Of course I won't. I'm yours."

End of Story 1