"I'm getting bored… bruh!" I again said and this time I annoyed her.

"Then do something… study… come on… solve this." She glared at me and pointed at a numerical in her mathematics book.

​​

I leaned a bit closer and looked at the question. I remember seeing the figure and some of the values back when our teacher was solving this on the board. If my memory serves me right then I knew the correct answer.

"That's… x equals tan 30°." I said.

"How?... How !?" She was shocked out of her wits because it was quite a lengthy numerical and solving it mentally seemed out of the question for us. We were neither Ramanujan nor Aryabhatta.

"I remember seeing that once in the class." I said honestly.

"And you remember that?" She looked at me in disbelief.

"Sort of." Knowing my photographic memory, I nodded.

"You're weird." She narrowed her eyes on me. Even though I score less than her, she has been looking at me as her rival in academics ever since we met.

"I'm a bit thirsty… Can you pass me the water?" I have never talked this much in my entire life. I was that kind of a guy whose presence is ignored in a group.

"No…" She straight up denied me.

"..." I looked at her in silence and our staring competition continued.

"Here… I was kidding…" The corners of her lip lifted and she said with a smug. I took the bottle from her hand and started pouring it in my mouth.

"Anyways… why are you like… so closed as a person?" She asked suddenly.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Putting the bottle on the table, I asked her.

"N..no like I'm just curious." I shook her head from left to right and showed her palm as a gesture of my misunderstanding.

"I'm just… I don't like talking that much to people." I honestly didn't like people with people are stupid and I'm allergic to stupidity. I feel like killing them.

"Why?" She asked.

"Is there any point in talking with several people?" I asked her with an annoyed expression.

"There… you can make friends." She said in a dubious voice.

"I already have some." I replied in a straight tone. It's already difficult handling Gaisen and Tsūmen. I don't know how people make like seven-eight best friends. They definitely are crazy.

"Jeez, why are you so uptight?" She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not uptight." I replied.

"Yes you're… look at how grumpy you're." She chuckled playfully while covering her mouth with her palm.

"Anyways… since we are talking about each other… have you liked anyone else after Gaisen?" Noticing that I was running out of my time, I said what I intended to.

"Wha... what's with this..?!" She was surprised by the sudden change in topic. In terms of escalation, we can say that this escalated quickly.

"I'm just curious." I said, even though my main purpose of starting this topic was something else.

She looked at me and I was already looking at her curiously, waiting for her reply. "I… haven't." She replied.

"Eh? I thought you must have someone you like." I said casually while running my hands through my hair.

"I want someone to love me the way I would love them. I want that affection… but…" She paused mid sentence, as if she was thinking of a way to end her sentence without sounding strange.

"But?" I pressed on her.

She looked at me with a downcast in her eyes and said, "The way I'm, I don't think anyone would love me."

"You are quite stupid." I chuckled softly while looking into her dark coloured eyes.

"Huh?" She looked at me as if she wasn't stupid. Typical stupid move.

"It's foolish to assume you won't get love based on one experience in your past."

"If you're so smart… why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"

"The girl I love, was in love with someone else."

"Oh… wait… love? You still love her?" She said after realising the hint I gave her. I knew it was a subtle hint but she was smart enough to pick that up.

"I don't know." I said a bit hesitating.

"What?" Reina moved towards me with sparkles in her eyes. Her curiosity was similar to that of a kid.

"Who is she?"

"Ohh… which class?"

"Is she a senior or junior?" With each question, the excitement in her voice was becoming more prominent.

"Is she cute?" She kept shooting questions at me and I regret opening my mouth. She looked at my troubled face and paused for a bit.

"I'm not good at these things… Give me a break." I replied with a sigh.

"Ahh… my bad. I was a bit curious." She laughed awkwardly with a nervous look on her face.

"Well you know curiosity killed the cat." I said while staring at her.

"Ehe?"

"I don't know about her… but I, at some point stopped looking at her as my friend… I don't know what these feelings are…" I indirectly referred to the events that happened in the past few weeks involving her.

"Do I know this friend?" She asked with her curiosity in her voice.

"You do actually…" Of course I was talking about her indirectly. It was actually funny how she was so curious to know about herself.

"She is pretty cute like you… and she is among those few people I feel comfortable around." I said as I stared into the void of her dark eyes.

"Huh… Wha...what do you me…" She was staring back at me with confused eyes and her cheeks were slightly tinted in red.

"Sais...Saishi…?" I leaned closer to her, tilting my head slightly and staring into her restless eyes.

"I never thought she would become so close to me in such a short time." My right hand extended towards her as I cradled her head. Her soft dark hairs falling over my hand.

"I… are you…?" She was trying to say something but the heat of the situation was way too much for her. I slowly turned her head towards me.

"I don't want her to stop talking to me…" I said in a low tone, almost whispering, without breaking my eye contact.

"Sai… shi…" She called my name, and I pulled her slowly towards me. Her avid eyes which were staring at me and her face which was as red as a tomato that moment.

"The only thing is she can't be mine…" My thumb tracing a bit of her cheeks, which were burning hot. She averted her eyes from mine, but she didn't stop me or push me away.

"I'm… you… what… your's…?" Her mind was probably a mess as she closed her eyes and tucked her head slightly. Noticing her lips slightly moving towards mine.

"Saishi…. sto…" Before our lips could meet, the doorbell rang, and she instantly jumped back with a small screech. Her face was red, and she was looking at me with wide eyes. She was panting as she rushed out of the room and slammed the door behind.

Looks like the seeds have been planted.